THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK

CONTENTS

I. A CROCKERY CRASH

II. NEW SUMMER PLANS

III. THE RUNAWAY BOY

IV. OFF FOR MEADOW BROOK

V. SNAP'S ESCAPE

VI. AT MEADOW BROOK

VII. THE PICNIC

VIII. LOST IN THE HAY

IX. THE FIVE-PIN SHOW

X. A SHAM BATTLE

XI. MOVING PICTURES

XII. THE BOBBSEYS ACT

XIII. THE CIRCUS

XIV. FREDDIE IS MISSING

XV. FOUND AGAIN

XVI. FRANK'S STORY

XVII. A WILD ANIMAL SCARE

XVIII. WHAT FREDDIE SAW

XIX. IN SWIMMING

XX. FRANK COMES BACK

XXI. BAD MONEY

XXII. HAPPY DAYS




CHAPTER I

A CROCKERY CRASH


"Well, here we are back home again!" exclaimed Nan Bobbsey, as she sat
down in a chair on the porch. "Oh, but we have had _such_ a good
time!"

"The best ever!" exclaimed her brother Bert, as he set down the valise
he had been carrying, and walked back to the front gate to take a
small satchel from his mother.

"I'm going to carry mine! I want to carry mine all the way!" cried
little fat Freddie Bobbsey, thinking perhaps his bigger brother might
want to take, too, his bundle.

"All right, you can carry your own, Freddie," said Bert, pleasantly.
"But it's pretty heavy for you."

"It--it isn't very heavy," panted Freddie, as he struggled on with his
bundle, his short fat legs fairly "twinkling" to and fro as he came up
the walk. "It's got some cookies in, too, my bundle has; and Flossie
and I are going to eat 'em when we get on the porch."

"Oh, so that's the reason you didn't want Bert to take your package,
is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile, as she patted the little fat
chap on the head.

"Oh, well, I'll give Bert a cookie if he wants one," said Freddie,
generously, "but I'm strong enough to carry my own bundle all the way;
aren't I, Dinah?" and he appealed to a fat, good-natured looking
colored woman, who was waddling along, carrying a number of packages.

"Dat's what yo' is, honey lamb! Dat's what yo' is!" Dinah exclaimed.
"An' ef I could see dat man ob mine, Sam Johnson, I'd make him take
some ob dese yeah t'ings."

As Dinah spoke there came from around the corner of the house a tall,
slim colored man, who as soon as he saw the party of returning
travelers, ran forward to help them carry their luggage.

"Well, it's about time dat yo' come t' help us, Sam Johnson!"
exclaimed his wife. "It's about time!"

"Didn't know yo' all was a-comin', Dinah! Didn't know yo' all would
get heah so soon, 'deed I didn't!" Sam exclaimed, with a laugh, that
showed his white teeth in strange contrast to his black face.
"Freddie, shall I take yo' package? Flossie, let me reliebe yo',
little Missie!"

"No, Sam, thank you!" answered the little girl, who was just about the
size and build of Freddie. "I have only Snoop, our cat, and I can
carry him easily enough. You help Dinah!"

"'Deed an' he had better help me!" exclaimed the colored cook.

Sam took all the packages he could carry, and hurried with them to the
stoop. But he had not gone very far before something happened.

From behind him rushed a big dog, barking and leaping about, glad,
probably, to be home again from part of the summer vacation.

"Look out, Sam!" called Bert Bobbsey, who was carrying the valise his
mother had had. "Look out!"

"What's de mattah? Am I droppin' suffin?" asked Sam, trying to turn
about and look at all the bundles and packages he had in his arms and
hands.

"It's Snap!" cried Nan, who was sitting comfortably on the shady
porch. "Look out for him, Sam."

"Snap! Behave yourself!" ordered little fat Flossie, as she set down a
wooden cage containing a black cat. "Be good, Snap!"

"Here, Snap! Snap! Come here!" called Freddie.

Snap, the big dog, was too excited just then to mind. With another
loud, joyous bark he rushed up behind Sam, and, as the colored man of
all work about the Bobbsey place had very bow, or curved, legs, Snap
ran right between them. That is, he ran half way, and then, as he was
a pretty fat dog, he stuck there.