The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp Part 26

"Where's my lunch?" he asked aloud, and then he saw the package, which had fallen to one side of the place where he had plunged into the drift.

Bert picked it up, and then, thankful that his accident was no worse, he went on again.

"I guess maybe the brook is here," he said, for he noticed that he was down in a valley, and he knew that water always sought low levels. "I'll walk along here," said Bert.

He was so frightened, thinking of what might have happened if he had been crippled and unable to walk, that he did not feel hungry, though it was some time since breakfast. On he trudged through the snow, looking for signs of the brook, which he hoped would lead him to Cedar Camp.

It was while he was pa.s.sing through a clump of woods that Bert received another fright--one that caused him to run on as fast as he could, in spite of his aching leg.

He had gone half way through the clump of trees, and he was wondering if he would ever come to the brook, when suddenly he heard a noise in a clump of bushes. The noise sounded louder than usual, because it was all so still and quiet near him.

Before Bert could guess what caused the sound, he saw, pushing its way through the underbrush, a tawny animal, with black spots underneath and with little tufts of hair on its ears. At once Bert knew what this was--a wildcat, or lynx!

For a moment Bert was so frightened that he just stood still, looking at the wildcat. And then, as the animal gave a sort of snarl and growl, the boy turned with a yell of fright and ran off through the snow as fast as he could go!

CHAPTER XX--s...o...b..LL BULLETS

About the time that Bert Bobbsey was running through the snow, to get away from the wildcat, Flossie and Freddie were having a scare of their own, some miles distant from him, though in the same woods around Cedar Camp.

The two smaller Bobbsey twins had gone off without letting their father or mother know, taking with them a lunch. They tramped through the forest until they came to a lonely place and had not yet caught sight of their father, who had started off ahead with Old Jim Bimby and Tom Case.

Right here the small twins heard a growl and saw a movement in the bushes.

"What's that?" asked Flossie, shrinking closer to Freddie.

"I--I don't know," Freddie answered, trying to think of something to make him brave. "Maybe it's a bear!"

"A bear?" questioned his sister.

"Yep!" Freddie went on, his eyes never moving from the bush that seemed to hide some animal. "Maybe it's a bear like the one we found the skin of in the attic."

"It--it can't be the _same one_ coming back for his skin, can it?" asked Flossie.

"Course not!" declared Freddie. "How could a bear go 'round without his skin on?"

"Well, a bear's skin is just the same to him as our clothes are to us,"

Flossie went on. "An' sometimes, when we go swimming, we don't have very many clothes on."

"Well, a bear is different," said Freddie.

"Oh, look!" suddenly cried the little girl, and, pointing to the bush with one hand, she clung to Freddie's arm with the other. "He's coming out! He's coming out!" she exclaimed.

A s.h.a.ggy head could be seen thrusting itself from the bushes, and the children were wondering what sort of animal it could be, for it did not look like a bear, when, with a joyful bark, there burst out in front of them--the s.h.a.ggy dog belonging to Tom Case!

Rover--Rover was the name of the dog--rushed toward Flossie and Freddie, leaping joyfully and wagging his tail. He had made friends with the children as soon as they came to Cedar Camp, and they loved Rover.

"Oh, h.e.l.lo!" cried Flossie, as if greeting an old friend.

"He's glad to see us and we're glad to see him," said Freddie.

This seemed to be true, though I think Flossie and Freddie were more pleased to see Rover than he was to see them, for the dog knew how to find his way home, and even trace and find his master if need be, while, to tell you the truth, Flossie and Freddie were lost, though they did not yet know it. But they were soon to find this out.

"Did you come looking for us?" asked Flossie, as she patted the s.h.a.ggy animal.

"I guess he did," Freddie said. "I guess he'd rather come with us than with daddy and the others. Though we'll take Rover to 'em, won't we?"

"Yes," agreed Flossie. "But we must hurry up and catch 'em, Freddie. We want to see Mrs. Bimby and tell her about the nice warm bear robe."

"Sush! Don't speak so loud," cautioned Freddie, looking over his shoulder.

"Why not?" Flossie wanted to know.

"I mean about the bear robe," her brother went on. "There might be some bears in the woods, and if they heard there was the skin of one of 'em at the cabin, maybe they wouldn't like it."

"Maybe that's so," agreed Flossie, also looking around. "But, anyhow, Rover'd drive the bears away; wouldn't you, Rover?"

The dog barked and wagged his tail, which was the only answer he could give. It satisfied the children, and soon they started off again, making their way through the snow, hoping they would soon catch up with their father, Mr. Case and Mr. Bimby. Rover accompanied Flossie and Freddie, sometimes ahead of them and sometimes behind.

The dog had started out, as he often did, to follow his master, but had lagged behind, perhaps to run after a rabbit or squirrel. Then he had come across the tracks of the children and had gone to them, knowing they were friends of his.

"I'm hungry," said Flossie, after a while. "Let's sit under a Christmas tree and eat, Freddie."

"All right," agreed her brother, always willing to do this.

They were, just then, in a clump of evergreen trees, and under some the snow was not as deep as it was in the open. In fact the children found one tree with no snow under it at all, so thick were the branches, and so close to the ground did they come. Crawling into this little nest, where the ground was covered with the dry needles from the pines and other trees, Flossie and Freddie opened the packages of lunch they had brought with them.

Rover, smelling the food, crawled into the shelter after them, and Flossie and Freddie shared their lunch with the dog, who even ate the crumbs off the ground.

"But we mustn't eat everything," said Freddie, when part of the lunch had been disposed of, Rover getting his share.

"Why not?" asked Flossie. "Can't you eat all you want to when you're hungry?"

"It's best to save some," Freddie answered. "Maybe we'll get stuck in the snow and can't get anything more to eat for a while, and then we'll be glad to have this."

"That's so," agreed Flossie, after thinking it over. "I guess I'm not so very hungry. But Rover is. He's terrible hungry, Freddie. See him look at the lunch."

Indeed the dog seemed to be following, with hungry eyes, every motion of the little boy who was wrapping up again that part of the lunch not eaten by him and his sister. They saved about half of it.

Rover sniffed and snuffed as only a dog can, but he made no effort to take the lunch that Freddie placed in a crotch of the evergreen tree which made such a nice shelter for him and his sister.

"Don't you take it, Rover!" cautioned Flossie, shaking her finger at him.

Rover thumped his tail on the ground, perhaps to show that he would be good and mind.

"It's nice and warm in here," Freddie remarked, after a while. "I wish we could stay here longer, Flossie."

"Can't we?"