The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat | Page 9

Marvin and I were finishing
our talk about the houseboat," he went on. "I was going to keep it secret

a little longer, but it's just as well you should know now.
"I think you will like the Bluebird. It has a little gasoline engine, so we
can travel from place to place. And there is a large living room, a
kitchen, several bed rooms and a nice open deck, where we can sit,
when it is too hot to be inside."
"Oh, that's going to be great!" cried Bert. "I want a room near the
engine."
"And can I be a fireman?" asked Freddie.
"I want to be near mamma--and you," spoke little Flossie.
"Oh, isn't it going to be lovely!" exclaimed Nan, clapping her hands.
"Scrumptious, I call it!" cried Bert, and he ran into the house, through
the hall, and into the dining-room, just as big, fat Dinah, the cook, was
entering the same room, carefully holding a big cake which she had just
covered with white frosting.
"Oh dear!" cried Bert, as he ran, full tilt, Into the big cook.
"Good land ob massy!" fairly yelled Dinah. "Wha--wha---"
But that was all she could say. She tried to save herself from falling,
but she could not. Nor could Bert. He went down, on one side of the
doorsill, and Dinah sat down, very hard, on the other, the cake
bouncing from her hands, up toward her head, and then falling into her
lap.
CHAPTER IV
AT THE HOUSEBOAT
"Did--did I hurt you, Dinah?" asked Bert, after he had gotten his breath.
"I'm--I'm sorry--but did I hurt you?"
"Hurt me? Hurt me, honey lamb? No indeedy, but I done reckon yo' has

hurt yo'se'f, honey! Look at yo' pore haid!" and she pointed her fat
finger at Bert.
"Why, what's the matter with my head?" he asked, putting up his hand.
He felt something sticky, and when he looked at his fingers, he saw that
they were covered with white stuff.
"Oh, it's the frosting off the cake!" said Nan with a laugh. "You look
something like one of the clowns in the circus, Bert, only you haven't
enough of the white stuff on."
"And look at Dinah!" laughed Freddie. "She's turning white!"
"What's dat, honey lamb? Turnin' white?" gasped the big, colored cook.
"Don't say dat!"
"It's the cake frosting on Dinah, too!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, Bert!
why aren't you a little more careful?"
"I'm sorry, mamma," Bert said, as he watched Dinah wipe the frosting
off her face with her apron. "I didn't know she was coming through the
door then."
"And I shore didn't see yo', honey lamb," went on the cook. "Land ob
massy! Look at mah cake!" she cried, as she gazed at the mass in her
lap. "All de frostin' am done slid off it!"
"Yes, you're a regular wedding cake yourself, Dinah," said Mr.
Bobbsey, who had come in to see what all the noise meant. "Well, this
seems to be a day of excitement. I'm glad it was no worse, though.
Better go up stairs and wash, Bert."
"The cake itself isn't spoiled," said Mrs. Bobbsey, lifting it from
Dinah's lap, so the colored cook could get up. It was no easy work for
her to do this, as she was so fat. But at last, after many groanings and
gruntings, she rose to her feet, and took the cake from Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I'll put some mo' frostin' on it right away, ma'am," she said. "An' I

hopes nobody else runs inter me," she went on with a laugh. "I shuah
did feel skeered dat Bert was hurt bad."
They could all laugh at the happening now, and after Mr. Bobbsey had
told a little more about the new houseboat, he went back to the office.
"Come on, Flossie," suggested Freddie. "Now you've found the book
straps, we can hitch Snap to the express wagon. Where'd you find 'em?"
"The straps were on our books, under the hall rack," said Flossie.
"That's just where I left 'em!" exclaimed Freddie. "I knew I left 'em
somewhere."
"But next time you must remember," cautioned his mother. "And
remember another thing--no more bicycle rides--you stay on your
velocipede."
"Yes'm," said Freddie. "Come on, Flossie. Where's Snap?"
When the little twins went to look for their big, shaggy pet, who could
do so many circus tricks, they could not find him.
"Have you seen Snap?" asked Freddie of Dinah's husband, Sam
Johnson, who was out in the barn.
"Snap?" repeated the colored man. "Why, Freddie, I done jest see Snap
paradin' down de road wif dat black dog from Mr. Brown's house."
"Then Snap's gone away again," said Flossie with a sigh. "Never mind,
Freddie. Let's play steamboat, and you can be the fireman."
"All