The Bobbsey Twins on the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 4

Oh, dear! cried Mrs. Bobbsey, I wonder what has happened now!

Maybe Snap is barking at a tramp, suggested Bert. Ill go and see.

It cant be a tramp! Nan spoke with scorn. That sounded like a little girl crying.

It surely did, Mrs. Bobbsey said. Wait a minute, Bert. Dont go out just yet.

But I want to see what it is, Mother! and Bert paused, half way to the door, out of which Mr. Bobbsey had hurried a few seconds before.

Your father will do whatever needs to be done, said Berts mother. Perhaps it may be a strange dog, fighting with Snap, and you might get bitten.

Snap wouldnt bite me.

Nor me! put in Nan.

No, but the strange dog might. Wait a minute.

Flossie and Freddie had also started to leave the room to go out into the yard and see what was going on, but when they heard their mother speak about a strange dog they went back to their chairs by the table.

Then, from the yard, came cries of:

Make him give her back to me, Mr. Bobbsey! Please make Snap give her back to me!

Oh, thats Helen Porter! cried Nan, as she heard the voice of a child. Its Helen, and Snap must have taken something she had.

I see! exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, looking out the door. Its Helens doll. Snap has it in his mouth and hes running with it down to the end of the yard.

Has Snap really got Helens doll? asked Flossie.

Yes, answered her mother. Though why he took it I dont know.

Well, if its only Snap, and no other dog is there, cant I go out and see? asked Bert. Snap wont hurt me.

No, I dont believe he will, said Mrs. Bobbsey. Yes, you may all go out. I hope Snap hasnt hurt Helen.

Helen Porter was a little girl who lived next door to the Bobbsey twins, and those of you who have the book about camping on Blueberry Island will remember her as the child who, at first, was thought to have been taken away by the Gypsies.

Oh, Helen! What is the matter, my dear? asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she hurried out into the yard, followed by Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie.

Did Snap bite you? asked Nan, looking toward her father, who was running after the dog that was carrying the little girls doll in his mouth.

No, Snap didnt bite me! But he bit my doll! Helen answered.

It doesnt hurt dolls to bite em, said Bert, with a laugh.

It does so! cried Helen, turning her tear-filled eyes on him. It makes all their sawdust come out!

So it does, my dear, said Mrs. Bobbsey kindly. But well hope that Snap wont bite your doll as hard as that. If he does Ill sew up the holes to keep the sawdust in. But how did he come to do it?

II guess maybe he liked the cookie my doll had, explained Helen, who was about as old as Flossie.

Did your doll have a cookie? asked Nan.

Yes. I was playing she was a rich lady doll, went on the little girl from next door, and she was taking a basket of cookies to a poor doll lady. Course I didnt have a whole basket of cookies, explained Helen. I had only one, but I made believe it was a whole basket full.

How did you give it to your doll to carry? asked Nan, for she had often played games this way herself, making believe different things. How did your doll carry the cookie, Helen?

She didnt carry it, was the answer. I tied it to her with a piece of string so she wouldnt lose it. The cookie was tied fast around her waist.

Oh, then I see what happened, said Mrs. Bobbsey. Snap came up to you, and he smelled the cookie on your doll; didnt he?

Yesm, answered Helen.

And he must have thought you meant the cookie for him, went on Nans mother. And he tried to take it in his mouth; didnt he?

Yesm, Helen answered again.

And when he couldnt get the cookie loose, because you had it tied fast to your doll, he took the cookie, doll and all. Thats how it was, said Mrs. Bobbsey. Never mind, Helen. Dont cry. Here comes Mr. Bobbsey now, with your doll.

But I guess Snap has the cookie, said Bert with a laugh.

Ill get you another one from Dinah, promised Nan to Helen.

In the meantime Mr. Bobbsey had run down to the lower end of the yard after Snap, the big dog.

Come here, Snap, you rascal! he cried. Come here this minute!

But for once Snap did not mind. He was rather hungry, and perhaps that accounted for his disobedience. Instead of coming up he ran out of sight behind the little toolhouse. Mr. Bobbsey went after him, but by the time he reached the spot Snap was nowhere to be seen.

Snap! Snap! he called out loudly. Come here, I tell you! Where are you hiding?

Of course, the dog could not answer the question that had been put to him, and neither did he show himself. That is, not at first. But presently, as Mr. Bobbsey looked first in one corner of the toolhouse and then in another, he saw the tip end of Snaps tail waving slightly from behind a big barrel.

Ah, so there you are! he called out, and then pushed the barrel to one side.

There was Snap, and in front of him lay the doll with a short string attached to it. Whatever had been tied to the other end of the string was now missing.

Snap, youre getting to be a bad dog! said Mr. Bobbsey sternly. Give me that doll this instant!

The dog made no movement to keep the doll, but simply licked his mouth with his long, red tongue, as if he was still enjoying what he had eaten.

If you dont behave yourself after this Ill have to tie you up, Snap, warned Mr. Bobbsey.

And then, acting as if he knew he had done wrong, the big dog slunk out of sight.

Here you are, Helen! called Flossies father, as he came back. Heres your doll, all right, and she isnt hurt a bit. But the cookie is inside of Snap.

Did he like it? Helen wanted to know.

He seemed tovery much, answered Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. He made about two bites of it, after he got it loose from the string by which you had tied it to the doll.

Helen dried her tears on the backs of her hands, and took the doll which had been carried away by the dog. There were a few cookie crumbs sticking to her dress, and that was all that was left of the treat she had been taking to a make-believe poor lady.

Snap, what made you act so to Helen? asked Bert, shaking his finger at his pet, when the dog came up from the end of the yard, wagging his tail. Dont you know you were bad?

Snap did not seem to know anything of the kind. He kept on wagging his tail, and sniffed around Helen and her doll.

Hes smelling to see if Ive any more cookies, said the little girl.

I guess he is, said Mrs. Bobbsey. Well, come into the house, Helen, and Ill give you another cookie if you want it. But you had better not tie it to your doll, and go anywhere near Snap.

I will eat it myself, said the little girl.

One cookie a day is enough for Snap, anyhow, said Bert.

The dog himself did not seem to think so, for he followed the children and Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey back to the house, as though hoping he would get another cake.

Heahs a bone fo yo, said Dinah to Snap, for she liked the big dog, and he liked her, I think, for he was in the kitchen as often as Dinah would allow him. Or perhaps it was the good things that the fat cook gave him which Snap liked.

When we heard you crying, out in the yard, said Mr. Bobbsey to Helen, as they were sitting in the dining-room, we didnt know what had happened.

We were afraid it was another dog fighting with Snap, went on Nan.

Snap didnt fight me, Helen said. But he scared me just like I was scared when the gypsy man took Mollie, my talking doll.

I have told you about this in the Blueberry Island book, you remember.

Well, I must get back to the office, said Mr. Bobbsey, after a while. From there Ill write and tell Cousin Jasper that Ill come to see him, and hear his strange story.

And well come too, added Bert with a laugh. Dont forget us, Daddy.

Ill not, promised Mr. Bobbsey.

The letter was sent to Mr. Dent, who was still in the hospital, and in a few days a letter came back, asking Mr. Bobbsey to come as soon as he could.

Bring the children, too, wrote Cousin Jasper. Theyll like it here, and if you will take a trip on the ocean with me they may like to come, also.

Does Cousin Jasper live on the ocean? asked Flossie, for she called Mr. Dent cousin as she heard her father and mother do, though, really, he was her second, or first cousin once removed.

Well, he doesnt exactly live on the ocean, said Mr. Bobbsey. But he lives near it, and he often takes trips in boats, I think. He once told me he had a large motor boat.

Whats a motor boat? Freddie wanted to know.

It is one that has a motor in it, like a motor in an automobile, instead of a steam engine, said Mr. Bobbsey. Big boats and ships, except those that sail, are moved by steam engines. But a motor boat has a gasolene motor, or engine, in it.

And are we going to ride in one? asked Flossie.

Well, well see what Cousin Jasper wants us to do, and hear what his strange news is, answered her father.

Are we going from here to Florida in a motor boat? Freddie demanded.

Well, not exactly, little fireman, his father replied with a laugh. "Well go from here to New York in a train, and from New York to Florida in a steamboat.

After that well see what Cousin Jasper wants us to do. Maybe he will have another boat ready to take us on a nice voyage.

Thatll be fun! cried Freddie. I hope we see a whale.

Well, I hope it doesnt bump into us, said Flossie. Whales are awful big, arent they, Daddy?

Yes, they are quite large. But I hardly think we shall see any between here and Florida, though once in a while whales are sighted along the coast.

Are there any sharks? Bert asked.

Oh, yes, there are plenty of sharks, some large and some small, his father answered. But they cant hurt us, and the ship will steam right on past them in the ocean, he added, seeing that Flossie and Freddie looked a bit frightened when Bert spoke of the sharks.

I wonder what Cousin Jasper really wants of you, said Mrs. Bobbsey to her husband, when the children had gone out to play.

I dont know, he answered, but we shall hear in a few days. Well start for Florida next week.

And then the Bobbsey twins and their parents got ready for the trip. They were to have many strange adventures before they saw their home again.