CHAPTER XVI
FRANK'S STORY
They all gazed in the direction in which Nan pointed. The crowd ofvisitors to the circus was thinning out now, and down toward the edgeof a little creek could be seen the missing Freddie walking along, hishand thrust trustingly into that of the strange boy.
"Why--why!" began Bert. "That fellow--that boy--he--" and then hestopped. Bert was not exactly sure of what he was going to say.
"Oh, Freddie!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, running forward. "Where have youbeen! Such a start as you've given us! Where were you?"
But Freddie himself did not seem as anxious to rush into his mother'sarms as she was to clasp him. He plodded along with the strange boy,looking quite content, and as if he wondered what all the fuss wasabout.
"Dere de honey lamb am!" exclaimed black
Dinah, a grin spreading over her face. "De ole lion didn't cotch himafter all. Dere's mah honey lamb!"
"Freddie! Freddie!" cried Flossie, who had been resting in UncleDaniel's arms, "did a lion eat you, Freddie? Did he?"
"A lion eat him? Of course not!" laughed Bert. And Bert was doing somehard thinking as he stared at the strange boy who had Freddie by thehand.
"I thought we should find him," said Uncle Daniel. "I knew he couldn'tbe lost with all these circus people around. I say!" called Mr.Bobbsey's brother to one of the men who had been helping hunt for themissing boy. "Just tell them that we found him, will you, please?Freddie's found."
"Yes, sir, I'll tell 'em," said the man. "I'm glad he's all right.I'll tell 'em!"
"But where were you, Freddie?" asked his mother, who by this time hadhim safely in her arms. "Oh, where were you?"
"I found him down by the edge of the creek, watching 'em water theelephants," explained the strange boy, who, Mrs. Bobbsey thought, hada good, kind face. "You see, we water the elephants every afternoonwhen the show is over," the boy went on, "and it was down there Ifound him."
"Oh, I can't thank you enough for bringing him back to us," said Mrs.Bobbsey. "You were so good!"
"I didn't know just where he belonged," the strange boy explained."But he told me his name, and where he lived, and of course I knew Icould send word to his folks, though I didn't see, at first, how hegot here all the way from Lakeport."
"Oh, we are visiting at his uncle's farm at Meadow Brook," explainedMrs. Bobbsey.
"So he said," went on the boy. "I was bringing him to the lost tent,when he spied you and said you were his folks."
"And I saw 'em water the elephants!" cried Freddie, struggling to getloose from his mother's arms. "The elephant sucked the water up intohis nose, ma, and then he squirted it down his throat just like myfire engine squirts water. Only, 'course an elephant squirts lots morewater than my engine. But I'm goin' to get a bigger one that squirtsas much as a elephant, that's what I goin' to do. And I saw oneelephant, ma, he went right out in the water and laid down in it. Whatdo you think of that!"
"The elephants often do that, ma'am," explained the strange boy. "Theylike to get a bath now and then, but we don't often have time to giveit to them."
"You speak as though you belonged to the circus," said Uncle Daniel.
"I do," answered the boy. "That is, I'm with one of the side-shows,and I help around when there's nothing else to do."
"Well, it was very kind of you to bring back my little boy," went onMrs. Bobbsey. Freddie was busy telling Flossie all the wonderfulthings he had seen.
"Oh, I didn't do anything, ma'am," the boy said. "I sort of knew thislittle fellow."
"You knew him?" questioned Uncle Daniel.
"Well, that is I'd seen him before."
"But I can't understand how Freddie became lost," said Mrs. Bobbsey,while Uncle Daniel was wondering where the strange boy had seen Freddiebefore. "How did you get lost, Freddie?" his mother asked him.
"Lost! I wasn't lost!" he exclaimed. "I knew where I was all the time.I was with the elephants. It was you who got lost, mamma--you and Nanand Flossie and Bert--"
"Well, we called you lost," laughed Uncle Daniel. "But you're allright now, thanks to this boy. Do you live around here?" he asked. "Idon't seem to remember you, though I know most of the folks in thissection. But if you have seen Freddie before you must live aroundhere."
"Oh, no, sir," was the answer. "I'm with the circus. But I used tolive--"
"I know you now!" interrupted Bert. "You're Frank Kennedy, and I waswith my father, calling on Mr. Mason, when I saw you. Freddie was withme then. Don't you remember, Freddie?" asked Bert. "This is the boy wesaw--the boy we saw getting a--"
And Bert stopped. He did not want to say "shaking," for it was whenFrank Kennedy was being severely shaken by Mr. Mason, on account ofthe bad twenty dollar bill, that the strange boy had last been seen bythe Bobbsey lads. And on that occasion Frank had run away.
"Oh, now I know you!" cried Freddie, laughing.
"Yes, I am the boy you saw getting a shaking, for something thatwasn't my fault!" exclaimed Frank, and his voice was hard and bitter."I made up my mind I wouldn't stand Mr. Mason's cruel treatment anylonger, so I ran away. I did see you two boys that time I got ashaking," Frank admitted. "You were in an automobile then," he wenton, "and Mr. Bobbsey was with you." He looked around as though insearch of the twins' father.
"Mr. Bobbsey had to go back to Lakeport on business," explained Mrs.Bobbsey. "We came over from Meadow Brook to the circus here to-day.And I remember Mr. Bobbsey speaking of you. So you ran away?"
"Yes'm, I ran away. I couldn't stand it in that lumber office anylonger the way Mr. Mason treated me. It wasn't fair. And I'm nevergoing back again, either. I don't like him, and he doesn't like me.I'll never let him be my guardian again."
"Poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Bobbsey. "You must have had a hard time. Didyou come with this circus as soon as you ran away?"
"No'm, I had a pretty bad spell first along. When I ran away I hadonly the clothes I wore, and only a little money. It was my own!" hesaid, quickly, lest they think he might have taken it from Mr. Mason'slumber office. But one look at Frank's face showed that he was honest.
"What did you do?" asked Uncle Daniel.
"Well, I walked as far as I could the first night," Frank said, goingon with his story. "Then I crawled in a barn to sleep."
"Didn't you have anything to eat?" asked Nan softly. She felt verysorry for the boy.
"Well, I had a couple of crackers I had saved from my lunch that day,"he explained. "Then near the barn was a cow, and I milked her. Thatand the crackers was all I had for supper. But I slept good in thehay."
"I had a good sleep in some hay!" exclaimed Freddie, as he rememberedthe time they had played hide-and-go-seek in the barn.
"It makes a good bed when you're tired," said Frank.
"What did you have for breakfast?" asked Flossie. "I like an orangeand oatmeal for mine."
"Well, I didn't have anything like that for mine," explained Frankwith a smile. "I didn't have much of anything the first morning. Itramped on, and finally I found a place where I could chop some wood,and a lady gave me some bread and milk. It tasted very good."
"How did you get with the circus?" asked Bert. That part interestedhim more than how Frank got something to eat.
"Well, I just happened to come to the town where the circus was givinga show," explained Frank. "I was around when the men were watering thehorses and other animals, and I helped carry water. Then one of themen asked me if I didn't want work, and I said I did. I was hungrythen, too, and I could smell the things cooking in the circus kitchentent. So I went to work for this show, and I've been here ever since.It's better than working in a lumber office when you get shook upevery now and then," he added with a smile.
"And do you still help water the elephants?" asked Uncle Daniel.
"Oh, no, I help take tickets at one of the side shows," explainedFrank. "The one where the fat lady and snakes are. I like it, thoughsometimes I help water the animals when I have nothing else to do. Thecircus people are good to me. I've earne
d enough money to get someclothes, and I'm never hungry any more. I was pretty ragged when Icame to the circus, for I had been tramping around sleeping in barns,or wherever I could."
"Wouldn't it have been better to have gone back to Mr. Mason, yourguardian?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, for she had heard her husband tell ofthe time he, Bert and Freddie had seen the boy shaken before he ranaway.
"Oh, no'm!" Frank exclaimed. "I'm never going back to that lumberoffice. Mr. Mason accused me of losing twenty dollars for him. Wellperhaps I did, but it wasn't my fault that the man gave me bad moneythat looked like good. I'm never going back!"
"Well, I don't know as I blame you," said Uncle Daniel softly, "but acircus is no place for a young boy. It's a hard life."
"Are you going to stay with this show?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Until I can get something better to do," answered Frank. "I know itisn't a good business, but I'll stay here until I can save some money,and then I'll look for something better. But I'll have to stay herefor a while."
"Maybe you could give him work on the farm," suggested Aunt Sarah toher husband in a whisper. "I don't like him to be with a circus. Andhe was so good to Freddie that we ought to do something for him."
"He's too young to work on a farm," replied Uncle Daniel. "And hemight be in a worse place than this circus. But we must be startingback home. It's getting late."
Freddie was hugged and kissed by his sisters, mother and aunt, andMrs. Bobbsey insisted on making Frank a little present of money, forhis kindness to Freddie. Frank did not want to take it, but finally hedid.
"I'll buy some new shoes with it," he said.
"I shall tell my husband how good you were to find Freddie," said Mrs.Bobbsey, "and I am sure he will want to do something for you. I wishyou would write to me once in a while. We should like to keep track ofyou."
"I will," promised the boy, as he put down the Bobbsey address. "Iexpect to be with this circus all summer," he said, as Freddie and theother children bade him good-bye.