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[Illustration: FLOSSIE AND FREDDIE WATCH THE MEN AT THE SAWMILL.
_Frontispiece_ (_Page 92_)]
The Bobbsey Twins
at Cedar Camp
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES," "THE
BUNNY BROWN SERIES," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS
SERIES," "THE SIX LITTLE BUNKER
SERIES," ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
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 BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP
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
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE SUNNY SOUTH
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
SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COWBOY JACK'S
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
(Ten titles)
Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
Copyright, 1921, by
Grosset & Dunlap
_The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Freddie's Surprise 1
II. Locked Up 12
III. Thanksgiving 24
IV. Bert in Danger 34
V. Christmas Trees 42
VI. Off To Cedar Camp 54
VII. In the North Woods 65
VIII. A Nutting Party 72
IX. Sawmill Fun 87
X. A Sudden Storm 100
XI. Old Mrs. Bimby 109
XII. Mr. Bobbsey Is Worried 120
XIII. Old Jim 128
XIV. Snowed In 137
XV. A Bare Cupboard 145
XVI. Bert Starts Out 156
XVII. Trying Again 165
XVIII. A Little Searching Party 175
XIX. The Wildcat 183
XX. Snowball Bullets 198
XXI. On the Rock 213
XXII. Found at Last 231
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP
CHAPTER I--FREDDIE'S SURPRISE
Very still and quiet it was in the home of the Bobbsey twins. There was
hardly a sound--that is, of course, except that made by four figures
tiptoeing around through the halls and different rooms.
"Hush!" suddenly exclaimed Bert Bobbsey.
"Hush!" echoed his sister Nan.
They were two of the twins.
Again came the shuffling noise made by tiptoeing feet on the front
stairs.
"Quiet now, Flossie and Freddie!" whispered Bert. "Go easy, and don't
make a racket!"
He turned toward Nan, who was carrying something in a paper that rattled
because of its stiffness.
"Can't you be quieter?" asked Bert.
"It isn't me--it's this paper," Nan answered. "I should have taken some
of the tissue kind."
"I wish you had," Bert went on. "But it's too late now. We're almost
there. As soon as we get everything hidden it will be all right."
Suddenly there was a sound behind Bert and Nan as though someone were
choking. It was followed by a smothered laugh.
"What's that?" asked Bert in a sharp whisper. "Do you want to have
everybody in the house down here seeing what we're doing? Who did that?"
He spoke a bit sharply, in a tense whisper, but his voice was not really
cross. It was as though Bert were the leader of some secret band of
soldiers or of Indians, and wanted the men to do just as he had told
them.
"Who did that?" he asked again.
"I--I guess I did," answered the voice of his little sister Flossie.
"What did you do?" asked Nan. "You must try to be quiet, dear, else our
fun will be spoiled. Better take sister's hand."
"Holdin' your hand won't do any good," answered Flossie, and though she
tried to talk in a whisper it was rather a loud one. "Your hand can't
stop makin' me sneeze," Flossie went on. "Can it?"
"Oh, did you sneeze, dear?" asked Nan, who, since she and Bert were
"growing up," felt that she must take a little more motherly care of
Flossie.
"Yes, I did sneeze," Flossie answered. "An' maybe I'll sneeze more
again. I feel so, anyhow."
"Don't you dare!" exclaimed Bert.
"She didn't sneeze! Not a reg'lar sneeze!" declared Freddie, who was
carrying a cigar box. Did I mention that Freddie and Flossie were the
other pair of Bobbsey twins? I meant to, anyhow.
"If she didn't sneeze, what did she do?" asked Nan.
"I did sneeze!" insisted Flossie.
"You did not!" asserted Freddie. "You----"
"Hush! Hush!" cautioned Bert. "You'll spoil everything!"
But Freddie was not to be shut off in that way. He came to a stop in the
hall, along which the two pairs of twins were tiptoeing their way
through the house, and in the half-darkness, for the light was turned
low, he pointed his fat, chubby forefinger at Flossie, holding, the
while, his cigar box under his other arm.
"She did not sneeze--not a reg'lar, full, fair sneeze!" he declared.
"She put her hand over her mouth an' she choked, an' she made more noise
'n if she had sneezed. Guess I know what she done!"
"_Did_, dear! _Did!_" corrected Nan. "You must use right words now that
you are in regular classes at school and are out of the kindergarten.
_Did_--not _done_."
"Well, Flossie _did_ snort and she _did not_ done sneeze," went on the
fat little "fireman," as his father sometimes called him.
"I--I could 'a' sneezed if I'd wanted to," said Flossie. "Only I've an
awful loud sneeze, I have. It's louder'n yours, Freddie Bobbsey."
"'Tis not!" declared Freddie. "You wait till I tickle my nose, an' I'll
sneeze an' I'll show you! I'll show you who can sneeze loudest!"
"No, you will not!" said big brother Bert kindly, but firmly. "You two
youngsters must keep quieter, or we can't do what we're going to do. Nan
and I will take you back upstairs and mother will make you go to bed!
There!"
This was such a dreadful threat, especially as Flossie and Freddie had
been allowed to stay up past their regular bedtime hour on their promise
to be good, that they at once quieted down.
With Bert and Nan in the lead, the smaller Bobbsey twins followed their
older brother and sister. Bert reached a door opening into a large
closet near the kitchen. It was in this closet that the children were to
hide the things they were carrying, and why they were going to do this
you will soon learn.
But just as Bert was about to open the closet door, Flossie gave a
little wriggle, and, pulling her hand away from Nan--the hand that did
not hold a package--the little Bobbsey girl whispered:
"It--it's goin' to be some more, Nan!"
"What is, dear?"
"My--my ker--snee----!"
The rest was a sort of gurgle, choke, and cough mingled with a sneeze.
Flossie had covered her mouth and nose with one hand, and thus tried not
to make as much noise as she otherwise would.
"Say! everything will be spoiled," declared Bert. "I never saw such
children! We ought to 'a' made them hide their things this afternoon!"
"Flossie can't help it," said Nan kindly. "Maybe she is catching cold. I
must tell mother to give her some medicine."
"'Tisn't cold," declared Flossie. "It's some dust got up my nose. There
was dust in the closet where Freddie made me crawl to get him a cigar
box."
"What did he want of a cigar box?" asked Nan.
"Don't tell!" cautioned Freddie. "You promised you wouldn't tell,
Flossie Bobbsey!"
"All right, I won't," she promised. "Anyhow, I don't know, 'cause you
didn't tell me. But I got him a box, an' it was dusty an' it makes me
sneeze an'----"
"That's enough of this sneezing!" declared Bert. "Let's hide what we
have and get out. Dinah's in the kitchen now, and if she hears us
scuffling around she'll open the door and see us and she'll think
something is going to happen."
"Well, something _is_ going to happen," whispered Nan, with a smile. But
you could not see the smile because it was rather dark in the hall.
"To-morrow is Dinah's birthday, and, oh! won't she be surprised?"
"She'll be more surprised," said Freddie, though neither Bert nor Nan
knew just what he meant just then. Later they did.
True enough, it was the birthday of Dinah Johnson, the fat, jolly,
good-natured colored cook of the Bobbsey family, which included the four
twins. Dinah's birthday was always celebrated, especially by the twins,
who always brought out their presents as a sort of surprise.
This time they were bringing them down from their rooms the night before
the birthday, to hide the things in a big closet near the kitchen.
Thus the gifts would be ready the first thing in the morning, to give to
Dinah at the breakfast table, when daddy would call her in from the
kitchen to be surprised.
It was Bert's plan thus to hide the things ahead of time, and Flossie
and Freddie, of course, had begged to be allowed to take part.
"I guess she didn't hear anything," said Bert, after listening a moment,
for Dinah was still in the kitchen, finishing her day's work. "The
door's shut," Bert added. "Now then," he went on, after a pause, "let's
hide our things and go back upstairs. Pass yours to me, Nan."
The older Bobbsey girl did so, and just as Bert had put away his present
and hers, there was a loud sound behind him.
"What's that?" sharply whispered Bert.
"It was Freddie," answered Flossie. "An' he didn't sneeze--not at all."
"I stumbled," answered Freddie. "I'm sorry!"
"Well, it's too late for that. But I guess Dinah didn't hear," Bert
said, listening a moment. "Pass me your present, Freddie, and I'll hide
it with mine."
"I'll hide it myself," said the little fellow, and he made his way to
the closet, squirming between Nan and Flossie.
"Oh, well, do as you please," Bert agreed. And thus it was that none of
the others saw Freddie put two packages in the closet instead of one.
One package was his regular present for Dinah. The other was----
But just a moment, if you please. I want to tell this story as it should
be told.
Anyhow, Freddie slipped two packages into the closet without letting
Bert see him. One package was a cigar box, tied with a string, and a
queer scratching noise seemed to come from within it.
"There! Now everything is hid," said Bert, when Flossie's package had
been put on the shelf. "Now I'll lock the door, for mother gave me the
key, and Dinah can't open it. In the morning we'll give out the birthday
presents."
The Bobbsey twins thought that morning would never come, but it did at
last, and Dinah knew nothing of their secrets, they felt sure. With
eagerness the four children assembled at the breakfast table.
"Call Dinah in, Daddy, and let us give her the things," begged Nan.
"I want to give mine first!" insisted Freddie.
"And me next," said Flossie.
Fat Dinah came waddling in, her face all smiles.
"I 'clar to goodness! Whut's gwine on now?" she asked. "Did I forgots to
make de coffee, or am de toast burned?"
Dinah pretended to be very much alarmed, but I think she knew why she
had been called in. At least she knew something of what was going to
happen, but not all. She must have known it was her birthday, and the
children always gave her something on such occasions.
"Dinah, please sit down a moment," said Mr. Bobbsey, trying not to
smile. "I think Freddie has something to say to you."
"I--I got something to give you, Dinah!" cried the little fellow,
hurrying out to the closet, which Bert had unlocked.
"Bress yo' heart, honey lamb! Has yo' got suffin' fo' ole Dinah?" she
asked with a kind smile.
"You--you'll be s'prised," said Freddie, as he handed the fat black cook
a cigar box, tied with string.
"Why, Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "That isn't your present! Yours is
wrapped in blue paper. Don't you remember? I wrapped it up for you."
"I'll give Dinah _that_ present in a minute!" said Freddie, his eyes
shining. "I have _two_ for her!"
"Bress his heart!" murmured the cook, as she fumbled with the string.
A moment later it came off, and as the cover of the box flew open out
jumped a fat little gray mouse!
"Oh, my! Oh, mah good lan'!" screamed Dinah. "Oh, a mouse! A mouse!" and
she jumped up in such a hurry that she knocked over the chair on which
she had been sitting.