CHAPTER XX--SNOWBALL BULLETS
About the time that Bert Bobbsey was running through the snow, to getaway from the wildcat, Flossie and Freddie were having a scare of theirown, some miles distant from him, though in the same woods around CedarCamp.
The two smaller Bobbsey twins had gone off without letting their fatheror mother know, taking with them a lunch. They tramped through theforest until they came to a lonely place and had not yet caught sight oftheir father, who had started off ahead with Old Jim Bimby and Tom Case.Right here the small twins heard a growl and saw a movement in thebushes.
"What's that?" asked Flossie, shrinking closer to Freddie.
"I--I don't know," Freddie answered, trying to think of something tomake him brave. "Maybe it's a bear!"
"A bear?" questioned his sister.
"Yep!" Freddie went on, his eyes never moving from the bush that seemedto hide some animal. "Maybe it's a bear like the one we found the skinof in the attic."
"It--it can't be the _same one_ coming back for his skin, can it?" askedFlossie.
"Course not!" declared Freddie. "How could a bear go 'round without hisskin on?"
"Well, a bear's skin is just the same to him as our clothes are to us,"Flossie went on. "An' sometimes, when we go swimming, we don't have verymany clothes on."
"Well, a bear is different," said Freddie.
"Oh, look!" suddenly cried the little girl, and, pointing to the bushwith one hand, she clung to Freddie's arm with the other. "He's comingout! He's coming out!" she exclaimed.
A shaggy head could be seen thrusting itself from the bushes, and thechildren were wondering what sort of animal it could be, for it did notlook like a bear, when, with a joyful bark, there burst out in front ofthem--the shaggy dog belonging to Tom Case!
Rover--Rover was the name of the dog--rushed toward Flossie and Freddie,leaping joyfully and wagging his tail. He had made friends with thechildren as soon as they came to Cedar Camp, and they loved Rover.
"Oh, hello!" cried Flossie, as if greeting an old friend.
"He's glad to see us and we're glad to see him," said Freddie.
This seemed to be true, though I think Flossie and Freddie were morepleased to see Rover than he was to see them, for the dog knew how tofind his way home, and even trace and find his master if need be, while,to tell you the truth, Flossie and Freddie were lost, though they didnot yet know it. But they were soon to find this out.
"Did you come looking for us?" asked Flossie, as she patted the shaggyanimal.
"I guess he did," Freddie said. "I guess he'd rather come with us thanwith daddy and the others. Though we'll take Rover to 'em, won't we?"
"Yes," agreed Flossie. "But we must hurry up and catch 'em, Freddie. Wewant to see Mrs. Bimby and tell her about the nice warm bear robe."
"Sush! Don't speak so loud," cautioned Freddie, looking over hisshoulder.
"Why not?" Flossie wanted to know.
"I mean about the bear robe," her brother went on. "There might be somebears in the woods, and if they heard there was the skin of one of 'emat the cabin, maybe they wouldn't like it."
"Maybe that's so," agreed Flossie, also looking around. "But, anyhow,Rover'd drive the bears away; wouldn't you, Rover?"
The dog barked and wagged his tail, which was the only answer he couldgive. It satisfied the children, and soon they started off again, makingtheir way through the snow, hoping they would soon catch up with theirfather, Mr. Case and Mr. Bimby. Rover accompanied Flossie and Freddie,sometimes ahead of them and sometimes behind.
The dog had started out, as he often did, to follow his master, but hadlagged behind, perhaps to run after a rabbit or squirrel. Then he hadcome across the tracks of the children and had gone to them, knowingthey were friends of his.
"I'm hungry," said Flossie, after a while. "Let's sit under a Christmastree and eat, Freddie."
"All right," agreed her brother, always willing to do this.
They were, just then, in a clump of evergreen trees, and under some thesnow was not as deep as it was in the open. In fact the children foundone tree with no snow under it at all, so thick were the branches, andso close to the ground did they come. Crawling into this little nest,where the ground was covered with the dry needles from the pines andother trees, Flossie and Freddie opened the packages of lunch they hadbrought with them.
Rover, smelling the food, crawled into the shelter after them, andFlossie and Freddie shared their lunch with the dog, who even ate thecrumbs off the ground.
"But we mustn't eat everything," said Freddie, when part of the lunchhad been disposed of, Rover getting his share.
"Why not?" asked Flossie. "Can't you eat all you want to when you'rehungry?"
"It's best to save some," Freddie answered. "Maybe we'll get stuck inthe snow and can't get anything more to eat for a while, and then we'llbe glad to have this."
"That's so," agreed Flossie, after thinking it over. "I guess I'm not sovery hungry. But Rover is. He's terrible hungry, Freddie. See him lookat the lunch."
Indeed the dog seemed to be following, with hungry eyes, every motion ofthe little boy who was wrapping up again that part of the lunch noteaten by him and his sister. They saved about half of it.
Rover sniffed and snuffed as only a dog can, but he made no effort totake the lunch that Freddie placed in a crotch of the evergreen treewhich made such a nice shelter for him and his sister.
"Don't you take it, Rover!" cautioned Flossie, shaking her finger athim.
Rover thumped his tail on the ground, perhaps to show that he would begood and mind.
"It's nice and warm in here," Freddie remarked, after a while. "I wishwe could stay here longer, Flossie."
"Can't we?"
"Not if we want to go to Mrs. Bimby's," Freddie answered. "We have toget out and walk some more. And it's snowing again, too."
Whether it was or not, the children could not be quite certain, for thewind was blowing, and if the flakes were not falling from the sky theywere blowing up off the ground.
It was almost the same, anyhow, for there was a fine shower of the cold,white flakes in the air, and it was much more cosy and warm under thetree than out in the open.
"Let's stay here a little longer," begged Flossie. "Rover likes it here,don't you?" she asked, as she reached out her hand and patted the shaggyback of the dog.
And from the manner in which Rover thumped his tail on the ground youcould tell that he did, indeed, like to be with the little Bobbsey twinsunder the shelter of the tree.
"I know what we can do," said Freddie, after thinking a moment. "I knowwhat we can do to have some fun!"
"What?" asked Flossie, always ready for anything of this sort.
"We'll throw a lot of these pine cones outside, and Rover will chaseafter 'em and bring 'em back," went on Freddie. "He likes to run out inthe snow. And after we play that awhile maybe it will be nicer outside."
"All right," agreed Flossie. "We'll throw pine cones."
There were many of these on the pine-needle covered ground beneath thesheltering tree. The cones were really the clusters of seeds from thetree, and they had become hard and dry so they made excellent things tothrow for a dog to bring back.
Rover liked to race after sticks when thrown by the children, and thepine cones were ever so much better than sticks. There were so many ofthem, too.
"I'll throw first, and then it will be your turn, Flossie," Freddiesaid. "Here, Rover!" he called to the dog, as he picked up several ofthe cones.
Always ready for a lark of this sort, Rover leaped to his feet and stoodat "attention." Freddie bent aside some of the branches and tossed apine cone out of the opening.
It fell in a bank of snow some distance away, for Freddie was a goodthrower for a little boy. And the pine cone, being light, did not sinkdown in the snow as a stone would have done.
"Bow-wow!" barked Rover, as he dashed out after the pine cone.
That was his way of saying he would bring it back as quickly as heco
uld. And as Rover rushed from under the little green tent of the pinetree Flossie gave a cry of surprise.
"What's the matter?" asked Freddie, turning around to look at hissister.
"Rover knocked me down!" she answered with a laugh, and, surely enough,there she was sprawling on the brown pine needles which covered theground under the tree. "He just bunked into me and knocked me over!"
Rover was not used to playing with children, you see, and he was a bitrough. But he didn't mean to be.
Flossie sat up, still laughing, for she was not in the least hurt, andby this time Rover had brought back the pine cone that Freddie hadtossed out.
"Good dog, Rover!" cried Freddie, patting the animal as he laid down thecone and wagged his tail. "Now it's your turn to throw one, Flossie,"Freddie said.
"All right," Flossie answered. "But look out he doesn't knock you down,Freddie."
"I'm looking out!" Freddie said, and he quickly moved over to one sideof the space under the tree, while Flossie threw out her cone.
Flossie was not quite so good a thrower of sticks, stones, or pine conesas was her brother. But she did pretty well. Though her cone did not goas far as Freddie's had, it sank farther down into the snow. Maybe thecone was a heavier one, or it may have fallen in a softer place in thesnow. Anyhow it went quite deep into a drift and Rover had to dig withhis forepaws to get it so he could take it in his mouth.
"Oh, look at him!" cried Flossie, as the dog, digging away, made thesnow fly in a shower back of him. "He's like a snowplow on therailroad!"
Once, in a big storm, Flossie and Freddie had seen the railroadsnowplow, pushed by two locomotives, cut through a high drift. And theway Rover scattered the snow made the little girl think of the plow.
"Bring it here, Rover!" cried Freddie, for it would be his turn next tothrow a cone.
"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and then, with a final dive into the drift,he got the brown cone in his mouth and came racing back with it. Coveredwith snow as he was, he crawled under the shelter to be petted andtalked kindly to by Freddie and Flossie.
Then, just as he probably did when he came out of the water in thesummer time, Rover gave himself a shake, to get rid of the snowflakes.
"Oh! Oh!" laughed Flossie, holding her hands over her face. "Stop it,Rover! You're getting me all snow!"
But Rover kept it up until he had got off all the snow, and then heraced out again after more cones as the children threw them.
If Bert Bobbsey could have known where his little sister and brotherwere, with brave old Rover beside them, I am sure he would have wishedto join them. For Bert, about this time, was running away from thewildcat that had suddenly burst through the bushes.
"You're not going to get me!" said Bert to himself, as he clutched hispackage of lunch and raced on as well as he could.
The pain in his leg bothered him, but he was not going to stop for athing like that and let a wildcat maul him. On he ran through the snow,taking the easiest path he could find. He looked back over his shoulderonce or twice, to find the wildcat bounding lightly along after him.
And after he had looked back and had seen the size of the animal andnoticed that there was only one, somehow or other Bert became braver,and he had an idea that perhaps he might drive this beast away.
Wildcats, or bobcats as they are sometimes called, being also known asthe bay lynx, are not as large as a good-sized dog. They weigh aboutthirty pounds, and though they have sharp teeth and claws they veryseldom attack persons. Only when they are disturbed, or fear thatsomeone is going to harm their little ones or take away their food, dobobcats run after persons.
And this one must have thought Bert was going to do it some harm, forthe animal certainly chased the lad.
"Ho!" said Bert to himself, as he looked back, "you're not so big! Maybeyou have got sharp teeth and claws, but if you don't get near me youcan't hurt me! I'm going to make you go back!"
Bert had a sudden idea of how he might do this--with snowball bullets.All about him was snow--piles of it--and Bert had often taken part insnowball fights at home. He was a good thrower, and once he hadsnowballed a savage dog that had run at Flossie and Freddie and hadcaused the animal to run yelping away.
"I'm going to snowball this wildcat!" decided Bert.
He ran on a little farther until he came to a small clearing where thetrees stood in an irregular ring around an open place. There Bertdecided to make a stand and see if he could not drive the chasingwildcat away.
"And if he won't go, and comes after me," thought Bert, "I can climb atree."
He did not know, or else had forgotten, that wildcats themselves arevery good tree-climbers.
Reaching the other side of the clearing, Bert laid his package of lunchdown on a firm place in the snow, and then rapidly began to make somehard, round balls. He packed them with all his might between hismittened hands, for he knew a soft snowball would not be of much useagainst a wildcat.
He had been some distance ahead of the animal, and when it ran up to theedge of the clearing Bert had several snowballs ready.
"Come on now! See how you like that!" cried the boy. He threw onesnowball "bullet," but he was so excited that it went high over the headof the bobcat. The next one struck in the snow at the feet of theanimal. But the third one hit it right on the nose!
"Good shot!" cried Bert.
The wildcat uttered a snarl and a growl, and stopped for a moment.Perhaps it had never before chased anyone who threw snowballs.
"Have another!" cried Bert, and the next white bullet struck it on theside. The bobcat leaped up in the air, and then Bert threw another ballwhich hit it on the head.
This was too much for the creature. With a loud howl it turned and ranback into the woods, and Bert breathed easier.
"Well, I guess as long as I can throw snowballs you won't get me," hesaid to himself, as he picked up the package of lunch and hurried on.