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the boy managed to say in chunks, for he had never had much experience with words, a very few answering for all his needs.

      The morning passed quickly to the little ones, for they had so much to think about now, and when the school children appeared around the corner Flossie and Freddie hurried to meet Nan and Bert, to tell them the news.

      “We’re going! we’re going!” was about all Freddie could say.

      “Oh, the letter came—from Aunt Sarah!” was Flossie’s way of telling the news. But it was at the lunch table that Mrs. Bobbsey finished the letter.

      “‘Tell Nan,’” she read, “‘that Aunt Sarah has a lot of new patches and tidies to show her, and tell her I have found a new kind of jumble chocolate that I am going to teach her to make.’ There, daughter, you see,” commented Mrs. Bobbsey, “Aunt Sarah has not forgotten what a good little baker you are.”

      “Chocolate jumble,” remarked Bert, and smacked his lips. “Say, Nan, be sure to learn that. It sounds good,” the brother declared.

      Just then Dinah, the maid, brought in the chocolate, and the children tried to tell her about going to the country, but so many were talking at once that the good-natured colored girl interrupted the confusion with a hearty laugh.

      “Ha! ha! ha! And all you-uns be goin’ to de country!”

      “Yes, Dinah,” Mrs. Bobbsey told her, “and just listen to what Aunt Sarah says about you,” and once more the blue letter came out, while Mrs. Bobbsey read:

      “‘And be sure to bring dear old Dinah! We have plenty of room, and she will so enjoy seeing the farming.’”

      “Farming! Ha ha! Dat I do like. Used to farm all time home in Virginie!” the maid declared. “And I likes it fust-rate! Yes, Dinah’ll go and hoe de corn and” (aside to Bert) “steal de watermelons!”

      The prospects were indeed bright for a happy time in the country, and the Bobbseys never disappointed themselves when fun was within their reach.

      CHAPTER II

      The Start

      With so much to think about, the few weeks that were left between vacation and the country passed quickly for the Bobbseys. As told in any first book, “The Bobbsey Twins,” this little family had a splendid home in Lakeport, where Mr. Bobbsey was a lumber merchant. The mother and father were both young themselves, and always took part in their children’s joys and sorrows, for there were sorrows sometimes. Think of poor little Freddie getting shut up all alone in a big store with only a little black kitten, “Snoop,” to keep him from being scared to death; that was told of in the first book, for Freddie went shopping one day with his mamma, and wandered off a little bit. Presently he found himself in the basement of the store; there he had so much trouble in getting out he fell asleep in the meantime. Then, when he awoke and it was all dark, and the great big janitor came to rescue him—oh!—Freddie thought the man might even be a giant when he first heard the janitor’s voice in the dark store.

      Freddie often got in trouble, but like most good little boys he was always saved just at the right time, for they say good children have real angels watching over them. Nan, Bert, and Flossie all had plenty of exciting experiences too, as told in “The Bobbsey Twins,” for among other neighbors there was Danny Rugg, a boy who always tried to make trouble for Bert, and sometimes almost succeeded in getting Bert into “hot water,” as Dinah expressed it.

      Of course Nan had her friends, as all big girls have, but Bert, her twin brother, was her dearest chum, just as Freddie was Flossie’s.

      “When we get to the country we will plant trees, go fishing, and pick blackberries,” Nan said one day.

      “Yes, and I’m going with Harry out exploring,” Bert announced.

      “I’m just going to plant things,” prim little Flossie lisped. “I just love melons and ice cream and—”

      “Ice cream! Can you really plant ice cream?” Freddie asked innocently, which made the others all laugh at Flossie’s funny plans.

      “I’m going to have chickens,” Freddie told them. “I’m going to have one of those funny chicken coops that you shut up tight and when you open it it’s just full of little ‘kippies.’”

      “Oh, an incubator, you mean,” Nan explained. “That’s a machine for raising chickens without any mother.”

      “But mine are going to have a mother,” Freddie corrected, thinking how sad little chickens would be without a kind mamma like his own.

      “But how can they have a mother where there isn’t any for them?” Flossie asked.

      “I’ll get them one,” Freddie protested. “I’ll let Snoop be their mamma.”

      “A cat! the idea! why, he would eat ’em all up,” Flossie argued.

      “Not if I whipped him once for doing it,” the brother insisted. Then Nan and Bert began to tease him for whipping the kitten after the chickens had been “all eaten up.”

      So the merry days went on until at last vacation came!

      “Just one more night,” Nan told Flossie and Freddie when she prepared them for bed, to help her very busy mother. Bert assisted his father with the packing up, for the taking of a whole family to the country meant lots of clothes, besides some books and just a few toys. Then there was Bert’s tool box—he knew he would need that at Meadow Brook.

      The morning came at last, a beautiful bright day, a rare one for traveling, for a fine shower the evening before had washed and cooled things off splendidly.

      “Now come, children,” Mr. Bobbsey told the excited youngsters. “Keep track of your things. Sam will be ready in a few minutes, and then we must be off.”

      Promptly Sam pulled up to the door with the family carriage, and all hurried to get in.

      “Oh, Snoop, Snoop!” cried Freddie. “He’s in the library in the box! Dinah, get him quick, get him!” and Dinah ran back after the little kitten.

      “Here you is, Freddie!” she gasped, out of breath from hurrying. “You don’t go and forget poor Snoopy!” and she climbed in beside Sam.

      Then they started.

      “Oh, my lan’ a-massy!” yelled Dinah presently in distress. “Sam Johnson, you jest turn dat hoss around quick,” and she jerked at the reins herself. “You heah, Sam? Quick, I tells you. Get back to dat house. I’se forgot to bring—to bring my lunch basket!”

      “Oh, never mind, Dinah,” Mrs. Bobbsey interrupted. “We will have lunch on the train.”

      “But I couldn’t leab dat nice lunch I got ready fo’ de chillen in between, missus,” the colored woman urged. “I’ll get it quick as a wink. Now, Sam, you rush in dar quick, and fetch dat red and white basket dat smells like chicken!”

      So the good-natured maid had her way, much to the delight of Bert and Freddie, who liked nothing so well as one of Dinah’s homemade lunches.

      The railroad station was reached without mishap, and while Mr. Bobbsey attended to getting the baskets checked at the little window in the big round office, the children sat about “exploring.” Freddie hung back a little when a locomotive steamed up. He clung to his mother’s skirt, yet wanted to see how the machine worked.

      “That’s the fireman,” Bert told him, pointing to the man in the cab of the engine.

      “Fireman!” Freddie repeated. “Not like our firemen. I wouldn’t be that kind,” He had always wanted to be a fireman who helps to put out fires.

      “Oh, this is another kind,” his father explained, just then coming up in readiness for the start.

      “I guess Snoop’s afraid,” Freddie whispered to his mother, while he peeped into the little box where Snoop was peacefully purring. Glad of

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