The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat

by Laura Lee Hope

  CHAPTER VII

  THE TWO COUSINS

  "Oh, Freddie! What has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.

  "It--it's the---" began Freddie, but that was as far as he got, forjust then the stream of water from his toy engine spurted right intohis open mouth.

  "Shut it off!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Here, I'll do it!"

  He started across the kitchen floor.

  "Look out, Massa Bobbsey!" yelled Dinah. "It'll cotch yo' shuah. Itdone cotched me!" and then as she saw the little rubber hose ofFreddie's fire engine swing around, and the nozzle point at her, thefat cook ran into the dish-closet and shut the door.

  "How did it happen?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, not so excited, now that shefound nothing serious was the matter.

  "Freddie--Freddie--he wanted to try how his fire engine worked, 'causehe hadn't played with it this week," explained Flossie. Freddie wasbusy wiping the water from his face. "So he filled the tank, and woundit up, and now--and now--it won't--it won't stop-squirtin'!" went onFlossie. "It--it---"

  And then she, too, had to stop talking, for the hose was spurtingwater at her now.

  "I'll shut it off. Something must be the matter with the spring," saidMr. Bobbsey. He walked toward Freddie's fire engine, which was prettylarge, for a toy. But before he reached it, the water hose had swungaround, and, instead of sprinkling Flossie, was aimed at Mr. Bobbsey.However he did not mind. Holding the newspaper in front of his face,Freddie's father reached the fire engine, and turned off the machinerythat pumped the water.

  "There!" he cried. "The fire's out! The only damage is from water,"and he laughed, for he was wet, and so were Mrs. Bobbsey, Flossie andFreddie; and the kitchen itself was pretty well sprinkled.

  "What's it all about?" asked Bert, for he and Nan, who had beenstudying their lessons, had heard the noise of the excitement, and hadrun to the kitchen to see what had caused it.

  "Oh, Freddie turned in a false alarm," said Mr. Bobbsey. "How did youcome to put water in your engine, when mamma has told you not to do soin the house?" he asked the little boy.

  "Be--be--cause," said Freddie slowly, "I wanted to see if itwould--work. I'm going to take it on the houseboat with me."

  "Well, I guess it WORKED all right," Bert said, as he looked around atthe wet kitchen. Luckily there was oil cloth on the floor, and thewalls were painted, so the water really did no harm.

  Dinah slowly opened the door of the dish-closet, and peered out.

  "Am it all done, honey lamb?" she asked, looking at Freddie.

  "Yes, Dinah! It's all done squirtin'," he said. "I guess there isn'tany more water, anyhow."

  "No," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a smile, as he looked in the tank of theengine, "it's all pumped out."

  Freddie's toy fire engine was a large and expensive one his uncle hadgiven him on Christmas. It was made as nearly like a real engine aspossible, only instead of working by steam, it worked by a spring.When a spring was wound up, it operated a small pump in the engine.The pump made water spurt out through a little rubber hose, and thewater for the engine was poured into a tank. The tank held about twogallons, so you see when it was all pumped out in the kitchen, andspurted on those in the room, it made them pretty wet.

  "It's clean water," said Nan, when every one had somewhat cooled down,"and it's so warm to-night, I wouldn't mind being sprayed with a hosemyself."

  "Still, Freddie shouldn't have done it," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I havetold you not to play with your engine in the house, when it had waterin it, Freddie. How did you come to disobey me?" she asked, forusually the little fellow was very good about minding.

  "I--I didn't mean to, mamma," he said "First I just wanted to see ifthe engine tank leaked, so I put in some water. I didn't think itwould hurt, out here on the kitchen oil cloth, and honestly I wasn'tgoing to squirt it."

  "No, I suppose not," said Mr. Bobbsey, wiping the water from his face,and glancing at his soaked newspaper.

  "So I just filled the tank with water from the sink," explainedFreddie.

  "I--I helped him," confessed Flossie, ready to take her share of theblame.

  "What happened next?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

  "Why--er--I just wanted to see if the spring was all right, so I woundthat up," Freddie went on. "Then I sort of forgot about the water inthe tank, and before I knew it, why it--it went off--sudden like."

  "Land ob massy! I should say it done did go off--suddint laik!"exclaimed Dinah. "Fust I knowed I was dryin' de dishes an' den I got amouth full ob watah. I shuah did t'ink a watah pipe had done gone an'busted. I shuah did!"

  "It--it just kept on squirtin'!" said Freddie. "I couldn't stop itlike it always used to stop."

  "No, the pump is out of order," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he looked at thenow empty fire engine. "It wouldn't stop pumping. Well, I'm glad itwasn't a real fire, and glad that no one is hurt. Put your engine awaynow, Freddie, and, after this, don't play with water in the house,when mamma has told you not to."

  "I won't," promised Freddie. "But it's a good engine, isn't it?"

  "Oh, yes, it's a good engine, all right."

  "And I can take it on the houseboat, can't I?"

  "Yes, but you won't need to put any water in. There'll be enough inthe creek and lakes," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a smile. "Come now,Flossie and Freddie, you are wet, so you might as well get undressedand go to bed. It is nearly time, anyhow, and you have had quite a dayof it. Off to bed!"

  Off to bed the twins went.

  Dinah wiped up the kitchen, and, as she did so, she murmured over andover again: "It shuah did go off suddint laik! It shuah did!"

  Flossie and Freddie, little the worse for their wetting, went off toschool next day, with Nan and Bert. The two sets of twins talked ofmany things on their way to their classes, but, most of all, theytalked of the coming trip on the houseboat, and of the accident to thefire engine the night before.

  "I do hope Cousin Dorothy can come with us," said Nan, as she leftBert to walk along with Nellie Parks.

  "And I hope Harry can go," said Bert. "Better hurry along, Freddie,"he called to his little brother. "There goes your bell, and yours,too, Flossie."

  The two little tots turned into the gate of the school that led to theyard where the smallest pupils formed in line.

  "Well, even if Harry and Dorothy can't go, I'll take my fire engine,"said Freddie.

  "And we'll take Snoop and Snap, so we won't be lonesome," suggestedFlossie. "Oh, won't it be fun, Freddie!"

  "Yes, I wish it was time to go now. I'm tired of school," said thelittle fellow.

  But school must go on, whether there are houseboat parties or not, sothe Bobbsey twins had to study their lessons. I think that day,however, Bert must have been thinking of other things than his books,for when the teacher asked him what an island was, Bert gave a queeranswer. Instead of saying it was a body of land, surrounded by water,Bert said:

  "An island is a fire engine in the kitchen."

  "Why, Bert Bobbsey! What ARE you thinking of?" asked the teacher.

  "Oh, I--I was thinking of something that happened at our house lastnight," Bert went on, while all the children in the room laughed.

  "Then you'd better tell us about it," suggested Miss Teeter, theinstructor, for she was very kind. So Bert told of Freddie's mishap,and how it was he happened to be thinking of that instead of the rightanswer to the question about the island.

  "I hear you have a houseboat, Bert," said John Blake, a boy in thesame room, as the children came out of school that afternoon.

  "Yes, my father bought the one Mr. Marvin owned," said Bert. "It's afine one, too. We're going to have a trip in her soon."

  "You're a lucky boy!" exclaimed John. "Can't you take me down and showme over the boat?"

  "I'd like to," said Bert, "but father said I wasn't to go aboard, whenhe was not with me."

  "Pooh! He'll never know," suggested Danny Rugg, a boy with whom Berthad had more or less trouble. "You needn't tell your father you wentto the boat. Come on, take us down and let's see it
."

  "No," said Bert, quietly but firmly. "Maybe my father wouldn't know Ihad been on board, but I'd know it."

  "Aw, you're a fraid-cat!" sneered Danny. "Come on, take us down, andwe'll have some fun."

  "No," said Bert with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry. Some other time,after I've asked my father if I may, I'll show you all over theBluebird."

  "I want to go now," Danny said.

  "Oh, there's plenty of time," spoke John, pleasantly. "I wouldn't wantBert to do what his father told him not to, just to oblige me. I'llsee the boat some other time, Bert; that will do just as well."

  "Huh! He's a fraid-cat!" muttered Danny again, as he shuffled off,muttering to himself. Several times he had made trouble for theBobbsey twins, and Bert was not any too friendly with him. Danny was abully in the school.

  Bert wished, very much indeed, that he could have taken some of hisboy friends down to the houseboat, but his father had a good reasonfor not wanting any boys aboard, unless he could be with them. Workmenwere making certain changes in the craft, and doing some paintinginside and outside.

  A few days after this, when the Bobbsey twins reached home fromschool, Mrs. Bobbsey met them at the door, saying:

  "I have good news for you, children!"

  "What is it?" cried Bert.

  "Don't we have to go to school any more?" Freddie.

  "Are we going on the houseboat sooner than we expected?" Nan wanted toknow.

  "It's about your two cousins--Harry and Dorothy," went on Mrs.Bobbsey. "They have both accepted our invitations, and they will comewith us on the trip! Won't that be nice?"

  "Lovely!" exclaimed Nan, her eyes shining with delight. "Dorothy andI'll have such nice times together!"

  "And Harry and I'll catch a lot of fish," declared Bert.

  The days went on. The houseboat was nearly ready for her trip. Verysoon school would close.

  "Come on, Bert, can't you show us over the boat now?" asked Danny Ruggone afternoon, on his way home from school, with Nan's brother, andsome other boys.

  "I can't to-day, but perhaps I can to-morrow," said Bert. "I'll ask myfather."

  "He'll never know about it," tempted Danny again, but Bert could notbe influenced that way.

  "Never mind, I'll fix you!" threatened Danny, which was what heusually said, when he could not have his own way.

  Bert thought little of the threat at the time, though later herecalled it vividly.

  It was that night, just as the smaller twins were getting ready forbed, that the telephone in the Bobbsey house rang out a call.

  "I'll answer it," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he went to the instrument."Hello!" he called. Then his wife and children heard him cry:

  "What! Is that so! That's too bad! Yes, I'll attend to it right away.I wonder how it happened?"

  "Oh, what has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, in alarm.

  "Is the lumber yard on fire again?" asked Freddie, thinking of his toyengine.

  "Not as bad as that," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he quickly put on his hat."But the watchman at the dock just telephoned me that our houseboat,the Bluebird, has gotten adrift, and is floating out into the lake."