CHAPTER II
A SURPRISE
"What's all this? What's the matter?" asked a voice on the outsidefringe of the crowd that had gathered in front of the Bobbsey home, and,looking up, Bert saw his father coming down the street from thedirection of his lumberyard. "Has anything happened?" asked Mr. Bobbsey,after a glance had shown him that his own little family was safe andsound.
"Dere suah has lots done gone an' happened, Mistah Bobbsey," answeredfat Dinah. "Oh, de pore honey lamb! Jest t' think ob it!"
"But who is it? What has happened?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, looking about forsome one to answer him. Flossie and Freddie decided they would do this.
"It's gypsies," said the little "fat fireman," as his father sometimescalled Freddie.
"And they carried off Helen Porter," added the little "fat fairy," whichwas Flossie's pet name. "An' I saw the wagons, all lookin' glasses, an'Freddie an' I are goin' to be gypsies when we grow up." Flossie was soexcited that she dropped a lot of "g" letters from the ends of wordswhere they belonged.
"You don't mean to say that the gypsies have carried off HelenPorter--the little girl who lives next door?" asked Mr. Bobbsey in greatsurprise.
"Yep! They did! I saw 'em!" exclaimed John Marsh. "She had curly hair,and when the gypsy man tooked her in his arms she cried, Helen did!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Flossie, Freddie and other children in the crowd.
"There must be some mistake," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Those gypsies wouldnever take away a child, even in fun, in broad daylight. It must be amistake. Let me hear more about it."
And while the father of the Bobbsey twins is trying to find out justwhat had happened, I will take a few minutes to let my readers knowsomething of the twins themselves, for this book is about them.
It may be that some boy or girl is reading this as his or her firstventure into the volumes of the "Bobbsey Twins Series." If so, I willstate that there are a number of books which come before this, thoughthis story is complete in itself.
To begin with there were four Bobbsey twins, as you have guessed beforethis. Nan and Bert were about ten years old, tall and dark, with eyesand hair to match.
Flossie and Freddie were short and fat, and had light hair and blueeyes. So, now that you know them you will have no trouble in telling thetwins, one from the other.
With their mother and their father, who owned a large lumberyard, thetwins lived in the eastern city of Lakeport near the head of LakeMetoka. There were others in the family besides the twins and theirparents. There was dear old, black, fat Dinah, the cook, who made suchgood pies, and there was Sam, her husband. And I must not forget Snoop,the black cat, nor Snap, the big dog, who once did tricks in a circus.You will hear more about them later.
"The Bobbsey Twins," is the name of the first book, and in that you mayread of many adventures that befell the children. They had moreadventures in the country, and there is a book telling all about thathappy time, and also one about the seashore.
When the Bobbsey twins went to school there was more fun and excitement"than you could shake a stick at," as Dinah used to say, though why anyone would want to shake a stick at fun I can't tell. Then came jollytimes at "Snow Lodge," and on a houseboat. From there the twins went to"Meadow Brook," and afterward came home, there to have more fun.
The book just before this one you are reading is called "The BobbseyTwins in a Great City." In that you may learn how Bert, Nan, Flossie andFreddie went to New York where Mr. Bobbsey had some business to lookafter. While there the twins helped to solve a mystery about a poor oldman. I think, however, that I had better not tell you any more about it,but let you read it for yourself.
And now we find the twins back in Lakeport, ready for a good time duringthe summer that would soon be at hand. Only the gypsy scare had ratheralarmed every one for the time being.
"But now let me hear what it is all about," said Mr. Bobbsey, who hadcome home from the office of his lumberyard to find an excited crowd infront of his house. "Were there really any gypsies?" he asked his wife."And did they take away Helen Porter?"
"I don't know about that last part," said Mrs. Bobbsey; "but a caravanof gypsies did pass by the house a little while ago. I heard Dinah saysomething about the gaily painted wagons, and I looked out in time tosee them rumbling along the street. Then, a little later, I heard Mrs.Porter calling for Helen, and, on seeing the crowd, I ran out. I wasworried about our children until I saw them coming from the lake, wherethey had gone for a row in the boat."
"I can't believe that gypsies took Helen," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Oh, but she's _gone_!" several neighbors told him. "We can't find her_anywhere_, and her mother is crying and taking on terribly!"
"Well, it may be that Helen is lost, or has even strayed away after thegypsies, thinking their wagons were part of a circus, as Nan saysFlossie thought," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But gypsies wouldn't dare take alittle girl away in broad daylight."
As he said this he looked at his own little children and at others inthe crowd, for he did not want them to be frightened.
"Years ago, maybe, gypsies did take little folks," he said, "but theydon't do it any more, I'm sure."
"But where is Helen?" asked John Marsh. "A gypsy man has her, I know,'cause I saw him take her."
"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, for John was an excitable boy,sometimes given to imagining things that never happened.
"Course I'm sure," he said. "Cross my heart!" and he did so, while theother children looked on wonderingly.
"Suppose you go over to Mrs. Porter's house," said Mrs. Bobbsey to thechildren's father. "She's worried, I guess, and her husband isn't homeyet. Maybe you can help her. I was just going in when you came along."
"All right, I'll go," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Can't we come?" asked Freddie, and as he had hold of his littlesister's hand, it was Flossie, of course, whom he included in hisquestion.
"No, you must go with your mother," said his father, and when the littlefat fireman seemed disappointed Mr. Bobbsey went on: "I guess supper isalmost ready, isn't it, Dinah?"
"Deed it am. An' dere's puddin' wif shaved-up maple sugar scattered oberde top an'----"
"Oh, I want some of _that_!" cried Flossie. "Come on, Freddie! We canlook for the gypsies after supper."
"And we'll get Helen out of the shiny wagons," added Freddie, as hehurried toward the Bobbsey home with Flossie, fat Dinah waddling alongafter them.
"I'll go with you," offered Bert to his father. "Maybe you would want meto go on an errand."
"Yes, take Bert with you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'll look after Nan,Flossie and Freddie. And be sure to tell Mrs. Porter that if I can doanything for her I will."
"I'll tell her," and then Mr. Bobbsey, with Bert, walked to the Porterhouse next door.
The crowd in the street grew larger, and there was much talk about thegypsies. Some said that several little boys and girls had been carriedoff, but, of course, this was not so.
As Flossie and Freddie tore on toward the house in front of fat Dinah,they continued to chatter about the gypsies.
"If gypsies take little girls we don't want to be them--the gypsies, Imean--Freddie."
"Humph-umph; that's so. Well, I guess we'll be in a circus anyhow.That'll be more fun. You can ride a horse in the ring, and sometimes Ican ride with you and sometimes I can be a clown. When I'm a clown I cansquirt water from my fire engine over the other clowns. That'll make thefolks holler and laugh."
When Nan and Mrs. Bobbsey reached the house each of the little twins wasmunching on a piece of maple sugar, given them by Dinah to keep themfrom nibbling at the pudding before the time to serve it came.
"My, Momsie! aren't you glad the gypsies came and got Helen Porter? Itgives us something to think about," remarked Freddie coolly.
"Freddie Bobbsey!" gasped his mother. "No, I am not glad the gypsies gotHelen--if they did. And you and Flossie find enough to think about, asit is. And give the rest of us enough to think about, what is more."
"There go daddy and Bert into Mrs. Porter's house now," said Nan.
"Now tell me just what happened, and I'll do all I can to help you,"said Mr. Bobbsey to Mrs. Porter, when he got to her house and found herhalf crying in the sitting-room where there were a number of otherwomen.
"Oh, Helen is gone, I'm sure she is!" cried the mother. "The gypsieshave taken her! I'll never see her again!"
"Oh, yes you will," said Mr. Bobbsey in mild tones. "I'm sure it's all amistake. The gypsies haven't taken her at all. What makes you thinkso?"
"Johnnie Marsh saw them carry her away."
"Then let's have Johnnie in here where we can talk to him. Bert, supposeyou do one of those errands you spoke of," said his father with a smile,"and bring Johnnie in out of the crowd where I can talk to him quietly."
John, or Johnnie, as he was often called, was very ready to come whenBert found him outside the Porter house, telling over and over again toa crowd of boys what he had seen, or what he thought he had seen.
"Now tell us just what happened," said Mr. Bobbsey, when the small boywas seated in a chair in the Porter parlor.
"Well, I was coming from the store for my mother," said Johnnie, "and Isaw the gypsy wagons. I thought it was a circus."
"That's what Flossie and Freddie thought," said Bert to his father.
"But it wasn't," went on Johnnie. "Then I saw Helen playing in GraceLavine's yard down the street when I came past. And a little while afterthat, when I had to go to the store for my mother again, 'cause I forgota yeast cake, I saw a gypsy man running along the street and he hadHelen in his arms and she was crying."
"What made you think it was Helen?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"'Cause I saw her light hair. Helen's got fluffy hair like yourFlossie's."
"Yes, I know she has," said Mr. Bobbsey. "What did you do when youthought you saw the gypsy man carrying Helen away?" and they all waitedanxiously for Johnnie's answer.
"I ran home," said Johnnie. "I didn't want to be carried off in one ofthose looking-glass wagons."
"Quite right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Then you really didn't see the gypsyman pick Helen up in his arms?"
"No," slowly answered the little boy, "he only just ran past me. But hemust have picked her up in Grace's yard, for that's where Helen wasplaying."
"Then we'd better go down to where Grace Lavine lives and see what shecan tell us," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"You don't need to," put in Bert. "I see Grace out in front now withsome other girls. Shall I call her in?"
"Oh, please do!" exclaimed Mrs. Porter. "My poor Helen! Oh, what hashappened to her?"
"We'll get your little girl back, even if the gypsies have her," saidMr. Bobbsey. "But I don't believe they have taken her away. Call inGrace, Bert."
Grace was not as excited as Johnnie, and told what she knew.
"Helen and Mary Benson and I were playing in my yard," said Grace. "Wehad our dolls and were having a tea party. Mary and I went into thehouse to get some sugar cookies, to play they were strawberry shortcake,and we left Helen out under the trees with her doll. When we came backshe wasn't there, nor her doll either, and down the street we saw thegypsy wagons."
"Did you see any gypsy man come into the yard and get Helen?" asked Mr.Bobbsey.
"No," said Grace, shaking her head, "I didn't. But the gypsies must havetaken her, 'cause she was gone."
"Oh, please some one go after the gypsies, and make a search among them,at any rate!" cried Mrs. Porter.
"We'll get right after them," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I don't really believethe gypsies took Helen, but they may have seen her. They can't have goneon very far. I'll call some policemen and we'll get after them."
"I'll come with you," said Bert. "Maybe we'd better get an automobile."
"It would be a good idea," said his father. "Let me see now. Ithink----"
But before Mr. Bobbsey could say what he thought there was the sound ofshouts in the street, and when those in the Porter home rushed to thewindows and doors they were surprised to see, coming up the front walk,the missing little girl herself!
There was Helen Porter, not carried off by the gypsies at all, but safeat home; though something had happened, that was sure, for she wascrying.
"Here she is! Here she is!" cried several in the crowd, and Mrs. Porterrushed out to hug her little girl close in her arms.