"They"re made strong on purpose, so they won"t fall," said Bert.
Flossie and Freddie ran on ahead up the elevated stairs, and just as their father was buying the tickets, to drop in the little box where the "chopper" stood, working up and down a long handle, a train rumbled into the station.
The iron gates of the car platforms were pulled back, several persons hurried off and others hurried on. Flossie and Freddie, thinking this was the train their parents, Bert and Nan, were going to take, and, being anxious to get seats near the window where they could look out, rushed past the ticket chopper, darted through the open gates and into one of the cars.
CHAPTER VIII
A LONG RIDE
Flossie and Freddie, scurrying through the gates of the elevated car just as the guard was about to close them, saw inside two rows of seats on either side, there being very few pa.s.sengers in that coach. Thinking their father and mother, with Bert and Nan, were right behind them, the two little twins felt no fear, but rushed in, each one anxious to get a seat.
"I"m going to sit by a window!" cried Freddie.
"So"m I!" added Flossie, and both were soon kneeling on the rattan seats, with their noses fairly flattened against the gla.s.s of the window. The few pa.s.sengers in the train smiled, for they knew the children must be from somewhere outside of New York, as the little folk of that city are not so eager to see the sights amid which they live.
It was not until the train had started, and had gone several blocks, that Flossie and Freddie thought of their father and mother. They were greatly interested in looking out of the windows, and watching the train rush past at the level of the upper stories of the houses and stores along the streets. It did seem so queer to them to be riding in a train high up in the air, instead of on the ground.
"It"s lots better than a tunnel, and I used to think they were lots of fun!" said Flossie, fairly bubbling over with joy.
"It"s great!" cried Freddie, and he flattened his nose out more than ever against the gla.s.s, trying to look around a corner. For he had seen in one window of a house a boy dropping from the window of his home a basket on a string, and Freddie wanted to see why he was doing this.
It is no unusual sight in New York, to see children, not much larger than the small Bobbsey twins, traveling about alone, so the other pa.s.sengers and the trainmen, after the first few smiles, paid no attention to Flossie and Freddie. But the two themselves, after their first wonder at the sights they saw, began to think of their father and mother, as well as of Bert and Nan.
"Where are they?" asked Flossie, after a bit, as she turned around and sat down in her seat.
"Didn"t they--didn"t they come in after us?" asked Freddie, his chubby face taking on a worried look.
"I--I didn"t see them," returned Flossie. "Maybe they"re in another car.
Let"s go to look!"
To say a thing was generally to do it, with the smaller Bobbsey twins, at least, and no sooner did Flossie say this than Freddie was ready to go with her on a hunt for the others. The children slipped from their seats and started for the door while the train was moving swiftly, but a guard, who is a sort of brake-man, stopped them.
"Where are you youngsters going?" he asked good-naturedly.
"We want our father and mother," explained Freddie. "They must be in another car. We hurried on ahead."
"Well, it wouldn"t be the first time that has happened," said the guard, with a laugh. "But I guess you"re a little too small to go navigating around from car to car when the train"s moving. What"s your father"s name?
I"ll have him called out for in the other cars."
"He"s Mr. Richard Bobbsey, of Lakeport," said Flossie, "and my mother and sister and brother are with him. My sister is Nan and my brother is Bert.
This is my brother, Freddie."
"Well, now I guess I know the whole family," laughed the guard, the other pa.s.sengers joining in a smile. "I"ll see if I can find your folks for you, though it"s queer they haven"t been looking for you themselves. You stay here."
The guard started to go through the other cars of the elevated train, and Freddie called after him:
"If you find my father, please tell him to open the box and take out the yellow bug."
"The yellow bug?" repeated the guard in some surprise. "Is your father an animal trainer?"
"Oh, no," said Flossie, seriously. "Freddie means one of the tin bugs that go around and around and around. And, if you please, I want a green one."
"Say, I wonder what kind of children these are, anyhow," murmured the guard. "Guess they must belong to a theatre or a circus."
"They look nice," said a man sitting near the door.
"Oh, they"re all _right_, that"s sure. Well, I"ll see if I can find their folks for "em."
Elevated railroad men in New York get used to doing queer things, and seeing strange sights, so it did not cause much excitement when the guard went into the different cars calling for Mr. Bobbsey. He had to come back to his own car once to call out "Forty-second Street," and to open the gates to let pa.s.sengers off and others on. Then he closed the gates and called out: "Fiftieth Street next," After that he went again into the cars he had not been in before and called for Mr. Bobbsey, But of course that gentleman did not answer, being a station or two behind by this time.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "WHERE ARE YOU YOUNGSTERS GOING?"
_The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City. Page_ 82]
The guard, not being able to find Mr. or Mrs. Bobbsey, or Nan and Bert, came back to where Flossie and Freddie were now rather anxiously waiting.
"Did you find him?" asked the children eagerly.
"No, I"m sorry to say your father isn"t on this train. But don"t worry.
I"ll look out for you, and your father is sure to come for you sooner or later."
"Did you find any of the bugs?" asked Freddie.
"That go around and around and around," added Flossie.
"No," said the guard, laughing, "I didn"t. What about them?"
Freddie explained what he meant, and asked if the train could not be stopped while he went into the nearest toy store to buy some more of the tin, crawling toys. But the guard said this could not be done.
"I don"t just know what to do with you," he said, scratching his head. "If your father thought, he could telephone to any of the stations where our train will stop--this is an express train and does not make many stops after Sixty-sixth Street till the end of the line. He could have the agent there take you off and keep you until he could come. Or, I might take you to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street, which is the end of the line, and have the agent there take charge of you. I don"t know what to do."
Just then Flossie thought of something:
"Oh, Freddie!" she cried. "We haven"t any tickets or any money, unless you have some, and the conductor will put us off!"
"I"ve got five cents," said Freddie, taking it out of his small pocket.
"That"s only enough for a street-car ride, and this is the elevated railroad," replied his blue-eyed sister. "Oh, what shall we do?" And there was just a little tear in each eye as she looked at the guard.
"What"s the matter now?" he asked kindly. "Do you want a bug?"
"No--I mean yes, but not now. We haven"t any tickets and the conductor----"
"Didn"t you drop your tickets in the chopper"s box at the station where you got on?"