“Catch him!” Freddie screamed.
The other passengers looked startled as Bert raced after the fleeing cat. When Snoop found a closed door in front of him he gave another leap and landed on the back of the last seat. From there he jumped to the luggage rack overhead.
“Here, Snoop. Nice kitty,” Bert coaxed softly. “Come on down.”
But Snoop crouched on a man’s briefcase and stared down. Bert climbed to the arm of the seat and reached toward the cat. Snoop moved just out of range. Bert got down.
“Oh!” Flossie cried. “Will the conductor put poor Snoop off the train?”
At that moment the door opened and the conductor came in. When he saw the smiling faces of the passengers, he looked puzzled. Bert looked out the window, hoping the trainman would not notice the cat on the rack.
But Snoop was not satisfied to leave things as they were. He gave a flying leap and landed on the conductor’s shoulder!
“What’s this?” the man cried.
Freddie ran down the aisle and stopped in front of the conductor. Snoop by this time was perched on the man’s shoulder, waving his tail across the trainman’s face.
“It’s Snoop, Mr. Conductor,” Freddie explained. “He’s a very nice cat, honestly. You won’t put him off the train, will you?”
“Not if you have a basket for him,” the man replied with a broad smile. He took Snoop in his arms and followed Freddie back down the aisle.
“You can call me Mac,” he said when Freddie introduced him to Mrs. Bobbsey, Dinah, and the girls.
“Maybe Snoop is hungry,” Mac went on, rubbing the cat under the chin and making him purr. “I might get him something from the kitchen.”
“A kitchen!” Nan exclaimed. “I thought this train had no diner?”
“You must have been looking at an old time-table,” the conductor stated. “We have a very up-to-date kitchen. Come along and I’ll show you.”
With Bert carrying Snoop, he led the four twins through several cars to the door of the narrow kitchen. The children were interested to see the gleaming cupboards and counters and the cooks in starched white aprons and caps busily preparing food.
“What’s that you’re holding?” one of them asked with a wink at Bert. “Something for the soup?”
“Oh no!” Freddie cried in alarm.
Mac chuckled. “We thought you might have a bit of fish for this extra passenger,” he said.
In another minute Snoop was daintily eating from a saucer which the cook had placed on the floor in the aisle. The sight reminded the twins of their own box of sandwiches.
They thanked Mac and the cook. Then, with Snoop held once more by Bert, they made their way back to the club section of their car.
“Snoop has made us all hungry, Mother,” Nan said when they reached their places again and put the cat back in his basket. “Is it time for lunch?”
“Yes. I think we may as well eat now.”
After Dinah had spread the tempting sandwiches out on the table a man came down the aisle carrying a large metal basket “Milk, coffee, tea, tomato juice,” he called.
“We’d like milk, please.” Mrs. Bobbsey signaled him.
The man opened little cartons of milk, stuck a straw into each one, and passed them to the children. “I like milk from a box,” Flossie announced.
When the sandwiches were gone, Nan passed the cookies and fruit.
“I can hardly wait to get to Meadowbrook,” Flossie said. “Aren’t we almost there?”
Mrs. Bobbsey looked at her watch. “We should be there in about an hour. What do you children want to do while you’re at the farm?”
“Go to the auction,” said Freddie. “I want to see that auctioneer man who talks so fast.”
“I’m going to plant a garden,” Flossie said. “All the things I like—peas, beans, ice cream—”
“You can’t plant ice cream!” Freddie interrupted and they all laughed.
“I mean things you put in ice cream, like strawberries,” Flossie defended herself.
“One thing you must be careful of,” Mrs. Bobbsey spoke up. “That’s Uncle Daniel’s bull. Never let him out of his pen.”
The twins promised to obey. Presently Flossie’s eyes grew heavy. She rested her head on the table and soon was fast asleep. Before long Freddie was nodding drowsily also. Mrs. Bobbsey and Dinah had been reading books.
Nan looked at Bert. “Let’s play a game,” she suggested.
“Okay. What’ll it be?”
“Let’s watch out the window and spot things beginning with the letters of the alphabet,” Nan proposed.
“All right. You begin.”
Nan peered from the window for a few minutes. Then she looked up at the sky. “An airplane!” she cried. “Now you have to find something starting with B.”
“I know a way to make the game harder,” Bert suggested. “You have to see something which would be found on a farm!”
Nan agreed to this. “I’ll start again.” She scanned the countryside as the train sped along. “We’re going so fast, it’s hard to see anything small,” she complained.
Just then the train slowed as it went through the main street of a little village. “An axe I” Nan called, pointing to the tool which was leaning against the side of an old barn.
“Good!” said Bert. “Now it’s my turn to find a B.”
The twins gazed out the window for a while, then Bert cried, “I see a bridge and a barn. They both might be found on a farm!”
The game went on. Nan saw a cow, then Bert spotted a dog running across a field. Next Nan pointed to a woman walking toward a farmhouse with a basket of eggs on her arm.
“Now it’s your turn with an F,” Nan announced.
At that moment a small flock of birds rose from a field. As they flew low over the high grass Bert exclaimed:
“Pheasants!”
Nan looked startled then burst into giggles. “Silly!” she said. “Pheasant doesn’t begin with an F!”
Bert grinned sheepishly. “I guess you’re right, Nan.” He turned to the window again, then announced, “There’s a flag. Every farm should have a flag!”
Nan started to protest but just then their friend Mac the conductor came into the car. “Next stop Meadowbrook!” he called. “Passengers for Meadowbrook out this way!”
Mrs. Bobbsey closed her book and called across the aisle, “Freddie! Flossie! Wake up! We’re coming into Meadowbrook.”
The small twins sat up, sleepily rubbing their eyes. Dinah picked up the box which had held the lunch and walked with Bert to get the luggage.
The young twins had their noses pressed to the car window as the train drew into the station. “I see them!” Freddie shouted. “There’s Uncle Daniel! And Harry!”
He slipped off the seat and hurried to the door, with the others following close behind.
Uncle Daniel, tall and strong-looking, was at the steps with Harry to help them down to the platform with their luggage. “My, it’s good to see you!” they said.
As the train began to move off Freddie suddenly let out a scream. “Snoop! We forgot Snoop!” he yelled.
CHAPTER III
FRISKY, THE RUNAWAY
FLOSSIE took up the cry. “Snoop! Please get Snoop!”
As soon as Bert realized their pet was still in the club car, he ran alongside the train, hoping to jump up on the steps.
“Bert, come back!” Mrs. Bobbsey cried. “You’ll get hurt!”
Her son stopped uncertainly. The last car of the train was passing him when he looked up and saw Mac the conductor standing on the steps. The man was holding Snoop’s basket!
“Catch!” he called. Mac leaned down and tossed the wicker cage into Bert’s outstretched hands. “Here’s your friend,” he said. “Have a good time at Meadowbrook!” Then with a wave the kindly conductor climbed the steps again and the train gradually disappeared in the distance.
Freddie ran up and lifted Snoop from the basket. “Poor Snoop!” he said. “Y
ou’ll be at the farm soon and then you can run around and play with Harry’s cat!”
“Yes.” Harry’s ruddy, tanned face broke into a grin. “Fluffy gets lonesome being the only cat on the farm!”
Uncle Daniel laughed. “Come, get in the car, everyone,” he said. “Aunt Sarah is waiting for us at home.”
“How is everything on the farm?” Bert asked Harry.
“Great, and I have some special news for you.”
“What is it?”
“Major won first prize in the County Stock Show!” Harry announced proudly.
“Who is Major?” Freddie wanted to know. “Can we play with him?”
Harry chuckled. “I don’t think you’d want to play with Major. He’s our bull!”
“Oh!” said Flossie. She had already decided to admire Major from a safe distance!
The farm was not far from the village, and in a short while Uncle Daniel turned into the lane. It was bordered on each side by hedges of box-wood. The neat gravel driveway led up to a comfortable-looking white farmhouse. When the car stopped, a side door of the house opened. Aunt Sarah Bobbsey and Martha, the family cook, came out to meet the Lakeport Bobbseys.
Aunt Sarah was short and rather plump. Martha was tall and thin with a twinkle in her blue eyes. After greetings were over, Aunt Sarah said:
“Just go up to your old rooms. I know you must want to get into country clothes!”
“Hurry down!” Harry urged. “I’ll take you to see Major.”
It was a matter of only a few minutes until the twins came downstairs again, dressed in shirts and jeans, for fun on the farm. Harry led them outdoors.
“What gorgeous flowers!” Nan exclaimed, walking over to admire the beds of roses.
“May I pick one?” Flossie asked.
“Sure. Go ahead,” Harry replied. “The more you pick them, the bigger the next flowers will be!”
Flossie pulled off a huge pink bloom and stuck it into the buttonhole of her blouse. “Isn’t it bee-yoo-ti-ful?” she asked, twirling around for them all to see.
They nodded, then Harry remarked, “Major’s down beside the barn. Let’s go!”
The five children ran across the green lawn and over to the big barnyard. In a separate pen next to the white barn was the prize bull. He snorted and swung his head up and down when Harry introduced him.
“He acts as if he wants to play with us!” Freddie said in delight.
“You’d better stay away from him,” Bert advised. “Bulls can be dangerous.”
Reluctantly Freddie left Major and followed Harry and the other children over to the chicken yard. Hundreds of white hens were running about, busily pecking at the ground.
“Want to see some excitement?” Harry asked his cousins.
“Sure,” Bert said for the group.
Harry picked up a bucket of grain standing nearby. Then he scattered the contents in a wide arc. Instantly they were surrounded by chickens. Gluck, cluck, cluck. The birds cackled loudly as they pushed and shoved to get at the grain.
At one side of the chicken yard, Flossie noticed a small pen. “Why are those chickens all by themselves?” she wanted to know.
“Those aren’t chickens,” Harry replied. “They’re my new homing pigeons. Some day I’m going to take them way out in the country and send them back with a note to Mother or Martha!”
“What do you mean?” Flossie asked, curious.
Harry explained that homing pigeons can be taken long distances from where they live and when released find their way home again. “They’re sometimes used to carry messages during a war. A little capsule with a note in it is fastened to the pigeon’s leg.”
“Let’s try it now,” Freddie suggested eagerly.
Harry shook his head. “You have to let them loose away from their home. We’ll do it some day when we go on a picnic.”
The children turned back to the barnyard. “This is Frisky,” Harry said, walking up to a little black-and-white calf which was tied to a stake near the barn. As the boy stroked her, the little animal rubbed her head affectionately against his shoulder.
“She’s nice,” Freddie said admiringly. “May I ride her?”
“You don’t ride calves,” Harry explained, “only ponies and horses.”
“Then may I take her for a walk?”
“Calves don’t walk either,” Flossie volunteered. “They run.” She remembered pictures in her story books about calves kicking up their heels.
The other children followed Harry into the barn to see the horses but Freddie lingered beside the calf.
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t just take her for a little walk around the yard,” he said to himself. “That wouldn’t hurt anything.”
Quickly the little boy slipped the rope off the stake and put the loop around his wrist. “Come on, Frisky,” he said, “let’s take a walk.”
The calf went along quietly by Freddie’s side for a few minutes. “I wish Flossie would come out and see me,” he thought with a giggle.
But suddenly Frisky caught sight of the open gate and the green lawn beyond. She kicked up her back heels and made for the gate. Freddie was dragged along behind her.
“Stop, Frisky!” he called. “I can’t run so fast!”
But the little calf paid no attention and continued her dash toward the front of the house. Freddie’s cries reached the ears of his mother and Aunt Sarah who were talking on the porch.
Aunt Sarah ran down the steps. “Let go, Freddie ! Let go!” she cried.
But the loop was fast around Freddie’s wrist and he could not get it off. At that moment Frisky dashed around a small tree, winding the rope as she went. Freddie fell to the ground at the foot of the tree.
Then just as Mrs. Bobbsey and Aunt Sarah reached Freddie, the rope slipped over the calf’s head and she skittered happily away.
“Freddie dear,” his mother cried, “are you hurt?”
Freddie sat up and rubbed his arm. “I—I guess not,” he said. “Can you catch Frisky?”
“Never mind the calf,” Aunt Sarah said quickly. “Let’s see your wrist.”
When she saw that the little boy’s arm was red and scratched, they hurried him into the house for antiseptic and bandage.
In the meantime, Harry was showing the other twins two stout farm horses. “We don’t use them much any more, but Dad doesn’t like to part with them. They’re pretty old. Their names are Billy and Betty.”
“I think they’re bee-yoo-ti-ful,” Flossie said staunchly.
Just then the sound of Freddie’s cries reached the barn and the children ran to the door.
“What is Freddie doing with that calf?” Bert asked in bewilderment
“Frisky’s running away with him!” Harry exclaimed and started in pursuit.
But by the time Harry had reached the front lawn, Frisky had broken loose and Freddie was being led into the house. “See if you can catch that calf, Bert,” Mrs. Bobbsey called over her shoulder.
Flossie ran into the house to see how Freddie was, but the older twins and Harry turned to see where Frisky had gone. The black-and-white calf was standing in the vegetable garden, eating some tender young shoots.
“Hey, get out of there!” Harry cried, running toward the garden.
At the sound of Harry’s voice Frisky took to her heels again, with Harry, Bert, and Nan after her. She ran across the vegetable garden and into the orchard.
“Maybe we can trap her,” Harry proposed. “You and Nan go around one side, Bert. I’ll go around the other.”
Carefully the twins crept among the trees. Frisky stood still and eyed them warily. Then, just as the children reached her and Harry put out a hand to grab the rope, the calf bounded away!
But this time she ran toward the barn. “Good!” Bert said. “I guess she’s ready to go home.”
The three followed the runaway calf and when she headed into the barnyard, Harry heaved a sigh of relief. “She’ll be all right now,” he commented.
Wh
en the children had almost reached the barn, Freddie ran out of the house followed by Flossie. The little boy’s wrist was bandaged.
“I’m awf’ly sorry, Harry,” Freddie said as he came up to the others. “I didn’t mean to let Frisky run away. I held on as long as I could!”
“That’s all right, Freddie,” Harry said. “Frisky’s back safe and sound.”
But he had spoken too soon. Frisky still had not had enough freedom. When Harry reached for the rope to tie it to the stake the calf gave a leap and was off again!
“Catch her!” Freddie yelled.
This time Frisky dashed across the pasture and into a thicket which bordered it. When the children reached the spot where she had disappeared, they could hear the little animal thrashing through the brush.
Then came the sound of a splash! The twins turned questioning eyes to Harry. “What was that?” Bert asked.
“I’m afraid Frisky has jumped into the river!” Harry replied.
“Oh, can she swim?” Nan asked worriedly.
“I suppose so, but she’ll have a hard time in the swift current,” Harry replied.
CHAPTER IV
A SURPRISE FLAVOR
“OH NO!” Freddie wailed at Harry’s suggestion that Frisky had jumped into the river. “She —she can’t drown I”
“Maybe she didn’t go far,” Bert said. “Let’s see if we can find her.”
The little group dashed through the tangle of bushes and tall grass until they reached the river bank. There was no calf in sight either on the shore or in the water.
Freddie’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s all my fault if Frisky is drowned!” he cried. “I didn’t mean to hurt her ! I just wanted to take her for a walk!”
“Maybe that splash was from something else,” Harry said encouragingly. “I see a tree limb floating downstream. Let’s hunt for Frisky all along the shore.”
But although the five children pushed their way through the dense growth along the bank they did not find Frisky and finally turned back.
“Maybe the calf circled around and is home in the barnyard now,” Nan said hopefully. Freddie’s expression brightened somewhat.
The Bobbsey Twins' Adventure in the Country Page 2
