CHAPTER X
LOST UNDERGROUND
Flossie and Freddie looked up at the tall man, who smiled kindly down atthem. He seemed to be laughing at something, though whether it wasFlossie's flaxen hair, now rather tangled because the monkey had pulledoff her hat, or because Freddie looked so funny asking his question, thechildren could not tell.
"So you want a hat for the little girl?" asked the floorwalker, as the manwas called. He walked up and down in the store to see that the clerkswaited properly on the customers, and he told strangers where to go.
"Flossie wants a hat," went on Freddie. "The monkey ate the cherries offhers."
"No; he didn't really _eat_ them," Flossie explained, anxious to haveeverything just right. "He _tried_ to chew 'em, but he didn't like 'em.Anyhow, my hat's gone!"
"What kind of a hat did you want?" asked the store man, not quite sure howto treat the children.
"One with feathers on," suggested Freddie.
"No, I want one with flowers on!" insisted Flossie.
"How much did you want to pay?" asked the man, shaking his head in apuzzled way.
"My father will pay," replied Freddie, "You just send the bill to him--Mr.Richard Bobbsey, of Lakeport. He has a lumber mill and----"
"What seems to be the trouble?" broke in a new voice, and the twochildren, as well as the floorwalker, turned to see standing near them astout man, with gray hair, who was smiling kindly at them.
"Oh, Mr. Whipple!" exclaimed the tall man, glad to have some one else tohelp him. "I don't know what to do about these children. They want a hatfor the little girl, and----"
"It's because a monkey ate Flossie's hat!" broke in Freddie. "We're lost.We were on an express train, but we got off and we heard music and pleasecharge it to our father--charge the hat, I mean, not the music, for wedidn't pay anything for that. Did we Flossie?"
"No; but I'm not going to have a hat with feathers on. I want one withflowers on, and I wish mamma was here--or Nan--to help pick it out."
"I'll help you," offered Freddie kindly.
"I guess you had better come with me," said the stout man, who, as thechildren learned afterward was Mr. Daniel Whipple, owner of the big storeinto which Flossie and Freddie had wandered. "I'll take you up to myoffice," Mr. Whipple went on, "and you can tell me about yourselves. I'lltry to find your folks for you."
"And can I get a hat?" asked Flossie.
"Yes, I think so," the store owner answered. "Send one of the clerks fromthe children's hat department to my office with some hats that will do forthis little girl," he went on, and the floorwalker said he would.
"We'll be all right now, Flossie," said Freddie, as they followed theirnew friend. In a little while Flossie was fitted with just the hat shewanted, and Mr. Whipple was listening to the story told in turn by the twochildren.
"Your father is probably on his way up to get you now," said Mr. Whipple."He'll expect to find you in the elevated station, but you will not bethere. I'll send one of my clerks over to tell the agent you are here, andto send your father over when he comes. But I think I'll keep you two totshere, because----"
"We might get lost again--we get lost lots of times," said Freddie with asmile. "It's nice here. I like it!" and, very much at home, he lookedaround the office of the store owner. It was almost closing time, and Mr.Whipple was wondering whether in case the children's father did not comeit would not be better to take them to his own home, when the clerk cameback from the elevated station with Mr. Bobbsey himself.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Flossie and Freddie.
"Well, you two certainly gave me a fine chase!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey,with a smile, hugging his "little fat fireman" and his "fat fairy," oneafter the other. "Where in the world have you been?"
"Oh, we heard a hand organ and we went to look at the monkey and it chewedFlossie's hat and we're here!" gasped Freddie, all in one breath.
"And I got a new hat, and you'll please pay for it, Daddy," added Flossie."And did you bring my bugs--the ones that go around and around andaround?" she asked.
"Yes, Flossie, I have them. But what's all this about a hat?"
"I bought her a new one," explained Freddie, "but I didn't have any moneyto pay for it, so we charged it."
"The little girl seemed to need one, Mr. Bobbsey," said the store owner.
"Oh, that will be all right, I'm glad to pay for it, Mr.--er----"
"Whipple is my name," said the store man. "Daniel Whipple."
"Whipple!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, and a thoughtful look came over hisface. "Daniel Whipple," and he seemed to be trying to think of somethinghe had heard a long while before.
"Yes; you may have seen it in my advertisements. I advertise in thepapers every day."
"Ah, yes, I presume so," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Thank you very much, Mr.Whipple, for looking after the children for me. I reached the One Hundredand Twenty-fifth Street elevated station a little while ago, and theticket agent there was very much excited because the children had slippedout while he was in his office.
"We were just trying to think where they could have gone, when your clerkcame up to say they were here. Now I'll take them to their mother, who isquite anxious about them."
"I can well believe she is," said Mr. Whipple. "Come and see me again," heinvited Flossie and Freddie, who, after their father had paid for the newhat, went away with him.
A little later they were safe in the hotel where the Bobbsey family was tolive while in New York. Mrs. Bobbsey, Bert and Nan were already there, andquite glad to see the two runaways, you may be sure.
"What a lot of adventures you must have had!" cried Nan, when Flossie andFreddie had told her a few of the things that had happened.
"We did!" laughed Freddie. "You ought to have seen that monkey's face whenhe bit on those make-believe cherries on Flossie's hat!" and Freddielaughed loudly.
"Anyhow I got a new hat!"
"That Mr. Whipple was a fine man," said Freddie.
"Indeed he must be," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey, and then, seeing a strange lookon her husband's face, she asked:
"What is the matter? Are you worried?"
"No, but I am trying to remember where I have heard that name before. Butso much has happened to-day that I can't recall it."
It had been indeed, a full day since the Bobbsey twins had left their homein Lakeport that morning, and Mrs. Bobbsey insisted on Flossie andFreddie, at least, going to bed early. This the small twins were gladenough to do, after they had told Nan and Bert the different things thathad happened after they got on the express train.
"It was an awful splendid store," said Flossie, in speaking about Mr.Whipple's establishment.
"Bigger'n any store in Lakeport," added her twin.
"And the nicest clerks that ever was," went on Flossie. "Why, one of 'emhad a whole counter full of cologne, and she squirted some on me when Iwent past, and it smelled awful good!"
After breakfast the next morning, when Mr. Bobbsey had finished sendingsome telegrams and telephone messages, he asked the children what theyfirst wanted to see in New York.
"The monkeys!" cried Flossie and Freddie.
"I want to go on Fifth avenue and see the lovely shops and stores," saidNan.
"And I want to go to the history museum and see the stuffed animals andthe model of a whale," said Bert, who had been reading of this.
"Well, how would you like to go and see some live fish?" asked Mr.Bobbsey. "That ought to satisfy all of you, and Nan can see some stores onthe way to the Aquarium. I have to go downtown in New York," he said tohis wife, "and I can take the children to the Aquarium at the Battery aswell as not."
"All right," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "If you'll do that I'll stay here andrest. Afternoon will do for me to go out. Now mind, Flossie and Freddie,don't get lost again!"
The small twins promised they would not and soon all four were on theirway downtown with their father. This time they went in the subway, orunderground road, which, as Freddie said, was like one big, long tunnel.
r /> "We'll get out at the Brooklyn Bridge or City Hall Park," said Mr.Bobbsey. "I have to see a man in the City Hall, and from there we can walkto the Battery, as it is a nice day. Or we can ride, if you get tootired."
The children were sure they would not get too tired, and a little laterthey all got out at the subway station at Brooklyn Bridge.
There were many persons hurrying to and fro, trains coming in and goingout, and lights all over, making the children think it was night, thoughit was in the morning.
"Wait here just a minute," said Mr. Bobbsey, showing the twins a lesscrowded place where they could stay. "I want to get a magazine over at thenews-stand," he added.
The magazine he wanted had been put away under a pile of papers, and asthe boy was getting it out Flossie caught sight, down the platform, of aman pasting up on the advertising boards in the underground station, somenew posters.
"Oh, maybe it's signs about a circus, Freddie!" cried the little girl"Come on and watch!"
Freddie was always ready to go, and he had darted off after his sisterdown the long platform before Bert and Nan saw them. When the two olderchildren missed the younger twins they looked hurriedly about for them.
"There they are--watching that bill-poster," said Bert. For theunderground subway stations are much used by advertisers, gaily coloredsheets of paper being pasted on boards put there for that purpose.
"You mustn't run away like that!" said Nan to Flossie, as she came up toher sister, to lead her back.
"We wanted to see if it was a circus poster, but it isn't," returnedFreddie.
"Well, come on back. Daddy will miss us," declared Bert. He startedback--at least he thought he did--for the place where their father hadtold them to wait for him. But the subway station under the New Yorksidewalks was so large and rambling, there were so many stairways leadinghere and there, up and down, and there were so many platforms that it isno wonder Bert went astray.
"Where are you going?" asked Nan at last.
"Well, I was trying to find the place father told us to wait," Bertanswered.
"It's over this way," said Nan, pointing just the other direction from theone in which Bert was walking.
"All right, we'll try that, but it seems wrong," he stated.
They walked a little way in that direction. They saw nothing of theirfather, however, and there were fewer people on the platform where theynow were.
"Oh, dear!" cried Flossie, "I'm thirsty! I want a drink!"
"So do I!" added Freddie.
Nan and Bert looked about them. They were still in the undergroundstation, and they could see trains coming in and going out, and crowds ofpeople hurrying to and fro. But they could not see their father nor theplace where he had told them to wait. At last Nan said:
"Bert, I don't know where we are! We're lost!"