The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island

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"I'm right here," replied the little girl, "but I can't see you.
I--I----It's awful dark, Freddie!"

"I can see a little light now," Freddie went on. "Let's get up and see
if we can crawl back. My legs are all right."

"So's mine, Freddie. I guess I can----" and then Flossie suddenly
stopped and gave a scream.

"What's the matter?" asked Freddie, and the little boy's voice was not
quite steady.

"I--I touched something!" gasped his sister. "It was something soft and
fuzzy."

"Oh, was that you?" asked Freddie, and his voice did not sound so
frightened now. "Well, that was my head you touched. I--I thought maybe
it was something--something after me. I didn't know you were so close to
me, Flossie."

"I didn't either. But I'm glad I touched you. Where's your hand. I'm
sort of stuck in this sand and I can't get up."

By this time the eyes of both the children had become more used to the
darkness of the place into which they had fallen, and they could dimly
see one another. Freddie scrambled to his feet, shaking from his waist
and trousers the sand that had partly filled them when he had slid down
the incline, and gave his hand to Flossie. She had about as much sand
inside her clothes as he had, and she shook this out. Both children then
turned and looked up at the slide down which they had so suddenly
fallen.

Up at the top--and very far up it seemed to them--they could see, at the
end of the sandy slide where they had started to slip, a hole through
which they had fallen. It was between two big stones, and had a large
bush on either side. It had been covered with grass and bushes so that
the small twins had not seen it until they stepped right into it. Then
the grass and bushes had given way, letting the children down.

"We--we've got to get back up there--somehow," said Freddie with a
doleful sigh, as he looked at the place down which he and his sister had
tumbled.

"Yes, I would like to get up out of here," said Flossie, "but how can
we, Freddie?"

"Climb up, same as we falled down. Come on."

Taking his sister by the hand, Freddie started to climb up the hill of
sand. But he and Flossie soon found that though it was easy enough to
slide down, it was not so easy to climb back. The sand slipped from
under their feet, and even though they tried to go up on their hands and
knees it was not to be done.

"Oh, dear!" cried Flossie after a while, "I wish we were Jack and
Jill."

"Why?" asked Freddie.

"'Cause they went up a hill, an' we can't."

"Maybe we can if we try again," said Freddie. "Anyhow, I don't want to
be Jack, and fall down and break my crown."

"You haven't any crown," said Flossie. "Only kings an'--an' fairies have
crowns."

"Well, it says in the book that Jack has a crown; an' if I was Jack I'd
have one too. Only I'm not and I'm glad!"

"Well, I wish I was Jill, so I could have some of that pail of water,"
sighed Flossie. "I'm firsty," and she laughed as she used the word she
used to say when she was a baby.

"So'm I," said Freddie. "Let's try to get up to the top, an' then we can
get a drink, maybe. Only I'd rather be Ali Baba than Jack, then I could
say, 'Open Sesame,' and the door to the cave would open of itself, and
we could walk out and carry diamonds and gold with us."

"I'd rather have bread and butter than gold. I'm hungry. And I'd most
rather have a drink," sighed the little girl. "Come on, Freddie, let's
try to get up that hill. But it's awful hard work."

"Yes, it's hard," agreed Freddie; "but we've done lots harder things
than that." You see, Freddie was trying to keep up his little sister's
courage.

Once more the two little twins tried to climb the hill of shifting sand,
but they could get up only a little way before slipping back. They did
not get hurt--the sand was too soft and slippery for that, but they were
tired and hot, and, oh! so thirsty.

"I'm not goin' to climb any more!" finally said Flossie. "I'm tired! I'm
goin' to stay here until mamma or papa or Nan or Bert comes for us."

"Maybe they won't come," Freddie said.

"Yes, they will," declared Flossie, shaking her head. "They allers comes
when we're lost and we're losted now."

"Yes, I guess so," agreed Freddie. "I wonder where we are anyhow,
Flossie?"

"Why, in a big hole," she said. "Oh, Freddie!" she suddenly cried,
"maybe we can get out the other way if we can't climb up."

"Which other way?" asked her brother.

"Out there," and in the light that came down the hole through which the
twins had fallen Freddie could see his sister pointing to what seemed
another dim light, far away at the end of the big hole. For Flossie and
Freddie had fallen into a big hole--there was no doubt of that. Though
it was pretty dark all about them, there was enough light for them to
see that they were in a cavern.

"Maybe it's a cave, like the one we went into from the lake when we
found the boat," said Flossie, after thinking it over a bit, "and if we
can't get out one end we can the other."

"Maybe!" cried Freddie eagerly. "Anyway, we can't get up that hill of
sand," and he pointed to the one down which they had slid. "Come on,
we'll walk toward the other light."

Far away, through what seemed a long lane of blackness, there was a dim
light, like some big star, and toward this, hoping it would lead to a
hole through which they could get out, the children walked.

As they neared it the light grew brighter, and they were beginning to
feel that their troubles were over when suddenly they both came to a
stop.

For, at the same time, they had heard a queer noise. It came from the
darkness just ahead of them and was such a funny sound that Flossie put
both her arms around Freddie, not so much to take care of him as that
she wanted him to take care of her.

"Did--did you hear that?" she whispered.

Freddie nodded his head, and then, remembering that Flossie could not
very well see his motions in the darkness he said:

"Yes, I heard it. I wonder----"

"Hark!" whispered Flossie. "There it goes again!"

CHAPTER XXI

"HERE COMES SNAP!"

The sound came once more through the darkness to the little Bobbsey
twins, and as they listened to it Flossie and Freddie looked at one
another in surprise. They could just dimly make out the faces of each
other in the dimness.

"Mamma! Mamma!" cried a voice, for it was a voice that had caused the
queer sound; yet it did not sound like the voice of man, woman or child.
"Mamma! Mamma!" it cried.

"Hear it?" asked Flossie again.

"Yep," answered Freddie. "It's a little boy or girl--like us--an' it's
in this cave. I guess lots of childrens get lost here like us. Now I'm
not afraid."

"Mamma! Papa! Mamma!" came the voice again.

"It--it's kind of funny," whispered Flossie to Freddie. "Don't you
think it's kind of funny, Freddie?"

"Yes, but I know what makes it."

"What?"

"It's being in this cave. You know how we used to holler at the hill,
when we went to the country--'member that?"

"Yep," answered Flossie.

"An' how our voices used to come back an' sort of hit us in the face?"
went on her brother.

"Yep."

"Well, that was an echo," said Freddie, "an' that's what makes it sound
so queer here. It's an echo."

"Oh," said Flossie. She had not thought of that.

Once more the voice sounded out of the darkness.

"Mamma! Papa! Mamma!"

"There! Hear it? It's an echo!" cried Freddie.

Flossie listened a moment. Then she said:

"If it was an echo, Freddie, why didn't your voice echo too?"

"Oh,--er--well--'cause I didn't want it to," Freddie made answer. "I can
do it now. Hello! Hello! Hello!" he called as loudly as he could.

And then, to the surprise of the children, back came a voice in answer,
and in more than an answer, for it asked a question. No longer did the
voice call: "Mamma! Papa!"

Instead it cried:

"Hello, there! What's the matter? Who are you and what do you want?
Where are you?"

Flossie and Freddie were so startled that, for a moment, they could only
hold on to each other in the darkness.

Then Freddie found his voice enough to speak. He said:

"Did you hear that echo, Flossie?"

"That wasn't an echo," declared his little sister quickly. "Echoes only
say the same things you say and this--this was different."

"Yes, it was," Freddie agreed. "But maybe it's a different kind of
echo."

"Try it again," suggested Flossie, when they had remained quietly in the
darkness for a time. And during that time they had not heard the
strange voice calling. It seemed to have been hushed after the "echo,"
if that is what it was, made answer. "Call again," Flossie begged her
brother. Once more he called:

"Hello! Hello! Hello!"

"Well, what do you want?" back came a voice in question. This time there
was no doubt about its not being an echo. It had not repeated a single
word that Freddie had cried.

"Oh, how funny!" cried Flossie. "What makes it do that?"

Before Freddie could answer, even if he had known what to say, the two
children saw a light coming toward them. It was the light of a lantern,
bobbing about in the darkness, and because it was a light, which chased
away some of the gloom, they were glad, even though they had been a bit
frightened by the queer voice and the echo which did not repeat words as
the other echo had done.

"Oh, maybe it's daddy and Bert come to look for us!" cried Flossie
eagerly.

Freddie thought the same thing, for he called out:

"Here we are, Daddy!"

But, to the surprise and disappointment of the children, a surly voice
answered them:

"I'm not your father! Who are you, anyhow, and what are you doing in
this cave?"

Flossie and Freddie, clinging to each other, shrank back in fear. Then,
as the light came nearer, they saw that the lantern was carried by a
tall man--a man with a very dark face. He had gold rings in his ears, on
his feet were big boots, and around his neck was a bright yellow
handkerchief.

"Oh!" gasped Flossie. "Oh, he--he's a gypsy!"

Freddie saw it, too. The man seemed surprised to see the children. He
gave a sort of grunt, held the lantern up to their faces, and exclaimed:

"Why, there's two of 'em!"

"Yes, we--we're twins!" stammered Flossie.

"Twins are always two," Freddie added, thinking, perhaps, that the gypsy
man did not know that.

"Twins, eh?" remarked the man in a questioning voice.

"The Bobbsey Twins," said Freddie. "We came from our camp, and we----"

"How'd you get in this cave? That's what I want to know!" cried the man,
and he spoke harshly. "Tell me, how did you get here?" he asked, and he
held the lantern in front of the faces of the two little children.

"We--we fell in here!" said Freddie, pushing Flossie behind him. He felt
that he must look after his little sister and protect her.

"Fell in?" cried the man.

"Yes, through a hole. We slid down a sandy hill, and we couldn't climb
back again. We saw a little light over this way and we walked to it and
then we heard some one cry: 'Mamma!' Are there any more little children
here?" Freddie asked.

"Hum! Yes, some," half-grunted the gypsy. "But not your kind. I don't
see how you came here," he went on, speaking to himself, it seemed, for
he did not glance at Flossie or Freddie and there was no one else near
by. The man looked all about the cave.

"Which way did you come?" he asked.

"Back there," and Freddie, who was doing most of the talking, pointed
toward the place where he and Flossie had tried so hard to climb up.

"Come and show me," the man ordered them, and when they walked back with
him, the lantern making queer shadows on the side walls of the cave,
Flossie and Freddie pointed to the place down which they had slid.

"Hum!" murmured the gypsy. "I never knew there was a way into the cave
from there. I must see about that. It wasn't open before. Well, now
you're here I've got to make up my mind what I'll do with you," he went
on, as he motioned for Flossie and her brother to walk back in front of
him. He held the lantern so they could see where to step, but the
earthen floor of the cave was smooth, and the children did not stumble.

"Will you take us back to Twin Camp, where we live?" asked Freddie.
"We're the Bobbseys you know, and we didn't mean to run away again,
though I guess we're lost. My mamma and my papa will be looking for us,
and if you'll take us to the camp----"

"Well, maybe I will after a bit, but not now," said the gypsy, shaking
his head so that his earrings jiggled. "You'll have to stay here with us
awhile. If you went out now, and told your folks you had found us here
we'd all be sent to jail, most likely. I'll see what the others say."

Flossie and Freddie wondered what others he meant, but he did not tell
them. He kept walking close behind them, and there was nothing for them
to do but to keep on.

Suddenly they turned a sort of corner of the cave, and then the children
saw something that surprised them. Seated around a table, on which some
candles, stuck in bottles, were burning, were a number of men. They were
all gypsies, like the man who had met the children farther back in the
cave, and as he walked forward, behind Flossie and Freddie, the other
gypsies looked up.

"Who was calling?" asked one of the dark men at the table.

"These two," said the first man, pointing to the little Bobbsey twins.
"They answered my call and I found them. They fell down a hole at the
far end of the cave, near the sand. I never knew it was there."

"It is an old entrance," put in a gypsy who was eating some bread and
tomato, cutting first a slice of one and then of the other with a big
knife. "That entrance was overgrown with grass long ago," he added.

"Well, these two stumbled on it," grumbled the man who had found Flossie
and Freddie. "We'd better stop it up. And now what's to be done with
'em?"

"We'll have to keep 'em here for a while," said two or three at once,
and hearing this the hearts of Flossie and Freddie were sad.

"Yes," went on the first gypsy, "we'll have to keep 'em here until we're
ready to go, and that won't be for two or three days yet. The only
trouble is that some of their folks may find where we have hidden 'em
and----"

"Hi!" suddenly cried an old gypsy, and then he said something very
quickly, but in words the children could not understand. It was gypsy
talk. After that all the men spoke in this queer way, but Flossie and
Freddie felt sure they were being talked about, for the men looked at
them many times in the light of the lantern and candles.

Suddenly, when there came a lull in the talk, and the twins were
wondering what was coming next, they heard a dog barking. Now,
ordinarily, this would not have surprised them, for they knew the
gypsies kept many dogs, and some might be in the cave. But there was
something different about this bark.

In wonder Flossie and Freddie looked at each other. Then Freddie cried
out:

"That sounds like Snap!"

All at once there came a regular chorus of barks, and with them a man's
voice could be heard shouting. Then came a dog's growl and yells from a
man's voice, then more barks.

"Look out!" shouted some one in the cave. "The dog's loose!"

Flossie and Freddie saw a big dog spring into view from somewhere out of
the darkness of the cave, and as the eyes of the twins lighted on him,
Freddie cried:

[Illustration: "OH, FLOSSIE! HERE COMES SNAP!"

_The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island._ _Page 230_]

"Here comes Snap! Here comes Snap! Oh, Flossie! our dog that was lost is
found! Here's Snap!"

CHAPTER XXII

HAPPY DAYS

There was no doubt about it. There was Snap, alive and happy, if one
could tell that last by the way he barked and tried to kiss both Flossie
and Freddie at the same time with his red tongue. It was Snap, but he
was thinner than when at home in Lakeport, and his nice coat of hair was
muddy in some places, and not at all neat.

"Oh, but it's Snap! It's our Snap!" cried Freddie in delight.

"And he found us!" added Flossie. "Now the gypsies can't make us stay
here," and standing beside the big dog she looked boldly at the dark men
who were now standing about the table.

A man came running out of the darkness of what seemed to be a small cave
inside the larger one, and cried:

"He broke away! I couldn't keep him any longer. He seemed to hear some
one calling him."

"Keep still!" sharply ordered the gypsy who had had the lantern.

"Oh!" exclaimed the other man, as he saw Flossie and Freddie. "Is it
their dog?"

There was no need to answer him. Any one could see that Snap belonged to
the Bobbsey twins. He was so happy with them.

"Did you--did you have our dog all the while?" asked Freddie, as he
played with Snap's long ears.

The gypsy who had had the lantern said something in his strange language
and no one answered. Probably he had told them not to speak.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" cried Flossie. "We looked everywhere for
you, Snap. Didn't we, Freddie?"

"Yes, we did. And now we've got him we can go home. Snap knows the way
home. He can take us there."

"Oh, no, he can't," said Flossie.

"Why?" asked her brother.

"'Cause he's never been in our tent-camp. He doesn't know where it is.
But maybe you know, Freddie."

"Yes, I know the way--if--if we can get out of this cave," and he looked
at the gypsies. They were talking among themselves. One of them walked
toward Snap and held out his hand toward a broken rope around the dog's
neck. But the animal growled in such a fierce way that the gypsy drew
back in fear.

Then there was more talk among the dark-faced men about the children and
the dog. The men seemed to be worried. Snap barked and ran a little way
ahead, as though to lead the way out of the cave. Again a man tried to
catch him, but the dog's savage growl made him draw back.

"I guess Snap wants us to come with him," said Flossie. "Let's go,
Freddie."

"All right--come on;" and Freddie, taking Flossie's hand, started out of
the cave. They were afraid, the children were, that the gypsies might
stop them, but the man who had had the lantern said:

"Come on. I'll show you two the way out and you can go to your camp. No
use keeping you, now that your dog is loose. He'd make trouble for us.
Hurry up, you fellows, get things out of the way!" he called to the
other gypsies, and they began taking things off the table as though they
were going to leave.

But Flossie and Freddie did not care about that. All they knew was that
they had found Snap, and that they were going home with him to Twin
Camp. And Snap was as glad as were they.

"There you are!" said the gypsy in rather a growling voice, as he led
the children to where a big patch of sunlight shone into the cave. "I
guess you can find your way home from here."

Flossie and Freddie ran on, Snap going ahead, and, to the surprise of
the twins they found themselves at the mouth of the cave--the same place
where they had taken shelter from the rain the day they were in the
drifting boat.

"Why, look here!" cried Freddie. "Isn't this funny, Flossie? We've come
out of the same cave we were in before. How did we get in?"

"I don't know," answered the little girl, "'cept maybe it's a fairy
cave an' changes."

But it was not that kind at all. The children had only fallen down a
hole at one end of the cave, and when the gypsy man led them through
they came out at the other end, where they had first gone in. Snap
barked and ran down to the edge of the lake to get a drink of water.

"He's glad to come out," said Flossie.

"Awful glad," agreed Freddie. "So'm I."

"Me, too," added the little girl. "I wonder how he got in there?"

"I guess the gypsies took him," said Freddie. "They liked him 'cause he
is such a good dog. I'm so glad we've got him back. Now if we could get
Snoop back we'd be all right, wouldn't we, Snap?" and he put his arms
around the dog's shaggy neck, while Flossie patted his back.

Happy because they had found their dog, and not worrying at all about
having been so nearly kept prisoners by the gypsies in the cave, the two
little Bobbsey twins hurried away from the cavern. They were anxious to
get back to camp to tell the others how they had found Snap. And the
dog seemed just as anxious to get away from the cave as were the little
boy and girl.

Every once in a while Freddie would turn and look back, and when his
sister asked him why he did this he told her he was looking to see if he
could see the black cat.

"She ought to be easier to find than Snap," he said, "'cause she was
with us here on Blueberry Island, and Snap must have been taken by the
gypsies in Lakeport." Afterward they found that this was so.

As the children, with their dog, walked along through the woods, keeping
close to the lake shore, as they knew that path led to their camp,
Flossie and Freddie heard a shout among the trees.

"There's Nan!" Freddie said.

"Yes, and Bert," added his sister. "I guess they're looking for us."

They were sure of this a little later, for they heard the cry:

"Flossie! Freddie! Where are you?"

"Here we are!" they answered, and then sounded a noise of some one
coming toward them. The next moment Nan and Bert came into view. Both
stopped in surprise at the sight of the dog.

"Where'd you get him?" asked Nan.

"Is he really Snap?" cried Bert.

"Yep! He really is," answered Freddie. "We found him!"

"In a cave," added Flossie.

"In a cave?"

"And there were gypsies there," went on the little girl.

"An' they wanted to keep us," said Freddie.

"But they didn't," added Flossie.

"No. But Snap was there."

"And he growled at the gypsy man."

"And he came away with us."

"Snap was awful glad to see us, Nan."

"And here we are now," said Freddie, putting an end to this duet.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Nan. "This is dreadful! Gypsies on this island,
and they almost kidnapped you! You must tell daddy right away. We've
been looking everywhere for you. We thought you were lost again. And
you're all dirty and sandy!" she cried.

"That's where we fell down a hole into the cave," said Freddie, and he
told Nan and Bert what had happened. Mr. Bobbsey was much surprised when
the twins came home with the long-missing Snap. So was Mrs. Bobbsey, as
well as Sam and Dinah.

"Gypsies here, are there?" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, I'll have to
see about that. We don't want them hiding in a cave and stealing our
things. I guess I'll get some police officers and pay the tribe a
visit."

But when Mr. Bobbsey got to the cave with the officers the gypsies were
not there. They must have known that when the children went out they
would tell what had happened and that the police would come. So there
was nothing for the police to do. The gypsies had run away. They went to
the mainland in boats, some of the blueberry pickers said who had seen
them.

"And now that the island is free from the gypsies we'll have lots more
fun," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The thought of them made me nervous."

"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Nan. She, as well as all the other members
of the Bobbsey family, had followed the police to the cave, even Flossie
and Freddie going along, riding to the place in the goat wagon drawn by
Whisker.

"Hark to what?" asked Bert.

"I thought I heard a noise," said the little girl. "Yes, there it goes
again, a sort of squeaky noise."

"It's a--it's a cat!" cried Flossie. "Oh, if it should be----"

Before she could finish one of the policemen flashed his lantern around
the sides of the cave, and then, from a dark corner, some animal came
slowly out.

"It is a cat!" cried Flossie.

"And it's our Snoop!" added Freddie. "Oh, we've got him back again!"

"Oh, goody!" cried Nan.

"Well, well," said Mr. Bobbsey, "everything is turning out right for you
children now."

"And Snoop really was in this cave!" exclaimed Bert.

And so it proved. Whether he had wandered off and had become lost in
some little hole of the cave, where he could not get out, or whether
the gypsies had stolen him, as they had Snap, the Bobbseys never heard.
But they knew they had their black cat again, and they were happy,
especially the little twins.

"I want to hug him!" cried Flossie, as the cat rubbed up against her
legs.

"So do I!" cried Freddie. "And I want to hug the head part. You can hug
the tail end!"

"That end doesn't purr!" exclaimed Flossie. "I want the end that purrs."

"You must take turns," said Mrs. Bobbsey, laughing. "You ought to be
glad you have Snoop back instead of quarreling about him. Well, we have
found nearly everything we wanted now, except that bacon some one took
the first night."

"I guess the gypsies got that," said Mr. Bobbsey. "It must have been one
of them who was sneaking around in the night, and who awakened the
children. They probably wanted to have something to eat in their cave.
But they've gone now."

"Yes, and they seem to have left something behind them," observed one of
the policemen. "I see something white over on one of the boxes they
used for a table. Maybe it's only some old papers, though."

Bert hurried over and picked up the white thing.

"It's a doll!" he cried. "Flossie, did you leave your doll here?"

"Nope," answered the little twin.

"A doll!" cried Nan. "Oh, maybe it's Helen's talking doll! Let me see,
Bert!"

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