CHAPTER XIII
THE "RESCUE" OF FREDDIE
During the rest of the play the attention of Freddie and Flossie, who satnear him, was divided between Laddie, the new boy, and the thingshappening on the stage. Both were so jolly--the funny things the actorsdid and the chance of having a new playmate--that the two smaller Bobbseytwins did not know which was best.
"Don't you like this show?" asked Freddie of Laddie, when the curtain wentdown again.
"Yes. It's great! But I'm glad you're comin' to play with me," Laddieanswered.
"So'm I," answered Freddie. "You're glad too, aren't you, Flossie?"
"Of course I am," said the little girl.
"Does _she_--_she_ play with you?" asked Laddie, nodding his head towardFreddie's little sister, as if in surprise.
"Of course she does. We have lots of fun. Why?"
"But she's a _girl!_"
"Of _course_ she's a girl," agreed Freddie. "She couldn't be my sister ifshe wasn't a _girl_. I've got another sister, too, but she's bigger. She'ssitting on the end of the row. She plays with Bert and Flossie plays withme. We're two sets of twins. Don't you like girls?"
"Well, I don't know," said Laddie slowly. "I never played with 'em much.I--I like your sister, though. She can play with us. Do you ever playstore?"
"Lots of times," said Freddie. "We take some dirt for sugar, some littlestones for eggs, some big stones for loaves of bread, clam shells andpieces of tin for dishes--we have lots of fun like that. But we haven'thad any fun that way since we came to New York. I fell on a turtle's backin the 'quarium, though, and had a ride."
"You did!" cried Laddie, so loudly that many persons in near-by seatsturned to smile at him.
"Sure I did," answered Freddie. "I'll tell you about it. I was scared atfirst, but----"
"Laddie, dear, the curtain is going up and you had better keep quiet,"said the elderly lady who was with the new boy.
"Is she your mother?" Freddie asked.
"No, she's my aunt. My mother is out in California, but she's comin' homesoon, and I'm glad of it, though my aunt is awful nice."
"Hush!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, thinking it was Freddie talking, for nowthe last act had started. So the two little boys quieted down, each oneresolved to start talking again as soon as he could.
The last act of the show proved to be uproariously funny, and Freddielaughed and laughed until he was in danger of rolling on the floor again.But he was held fast in his seat, and so that danger was averted.
"Say, Freddie, wouldn't you like to be an actor man?" questioned Flossie,during a brief interval in the play.
"Sure, I'm going to be an actor man when I grow up," responded her brotherquickly.
"But you're going to be a fireman too, ain't you?" queried his sister.
"Of course! I'm going to be an actor man and a fireman too," repliedFreddie. "I can act in a theatre when there aren't any fires to be putout."
"But what would you do if you were all dressed up as an actor man when youhad to go out to ?" asked his sister.
"Oh, I'd just tell the people that I couldn't act any more, and then I'drun right out and get my engine," answered Freddie simply.
"I guess I'd like to be an actor man too," put in Laddie. "I heard a bigboy tell once that they earn bushels and bushels of money."
"Sure, they do," answered Freddie. "They make a thousand dollars a minute,I guess."
The play ended in a jolly lot of fun and music, and everybody was laughingwhen the final curtain went down. Fathers and mothers, who had come tobring their children, talked with one another, though they were strangers,and it was because of this that Mrs. Bobbsey, when Freddie and Laddiestarted to talk together again about the turtle ride, nodded and smiled atthe elderly lady with whom Laddie had come to the theatre.
"My little boy seems to have taken quite a fancy to yours," said thetwins' mother.
"Oh, he isn't my boy, though I love him as though he were," said thislady. "Laddie is my sister-in-law's boy, but she is in California. Myhusband and I are taking care of Laddie."
"And Freddie is coming to play store and steam cars and automobile andsteam engine, with me, and--and----"
Laddie paused, trying to think of something else.
"Fireman," said Freddie. "We're going to play fireman."
"Oh, yes," agreed Laddie. "I forgot about that. We're going to playfireman."
"And I'm going to play with 'em," added Flossie.
"Yes, she can come," said Laddie to his aunt. "I guess I'll like her,though I don't know much about playin' with girls," he added.
"Well, you seem to have it all settled," laughed his aunt. The Bobbseysand their new friends were standing in the theatre aisle, waiting for thecrowds ahead of them to pass out.
"We're strangers in New York," added Mrs. Bobbsey. "We are staying at theParkview Hotel----"
"Why, that's where my husband and I have been living for a number ofyears," said Freddie's aunt. "My husband has a department store in Harlem,but he likes to live in this section. I like the hotel very much. Won'tyou let me call to see you?"
Mrs. Bobbsey said she would be very glad to, and so the two ladies, havingthus met, became friends, which Laddie and Freddie had done a little whilebefore. Laddie's aunt, whose name was Mrs. Whipple, said she would be gladto have Freddie and Flossie, as well as Nan and Bert, come in to play withLaddie.
"Though I am afraid your two larger twins are rather old for our smallboy," said Mrs. Whipple, who had no children of her own.
"Yes, Nan and Bert are getting a little older," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "ButFreddie and Flossie will be delighted to have a new play-fellow."
So it was arranged that the next day the two small twins were to go to theWhipple apartment to play with Laddie, and Flossie and Freddie couldhardly wait for that time to come.
"Oh, I think New York is just the _nicest_ place!" said Flossie, as shetalked with Freddie about whether or not she might bring one doll with herwhen she went to Laddie's hotel home.
"It's dandy!" said Freddie. "Don't you wish you were coming with us,Bert?"
"Pooh! Dad is going to take _me_ to see the airships go up down atGovernor's Island. They go up even in Winter, for the airmen want to getused to the cold, I guess," Bert said.
"Oh, I want to see the airships!" cried Freddie. "Can't Daddy take me,too?" he asked his mother.
"Well, not this time, Freddie," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You and Flossie aregoing to have some fun with Laddie. I'll take you later."
And with this the small twins had to be satisfied. So, while Nan and Bertwere taken downtown, to get a glimpse of the airships flying over New Yorkbay, which the bird-like craft did, in charge of army officers, whowished to learn to fly, even when there was snow on the ground, the smalltwins, taking some of their toys with them, went to the hotel rooms whereLaddie Dickerson lived with his aunt.
"Did you bring the bugs that go around and around and around?" askedFlossie, as their mother knocked at Mrs. Whipple's door.
"Yep," answered Freddie, "And I brought my toy fire engine, too. I wonderif she'll let us squirt real water?" and he nodded toward the door thatwas not yet opened by Laddie's aunt.
"You mustn't do that unless you are told you may," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Ifyou squirt water you may spoil the wall paper."
"We'll be careful," promised Freddie, and then Mrs. Whipple's maid openedthe door, and the twins went in to have a good time.
Laddie was very glad to see them, and he was much amused at the"go-around" bugs. He had a number of toys of his own, and when thechildren were tired of playing with them, and with those the Bobbsey twinshad brought, they began to have a make-believe store.
"I've got some real store boxes and things," said Laddie, as he broughtthem out from his play-room.
"Oh, they _are_ real!" cried Flossie, as she saw them. "Isn't they grand!Where'd you get 'em?"
"My Uncle Dan gave them to me," said Laddie. "He keeps a real store, andhe sells hats and dresses and lots of things."
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br /> "What's the name of his store?" asked Freddie.
"He's Daniel Whipple," answered Laddie. "He is my mother's brother--hername was Whipple, too, before she was married to my father. And my middlename is Whipple. I go to my Uncle Dan's store lots of times; it's an awfulbig one."
"I know it is!" cried Freddie. "I've been in it!"
"You have?" cried Laddie in surprise.
"When?" asked Flossie. "When were we in Laddie's uncle's store?"
"Don't you 'member?" went on Freddie. "It was the time the monkey chewedyour hat, Flossie. We went into a store to buy a new one, and Daddy camethere and found us and the man's name was Whipple."
"That's right--it was," agreed Flossie. "Oh, isn't that _funny!_ And nowwe're playing with _you_, Laddie."
"It is queer, I'm going to tell my aunt."
And when Laddie did, Mrs. Whipple remembered having heard her husband tellabout the two little lost children who came into his department storeafter a street-piano monkey had spoiled a little girl's hat.
"And to think _you_ two are those same children!" cried Mrs. Whipple. "Itis quite remarkable, and New York such a big place as it is. I must tellmy husband. He's Laddie's uncle, you know."
"I've got another uncle, too, but we don't know where he is," went onLaddie.
"Is he lost at sea?" asked Freddie. "If he is, I know how to find him.Just ask Tommy Todd's father. He was shipwrecked, and me and Flossie foundhim in a snow storm."
"You must tell me about that some time," said Mrs. Whipple. "But Laddie'sother uncle isn't lost at sea, so far as we know. It's too sad a story totell to children. But Mr. Whipple has a brother, who is also a brother toLaddie's mother, but this brother has long been lost."
"How'd he get lost?" asked Freddie. "Did he go to the store and couldn'tfind his way back?"
"No, my child. It was different from that. I'll tell you, perhaps, anothertime. Go on with your play now."
So Laddie, Freddie and Flossie went back to their "store," and had lots offun. Then they played other games, using Freddie's fire engine andLaddie's train of cars, and even Flossie's doll, who rode as a passenger.
"Well, what'll we do next?" asked Freddie, when he and Laddie had takenturns squirting water from the fire engine in the bath room.
"Let's play automobile," said Laddie. "I can get----"
He stopped talking and seemed to be listening.
"What's the matter?" asked Flossie, as Laddie hurried to a window thatlooked down into a side street.
"It's a fire!" cried Laddie. "I can hear the puffers! Come on! It's rightdown this side street!"
Flossie and Freddie looked out of the window long enough to see a crowd ofpeople in front of a store not far from the hotel, which was on a corner.And in the street, which was a side one, as Laddie had said, were a numberof fire engines.
"Let's go down!" cried Freddie, all excited at what he saw.
"Oh, you mustn't!" gasped Flossie.
"Course we can," declared Laddie. "My aunt always lets me look at a firewhen it's near here, and this is awful close. Maybe this hotel will burndown."
"Oh-o-o-o!" cried Flossie. "Where's my doll?" And she ran to get her pet.
"Come on, we'll go!" said Freddie to Laddie. "Girls don't like fires, butwe boys do."
"Sure," said Laddie. "We'll go, all right. My aunt's looking out the frontwindow, and we can go out the side door and down the elevator," he wenton. "I know all the elevator men, 'cause I've lived in this hotel a wholeyear. My aunt won't care 'cause she won't see us, so she won't beworried. I don't like her to worry."
"Me either," said Freddie. So the two little boys, making sure Mrs.Whipple was still looking from the front windows of her apartment, to seewhat all the excitement was about, stole out of a door into the side halland so reached the elevators.
"Down, George!" called Laddie to the colored elevator man.
"Down it am, Master Laddie," was the good-natured answer. "Where is yo'allgwine?"
"To see the fire," was the answer. "Don't he talk funny?" asked Laddie ofFreddie, as they left the elevator at the ground floor.
"He talks just like our colored cook, Dinah," said Freddie. "Did you eversee her?"
"Nope."
"You ought to eat some of her pancakes," went on Freddie. "I'll write,when I have a chance, and ask her to send you some."
"Oh, hear the engines whistlin'!" cried Laddie. "Hurry up, or maybethey'll be gone before we get there."
The fire was not near enough to the hotel to cause any danger, though manyof the hotel guests were excited, and so no attention was paid to thesmall boys, Freddie and Laddie, as they hurried out to see all that wasgoing on. There was a crowd in the side street and more engines and hookand ladder trucks were dashing up to help put out the fire.
From the blazing store great clouds of black smoke were pouring out, andfiremen were rushing here and there. Laddie looked for a while at theexciting scene and then he called to Freddie:
"I'm going back and get my aunt. She likes to look at fires."
"All right; I'll wait for you here," Freddie said. They had been standingnot far away from the side entrance to the hotel, and as Laddie turned togo back after his aunt, Freddie walked down the street a little way,nearer the fire.
"I can see Laddie and his aunt when they come," thought the small boy.
But just then a bigger crowd, anxious to watch the fire, came around thecorner, and, rushing down the narrow side street, fairly pushed Freddieahead of them.
"Here! Wait a minute! I don't want to go so fast!" cried the littlefellow. "I want to wait for Laddie!"
No one paid any attention to him, and he was swept along, half carried offhis feet by the rush, until at last he found himself standing alone,almost in front of the burning store.
"Oh, I can see fine here!" thought Freddie. "I wish Laddie and his auntwould hurry and come here. Wow! This is great!"
Freddie was so excited watching the puffing engines, seeing the big blackclouds of smoke, and the leaping, darting tongues of lire from the windowsof the burning building, also watching the firemen squirt big streams ofWater on the blaze, that he did not think of himself, and the first herealized was when some one shouted at him:
"Stand back there, youngster!"
Freddie did not know he was the "youngster" meant, and stood where he was.
"Get back there!" cried the voice again. "You may be hurt!"
But Freddie was busy watching the fire. He wished he had brought his ownlittle engine with him.
"I could squirt water on some of the little sparks, anyhow," he said tohimself. "I guess I'll go back and get it, and find Laddie and his aunt."
Freddie was about to turn when suddenly he saw a fireman in a white rubbercoat, which showed he was one of the chiefs, or head men, rushing towardhim.
"Get back! Get back!" cried this fireman. "Don't you know you're insidethe fire lines!"
Then for the first time Freddie noticed that back of him was stretched arope, behind which stood the crowd of men and boys. Freddie was so smallthat he had slipped under the rope, not knowing it. He had either slippedunder himself or been pushed by the throng.
"Get back! Get back!" cried the fireman.
The next instant there was a loud noise, as if a gun had been fired, andFreddie felt himself being lifted up and carried along quickly.
The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City Page 13
