"See what beautiful colors they are!" exclaimed Freddie. "Green and blue and red and brown and pink and yellow and--and--oh, every kind!"
"And you ought to see how fast some of "em go around!" exclaimed Flossie.
"They just keep on going around and around and around till sometimes you can"t most see "em go!"
"And you wind "em just like this----" explained Freddie, making a queer little movement with his chubby hand.
"Oh, I know just how they go," said Laddie. "Didn"t I see yours run?"
"Come, children, we"ll have to hurry," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We don"t want to miss the train."
"I want some of those bugs," said Laddie wistfully.
"We can get some later," replied his aunt.
"But they may be all gone when we come back!"
"I don"t think so," his aunt replied. "See! They have a whole store full of them." And then the crowd hurried off to catch the train.
In due time they arrived in Lakeport, and when Flossie and Freddie rushed into the house, almost knocking down dear old fat Dinah, they found Splash, the big dog, waiting for them. And Splash did really knock Flossie down, he was so glad to see her. But she was so fat that, really, falling just to the floor did not hurt her at all. And, anyhow, she sat down on the tail of Splash, so it was like a cushion, only, of course, he could not wag it until Flossie got up.
"Oh, chilluns! how glad I is t" see yo" all!" cried Dinah, trying to hug all four of them at once.
"And here"s Laddie," said Flossie. "Aren"t you glad to see him?"
"Co"se I is, chile! I lubs yo" all!" and she hugged Laddie, too.
Leaving his wife at the Bobbsey home, Mr. Whipple went with Mr. Bobbsey to the hospital where Uncle Jack (as they still called him) had been taken.
The old woodchopper was much better, though still weak and ill. One of the doctors had told him some one was coming to see him, and had said it might prove to be some one who knew about his brother and sister. Poor Uncle Jack"s eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, I only hope it is true," he said.
Mr. Whipple walked softly into the hospital room. After a short talk with the old woodchopper, Mr. Daniel Whipple cried:
"It is true! I am your brother! Oh, John, I have found you at last!"
There was no doubt of it. After further talking it over between them, Mr.
Daniel Whipple and Mr. John Whipple made sure they were brothers. And when Uncle Jack (as many still kept on calling him) got better, every one could see that he and Mr. Whipple, the department store owner, looked very much alike, except that the woodchopper was older.
But I must not call him a woodchopper, for he was that no longer.
"You are coming to live with me," said his brother Dan. "I have enough to look after you. No more hard work for you!"
"I am very happy," said Uncle Jack. "Bless the dear children; they helped you to find me as much as any one did."
"Yes," said Uncle Dan, as the Bobbsey twins called Laddie"s uncle, "if Flossie and Freddie hadn"t fallen off the ice-boat I might still be looking for you, John."
And so, as you have read, everything came out all right. Uncle Jack, in a few weeks, was able to leave the hospital, quite well again, though he was very weak, and he was old. He grew stronger in time, but of course no younger, though he lived for a number of happy years with his brother.
Laddie stayed in Lakeport over two weeks, and he had many good times with the Bobbsey twins. His mother, as soon as the weather became warm, came on from California and said she had never seen Laddie play with two children he liked more than he did Flossie and Freddie. Bert and Tommy Todd sailed the ice-boat, and it did not upset again, though once it came very near it. Flossie and Freddie were given the cart and goat they so much wanted, but I shall have no room here to tell about the fun they had with them.
"Well, it certainly was a dandy Winter," remarked Bert one day, when the air felt like Spring.
The Whipples, taking Uncle Jack with them, had gone back to New York, and the Bobbseys were alone.
"It will soon be Summer," said Nan. "I wonder what we shall do then. Where are we going to spend our vacation, Mother?"
"Oh, I think Daddy has some nice place picked out."
"Let"s try to guess!" said Nan to Bert.
But they did not easily do that, and as I do not want to keep you guessing, I will say that the children did have a fine time that Summer.
Where they went, and what they did while there, you may find out by reading the next book of this series, to be called, "The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island." There they went camping, and----But I will let you read it for yourselves.
"Freddie! oh, Freddie!" called Flossie, coming into the house one day about a month after they had come back from New York. "Where are you, Freddie?"
"I"m out in the kitchen gettin" some bread an" jam," he answered. "What d"you want?"
"Lucy Turner is with me," went on Flossie. "She says we haven"t got any bugs that go around and around and around, and I want to show her. We have got "em, haven"t we, Freddie?"
"Course we have. I"ve got one now going around and around and around my plate that had bread and jam on it--but there isn"t any on it now, "cause I ate it all up!"
"Oh, come on and we"ll get some, too!" cried Flossie, and she and her little girl playmate were soon having fun with Freddie. And there we will take leave of them.
THE END
THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH SERIES
By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON
Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the cla.s.sroom and on the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, pure and wholesome.
THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH Or Rivals for all Honors.
A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch of mystery and a strange initiation.
THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA Or The Crew That Won.
Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp.
THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery.