The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp Part 23

"Come over here," advised Flossie, moving to one side so Freddie could thrust his hand forward and touch that mysterious heap of fur. "I--I guess maybe he's asleep, that's why he didn't growl or nothin'!"

"I guess maybe," agreed Freddie. Neither of the Bobbsey twins felt surprised because they had an idea a bear might be in the attic with them. Nor were they afraid. A sleeping bear is not dangerous, of course.

Any little boy or girl knows that!

Freddie crawled a little way farther under the sloping roof and, by stretching out his hand, managed to touch the fur. It felt warm and soft to his fingers.

"Oh, it _is_ a bear!" he whispered, and he was delighted. "Let's go and tell mother, and we can bring it downstairs and play with it. I guess it's a little bear!"

"Yes, we'd better tell mother," agreed Flossie. Somehow, the more she thought of a bear being up in the attic the more she thought it better to have some of the older folks know about it.

Down the stairs went the two Bobbsey twins, walking softly so as not to awaken the bear. They didn't want him suddenly aroused from his sleep and made cross. Who would?

"Where have you children been?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw the two twins. They were covered with dust and cobwebs from having crawled so far under the sloping roof in the attic. The floor was dirty, too, not having been swept in many months, and they had sat right down in the worst of the dust.

"Oh, Mother!" gasped Flossie, "we've been up in the attic, and what do you think's up there? It's a----"

"_Bear!_" burst out Freddie, not wanting his sister to tell all the wonderful news. "He's asleep, an' I touched him!"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "A bear? It can't be!"

And yet she knew there were bears in the North Woods, and it might be possible that one had crawled into the cabin before they had come, and had gone to the attic to have his long winter sleep.

"Yes, it is a bear!" insisted Flossie, and both children were so certain about the heap of fur that Mrs. Bobbsey called her husband, who was out in the woodshed with Tom Case and Jim Bimby.

"A bear!" cried the mill foreman. "Well, there are some around these woods, but I never knew of one coming into a cabin. I'll take a look."

"Hadn't you better take a gun?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, as he and Old Jim followed the foreman upstairs. "There's one here."

"Well, you might hand it to me," said Mr. Case. "But I reckon if it is a bear that's crawled in to go to sleep, he'll be so lazy I can take him by the back of the neck and throw him out."

Freddie and Flossie waited with their mother while their father and the two men went to the attic. They could hear the three moving around up overhead, and soon there was a shout of laughter.

"Maybe it's a circus bear, and he's doing tricks!" exclaimed Flossie.

"Oh, I hope it is!" added Freddie, feeling quite excited.

Their father and the two men came downstairs. Tom Case carried something--something brown and s.h.a.ggy, just like the fur of some animal.

"There's your 'bear!'" he said, laughing, as he tossed the furry object over a chair. "A bear skin! Ha! Ha!"

And that is what it was. The skin of a big bear, made into a lap robe for use in cold weather. The fur was warm, thick and soft, and when the skin was huddled up in a heap in a corner no wonder the Bobbsey twins mistook it for a real bear, especially in the dark.

"That's a good warm fur robe," said Old Jim. "If it was made into a fur coat it would keep out the cold."

"Maybe that's what the man who used to live here was going to use it for," said Mr. Bobbsey. "He moved away and forgot it. Well, you children can play with it," he said to Flossie and Freddie. "It was a bear once."

And the Bobbsey twins had fun taking turns wrapping the bear skin about them and pretending to be different kinds of wild animals.

It was when the storm began to grow less severe, the wind not blowing so hard and the snow not coming down so thickly, that Mr. Bobbsey, looking from the window when Flossie and Freddie were playing "bear," said:

"I think I'll start out again."

"Where?" asked his wife.

"To find Bert and Nan," he answered. "I think the blizzard is about over, and they will probably be starting for home. I'll go to meet them."

"Oh, take us!" cried Flossie and Freddie. "We want to see Bert and Nan."

"Oh, no, I couldn't take you," said their father. "The snow is piled deep in drifts, and you'd sink away down in--over your heads. I'll take some of the men and start," he said to his wife.

And so, a little later, another searching party started away from Cedar Camp to find the missing Bobbsey twins.

"I'll go along," said Old Jim, who was now able to travel. "I must take some food to my wife. She'll be 'most starved."

"Yes, come with us," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We'll take some food to Mrs.

Bimby."

CHAPTER XVIII--A LITTLE SEARCHING PARTY

Flossie and Freddie Bobbsey were two of the kindest children in the world. They were fond of fun and of having a good time, but whenever their mother did work for the church at home, helping poor families, taking food to people who had but little, Freddie and Flossie always wanted to do their share. So did Bert and Nan; but as the older twins had to spend more time in school than did Flossie and Freddie, the two latter had more chances to help their mother.

More than once they had gone with her when she carried a basket of food or a bundle of clothing to some poor family in Lakeport. And now, in Cedar Camp, having heard their father say he was going to take food to Mrs. Bimby, Flossie and Freddie at once had an idea.

While Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were out of the room, talking over the coming trip through the woods to look for Bert and Nan, as well as to take food to Mrs. Bimby, Freddie said to Flossie:

"Let's go, too!"

"Daddy won't let us," Flossie answered.

"We--we'll tag after him," said Freddie in a whisper. "We can put on our rubber boots and our coats and mittens, and we can go behind him. He can't hear us, 'cause there's so much snow our boots won't make any noise."

"That's so," agreed Flossie. "And, oh, Freddie! I know what we can do."

"What?"

"We can take Mrs. Bimby that bear robe. It'll keep her warm, 'cause it's so nice and soft!"

"So 'tis!" agreed Freddie. "We'll take it, and something to eat, too."

"We'll not have to do that, Daddy and the other men are going to take her something to eat."

"I meant something to eat for us," Freddie said. "We ought to take a lunch with us, 'cause maybe we'll get hungry in the woods."

The younger Bobbsey twins had a feeling that if they were seen packing up a lunch for themselves, putting on their boots and outdoor garments, and taking the bear skin, they would be stopped. They felt sure they would not be allowed to go in search of Nan and Bert. And they were probably right.