CHAPTER XI--OLD MRS. BIMBY
"Pooh!" exclaimed Bert Bobbsey, as he ran through the half-blindingsnowstorm toward Nan. "This isn't anything! It's only what they call asquall. I s'pose they call it that because the wind howls, or squalls,like a baby. Anyhow, I'm not afraid! It's fun, I think!"
By this time he had reached Nan's side, the two having been separatedwhen the sudden storm burst. And now that Nan saw Bert near her andnoticed that he had his bag of lunch, as she had hers, she took heartand said:
"Well, maybe it won't be so bad if we can find a place to stay, and caneat our dinner."
"Of course we can!" cried Bert. "There's lots of places to stay in thesewoods. We can find a hollow tree! I'll look for one!"
"Oh, don't!" cried Nan, as Bert moved away from her. "I don't want to gointo a hollow tree. There might be owls in 'em!"
"Well, that's so," admitted Bert. "I'm not afraid of owls," he saidquickly, "but of course their claws could get tangled in your hair. I'lllook for another place--or I can make a lean-to. That's what thelumbermen and hunters do."
"I think it would be just as easy to get under one of the big, greenChristmas trees," suggested Nan. "Look, hardly any snow falls underthem."
She pointed to a large cedar tree near them, and, as you may havenoticed if you were ever in the woods where these trees grow, scarcelyany snow drifts under their low-hanging branches.
"That would be a regular tent for us," said Nan.
"Yes," agreed Bert, peering through the storm at the tree toward whichhis sister pointed. "We could get under one of those. But I think maybewe'd better not stand still. Let's walk on."
"But toward home!" suggested Nan. "We oughtn't to go any farthergathering nuts, Bert."
"No, I guess not," he agreed. "Anyhow, we have quite a lot. We'll startback for Cedar Camp. And when we get hungry we'll stop under a Christmastree and eat. I'm beginning to feel hungry now," and Bert felt in hisovercoat pocket to make sure that the lunch, which he had put there, wasstill safe. It was, he was glad to find, and Nan had hers.
"Yes, we'll eat in a little while," she said. "But we'd better startback to camp."
So the two older Bobbsey twins started off in the blinding snowstorm,little realizing that they were going directly away from camp instead oftoward it. The wind whipped the snow into their faces, so that theycould see only a little way in advance. And as they were in a strangewoods, with only a small path leading back to camp, it is no wonder theybecame lost.
But we must not forget that we have left Flossie and Freddie, thesmaller Bobbsey twins, in trouble. In playing sawmill Freddie had tippedFlossie out of the wheelbarrow, and the little girl had rolled down theslippery pine-needle hill into the stream just above the dam.
"Come quick! Come quick!" Freddie had cried. "Flossie'll go over thewaterfall! Oh, hurry, somebody!"
He knew enough about waterfalls to understand that they were dangerous;that once a boat or a person got into the current above the falls theywould be pulled along, and cast over, to drop on the rocks below.
Poor Flossie was too frightened to cry. Besides, as she fell in her headwent under the water, and you can't call out when that happens. Flossiecould only gurgle.
Luckily, however, there were several lumbermen on the bank of thestream, floating the logs down to be snaked out by the hook and chain,and sawed into boards. One of these men, Jake Peterson, was nearest toFlossie when the little girl tumbled into the stream.
"I'll get you out!" cried Mr. Peterson.
He dropped the big iron-pointed pole with which he was pushing logs andran toward the little girl, while Freddie, trying to do all he could,slid down the slippery hill, as it was a quicker way down than byrunning.
Into the water with his big rubber boots waded Mr. Peterson, and it wasnot a quarter of a minute after Flossie had fallen in before she waslifted out.
"Oh! Oh!" she managed to gasp and gurgle, as she caught her breath,after swallowing some of the ice-cold water. "Oh, am I dr-dr-drowned?"
"I should say not!" answered Mr. Peterson. "You'll be all right. I'lltake you to mother."
By this time Mrs. Bobbsey and Mrs. Baxter had rushed out of the logcabin, and Tom Case came from his sawmill. Several other lumbermen,hearing Freddie's excited cries, came running up, but there was nothingfor them to do, as Flossie was already rescued.
"What has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw her little girl,dripping wet, in the arms of Mr. Peterson.
"She fell in," explained the lumberman. "She wasn't in more than a fewseconds, though. All she needs is dry clothes!"
"I--I dumped her in!" sobbed Freddie. "But I didn't mean to. We wereplayin' sawmill with the wheelbarrow, and I gave Flossie a ride, an' Islipped on the pine needles, and she rolled down the hill."
"Never mind, dear! You didn't mean to," answered his mother, soothingly."We must get Flossie to bed and keep her warm so she won't take cold."
With Mrs. Baxter's help, this was soon done, and in a short time afterthe accident Flossie was sitting up in a warm bed, sipping hot lemonadeand eating crackers, while Freddie sat near her, doing the same.
Unless Flossie caught cold there would be no serious results from theaccident. But Mrs. Bobbsey used it as a lesson for Freddie, telling himalways to be careful when on a pine-needle-covered hill, near the waterespecially.
Flossie was enjoying her importance now, and she was begging her motherto tell her a story, in which request Freddie joined, when Mrs. Bobbsey,looking out of the window, was surprised to see how dark the clouds hadbecome all of a sudden.
"I believe we are going to have a snowstorm," she said. And a fewminutes later the snow came down so thick and fast that the lumbermenhad to stop work, because they could not see where to drive the horses,nor to guide the logs down the stream to the mill.
"My, what a storm!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, as she went to the window tolook out. "A regular blizzard!"
"We can have fun coasting down hill!" laughed Freddie. "And Flossie canbe out to-morrow, can't she, Mother?"
"Yes, I think so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey, hardly thinking of what shewas saying. "I hope Bert and Nan started back from the chestnut grovebefore this storm broke," she said. "If they are out in this it will bedreadful! I must see if daddy has come back," she added, for her husbandhad gone to see about the missing Christmas trees. "If Bert and Nan areout in this storm they will lose their way, I'm sure."
And this is just what Bert and Nan did. Clutching their bundles oflunch, and with their bags of chestnuts in their hands, the two olderBobbsey twins were struggling onward through the storm. They were warmlydressed, and it was not as cold as weather they had often been out inbefore. But they had seldom been out in a worse storm.
"Hadn't we--maybe we'd better stop and rest and eat something, Bert,"suggested Nan, after a while.
"Maybe we had," he agreed, half out of breath because it was hard workwalking uphill and against the wind. And almost before they knew it thechildren were going up a hill, though they did not remember having comedown one on their trip to the chestnut grove.
They found a sheltered place under a big cedar tree, and, crawlingbeneath its protecting branches, they sat on the bare ground, wherethere was, as yet, no snow. The white flakes swirled and drifted allabout them, but the thick branches of the tree, growing low down, made aplace like a green tent.
"It's nice in here," said Bert, as he opened his bundle of lunch.
"Yes, but we ought to be at home," said Nan.
"We'll go home as soon as we eat a little," said her brother.
But after they had each eaten a sandwich and some cookies, and Bert hadcracked a few chestnuts between his teeth and had found them rather toocold and raw to be good, the twins decided to go on.
Out into the storm they went, away from the shelter of the friendlytree. The storm was worse, if anything, and, without knowing it, Bertand Nan had become completely turned around. Every step they tookcarried them farther and farther away from their home camp. And
they hadjourneyed quite a distance from the cabin before finding any chestnuts.
"Oh, Bert!" Nan exclaimed after a while, half sobbing, "I can't go astep farther. The snow is so thick, and it's so hard to walk in. And thewind blows it in my face, and I'm cold! I can't go another step!"
"That's too bad!" Bert exclaimed. "Maybe we're almost back to camp,Nan."
"It doesn't look so," his sister answered, trying to peer about throughthe swirling flakes.
"Wait a minute!" suddenly cried Bert, as there came a lull in the blastof wind. "I think I see something--a cabin or a house."
"Maybe it's our cabin," suggested Nan, "though I don't remember any ofthe trees around here. There aren't any cut down here as there are incamp."
"Well, I see something, anyhow," and Bert pointed to the left, offthrough the driving flakes. "Let's go there, Nan."
Through the storm the children struggled, hand in hand. They reached alog cabin--a lonely log cabin it was, standing all by itself in themidst of a little clearing in the woods.
"This isn't our camp, Bert!" said Nan.
"No," the boy admitted. "But somebody lives here. I see smoke comingfrom the chimney. I'm going to knock."
With chilled fingers Bert pounded on the cabin door.
"Who's there?" asked a woman's voice above the racket of the storm.
"Two of the Bobbsey twins!" answered Nan, not stopping to think thateveryone might not know her and her brother by this name.
"Please let us in!" begged Bert. "We're from Cedar Camp! Who are you?"
"I'm Mrs. Bimby," was the answer, but neither Bert nor Nan recognizedthe name. A moment later the cabin door was opened, and an old womanconfronted them. She looked at the two children for a moment; then, "Didyou bring any news of Jim?" she asked.
The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp Page 12
