CHAPTER X
LOST AND FOUND
When Freddie woke up all was very, very dark around him. At first hethought he was at home, and he called out for somebody to pull up thecurtain that he might see.
But nobody answered him, and all he heard was a strange purring, closeto his ear. He put up his hand and touched the little black kitten,which was lying close to his face. He had tumbled back in the straw andthis had proved a comfortable couch upon which to take a nap.
"Oh, dear me, I'll have to get back to mamma!" he murmured, as hestruggled up and rubbed his eyes. "What can make it so awful dark? Theyought to light the gas. Nobody can buy things when it's so dark asthis."
The darkness did not please him, and he was glad to have the blackkitten for a companion. With the kitten in his arms he arose to hisfeet and walked a few steps. Bump! he went into a big box. Then he wentin another direction and stumbled over a barrel.
"Mamma! Mamma!" he cried out. "Mamma, where are you?"
No answer came back to this call, and his own voice sounded so queer tohim that he soon stopped. He hugged the kitten tighter than ever.
He was now greatly frightened and it was all he could do to keep backthe tears. He knew it must be night and that the great store must beclosed up.
"They have all gone home and left me here alone," he thought. "Oh, whatshall I do?"
He knew the night was generally very long and he did not wish to remainin the big, lonely building until morning.
Still hugging the kitten, he felt his way around until he reached thebig wooden door. The catch came open with ease, and once more he foundhimself in that part of the basement used for hardware and largemechanical toys. But the toy locomotive had ceased to run and all wasvery silent. Only a single gas jet flickered overhead, and this castfantastic shadows which made the little boy think of ghosts andhobgoblins. One mechanical toy had a very large head on it, and thisseemed to grin and laugh at him as he looked at it.
"Mamma!" he screamed again. "Oh, mamma, why don't you come?"
He listened and presently he heard footsteps overhead.
"Who's there?" came in the heavy voice of a man.
The voice sounded so unnatural that Freddie was afraid to answer.Perhaps the man might be a burglar come to rob the store.
"I say, who's there?" repeated the voice. "Answer me."
There was a minute of silence, and then Freddie heard the footstepscoming slowly down the stairs. The man had a lantern in one hand and aclub in the other.
Not knowing what else to do, Freddie crouched behind a counter. Hisheart beat loudly, and he had dim visions of burglars who might haveentered the big store to rob it. If he was discovered, there was notelling what such burglars might do with him.
"Must have been the cat," murmured the man on the stairs. He reached thebasement floor and swung his lantern over his head. "Here, kittie,kittie, kittie!" he called.
"Meow!" came from the black kitten, which was still in Freddie's arms.Then the man looked in that direction.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed, starting in amazement. "What are you doing here?Are you alone?"
"Oh, please, I want my mamma!" cried Freddie.
"You want your mamma?" repeated the man. "Say!" he went on suddenly."Are you the kid that got lost this afternoon, youngster?"
"I guess I did get lost," answered Freddie. He saw that the man had akindly face and this made him a bit braver. "I walked around and satdown over there--in the straw--and went to sleep."
"Well, I never!" cried the man. "And have you been down here eversince?"
"Yes, sir. But I don't want to stay--I want to go home."
"All right, you shall go. But this beats me!"
"Are you the man who owns the store?" questioned Freddie curiously.
At this the man laughed. "No; wish I did. I'm the night watchman. Let mesee, what is your name?"
"Freddie Bobbsey. My papa owns the lumber yard."
"Oh, yes, I remember now. Well, Freddie, I reckon your papa will sooncome after you. All of 'em are about half crazy, wondering what hasbecome of you."
The night watchman led the way to the first floor of the departmentstore and Freddie followed, still clutching the black kitten, whichseemed well content to remain with him.
"I'll telephone to your papa," said the watchman, and going into one ofthe offices he rang the bell and called up the number of the Bobbseyresidence.
In the meantime Mrs. Bobbsey and the others of the family were almostfrantic with grief and alarm. Mr. Bobbsey had notified the police andthe town had been searched thoroughly for some trace of the missing boy.
"Perhaps they have stolen Freddie away!" said Nan, with the tearsstarting to her eyes. "Some gypsies were in town, telling fortunes. Iheard one of the girls at school tell about it."
"Oh, the bad gypsies!" cried Flossie, and gave a shudder. The idea thatFreddie might have been carried off by the gypsies was truly terrifying.
Mr. Bobbsey had been out a dozen times to the police headquarters and tothe lake front. A report had come in that a boy looking like Freddie hadbeen seen on the ice early in the evening, and he did not know but whatthe little fellow might have wandered in that direction.
When the telephone bell rang Mr. Bobbsey had just come in from anotherfruitless search. Both he and his wife ran to the telephone.
"Hullo!" came over the wire. "Is this Mr. Bobbsey's house?"
"It is," answered the gentleman quickly. "What do you want? Have you anynews?"
"I've found your little boy, sir," came back the reply. "He is safe andsound with me."
"And who are you?"
"The night watchman at the department store. He went to sleep here,that's all."
At this news all were overjoyed.
"Let me speak to him," said Mrs. Bobbsey eagerly. "Freddie dear, are youthere?" she asked.
"Yes, mamma," answered Freddie, into the telephone. "And I want to comehome."
"You shall, dear. Papa shall come for you at once."
"Oh, he's found! He's found!" shrieked Nan. "Aren't you glad, Bert?"
"Of course I am," answered Bert. "But I can't understand how he happenedto go to sleep in such a lively store as that."
"He must have walked around until he got tired," replied Nan. "You knowFreddie can drop off to sleep very quickly when he gets tired."
As soon as possible Mr. Bobbsey drove around to the department store inhis sleigh. The watchman and Freddie were on the look-out for him, thelittle boy with the kitten still in his arms.
"Oh, papa!" cried Freddie. "I am so glad you have come! I--I don't wantto go to sleep here again!"
The watchman's story was soon told, and Mr. Bobbsey made him happy bypresenting him with a two-dollar bill.
"The little chap would have been even more lonely if it hadn't been forthe kitten," said the man. "He wanted to keep the thing, so I told himto do it."
"And I'm going to," said Freddie proudly. "It's just the dearest kittenin the world." And keep the kitten he did. It soon grew to be a big, fatcat and was called Snoop.
By the time home was reached, Freddie was sleepy again. But he speedilywoke up when his mamma and the others embraced him, and then he had totell the story of his adventure from end to end.
"I do not know as I shall take you with me again," said Mrs. Bobbsey."You have given us all a great scare."
"Oh, mamma, I won't leave you like that again," cried Freddie quickly."Don't like to be in the dark 'tall," he added.
"Oh, it must have been awful," said Flossie. "Didn't you see any--anyghosts?"
"Barrels of them," said Freddie, nodding his head sleepily. "But theydidn't touch me. Guess they was sleepy, just like me." And then hedropped off and had to be put to bed; and that was the end of thisstrange happening.