CHAPTER XVIII--A LITTLE SEARCHING PARTY
Flossie and Freddie Bobbsey were two of the kindest children in theworld. They were fond of fun and of having a good time, but whenevertheir mother did work for the church at home, helping poor families,taking food to people who had but little, Freddie and Flossie alwayswanted to do their share. So did Bert and Nan; but as the older twinshad to spend more time in school than did Flossie and Freddie, the twolatter had more chances to help their mother.
More than once they had gone with her when she carried a basket of foodor a bundle of clothing to some poor family in Lakeport. And now, inCedar Camp, having heard their father say he was going to take food toMrs. Bimby, Flossie and Freddie at once had an idea.
While Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were out of the room, talking over the comingtrip through the woods to look for Bert and Nan, as well as to take foodto Mrs. Bimby, Freddie said to Flossie:
"Let's go, too!"
"Daddy won't let us," Flossie answered.
"We--we'll tag after him," said Freddie in a whisper. "We can put on ourrubber boots and our coats and mittens, and we can go behind him. Hecan't hear us, 'cause there's so much snow our boots won't make anynoise."
"That's so," agreed Flossie. "And, oh, Freddie! I know what we can do."
"What?"
"We can take Mrs. Bimby that bear robe. It'll keep her warm, 'cause it'sso nice and soft!"
"So 'tis!" agreed Freddie. "We'll take it, and something to eat, too."
"We'll not have to do that, Daddy and the other men are going to takeher something to eat."
"I meant something to eat for us," Freddie said. "We ought to take alunch with us, 'cause maybe we'll get hungry in the woods."
The younger Bobbsey twins had a feeling that if they were seen packingup a lunch for themselves, putting on their boots and outdoor garments,and taking the bear skin, they would be stopped. They felt sure theywould not be allowed to go in search of Nan and Bert. And they wereprobably right.
So, as they had done more than once before, they said nothing of theirplans, but went about them secretly and quietly. While their mother andMrs. Baxter were packing two large baskets with food for Old Jim's wife,and while Daddy Bobbsey was talking to the men about the coming tripthrough the snow-filled woods, Flossie and Freddie took their boots,coats, caps and mittens to the back door of the log cabin.
"We can slip out and put 'em on there when nobody is looking," saidFreddie.
"We've got to take the bear skin out, too," Flossie remarked.
But when they tried to bundle the skin of the bear up so they couldcarry it, they found it so heavy and slippery to lift that they had togive it up.
"What'll we do?" asked Flossie, as, after several trials she had toadmit that the skin could not be carried. "Mrs. Bimby'll be sodisappointed!"
"We can tell her it's here, and Mr. Jim can come and get it," suggestedFreddie.
"Oh, that'll be nice!" his sister agreed. "We'll leave the skin."
How to pack up a lunch for themselves was also a hard matter. But, as ithappened, Mrs. Bobbsey was so busy getting things ready for her husbandand the other men that she did not pay much attention to what Flossieand Freddie did. She saw them moving about, now in the pantry and now inthe kitchen and again stepping to the back door, but she did not dreamthey were getting ready to set off on a search by themselves.
However, this is just what Flossie and Freddie were going to do, and,after a while, they managed to pack into a pasteboard box what theythought would be lunch enough for them until they came back with Bertand Nan.
"Put in lots of cake," whispered Freddie to Flossie, on one of thelittle girl's trips to the pantry. "Cake tastes awful good in thewoods."
"I will," Flossie whispered back. "And I got some pie, too!"
"Oh, that's fine!" Freddie exclaimed. "Now we must slip out when theydon't see us."
This the small Bobbsey twins managed to do. While Mr. Bobbsey, with OldJim and Tom Case, was making ready to start on his searching expedition,to find and bring back Bert and Nan, as well as to take food to lonelyMrs. Bimby, Flossie and Freddie slipped quietly to the back door withtheir queer package of lunch.
They soon donned their boots, coats and caps, and with their littlehands covered with warm, red mittens, they started off, keeping behindthe cabin so they would not be seen by those in front who were gettingready to start on the main searching trip. It was snowing a little, butnot nearly so hard as at first, and the wind was not so strong or cold.
"It'll be fun!" said Flossie to Freddie.
"Lots of fun!" agreed her twin. "We'll wait until daddy and Mr. Jim andMr. Case get in the woods, and then we'll follow 'em. They won't send usback!"
"No," agreed Flossie, "I don't guess they will."
The plan of the little Bobbsey twins was to follow their father on thesearch. They did not want to go through the woods alone, even though itwas now daylight, though the sun did not shine because of the snowclouds.
And so, a little while after Mr. Bobbsey and the two men started awayfrom the log cabin, Flossie and Freddie set out on their own littlesearching party. Mrs. Bobbsey and Mrs. Baxter were so busy "cleaning up"after the men left that they gave no thought to the children for a time.
"There they go!" whispered Flossie to Freddie, as, hiding behind awoodpile, they saw their father, Mr. Bimby and Tom Case start off.
"Wait a little, and then we'll go after 'em," advised Freddie.
As soon as the main party had marched off along the trail that ledthrough the woods toward the chestnut grove that Bert and Nan had setout to visit two days before, the small Bobbsey twins set forth. Theywent around behind a clump of trees so they would not be seen from thecabin.
Flossie and Freddie expected soon to catch up to their father, but thesnow was so deep and the men traveled so fast that, after trudging alongfor half an hour, Freddie and his sister had not yet come within sightof the others.
"Do you s'pose they ran away from us?" asked Flossie, as she stopped amoment to rest.
"Course not," answered Freddie. "They don't even know we're comin' after'em."
"That's so," Flossie said. "Well, anyhow, I hope we don't get lost."
"I do, too," agreed Freddie. "But we have something to eat, anyhow," andhe patted the box of lunch he carried.
The children looked around them. They were in a lonely part of thewoods, a place they had never been before, but they felt sure they wouldsoon catch up to their father. They had been following the tracks in thesnow left by the men who had gone to find Bert and Nan and take food toMrs. Bimby.
Suddenly, however, there came a harder flurry of snow, and for a timeFlossie and Freddie could not see very well. And when the little squall,as sudden storms are called, had passed, the two Bobbsey twins foundthey had wandered off to one side of the trail.
No longer could they see the footprints of their father and the othersin the snow. They had nothing to guide them!
"Freddie! Look!" cried Flossie, "Where's the path?" She called herfather's snow-track a "path."
"Why, it--it's gone!" Freddie had to admit.
And then, as the two little children stood in the lonely snow-filledwoods, they heard, near a bush, a noise that made them suddenly afraid.
It was a growl that they heard!