"Let us play you are a reg'lar fireman," said Flossie, on seeing this. "You must live in the fire-house, and I must be your wife and come to see you with the baby." And she dressed up in a long skirt and paid him a visit, with her best doll on her arm. Freddie pretended to be very glad to see her, and embraced the baby. But a moment later he made the bell ring, and throwing the baby to her rushed off again with his engine.
"That wasn't very nice," pouted Flossie. "Dorothy might have fallen in the snow."
"Can't help it," answered Freddie. "A fireman can't stop for anything."
"But--but--he doesn't have to throw his baby away, does he?" questioned Flossie, with wide open eyes.
"Yes, he does,--ev'rything."
"But--but supposing he is--is eating his dinner?"
"He has to throw it away, Flossie. Oh, it's awful hard to be a real fireman."
"Would he have to throw his jam away, and his pie?"
"Yes."
"Then I wouldn't be a fireman, not for a--a house full of gold!" said Flossie, and marched back into the house with her doll.
Flossie's dolls were five in number. Dorothy was her pride, and had light hair and blue eyes, and three dresses, one of real lace. The next was Gertrude, a short doll with black eyes and hair and a traveling dress that was very cute. Then came Lucy, who had lost one arm, and Polly, who had lost both an arm and a leg. The fifth doll was Jujube, a colored boy, dressed in a fiery suit of red, with a blue cap and real rubber boots. This doll had come from Sam and Dinah and had been much admired at first, but now taken out only when all the others went too.
"He doesn't really belong to the family, you know," Flossie would explain to her friends. "But I have to keep him, for mamma says there is no colored orphan asylum for dolls. Besides, I don't think Sam and Dinah would like to see their doll child in an asylum." The dolls were all kept in a row in a big bureau drawer at the top of the house, but Flossie always took pains to separate Jujube from the rest by placing the cover of a pasteboard box between them.
With so much snow on the ground it was decided by the boys of that neighborhood to build a snow fort, and this work was undertaken early on the following Saturday morning. Luckily, Bert was by that time well enough to go out and he did his fair share of the labor, although being careful not to injure the sore ankle.
The fort was built at the top of a small hill in a large open lot. It was made about twenty feet square and the wall was as high as the boys' heads and over a foot thick. In the middle was gathered a big pile of snow, and into this was stuck a flag-pole from which floated a nice flag loaned by a boy named Ralph Blake.
"Let us divide into two parties of soldiers," said Ralph. "One can defend the fort and the others can attack it."
"Hurrah! just the thing!" cried Bert. "When shall the battle begin?"
The boys talked it over, once it was decided to have the battle come off after lunch.
The boys went home full of enthusiasm, and soon the news spread that a read soldiers' battle was to take place at the lot.
"Oh, Bert, can't I go and look on?" asked Nan.
"I want to go, too," put in Flossie.
"Can't I be a soldier?" asked Freddie. "I can make snowballs, and throw 'em, too."
"No, Freddie, you are too little to be a soldier," answered Bert. "But you can all come and look on, if you wish."
After lunch the boys began to gather quickly, until twenty were present. Many girls and a few grown folks were also there, who took places out of harm's way.
"Now, remember," said a gentleman who was placed in charge. "No icy snow-balls and no stones."
"We'll remember, Mr. Potter," cried the young soldiers.
The boys were speedily divided into two parties, one to attack and one to defend the fort. It fell to Bert's lot to be one of the attacking party. Without loss of time each party began to make all the snowballs it could. The boys who remained in the fort kept out of sight behind the walls, while the attacking party moved to the back of the barn at the corner of the big lot.
"Are you all ready?" shouted Mr. Potter presently.
A yell of assent came from nearly all of the young soldiers.
"Very well, then; the battle may begin."
Some of the boys had brought horns along, and now a rousing blast came from behind the barn and then from the snow fort.
"Come on and capture the fort!" cried Bert, and led the way, with his arms full of snowballs.
There was a grand cheer and up the hill rushed the young soldiers, ready to capture the snow fort no matter what the cost.
CHAPTER VIII
FUN ON THE ICE
"OH, the fight is going to start!" cried Nan, in high excitement. "See them coming up the hill!"
"Will they shoot?" asked Flossie, just a bit nervously.
"Course they won't shoot," answered Freddie. "Can't shoot snowballs. Ain't got no powder in."
The attacking party was still a good distance from the fort when those inside let fly a volley of snowballs. But the snow-balls did not reach their mark, and still the others came up the hill.
"Now then, give it to them!" cried Bert, and let fly his first snowball, which landed on the top of the fort's wall. Soon the air was full of snowballs, flying one way and another. Many failed to do any damage, but some went true, and soon Bert received a snowball full in the breast and another in the shoulder. Then he slipped and fell and his own snowballs were lost.
The attacking party got to within fifty feet of the fort, but then the ammunition gave out and they were forced to retreat, which they did in quick order.
"Hurrah! they can't take the fort!" cried those inside of the stronghold, and blew their horns more wildly than ever. But their own ammunition was low and they made other snowballs as quickly as they could, using the pile of snow in the middle of the fort for that purpose.
Back of the barn the attacking party held a consultation.
"I've got a plan," said a boy named Ned Brown. "Let us divide into two parties and one move on the fort from the front and the other from the back. Then, if they attack one party, the other party can sneak in and climb over the fort wall and capture the flag."
"All right, let us do that," said Bert.
Waiting until each boy had a dozen or more snowballs, half of the attacking force moved away along a fence until the rear of the fort was gained. Then, with another cheer, all set out for the fort.
It was a grand rush and soon the air was once more filled with snowballs, much to the delight of the spectators, who began to cheer both sides.
"Oh, I hope they get into the fort this time," said Nan.
"I hope they don't," answered another girl, who had a brother in the fort.
Inside the fort the boys were having rather a hard time of it. They were close together, and a snowball coming over the walls was almost certain to hit one or another. More than this, the pile of snow around the flag was growing small, so that the flag was in great danger of toppling over.
Up the two sides of the hill came the invaders, Bert leading the detachment that was to attack the rear. He was hit again, but did not falter, and a moment later found himself at the very wall.
"Get back there!" roared a boy from the fort and threw a large lump of soft snow directly into his face. But Bert threw the lump back and the boy slipped and fell flat. Then, amid a perfect shower of snowballs, Bert and two other boys fairly tumbled into the fort.
"Defend the flag! Defend the flag!" was the rallying cry of the fort defenders, and they gathered around the flag. The struggle was now a hand-to-hand one, in which nothing but soft snow was used, and nearly every boy had his face washed.
"Get back there!" roared Danny Rugg, who was close to the flag, but as he spoke two boys shoved him down on his face in the snow, and the next moment Bert and another boy of the invading party had the flag and were carrying it away in triumph.
"The fort has fallen!" screamed Nan, and clapped her hands.
"Hurrah!" shouted Freddie.
"The forters are beaten, aren't they?"
"Yes, Freddie."
A cheer was given for those who had captured the fort. Then some of the boys began to dance on the top of the walls, and down they came, one after another, until the fort was in ruins, and the great contest came to an end.
"It was just splendid!" said Nan to Bert, on the way home. "Just like a real battle."
"Only the band didn't play," put in Freddie disappointedly. "Real soldiers have a band. They don't play fish-horns."
"Oh, Freddie!" cried Flossie. "They weren't fish-horns. They were Christmas horns."
"It's all the same. I like a band, with a big fat bass-drum."
"We'll have the band next time--just for your benefit, Freddie," said Bert.
He was tired out and glad to rest when they got home. More than this, some of the snow had gotten down his back, so he had to dry himself by sitting with his back to the sitting-room heater.
"Danny Rugg was terribly angry that we captured the fort," said he. "He is looking for the boys who threw him on his face."
"It served him right," answered Nan, remembering the trouble over the broken show window.
The second fall of snow was followed by steady cold weather and it was not long before the greater part of Lake Metoka was frozen over. As soon as this happened nearly all of the boys and girls took to skating, so that sledding and snowballing were, for the time being, forgotten.
Both Nan and Bert had new skates, given to them the Christmas before, and each was impatient to go on the ice, but Mrs. Bobbsey held them back until she thought it would be safe.
"You must not go too far from shore," said she. "I understand the ice in the middle of the lake, and at the lower end, is not as firm as it might be."
Freddie and Flossie wanted to watch the skating, and Nan took them to their father's lumber yard. Here was a small office directly on the lake front, where they could see much that was going on and still be under the care of an old workman around the place.
Nan could not skate very well, But Bert could get along nicely, and he took hold of his twin sister's hand, and away they went gliding over the smooth ice much to their combined delight.
"Some day I am going to learn how to do fancy skating," said Bert. "The Dutch roll, and spread the eagle, and all that."
"There is Mr. Gifford," said Nan. "Let us watch him."
The gentleman mentioned was a fine skater and had once won a medal for making fancy figures on the ice. They watched him for a long while and so did many of the others present.
"It's beautiful to skate like that," cried Nan, when they skated away. "It's just like knowing how to dance everything."
"Only better," said Bert, who did not care for dancing at all.
Presently Nan found some girls to skate with and then Bert went off among the boys. The girls played tag and had great fun, shrieking at the top of their lungs as first one was "it;" and then another. It was hard work for Nan to catch the older girls, who could skate better, but easy enough to catch those of her own age and experience on the ice.
The boys played tag, too, and "snapped the whip," as it is termed. All of the boys would join hands in a long line and then skate off as fast as they could. Then the boy on one end, called the snapper, would stop and pull the others around in a big curve. This would make the boys on the end of the line skate very fast, and sometimes they would go down, to roll over and over on the ice. Once Bert was at the end and down he went, to slide a long distance, when he bumped into a gentleman who was skating backwards and over went the man with a crash that could be heard a long distance off.
"Hi! you young rascal!" roared the man, trying to scramble up. "What do you mean by bowling me over like that?"
"Excuse me, but I didn't mean to do it," answered Bert, and lost no time getting out of the gentleman's way. The gentleman was very angry and left the ice, grumbling loudly to himself.
Down near the lower end of Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard some young men were building an ice boat. Bert and Charley Mason watched this work with interest. "Let us make an ice boat," said Charley. "I can get an old bed sheet for a sail, if you will get your father to give you the lumber."
"I'll try," answered Bert, and it was agreed that the ice boat should he built during the following week, after school.
CHAPTER IX
FREDDIE LOSES HIMSELF
CHRISTMAS was now but four weeks away, and the stores of Lakeport had their windows filled with all sorts of nice things for presents. Nan and Bert had gazed into the windows a number of times, and even walked through the one big department store of which the town boasted, and they had told Freddie and Flossie of many of the things to be seen.
"Oh, I want to see them, too!" cried Flossie, and begged her mother to take her along the next time she went out.
"I want to go, too," put in Freddie "Bert says there are sixteen rocking horses all in a row, with white and black tails. I want to see them."
"I am going to the stores to-morrow," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "You can go with me, after school. It will be better to go now than later on, when the places are filled with Christmas shoppers."
The twins were in high glee, and Freddie said he was going to spend the twenty-five cents he had been saving up for several months.
"Let us buy mamma something for Christmas," said Flossie, who had the same amount of money.
"What shall we buy?"
That question was a puzzling one. Flossie thought a nice doll would be the right thing, while Freddie thought an automobile that could be wound up and made to run around the floor would be better. At last both consulted Nan.
"Oh, mamma doesn't want a doll," said Nan. "And she ought to have a real automobile, not a tin one."
"Can't buy a real auto'bile," said Freddie. "Real auto'biles cost ten dollars, or more."
"I'll tell you what to do," went on Nan. "You buy her a little bottle of cologne, Freddie, and you, Flossie, can buy her a nice handkerchief."
"I'll buy her a big bottle of cologne," said Freddie. "That big!" and he placed his hands about a foot apart.
"And I'll get a real lace handkerchief," added Flossie.
"You'll have to do the best you can," said practical Nan, and so it was agreed.
When they left home each child had the money tucked away in a pocket. They went in the family sleigh, with Sam as a driver. The first stop was at Mr. Ringley's shoe store, where Mrs. Bobbsey purchased each of the twins a pair of shoes. It may be added here, that the broken window glass had long since been replaced by the shoe dealer, and his show window looked as attractive as ever.
"I heard you had a window broken not long ago," said Mrs. Bobbsey, when paying for her purchases.
"Yes, two bad boys broke the window," answered the shoe dealer.
"Who were they?"
"I couldn't find out. But perhaps I'll learn some day, and then I mean to have them arrested," said Mr. Ringley. "The broken glass ruined several pairs of shoes that were in the window." And then he turned away to wait on another customer.
Soon the large department store was reached and Mrs. Bobbsey let Freddie and Flossie take their time in looking into the several windows. One was full of dolls, which made the little girl gape in wonder and delight.
"Oh, mamma, what a flock of dolls!" she cried. "Must be 'bout ten millions of them, don't you think so?"
"Hardly that many, Flossie; but there are a good many."
"And, oh, mamma, what pretty dresses! I wish I had that doll with the pink silk and the big lace hat," added the little girl.
"Do you think that is the nicest, Flossie?"
"Indeed, indeed I do," answered the little miss. "It's too lovely for anything. Can't we get it and take it home?"
"No, dear; but you had better ask Santa Claus to send it to you," continued her mother with a smile.
Some wooden soldiers and building blocks caught Freddie's eye, and for the time being his favorite fire engines were forgotten.
"I want wooden sold
iers," he said. "Can set 'em up in a row, with the sword-man in front, an' the man with the drum."
"Perhaps Santa Claus will bring you some soldiers in your stocking, Freddie."
"Stocking ain't big enough--want big ones, like that," and he pointed with his chubby hand.
"Well, let us wait and see what Santa Claus can do," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
Inside of the store was a candy counter near the doorway, and there was no peace for Mrs. Bobbsey until she had purchased some chocolate drops for Flossie, and a long peppermint cane for Freddie. Then they walked around, down one aisle and up another, admiring the many things which were displayed.
"Bert said they had a lavater," said Freddie presently. "Mamma, I want to go in the lavater."
"Lavater?" repeated Mrs. Bobbsey, with a puzzled look. "Why, Freddie, what do you mean?"
"He means the stairs that runs up and down on a big rope," put in Flossie.
"Oh, the elevator," said the mother. "Very well, you shall both ride in the elevator."
It was great sport to ride to the third story of the store, although the swift way in which the elevator moved made the twins gasp a little.
"Let us go down again," said Freddie. "It's ever so much nicer than climbing the stairs."
"I wish to make a few purchases first," answered the mother.
She had come to buy a rug for the front hallway, and while she was busy in the rug and carpet department she allowed the twins to look at a number of toys which were located at the other end of the floor.
The Bobbsey Twins; or, Merry Days Indoors and Out / by Laura Lee Hope Page 4
