OFF TO THE WOODS
Whether Danny Rugg was afraid the principal had seen him trying to
force a fight on Bert, or whether the unexpected fall that came to
him, caused it, no one knew, but certainly, for the next few days,
Danny let Bert alone. When he passed him he scowled, or shook his
fist, or muttered something about "getting even," but this was all.
Perhaps it was the thought of what Bert had seen fall from Danny's
pocket that made the bully less anxious to keep up the quarrel.
At any rate, Bert was left alone and he was glad of it. He was not
afraid, but he liked peace.
The school days went on, and the classes settled down to their work
for the long Winter term. And the thought of the snow and ice
that would comparatively soon be with them, made the Bobbsey twins
rejoice.
"Charley Mason and I are going to make a dandy big bob this year,"
said Bert one day. "It's going to carry ten fellows."
"And no girls?" asked Nan with a smile. She was walking along
behind her brother with Grace and Nellie.
"Sure, we'll let you girls ride once in a while," said Charley, as
he caught up to his chum. "But you can't steer."
"I steered a bob once," said Grace, who was quite athletic for her
age. "It was Danny Rugg's, too."
"Pooh! His is a little one alongside the one Charley and I are
going to make!" exclaimed Bert. "Ours will be hard to steer, and
it's going to have a gong on it to tell folks to get out of the
way."
"That's right," agreed Charley. "And we'd better start it right
away, Bert. It may soon snow."
"It doesn't feel so now," spoke Nan. "It is very warm. It feels
more like ice cream cones."
"And if you'll come with me I'll treat you all to some," exclaimed
Nellie Parks, whose father was quite well off. "I have some of my
birthday money left."
"Oh, but there are five of us!" cried Nan, counting. "That is too
much--twenty-five cents, Nellie."
"I've got fifty, and really it is very hot to-day."
It was warm, being the end of September, with Indian Summer near
at hand.
"Well, let's go to Johnson's," suggested Nellie. "They have the
best cream."
"Oh, here comes Flossie and Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "We don't want
to take them, Nellie. That means---"
"Of course I'll take them!" exclaimed Nellie, generously. "I've
got fifty cents, I told you."
"I'll give them each a penny and let them run along home," offered
Bert.
"No, I'm going to treat them, too," insisted Nellie. "Come on!" she
called to the little twins, "we're going to get ice cream cones,
it's so warm."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Flossie. "I was just wishing for one."
"So was I," added her brother.
"And I'll ask you to my party next week," the little girl went on.
"I'm going to have one on my birthday."
"Oh, are you really, Flossie?" asked Nan. "I hadn't heard about
it."
"Yep--I am. Mamma said I could, but she told me not to tell. I don't
care, I wanted Nellie to know, as she's going to treat us to cones."
"And it's half my party, 'cause my birthday's the same day,"
explained Freddie. "So you can come to my party at the same time,
Nellie."
"Thank you, dear, I shall. Now let's hurry to the store, for it's
getting warmer all the while."
The ice cream in the funny little cones was much enjoyed by all.
Bert and Charley walked on together eating, and talking of the bob
sled they were going to make. They passed Danny Rugg, who looked
rather enviously at them.
"Hey, Charley," called Danny, "come here, I want to speak to you."
"I'm busy now," answered Charley. "Bert and I have something to
do."
"So have I. I've got a dandy plan."
"Well, I'll see you later," spoke Charley,
He had once been quite friendly with Danny, but he grew not to like
his ways, and so became more chummy with Bert, who was very glad,
for he liked Charley.
The two boys went on to Bert's barn, where they were going to
build the bob sled. The girls, with Flossie and Freddie, went on
the Bobbsey lawn, where there were some easy chairs. They sat in
the shade of the trees, and Freddie had Snap do some of his tricks
for the visitors.
"Can he jump through a hoop, covered with paper as they do in the
circus?" asked Nellie.
"Oh, we never thought to try that," said Freddie. "I'm going to make
one," and, filled with this new idea, he hurried into the house.
"Dinah," he said, "I want some paper and paste."
"Land sakes, chile! what yo' gwine t' do now?" asked the colored
cook. "Make a kite, an' take Snoop up in de air laik yo' brother
Bert done once?"
"No, we're not going to do that," answered the little boy. "We're
going to cover a hoop with paper, and make Snap jump through it,
like in a circus."
"Mah goodness mustard pot!" cried Dinah. "What will yo' all be up
to next?"
"I don't know," answered Freddie. "But will you make me some paste,
Dinah? And you know we haven't got Snoop, anyhow, so we couldn't
send him up on a kite tail," added Freddie.
"Deah me! Yo' chilluns done make me do de mostest wuk!" complained
Dinah, but she laughed, which showed that she did not really mean
it, and set at mixing some flour and water for the paste.
Flossie and Freddie insisted on making the paper covered hoop
themselves. They started, but they got so much of the sticky stuff
on their hands and faces that Nan feared they would soil their
clothes, so she insisted on being allowed to do the pasting for
them.
"But we can help, can't we?" asked Freddie.
"Yes," said Nan.
Even for Nan covering a hoop with paper was not as easy as she
thought it would be. Grace and Nellie helped, but sometimes the
wind would blow the paper away just as they were ready to fold it
around the rim of the hoop. Then the paste would get on the girls'
hands.
"What are you doing?" asked Bert, as he and Charley came from the
barn. They had to stop work on their job, as they could not find a
long enough plank. The decided to get one from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber
yard, later.
"We're going to have Snap do the circus trick of jumping through
a paper hoop," explained Nan. "Only we can't seem to get the hoop
made."
"I'll do it," offered Bert, and as he and Charley had often pasted
paper on their kite frames they had better luck, and soon the hoop
was ready.
"Come, Snap!" called Freddie, it having been settled that he and
Flossie were to hold the hoop for the dog to leap through. Snap,
always ready for fun, jumped up from the grass where he had been
sleeping, and frisked about, barking loudly.
"Now you hold him there, Charley," directed Bert, pointing to a spot
back of where Freddie and Flossie stood. "Then I'll go over here
and call him. He'll come running, and when he gets near enough,
Freddie, you and Flossie hold up the paper hoop. He'll go right
through it."
It worked out just as the children had planned. Snap raced away from
Charley, when he heard Bert calling. He ran right between Flossie
and Freddie, who raised the hoop just in time.
"Rip! Tear!" burst the paper, and Snap sailed through the hoop just
as he probably had often done in the circus, perhaps from the back
of a horse.
"Oh, that was fine!" cried Flossie. "Let's make another hoop!"
"Let's make a lot of 'em, and have a circus with Snap, and charge
money to see him, and then we can buy a lot of ice cream for our
party!" said Freddie.
"Oh, yes!" agreed his sister.
Well, they did make more hoops, and Snap seemed to enjoy jumping
through them. But when Mrs. Bobbsey heard about the circus plans
she decided it would make too much confusion.
"Besides, you have to help me get ready for your party," she said
to the two little twins.
This took their mind off the proposed circus, but for several days
after that they had much fun making hoops for Snap to jump through.
Bert and Charley got a long plank from the lumber yard, and spent
much time after school in the Bobbsey barn, working over their bob
sled. It was harder than they had thought it would be, and they
had to call in some other boys to help them. Mr. Bobbsey, too, gave
his son some advice about how to build it.
Flossie and Freddie liked it very much in school. The kindergarten
teacher was very kind, and took an interest in all her pupils.
"Oh, mamma!" cried Flossie, coming in one day from school, "I've
learned how to make a house."
"And I can make a lantern, and a chain to hang it on, and I can put
it in front of Flossie's house!" exclaimed Freddie. "And, please,
mother, may I have some bread and jam. I'm awful hungry."
"Yes, dear, go ask Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. "And
then you may show me how you make houses and lanterns and a chain.
Are they real?"
"No," said Flossie, "they're only paper, but they look nice."
"I'm sure they must," said their mother.
After each of the twins had been given a large slice of bread and
butter and jam, they showed the latest thing they had learned at
school. Flossie did manage to cut out a house, that had a chimney
on it, and a door, besides two windows.
Freddie took several little narrow strips of paper, and pasting the
ends together, made a lot of rings. Each ring before being pasted,
was slipped into another, and soon he had a paper chain. To make
the lantern he used a piece of paper made into a roll, with slits
all around the middle of it where the light would have come out
had there been a candle in it. And the handle was a narrow slip
of paper pasted over the top of the lantern.
"Very fine indeed," said Mamma Bobbsey. "Run out now to play. If
you stay in the house too much you will soon lose all the lovely
tan you got in the country, and at the seashore."
"Children," said the principal to the Bobbseys and all the others
in school the next day, "I have a little treat for you. To-morrow
will be a holiday, and, as the weather is very warm, we will close
the school at noon, and go off in the woods for a little picnic."
"Oh, good!" cried a number of the boys and girls, and, though it
was against the rules to speak aloud during the school hours, none
of the teachers objected.
"But I expect you all to have perfect marks from now until Friday,"
Mr. Tetlow went on. "You may bring your lunches to school with
you Friday morning, if your parents will let you, and we will leave
here at noon, and go to Ward's woods."
It was rather hard work to study after such good news, but, somehow,
the pupils managed it. Finally Friday came, and nearly every boy
and girl came to school with a basket or bundle holding his or
her lunch. Mrs. Bobbsey put up two baskets for her children, Nan
taking one and Bert the other.
"Oh, we'll have a lovely time!" cried Freddie, dancing about on
his little fat legs.
Twelve o'clock came, and with each teacher at the head of her class,
and Mr. Tetlow marching in front of all, the whole school started
off for the woods.