The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp Part 31

"No, I don't want to sleep in the snow," the little girl said. "I want my own little bunk at the camp."

"Well, we'll be there pretty soon," Bert said, as kindly as he could.

"Carry me!" begged Flossie, when she had stumbled on a little farther, walking between her two brothers.

"All right. I guess I can carry you," said Bert, but he was worrying about his leg a little. It was not so bad when he bore his own weight on it. But could he carry Flossie?

However, he was not going to give up without trying, and so, when they came to a little sheltered place, where the snow was not quite so deep, Bert stooped down.

"I'll take you pickaback, Flossie," he said.

"Oh, I like that!" laughed his sister, as she climbed up on her brother's back.

Bert was not sure whether or not he was going to like it, but he said nothing. He had to shut his teeth tight to keep from crying out with pain as he straightened up with Flossie on his back, for her weight, small as she was, put too much weight on his injured leg. Flossie was quite "chunky" for her size, as Dinah was wont to say.

"Hold steady now, Flossie," directed Bert, as he straightened up. "Put your arms around my neck."

"I guess I know how to ride piggy-back!" laughed Flossie. She was not so tired now, when something like this happened to change her thoughts.

Bert staggered along through the snow with his sister on his back.

Though he did not want to say so, his leg hurt him very much. But he tried not to limp, though Freddie at last noticed it, and asked:

"Have you got a stone in your shoe, Bert?"

"Oh, no, I--I just sprained it a little," Bert answered in a low voice, so Flossie would not hear. For of course if she had known it hurt her brother to carry her she would not ask him to. But just then Flossie was reaching up to take hold of a branch of a tree as Bert pa.s.sed beneath it. And, catching hold of it, Flossie, with a merry laugh, showered herself and Bert with snow that clung to the branch.

"Don't, Flossie, dear!" Bert had to say. "There's snow enough without pulling down any more. And we'll get plenty if the clouds spill more flakes."

"Do you think it will storm some more?" Freddie wanted to know.

Bert did not answer right away. He was thinking what he could do about Flossie. If she could not walk then she must be carried, but he felt that he could not hold her on his back much longer, his leg was paining too much.

Just then the sight of Rover, the big, strong dog, floundering about in the snow, gave Bert an idea. Rover did not seem to care how much breath or strength he wasted, for he ran everywhere, barking and trying to dig things out from under the drifts.

"Oh, Flossie! wouldn't you like to ride on Rover's back?" asked poor, tired Bert.

"Oh, that will be lovely!" cried the little girl.

"Here, Rover!" cried Freddie.

The dog came leaping through the snow, very likely hoping to have some sticks thrown that he might race after them. But he did not seem surprised when Flossie was placed on his back and held there by Freddie on one side and Bert on the other.

"Now I'm having a ride on a make-believe elephant!" laughed Flossie.

Rover could not run with the little girl on his back, and I must say he behaved very nicely, carrying her along through the drifts. Her legs hung "dangling down-o," but that did not matter.

"I guess I'm rested now," said Flossie, after a bit. "I'm cold, and it will make me warmer to walk. I'll walk and hold your hand, Bert."

If Rover was glad to have the load taken from his back he did not say so, but by the way he raced on ahead when Flossie got off I think he was.

"I guess there's more snow coming," suddenly cried Bert.

There was, the flakes coming down almost as thick and fast as when the blizzard first swirled about Cedar Camp. Bert took the hands of Flossie and Freddie and led them on through the storm. It was hard work, and the smaller children were crying with the cold and from fear at the coming darkness when Rover suddenly barked.

"Hark!" cried Bert. "I guess someone is coming!"

"Maybe it's daddy!" half sobbed Flossie.

Shouts were coming through the storm--the shouts of men. Rover barked louder and rushed forward. Bert held to the hands of his brother and sister and peered anxiously through the falling flakes and the fast-gathering darkness.

Suddenly a man rushed forward, and, a moment later, had Flossie and Freddie in his arms, hugging and kissing them. Then he clasped Bert around the shoulders.

"Daddy! Daddy!" cried Flossie and Freddie together. "You found us, didn't you?"

"Yes. But I didn't know you were away from camp," said Mr. Bobbsey, for it was he. "Where's Nan?" he asked Bert quickly, while Rover leaped about his master, Mr. Case, and Old Jim.

"She's at Mrs. Bimby's cabin," Bert answered.

"My wife!" exclaimed Old Jim. "Is she--is she all right?"

"She was when I came away this morning to get help," said Bert. "I shot a rabbit for her and Nan. It was good, too. But I guess she'll need food now."

"We have a lot for her," said Tom Case. "Rover, you rascal!" he went on, patting his dog, "I wondered where you ran away to, but it's a good thing you found the children."

"And he drove away the wildcat," Bert announced.

It was a happy, joyful party in spite of the storm, which was getting worse. Mr. Bobbsey and the two men with him had gotten off the road that led to Old Jim's cabin, and it was because of that fact that they had found the lost children.

"What had we better do?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, when it was learned that Bert, Freddie and Flossie had really suffered no harm from being lost.

"Should we go back to Cedar Camp or to your cabin, Mr. Bimby?"

"The cabin is nearer," said Tom Case. "If you folks go there, with Jim to guide you, I'll back track to Cedar Camp and fetch a sled. You can ride the Bobbsey twins home in that."

"Yes, we'd better go to my cabin," said Old Jim. "We can make room for you, and we'll take the food with us."

So this plan was decided on, Tom Case and Rover going to Cedar Camp for the sled, while Mr. Bobbsey, Mr. Bimby and the three children trudged back to Mrs. Bimby's cabin.

You can imagine how glad Nan and the old woman were to see not only Bert but the others.

"Oh, I was afraid when it began to storm again," said Nan, as she hugged Flossie and Freddie. "But I never dreamed you two would be out in it."

"Nor I," said their father.

"You ought to see the bear skin we found!" exclaimed Freddie, to change the subject. "It's going to be for Mrs. Bimby, to keep her warm."

"Bless their hearts!" murmured Old Jim's wife. "I can keep warm all right, but it's hard to get food in a storm."

However, there was plenty of that now, and they all soon gathered about the table and had a hot meal. The second storm was not as bad as the first had been, and later that evening up came a big sled, filled with straw and drawn by powerful horses, and in it was Mrs. Bobbsey and some of the men from Cedar Camp.

After a joyful reunion, in piled the Bobbsey twins with their father and mother, and good-byes were called to the Bimby family, who now had food enough to last through many storms.