Produced by Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series," "The
Bunny Brown Series," "The Outdoor
Girls Series," "The Six Little
Bunkers Series," Etc.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
1920
BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
12mo. Cloth, Illustrated.
THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER. SUE PLAYING CIRCUS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE
THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
(Ten Titles)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. THE TRAIN WRECK
II. THE QUEER OLD MAN
III. MR. BOBBSEY REMEMBERS
IV. THE OLD MAN'S STORY
V. NEWS FROM THE WEST
VI. AUNT EMELINE
VII. HAPPY DAYS
VIII. OFF FOR THE WEST
IX. DINNER FOR TWO
X. FREDDIE, AS USUAL
XI. IN CHICAGO
XII. NEARING LUMBERVILLE
XIII. THE SAWMILL
XIV. THE BIG TREE
XV. BILL DAYTON
XVI. THE TRAIN CRASH
XVII. AT THE RANCH
XVIII. A RUNAWAY PONY
XIX. THE WILD STEER
XX. THE ROUND-UP
XXI. IN THE STORM
XXII. NEW NAMES
CHAPTER I
THE TRAIN WRECK
"Come on, let's make a snow man!" cried Bert Bobbsey, as he ran about
in the white drifts of snow that were piled high in the yard in front
of the house.
"That'll be lots of fun!" chimed in Freddie Bobbsey, who was Bert's
small brother. "We can make a man, and then throw snowballs at him,
and he won't care a bit; will he, Bert?"
"No, I guess a snow man doesn't care how many times you hit him with
snowballs," laughed the older boy, as he tried to catch a dog that was
leaping about in the drifts, barking for joy. "The more snowballs you
throw at a snow man the bigger he gets," said Bert.
"Oh, Bert Bobbsey, he does not!" cried a girl with dark hair and
sparkling brown eyes, as she ran along with a smaller girl holding her
red-mittened hand. "A snow man can't grow any bigger! What makes you
tell Freddie so?"
"Course a snow man can grow bigger!" declared Bert. "A snowball grows
bigger the more you roll it in the snow, doesn't it?"
"Yes," admitted Nan--Nan being the name of the brown-eyed girl, Bert's
twin sister. "I know a snowball grows bigger the more you roll it, but
you don't roll a snow man!" went on the brown-eyed girl.
"Ho, ho! wouldn't that be funny?" laughed the little girl, whose hand
Nan held.
"What would be funny, Flossie?" asked Freddie, and one look at the two
smaller Bobbsey children would have told you that they, too, were
twins. In fact the four Bobbseys were twins--that is there were two
sets of them--Bert and Nan, and Flossie and Freddie. "What would be
funny?" Freddie wanted to know. "Tell me! I want to laugh."
"Yes, you generally do want to laugh, little fireman!" and Bert
Bobbsey laughed himself as he gave his small brother the pet name that
Daddy Bobbsey had thought up some time ago. "But, as Flossie says, it
would be funny to see a snow man rolling around in the drifts to make
himself bigger," went on Bert.
"But you said he'd get bigger if we threw snowballs at him," insisted
Nan.
"And he will," went on Bert. "You see, a snowball gets bigger when you
roll it around the yard, because more snow keeps sticking to it all
the while. And if we make a snow man and then throw little snowballs
at him, these snowballs will stick to him and he'll grow bigger, won't
he?"
"Oh, I didn't know you meant _that_ way!" and now Nan, herself,
began to laugh. Of course Flossie and Freddie joined in, though I am
not sure that they knew what the joke was all about, but they were
having fun in the snow and that was all they cared for.
It was a fine snow storm, at least for the Bobbsey twins and the other
children of Lakeport. It was not too cold, and the white flakes had
come down so fast that there was now enough snow to make many snow men
and snowballs, and leave plenty for coasting down hill.
The Bobbsey twins had hurried out to play in the snow as soon as they
got home from school, and now they were having fine fun. Snap, their
dog, was playing with them, leaping about in the drifts, diving
through them, as the Bobbsey twins had seen swimmers dive through
waves down at the seashore and Snap would come out on the other side
of the drift all covered with white flakes, as though he were a snow
dog.
Dear old Dinah, the fat, jolly, good-natured colored cook, who had
been with the Bobbseys many years, stood at the window looking at the
children having fun in the snow.
"Why doesn't yo' go out an' jine 'em?" she asked, as she looked at a
sleek cat that was curled up asleep near the stove. "Why doesn't yo'
go out in de snow? Dat's whut I asks yo', Snoop," went on Dinah. "Dar
dey is--Flossie an' Freddie an' Nan an' Bert. An' Snap's out wif 'em,
too. Why don't yo' go out an' jine de party?"
But Snoop seemed to like it better by the warm fire. He didn't want to
"jine" any party, as Dinah called it. Snoop didn't like snow or water.
"Well, shall we make a snow man?" asked Bert, as he raced about with
Snap, making the dog chase after sticks which would become buried deep
under the snow, where Snap had to dig them out. But the dog liked
this.
"Let's make a snow house. I think that would be more fun," said Nan.
"Oh, yes, and I can get my doll, and we can have a play party in the
snow house," cried Flossie.
"Can't we take the snow man into the snow house?" Freddie wanted to
know. "That'll be more fun than dolls. And we can make believe the
snow house gets on fire, and I'll be a fireman and put it out. Oh,
let's play that!" he cried, his eyes shining in fun.
"Yes, anything like playing fireman suits you," returned Bert. "But it
would be pretty hard even to _pretend_ a snow house was burning.
Snow can't catch fire, Freddie!"
"Well, we could make believe!" said the little fellow. "Anyhow, I'm
going to start to make a snow man, and you can make the snow house."
"And I'll get my doll!" added Flossie, starting toward the house, her
little fat legs and feet making holes in the snow drifts as she tried
to hurry along.
"Wait, I'll carry you," offered Nan. "You're getting so fat, little
fairy, that you'll look like a snow man yourself, if you keep on."
"Are snow mans always fat?" asked Flossie.
"They always seem to be," Nan said, as she lifted up her little sister
in her arms. Snap, the dog, came flurrying through the snow after
them. "My, I can hardly carry you!" panted Nan, for Flossie was indeed
growing fast, and was heavy.
However, Nan managed to carry Flossie over to a path Mr. Bobbsey had
told Sam, who was Dinah's husband, to shovel through the snow that
morning. It was easier for Flossie to walk on the shoveled path, so
Nan put her down.
The two girls went into the house, Flossie to get her doll, while Nan
went to the kitchen and said something to Dinah, the fat, jolly cook.
"Suah, I gibs 'em to yo'!" exclaimed Dinah, laughing all over at Nan's
question. "I'll put 'em in a bag, so's yo'all won't spill 'em!"
And when Flossie was ready to go out again with her doll, Nan went
with her, carrying a bag, at which Snap sniffed hungrily.
"What you got?" asked the little girl.
"Oh, you'll see pretty soon," Nan answered,
"Is it a secret?" Flossie kept on teasing.
"Sort of secret," Nan answered.
When the two girls reached the place where they had left the two boys,
Bert was beginning to make a snow house and Freddie was rolling a
snowball as the start of a snow man. You know how they are made; a
small snowball for the man's head, and a larger one for his body, with
legs underneath. Freddie hoped Bert would help him when it came to the
big snowball part of it.
"Is the snow house ready?" asked Flossie, who had gone in especially
to get her doll, so she might have a "play party."
"Oh, no, it takes a good while to make a snow house," Bert said. "I
don't believe I'll get it done before night if you don't help me."
"I'll help," offered Flossie. "Can I make the chimbley?"
"They don't have chimbleys on a snow house!" declared Freddie, pausing
in his rolling of the snowball. "They don't have chimbleys on snow
houses, 'cause they don't have fires in 'em; do they Bert?"
"That's right, Freddie," agreed the older boy. "But maybe, if Flossie
wants it, we could put a make-believe chimney on the snow house."
"Oh, I do want it--awful much!" cried Flossie. "Come on, Nan, you help
Bert make the snow house, and then we can all play in it.
"And you've got to let my snow man come in!" cried Freddie.
"Yes, we'll let him come in if you don't make him too big," agreed
Bert, with a laugh.
Bert and Nan, the older Bobbsey twins, generally did what they could
to please Flossie and Freddie, who sometimes wanted their own way too
much.
"I guess I'll help make the snow house first," went on Freddie,
walking away from the snowball he had partly rolled. "After that I'll
make the man. It's better to make the house first, and then I'll know
how big I can make the man."
"Yes, that would be a good idea, little fireman!" returned Bert, with
a laugh and a look at Nan. And then Bert caught sight of the bag in
his sister's hand--the bag around which Snap was sniffing so hungrily.
"What have you, Nan?" asked Bert, pausing in the midst of shoveling
snow in a heap for the start of the snow house.
"Oh--something!" and Nan smiled.
"Something good?" Bert went on.
"I guess they're good," Nan said, smiling. "I haven't tasted 'em yet,
but Dinah nearly always makes good cookies!"
"Oh, have you got some of Dinah's cookies?" cried Bert, dropping the
shovel, and running toward Nan. "Give me some! Please!"
"I want some, too!" cried Flossie.
"So do I!" chimed in Freddie.
Snap didn't say anything, but from the way he barked and leaped about
I am sure he, too, wanted some of the cookies.
"Dinah gave me enough for all of us," said Nan, as she opened the bag.
"Yes, and there's a broken piece off one that you can have," she went
on to Snap, the dog.
Beginning with Flossie, then handing one to Freddie, next passing a
cookie to Bert and helping herself last, as was polite, Nan gave out
the cookies. Forgotten, now, were snow houses, snow men, snowballs,
and even Flossie's doll. The Bobbsey twins were eating Dinah's
cookies.
They had each begun on the second helping, when suddenly a loud crash
sounded, which seemed to come from the direction of the railroad
tracks which ran not far from the Bobbsey home. The crash was followed
by loud shouting.
"I wonder what that was?" cried Bert.
"Sounded like thunder," returned Nan.
"Let's go and see," said Bert.
Just as they were starting from the yard, Charley Mason, a boy who
lived farther up the street, on the hill, came running along.
"Oh, you ought to see it!" he cried, his eyes big with wonder.
"See what?" asked Bert.
"Smash-up on the railroad, down in the rocky cut!" answered Charlie.
"Two engines smashed together, and the cars are all busted! I saw it
from the top of the hill! I'm going down! Come on!"