CHAPTER XIX
THE TWINS FALL DOWN
Again Flossie cried:
"I'm all tangled! I'm all tangled up! Come and help me get out!"
"What in the world can she mean?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Bert.
"What did Freddie say about a net?" asked Nan, as she stumbled andspilled her blueberries. She was going to stop to pick them up.
"Never mind them," her mother said. "Let them go. We must see what thematter is with Flossie."
They saw a few seconds later, as they turned on the path. On top of alittle hill, in a place where there was a grassy spot with bushesgrowing all around it, they saw Flossie and Freddie.
Freddie was dancing around very much excited, but Flossie was standingstill, and they soon saw the reason for this. She was entangled in a netthat was spread out on the ground and partly raised up on the bushes. Itwas like a fish net which the children had often seen the men or boysuse in Lake Metoka, but the meshes, or holes in it, were smaller, sothat only a very little fish could have slipped through. And the cordfrom which the net was woven was not as heavy as that of the fish nets.
"Flossie's caught! Flossie's caught!" cried Freddie, still dancingabout.
"Come and get me loose! Come and get me loose!" Flossie begged.
"Mother's coming! Mother's coming!" answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "But how inthe world did it happen?"
She did not wait for an answer, but, as soon as she came near, shestarted to rush right into the net herself to lift out her little girl.But Bert, seeing what would happen, cried:
"Look out, Mother! You'll get tangled up, too. See! the net is caught onFlossie's shoes and around her legs and arms. She must have fallenright into it."
"She did," said Freddie. "We were walking along, picking berries, andall of a sudden Flossie was tangled in the net. I tried to get her out,but I got tangled, too, only I took my knife and cut some of the cords."
"And that's what we've got to do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The net is soentangled around Flossie that we'll never get her out otherwise. Haveyou a knife, Bert?"
"Yes, Mother. Stand still, Flossie!" he called to his little sister."The more you move the worse you get tangled."
With his mother's help Bert soon cut away enough of the meshes of thequeer net so that Flossie could get loose. She was not hurt--not evenscratched--but she was frightened and she had been crying.
"There you are!" cried Mother Bobbsey, hugging her little girl in herarms. "Not a bit hurt, my little fat fairy! But how in the world did youget in the net, and what is it doing up on top of this hill in the midstof a blueberry patch?"
"I--I just stumbled into it," said Flossie, "same as Freddie got stuckin the mud, only I didn't wade in the water."
"No, there isn't any water around here," returned Nan. "I can't see whata net is doing here. I thought they only used them to catch fish."
"Maybe they put it up here to dry, as the fishermen at the seashore drytheir nets," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"No," announced Tom, who had been looking at the net, "this ain't forfishes."
"What is it for then?" asked Bert.
"It's for snarin' birds. I've seen 'em before. Men spread the nets outon the grass, and over bushes near where the birds come to feed, andwhen they try to fly they get caught and tangled in the meshes. I guessthis net ain't been here very long, for there ain't any birds caught init."
"But who put it here?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I think it's a shame tocatch the poor birds that way. Who did it?"
Tom looked carefully around before he answered. Then he said:
"I think it was the gypsies."
"The gypsies!" cried Bert.
"Yes. They're a shiftless lot. They don't work and they take what don'tbelong to 'em. They're too lazy to hunt with a gun, so they snare birdsin a net. Why, they'll even eat sparrows--make a pie of 'em my mothersays. And when they get robins and blackbirds they're so much biggerthey can broil 'em over their fires. This is a bird-net, that's what itis."
"I believe you're right," said Mrs. Bobbsey, when she had looked moreclosely at it. "It isn't the kind they use in fishing. But do you reallythink the gypsies put it here, Tom?"
"Yes'm, I really do. They put 'em here other years, though I never seenone before. You see the gypsies sometimes camp here and sometimes on themainland. All they have to do is to spread their net, and go away. Whenthey come back next day there's generally a lot of birds caught in itand they take 'em out and eat 'em."
"Well, they caught a queer kind of bird this time," said Bert, with asmile at his little sister. "And it didn't do their net any good," headded, as he looked at the cut meshes.
"I'm sorry to have destroyed the property of any one else," said Mrs.Bobbsey, "but we had to get Flossie loose. And I don't believe thosegypsies have any right to spread a net for birds."
"My mother says they haven't," replied Tom. "It's agin the law."
"Let's take the net away," suggested Bert.
"No, we haven't any right to do that," said his mother, "but we can tellthe man who has to enforce the laws against hunting birds. I'll speak toyour father about it. Are you all right now, Flossie?"
"Yes, Momsie. But it scared me when I was in the net."
"I should think so!" exclaimed Nan, petting her sister. "Did you juststumble into it?"
"Yep. I was walkin' along, and I saw a bush with a lovely lot ofblueberries on it. I ran to it and then my foot tripped on a stone and Ifell into the net. First I didn't know what it was, and when I tried toget up I was all tangled. Then I hollered."
"And I helped her holler," said Freddie.
"Indeed, you did, dear. You were a good little boy to stay by Flossie.But you're both all right now, and next time you come berrying staycloser by mother."
"You've got lots of berries," said Flossie, looking at Bert's basket.
"Yes. Tom showed us this good place. And now I guess we'd better go,"said Bert. "Maybe those gypsies might come to look in their net."
He glanced around as he spoke, but though it was lonely on this part ofBlueberry Island there were no signs of the dark-skinned men with ringsin their ears who had set the bird net.
Dinah made enough blueberry pie to satisfy even the four twins, and whenMr. Bobbsey heard about the net he told an officer, who took it away.Whether or not the gypsies found out what had happened to their snare,as the net is sometimes called, the Bobbseys did not hear, nor did theysee any of the wandering tribe, at least for a while.
Jolly camping days followed, though now and then it rained, which didnot make it so nice. But, take it all in all, the Bobbseys had a finetime on Blueberry Island. Mr. Bobbsey got Flossie and Freddie some new"go-around" bugs, and the small twins had lots of fun with them. The oldones they did not find.
Snoop was not found either, though many blueberry pickers, as well asthe Bobbseys themselves, looked for the missing black cat. Nor was Snaplocated, though an advertisement was put in the papers and a rewardoffered for him. But Whisker did not go away, nor did any one try totake him, and he gave the twins many a fine ride.
"And I'm glad the gypsies didn't get Whisker," observed Flossie. "I likehim. Maybe not so much as I like Snap and Snoop, but awfully well I likehim."
"Yes, he's a nice goat. Nicer'n Mike's goat that we 'most bought, butdidn't. I'm glad now that we didn't get Mike's goat, aren't you,Flossie?"
"Yes, I am."
The Bobbseys had been camping on the island about a month, when one dayMrs. Bobbsey went over to Lakeport to do some shopping, taking Nan andBert with her, and leaving Flossie and Freddie in charge of theirfather. Of course Dinah and Sam stayed on the island also.
But you can easily imagine what happened. After Mr. Bobbsey had played anumber of games with the small twins he sat down in a shady place torest and read a book, thinking Flossie and Freddie would be all rightplaying near the big tent.
The two little ones were making a sand city. They made a square wall ofsand, and inside this t
hey built sand houses, railroads, a tunnel andmany other things, until Freddie suddenly said:
"Oh, if we only had some of the clam shells that are down by the lake wecould make a lot more things."
"So we could!" cried Flossie. "Let's go and get some!"
So, never thinking to ask their father, who was still reading, awayrushed the two twins, after "clam" shells. They were not really shellsof clams, but of fresh water mussels, but they were almost like theshells of the soft clams one sees at the beach. The mussels are broughtup on shore by muskrats who eat the inside meat and leave the emptyshells. The small twins often used the shells in their play and games.
The place where the mussel shells were usually to be found was not farfrom the tents, but like most children in going to one place Flossie andFreddie took the longest way. They were in no hurry, the sun was shiningbrightly, and it was such fun to wander along over the island. So,before they knew it, they were a long distance from "home," as theycalled Twin Camp.
"Maybe we oughtn't to've come," said Flossie, as she stopped to picksome blueberries.
"We're not so far," said Freddie. "I know my way back. Oh, Flossie! lookat that butterfly!" he suddenly called, making a grab for the flutteringcreature. The butterfly flew on a little way and Freddie raced after it,followed by Flossie.
"Now I'm goin' to get it!" the little boy cried. With his hat he made aswoop for the butterfly, and then suddenly he and Flossie, who wasclose behind him, tumbled down through a hole in the ground, whichseemed quickly to open at their very feet, between two clumps of bushes.
"Oh!" cried Freddie, as he felt himself falling down.
"Oh, dear!" echoed Flossie.
Then they found themselves in great darkness.