CHAPTER V
A BUMPY RIDE
The Bobbsey twins--all four of them--stood in a circle about theirmother, looking eagerly at her and at the postal card which Nan hadhanded to her. Freddie and Flossie were smiling expectantly while Nanand Bert looked as though they were not quite sure whether or not it wasa joke.
"Is it really a goat, Mother?" asked Bert.
"Well, that's what this postal says," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "A goat andcart have arrived at the express office, and your father is asked tocome to get them and take them away."
"Course he's got to take 'em away," said Freddie. "The goat'll be hungrythere, for he can't get anything to eat."
"And he might butt somebody with his horns," added Flossie.
"Daddy wouldn't buy a butting goat," Freddie declared. "Anyhow, let's goand get him. I want to have a ride."
"If there really is a goat outfit at the express office for us," saidBert, "we'd better get it I think. I'll take the postal down to thelumberyard office and ask daddy----"
"I'm going with you!" cried Freddie.
"I'm comin', too!" added Flossie.
"Suppose you all go," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. "Your father will tell youwhat to do, for I'm sure I don't know what to say. I never had a goat.Four twins, a dog and a cat are about all I can manage," she saidlaughingly, as fat Dinah came waddling into the room to ask what toorder from the grocery.
"A goat! Good lan' ob massy!" exclaimed the colored cook. "Dere suahwill be trouble if de honey lambs takes t' playin' wif goats! Um! Um!Um! A goat! Oh, landy!"
"I know how to drive a goat!" declared Freddie. "Mike, the red-hairedboy in New York, showed me. Flossie and I had a ride in his wagon fortwo cents apiece. It was fun, wasn't it, Flossie?"
"Yep. I liked it. We had lots of fun in New York. Freddie rode on a mudturtle's back and we had bugs that went around and around and around."
"Maybe the goat will go around and around and around," said Nan, halflaughing.
"Well, hurry down to your father's office with the postal," advised Mrs.Bobbsey. "He'll know what to do."
And when the four excited Bobbsey twins--for even Bert was excited overthe chance of owning a goat--reached their father's office he told themall about it.
"You remember," he said, "that when Freddie and Flossie 'almost' boughtthe goat in New York I promised that if I could find a good one forsale, with a harness and wagon I'd buy it for you this summer. Well, Iheard of one the other day, and I got it, having it sent on here byexpress. Now we'll go down and see what it looks like."
"It's going to be my goat--Flossie's and mine, isn't it?" asked Freddie,as they started for the express office down near the railroad station.
"No more yours than it will be Nan's and Bert's, my little fat fireman,"said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "You must all be kind to the goat andtake turns riding in the wagon."
"Can't we all ride at once?" asked Nan.
"Well I don't know how large the wagon is," answered Mr. Bobbsey, as hestarted from his lumberyard for the express office with the children."Maybe you can all get in at once if the goat is strong enough to pullyou."
"I hope he's a big goat," said Freddie. "Then me and Bert will drive himand ride you and Flossie, Nan."
"Don't let him run away with me, that's all I ask!" begged Nan,laughing.
They found the goat in a crate on the express platform. Near him was agood-sized wagon, like those the children had seen in Central Park whenon their visit to New York.
"Oh, we can all get in it!" cried Freddie, as he ran from the wagon overto where the goat was bleating in his crate. The animal was a largewhite one, and he seemed gentle when Flossie and Freddie put their handsin through the slats of the crate and patted him.
"I think he'd like to get out where he can walk around and havesomething to eat and drink," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We must take him out ofhis crate."
This was soon done with the help of the express agent, and, when thelast piece of wood was taken off, the goat stepped out of his crate inwhich he had traveled from a distant city, and gave a loud,
"Baa-a-a-a-a!"
Then he stamped his forefeet on the platform, and shook his head, onwhich were two horns.
"Oh, look out! He'll run away!" cried Freddie, who was afraid of losinghis goat before there was a chance for a ride.
But the goat seemed tame, kind and gentle, and after walking about alittle, stood still beside the crate and let the children pat him, whileMr. Bobbsey paid the express agent.
There was a piece of paper pasted on the crate in which the goat hadtraveled. One end of the paper was flapping loose, and, seeing it, thewhite animal nibbled at it, and finally ate it, chewing it up as thoughhe liked it; as indeed he did, not so much for the paper as for thedried paste by which it had been stuck on.
"Oh, look!" cried Nan. "The goat's eating the label off his crate so wecan't send him back. He likes us, I guess."
"We like _him_, anyhow," said Freddie, laughing and patting the billy."Come on, Bert. Hitch him up and give us a ride."
"Shall I?" asked Bert of his father.
"Why, yes, I guess so. Might as well start now as any time. The man Ibought him from said he was kind and gentle and liked children. Harnesshim up, Bert."
A complete harness had come with the goat and wagon, and when the whiteanimal had been given a drink of water and fed some grass which Flossieand Freddie pulled for him, Bert, helped by his father and the expressagent, put the harness on.
"What are we going to call him?" asked Nan. "We'll have to have a namefor our goat. We don't want to call him 'it,' or 'Billy.'"
"Name him Whisker," said Bert. "See, he has whiskers just like an oldman."
"Oh, that's a nice, funny name!" laughed Flossie, and Freddie thought sotoo. So the goat was named Whisker, and he seemed to like that as wellas any. What he had been called before they got him, the children didnot know.
Whisker did not seem to mind being hitched to the wagon, and when Mr.Bobbsey had made sure that all the straps were well fastened, Bert tookthe front seat, with Nan beside him, while Flossie and Freddie sat inthe back. They set off, Mr. Bobbsey walking beside the goat to make surehe did not run away.
But Whisker seemed to be a very good goat indeed, and went along nicely,and so slowly and carefully that Freddie, several times, begged to beallowed to drive.
"I will let you after a while," promised Bert. "Let me get used to himfirst."
When the Bobbsey twins came riding down their street in the goat wagonyou can imagine how surprised all the other children were. They gatheredin front of the house and rushed into the yard when Bert turned Whiskerup the driveway.
"Oh, give us a ride! Give us a ride!" cried the playmates of the Bobbseytwins.
"Yes, I'll give you all rides," promised Bert good-naturedly.
Then began a jolly time for the Bobbsey twins and their friends. Whiskerdid not seem to mind how many children he hauled around the smooth levelyard at the side of the house, and sometimes the wagon was as full as itcould hold. Nor did the goat try to butt any one with his horns, lettingthe boys and girls pet him as much as they pleased.
"He's almost as nice as my doll the gypsies took," said Helen Porter,after she had had a ride. "I like Whisker."
"Did you find your doll?" asked Flossie.
"No. I can't find Mollie anywhere. I just know she's been turned into agypsy. Oh, dear!"
"Flossie and I'll help you find her," promised Freddie once again. "Someday I'm going to drive the goat all alone, and I'll give you and Flossiea long ride, Helen. Then we'll go off and find your doll."
"That'll be nice," said Helen.
The Bobbsey twins never knew how many friends they had until they gotthe goat wagon. For a time Snoop and Snap were forgotten, because therewas so much fun to be had with Whisker. Bert gave many rides to hislittle sister and brother and to their playmates, and in a few daysFreddie was allowed to drive the goat, so gentle was the white animal.
One day, soon af
ter Bert had hitched Whisker to the wagon, and was goingto give his two sisters and brother a ride, a telephone message camefrom Mr. Bobbsey, asking Bert to come to the lumber office to getsomething Mr. Bobbsey had to send home to his wife.
"I'll give you a ride when I come back," promised Bert, hurrying downthe street.
"We'll leave Whisker hitched up," said Nan. "I'll go in and finishsewing up that hole in my stocking I was mending."
"And I'll stay out here in the goat wagon," said Freddie, while Flossienodded her head to say she would do the same thing.
A little later, and before Bert had come back from his father's office,Helen Porter came walking past the Bobbsey house. Looking in the yard,she saw Flossie and Freddie seated in the goat wagon.
"Come on in," invited Flossie. "We're having a make-believe ride, andyou can ride too. Can't she, Freddie?"
"Yep. An' I'm going to drive--make-believe. Come on, Helen. When Bertcomes I'll ask him to take us to help find the gypsies and get back yourdoll."
Helen hurried in and took her place in the wagon, and the three childrenhad lots of fun pretending they were going on a long trip. They did notreally go, for the goat was tied to a post.
"I wish Bert would hurry back," said Flossie, after a bit. "I'm tired ofstaying in one place so long."
"So'm I," said Freddie. Then he got out of the wagon and began looseningthe strap by which the goat was fastened to the post.
"What're you doing?" Flossie asked.
"I--I just want to see what Whisker'll do," answered the little boy."Maybe he's tired of standing still."
Indeed, the goat seemed to be, for no sooner had Freddie got into thewagon again than off Whisker started, walking slowly toward the back ofthe yard, where there was a gate to a rear street which led to thewoods.
"Whoa!" cried Freddie, but he did not say it very loudly. "Whoa,Whisker! Where you going?"
"Oh, he's runnin' away!" cried Helen. "Let me out! He's runnin' away!"
"No, he's only walking," said Freddie. "It's all right. As long as hewalks, you won't get hurt. I guess I'd better drive him, though."
"Can't you stop him?" asked Flossie. "Bert won't like it to have us takehim away."
"We aren't taking him away; he's taking _us_ away," said Freddie. "Ican't make him stop. Look!" Again he called: "Whoa!" but the goat didnot obey.
On and on went Whisker, slowly at first, then walking a little fasterand pulling after him the wagon with the children in it.
"Oh, he's going to the woods!" cried Flossie, as she saw the goatheading for the patch of trees at the end of the back street. "Stop him,Freddie!"
"Maybe he wants to go there," said Freddie. "He won't stop for me."
"But it--it's such a bumpy road," said Helen, the words being fairlyjarred out of her. "It's all--all bu-bu-bumps and hu-hu-humps."
"That's 'cause we're in the woods," said Freddie, for by this time thegoat had drawn the wagon into the shade of the woods, not far from theBobbsey home. It was indeed a bumpy place, Whisker pulling the childrenover tree roots and bits of broken wood. But the wagon was stout, andthe goat was strong. Then, suddenly, Freddie had an idea.
"Oh, Helen!" he cried, "I guess Whisker is taking us to find your lostdoll!"