CHAPTER II
TO THE RESCUE
"Bert! Bert! You'll be drowned!" cried Flossie, as she clung to Nan inthe middle of the raft. "Come back, you'll be drowned!"
"Oh, I'm all right," Bert answered, for he felt himself quite a big boybeside Freddie.
"Are you sure, Bert, it isn't too deep?" asked Nan.
"Look! It doesn't come up to my knees, hardly," Bert said, as he wadedaround to the side of the raft, having jumped off one end to give it apush to get it loose from the bank of mud on which it had run aground.And, really, the water was not very deep where Bert had leaped in.
Some water had splashed on his short trousers, but he did not mind that,as they were the old ones his mother made him put on in which to play.
"Maybe we can get loose without your pushing us," said Freddie, as hemoved about on the raft, tilting it a little, first this way and thenthe other. Once before that day, when on the "boat" alone, it had becomestuck on a hidden bank of mud, and the little twin had managed to get itloose himself.
"No, I guess it's stuck fast," Bert said, as he pushed on the mass ofboards without being able to send them adrift. "I'll have to shove goodand hard, and maybe you'll have to get in here and help me, Freddie."
"Oh, yes, I can do that!" the little fellow said. "I'll come and helpyou now, Bert."
"No, you mustn't," ordered Nan, who felt that she had to be a littlemother to the smaller twins. "Don't go!"
"Why not?" Freddie wanted to know.
"Because it's too deep for you," answered Nan. "The water is only up toBert's knees, but it will be over yours, and you'll get your clothes allwet. You stay here!"
"But I want to help Bert push the steamboat loose!"
"I guess I can do it alone," Bert said. "Wait until I get around to thefront end. I'll push it off backward."
He waded around the raft, which it really was, though the Bobbsey twinspretended it was a steamboat, and then, reaching the front, or whatwould be the bow if the raft had really been a boat, Bert got ready topush.
"Push, Bert!" yelled Freddie.
But a strange thing happened.
Suddenly a queer look came over Bert's face. He made a quick grab forthe side of the raft and then he sank down so that the water came overhis knees, wetting his trousers.
"Oh, Bert! what's the matter?" cried Nan.
"I--I'm sinking in the mud!" gasped Bert. "Oh, I can't get my feetloose! I'm stuck! Maybe I'm in a quicksand and I'll never get loose!Holler for somebody! Holler loud!"
And the other three Bobbsey twins "hollered," as loudly as they could.
"Mother! Mother!" cried Nan.
"Come and get Bert!" added Freddie.
"Oh, Dinah! Dinah!" screamed Flossie, for the fat, good-natured coloredcook had so often rescued Flossie that the little girl thought she wouldbe the very best person, now, to come to Bert's aid.
"Oh, I'm sinking away down deep!" cried the brown-eyed boy, as he triedto lift first one foot and then the other. But they were both stuck inthe mud under the water, and Bert, afraid of sinking so deep that hewould never get out, clung to the side of the raft with all his might.
"Oh, you're making us sink. You're making us sink!" screamed Nan.Indeed, the raft was tipping to one side and the other children had allthey could do to keep from sliding into the pond.
"Oh, somebody come and help me!" called Bert.
And then a welcome voice answered:
"I'm coming! I'm coming!"
So, while some one is coming to the rescue, I will take just a fewmoments to tell my new readers something about the children who are tohave adventures in this story.
Those of you who have read the other books of the series will rememberthat in the first volume, called "The Bobbsey Twins," I told you ofFlossie and Freddie, and Bert and Nan Bobbsey, who lived with theirfather and mother in the eastern city of Lakeport, near Lake Metoka. Mr.Richard Bobbsey owned a large lumberyard, where the children were wontoften to play. As I have mentioned, Flossie and Freddie, with theirlight hair and blue eyes, were one set of twins--the younger--while Nanand Bert, who were just the opposite, being dark, were the older twins.
The children had many good times, about some of which I have told you inthe first book. Dinah Johnson, the fat, jolly cook, always saw to itthat the twins had plenty to eat, and her husband, Sam, who worked aboutthe place, made many a toy for the children, or mended those they broke.Almost as a part of the family, as it were, I might mention Snap, thetrick dog, and Snoop, the cat. The children were very fond of thesepets.
After having had much fun, as related in my first book, the Bobbseytwins went to the country, where Uncle Daniel Bobbsey had a big farm atMeadow Brook. Later, as you will find in the third volume, they went tovisit Uncle William Minturn at the seashore.
Of course, along with their good times, the children had to go toschool, and you will find one of the books telling what they did there,and the fun they had. From school the Bobbsey twins went to Snow Lodge,and then they spent some time on a houseboat and later again went toMeadow Brook for a jolly stay in the woods and fields near the farm.
"And now suppose we stay at home for a while," Mr. Bobbsey had said,after coming back from Meadow Brook.
At first the twins thought they wouldn't like this very much, but theydid, and they had as much fun and almost as many adventures as before.After that they spent some time in a great city and then they got readyfor some wonderful adventures on Blueberry Island.
Those adventures you will find told about in the book just before thisone you are now reading. The twins spent the summer on the island, andmany things happened to them, to their goat and dog, and to a queer boy.Freddie lost some of his "go-around" bugs, and there is something in thebook about a cave,--but I know you would rather read it for yourselfthan have me tell you here.
Now to get back to the children on the raft, or rather, to Flossie,Freddie and Nan, who are on that, while Bert is in the water, and stuckin the mud.
"Oh, come quick! Come quick!" he cried. "I can't get loose!"
"I'm coming!" answered the voice, and it was that of Mrs. Bobbsey. Shehad been in the kitchen, telling Dinah what to get for dinner, when sheheard the children shouting from down in the meadow, where the big pondof rain water was.
"I hope none of them has fallen in!" said Mrs. Bobbsey as she ran out ofthe door, after hearing Bert's shout.
"Good land ob massy! I hopes so mahse'f!" gasped fat Dinah, and she,too, started for the pond. But, as she was very fat, she could not runas fast as could Mrs. Bobbsey. "I 'clar' to goodness I hopes none ob 'emhas falled in de watah!" murmured Dinah. "Dat's whut I hopes!"
Mrs. Bobbsey reached the edge of the pond. She saw three of the twins onthe raft. For the moment she could not see Bert.
"Where is Bert?" she cried.
"Here I am, Mother!" he answered.
Then Mrs. Bobbsey saw him standing in the water, which was now well overhis knees. He was holding to the edge of the raft.
"Oh, Bert Bobbsey!" his mother called. "What are you doing there? Comeright out this instant! Why, you are all wet! Oh, my dear!"
"I can't come out, Mother," said Bert, who was not so frightened, nowthat he saw help at hand.
"You can't come out? Why not?"
"'Cause I'm stuck in the mud--or maybe it's quicksand. I'm sinking inthe quicksand. Or I would sink if I didn't keep hold of the raft. Idassn't let go!"
"Oh, my!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "What shall I do?"
"Can't you pull him out?" asked Nan. "We tried, but we can't."
They had done this--she and Flossie and Freddie. But Bert's feet weretoo tightly held in the sticky mud, or whatever it was underneath thewater.
"Wait! I'll come and get you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. She was just about towade out to get Bert, shoes, skirts and all, when along came puffing,fat Dinah, and, just ahead of her, her husband, Sam.
"What's the mattah, Mrs. Bobbsey?" asked the colored man, who did oddjobs around the Bobbsey home.
"It's Bert! He's fast in the mud!" answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, Sam,please hurry and get him out!"
"Yas'am, I'll do dat!" cried Sam. He did not seem to be frightened.Perhaps he knew that the pond was not very deep where Bert was, and thatthe boy could not sink down much farther.
Sam had been washing the automobile with the hose, and when he did thishe always wore his rubber boots. He had them on now, and so he couldeasily wade out into the pond without getting wet.
So out Sam waded, half running in fact, and splashing the water allabout. But he did not mind that. As did Dinah, he loved the Bobbseytwins--all four of them--and he did not want anything to happen to them.
"Jest you stand right fast, Bert!" said the colored man. "I'll have yo'out ob dere in 'bout two jerks ob a lamb's tail! Dat's what I will!"
Bert did not know just how long it took to jerk a lamb's tail twice,even if a lamb had been there. But it did not take Sam very long toreach the small boy.
"Now den, heah we go!" cried Sam.
Standing beside the raft, the colored man put his arms around Bert andlifted him. Or rather, he tried to lift him, for the truth of the matterwas that Bert was stuck deeper in the mud than any one knew.
"Now, heah we go, _suah!_" cried Sam, as he took a tighter hold andlifted harder. And then with a jerk, Bert came loose and up out of thewater he was lifted, his feet and legs dripping with black mud, some ofwhich splashed on Sam and on the other twins.
"Oh, what a sight you are!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, but good land of massy! Ain't yo' all thankful he ain't all_drown?_" asked Dinah.
"Indeed I am," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Come on away from there, all of you.Get off the raft! I'm afraid it's too dangerous to play that game. And,Bert, you must get washed! Oh, how dirty you are!"
Sam carried Bert to shore, and Nan helped Freddie push the raft to theedge of the pond. And then along came Mr. Bobbsey from his lumberyard.
"Well, well!" exclaimed the father of the Bobbsey twins. "What hashappened?"
"We had a raft," explained Freddie.
"And I had to toot the whistle when I wanted it to stop," added Flossie.
"We were having a nice ride," said Nan.
"Yes, but what happened to Bert?" asked his father, looking at his muddyson, who truly was a "sight."
"Well, the raft got stuck," Bert answered, "and I got off to push itloose. Then I got stuck. It was awful sticky mud. I didn't know therewas any so sticky in the whole world! First I thought it was quicksand.But I held on and then Sam came and got me out. I--I guess I got mypants a little muddy," he said.
"I guess you did," agreed his father, and his eyes twinkled as theyalways did when he wanted to laugh but did not feel that it would bejust the right thing to do. "You are wet and muddy. But get up to thehouse and put on dry things. Then I have something to tell you."
"Something to tell us?" echoed Nan. "Oh, Daddy! are we going awayagain?"
"Well, I'm not sure about that part--yet," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "But Ihave strange news for you."