CHAPTER X--A SUDDEN STORM
While Flossie and Freddie were having such fun at the real sawmill, andbefore Freddie had, by accident, upset Flossie down the pine needle bankinto the brook above the mill dam, Bert and Nan were trudging alongthrough the woods on their way to the chestnut grove, about which JimDenton had told them.
"Aren't you glad we came to Cedar Camp, Bert?" asked Nan.
"I sure am!" answered her brother. "It's like having two vacations inthe same year. We had fun out West, and we'll have fun here."
"We can have a party when we get back, and roast the chestnuts,"suggested Nan.
"I hope we get a lot," went on Bert, kicking aside the pine cones anddried leaves. "We'll want some for Flossie and Freddie."
"Yes, and for daddy and mother," added Nan. "They like chestnuts, too."
The day had started as a bright and sunny one, though it was colder uphere in the North Woods than down in Lakeport. But Bert and Nan werewarmly dressed, and they were so accustomed to being out of doors that alittle cold did not bother them.
But though the sun had shone brightly when they had started on theirnutting trip, they had not gone far before the sky began to be overcastwith clouds. Not that Bert and Nan minded this. They were too busylooking for chestnut trees and thinking what a good time they werehaving to mind the weather.
For it was fun just to walk through the woods and breathe the sweet,spicy odors of the pine and cedar trees. The ground underfoot wasthickly carpeted with dried leaves and pine needles, so that thefootfalls of the older Bobbsey twins made scarcely any sound as theywalked along.
It was so quiet that the children heard many sounds in the forest whichwas all about them. They were following a path that led along PineBrook, and Jim Denton had said that if they kept to this path they wouldcome after about a mile's walk to a grove of chestnut trees.
"And if you don't find any nuts there, keep on a little farther," thelumberman had said. "The squirrels and chipmunks can't have taken all ofthem."
So interested were Bert and Nan that they paid little attention to theweather. In fact, they could scarcely see the sky at times. This wasbecause the cedar and other trees were so thick overhead.
As they were going along the path where the pine needles made a thickercarpet than usual, Bert, who was in the lead, came to a sudden stop.
"What's the matter?" asked Nan, shifting from one hand to the other thebundle of lunch she carried.
"I thought I heard something," said Bert in a low voice.
A moment later there was no doubt of this, for both he and his sisterheard a grunting noise in the bushes, and then they heard the rustle ofdried leaves and the snapping of twigs.
"Oh, Bert! Maybe it's a bear!" cried Nan, clinging to her brother.
"A--a bear!" gasped Bert. He hardly knew what else to say.
"Oh, look!" gasped Nan. She pointed toward a bush, and, coming out fromunder it, was a little animal, somewhat larger than a rabbit, but withdifferent kind of fur, small ears, and with a tail that seemed to haverings of fur around it.
"It's a little bear!" gasped Nan. "Oh, Bert! we'd better run back tocamp before the big bear comes."
Bert looked at the furry animal, whose bright eyes peered at the Bobbseytwins, and then Nan's brother laughed.
"I know what it is!" he said. "It's a raccoon. I can tell by the ringson its tail."
"A raccoon!" gasped Nan. "Will it--will it hurt us?"
"No," answered Bert, and this was borne out a moment later, for with asnorting grunt the raccoon turned and scurried away into the bushes.
"There!" said Bert. "He's gone!"
"I'm glad of it," returned Nan, with a sigh of relief. "I don't likeraccoons when I'm chestnutting."
"They're nice!" declared Bert. "I wish I could see him again."
But the raccoon did not show itself, probably being just as muchfrightened at having seen the Bobbsey twins as Nan was at getting aglimpse of the ring-tailed creature.
Over this little fright, the Bobbsey twins walked on again, and soonthey had reached the grove that the foreman had told them about.
"This must be the place--there are chestnut trees here," said Bert. Hisfather had taught him how to tell the more common sorts of trees bymeans of their leaves and bark.
"Well, let's look for chestnuts," proposed Nan.
With sticks the children began poking among the leaves, turning themover, for the little brown nuts, when the frost has popped them out oftheir prickly shells, have a great trick of hiding under the leaves.
"Oh, I've found one!" cried Nan. "Two--three! Oh, Bert, I've foundthree!"
She held out her hand with three shining brown nuts in it.
"Ought to be a lot more than that here," said Bert, still poking awayamong the leaves. "There's lots of trees and fresh burrs here. I guessthe squirrels and chipmunks have been here too."
"Oh, I've found two more! I'm beating you!" laughed Nan, as she pickedup more nuts.
"I've found one, anyhow, and it's a big one," cried Bert, as he pickedup his first. "But there aren't as many as I thought there would be."
The children continued to pick up a few nuts at a time, but there werenot so many scattered over the ground as the lumberman had led them toexpect.
"There's the chap who's been taking the nuts!" suddenly cried Bert.
"Who?" asked Nan, looking up after stooping to pick two of the brownprizes from a bursted burr.
"That squirrel!" cried Bert, pointing to one of the big-tailed grayfellows, sitting on a tree and looking down at the Bobbsey twins. "Heand the chipmunks can soon clean up a chestnut grove."
Just then a red squirrel, one of the most noisy chatterers of the woods,caught sight of the children and began to "scold" them. Oh, what aracket he made, his thin tail jerking from side to side as he gave hisshrill cries! Bert and Nan laughed at him.
"He's had his share of nuts," said Bert, "and he's mad 'cause we'retaking some, I guess. But we aren't getting as many as we'd like."
"No," agreed Nan. "Maybe if we go on a little farther we'll find more."
"We'll try," agreed Bert and, almost before they knew it, the twochildren had wandered some distance from the place where Mr. Denton hadtold them to stop.
"Oh, look! There's a pile of nuts here!" cried Nan, reaching anothergrove of chestnut trees. "The squirrels haven't been here yet! Goodie!"
This was evident, for it did not take long, poking among the driedleaves, to show that the chestnuts were quite thick on the ground. In ashort time Bert and Nan had half filled the salt bags they had broughtwith them to hold their spoils of the woods.
"Oh, this is great!" cried Nan, straightening up after four or fiveminutes of picking nuts from the ground.
"A little more of this and we'll have enough," said her brother.
But just then Nan looked up at the sky, which she could see through theoverhead trees, and what she saw in the heavens made her exclaim:
"Bert, I believe it's going to storm! Look at the clouds! And it'sgetting ever so much colder, too!"
Indeed there was a chill in the air that had not been present when theBobbsey twins started out that morning.
"Well, we'll go back in a few minutes," Bert suggested. But a littlewhile after he had said this, there was a quick darkening of the air,the wind began to blow, and, so suddenly as to startle the children,they found themselves enveloped in such a blinding, driving squall ofsnow that they could not see ten feet on either side!
"Oh, Bert!" cried Nan. "It's a blizzard! Oh, shall we ever get back toCedar Camp and to mother?"