CHAPTER X
DOWN A BIG HOLE
For a few seconds Bert and Harry were so surprised at what had happenedto Nan that they could do nothing but stand and stare up at her.
As for Nan, she also was surprised at the suddenness of her tumble whenshe was almost perched safely astride the limb to which the rope of theswing was tied. As she felt herself slipping she had clung with all hermight, one hand and part of her arm over the branch, another handgrasping the rope, one leg partly up over the limb, and the other legtangled in the rope.
This was what had caused the trouble--the leg getting caught and tangledin a loop of the rope. But for that, Nan could have swung this leg upover the limb and so have perched there in safety.
"Come on down!" cried Harry.
"Don't fall!" begged Bert. "Oh, Nan, be careful! Mother'll think Ioughtn't to have let you climb up there!"
"You didn't--you didn't let--me!" panted Nan. "I did it myself!"
"Well, come on down!" begged Harry again.
"I--I can't!" half sobbed Nan, with a catch in her voice. "I--I'm stuck!Go get a ladder--get something to help me. I can't hold on much longer!"
"Shall we get the tennis net and let you fall into that?" asked Bert,starting toward the swing with half an idea that he could climb up therope and loosen Nan.
"No, I don't want to fall!" cried his sister. "Get a ladder so I canclimb down. Call daddy!"
"I'll call my father!" offered Harry. "He's got a long ladder!"
"Do something! Quick!" begged Nan desperately.
As Bert and Harry started to run toward the house to summon theirfathers and mothers, Flossie and Freddie, tired of playing with thelittle boat in the brook, came up to the apple tree. Freddie saw Nanhanging there, some distance above the ground.
"Oh, Nan's doing circus tricks! Nan's doing circus tricks!" criedFreddie. "Look at her, Flossie. Nan's doing circus tricks an' I want todo 'em, too!"
"No, no, Freddie!" screamed Nan, as her little brother ran under thelimb to which she was desperately clinging. "Go away! Don't stand underme this way! I might fall on you!"
"Oh, I'm going to get mother!" exclaimed Flossie. "She won't want you tofall, Nan!"
"Well, I--I can't hold on much longer!" sobbed Nan.
Though if she had let go her grasp on the tree limb she would probablynot have fallen, for one foot was tangled in the swing rope. However,hanging by one leg high in the air would not have been very pleasant.Nan was not enough of a circus performer for that, though she and Berthad often done "stunts" on a trapeze in the back yard at home when theygave "shows."
However, help was on its way to Nan. The excited story told by Harry andBert to the two Mr. Bobbseys started both men into action. They got along ladder and, having run with it to the tree, placed it up againstthe limb. Then Mr. Richard Bobbsey climbed up, while his brother heldsteady the foot of the ladder on the ground.
"Why, Nan!" exclaimed her father, as he climbed up to set her free,"what in the world made you do this?"
"I--I don't know, Daddy! But Bert and Harry climbed up, and they did itall right. But when I went up something slipped, and I nearly fell, andI grabbed the rope and the branch, and there I was!"
"Well, it's a good thing you stuck here instead of falling down there,"and Mr. Bobbsey looked to the ground below. "You're all right now. Don'tcry."
But Nan could not help crying a little, though she was glad she couldfeel her father's arms about her. Mr. Bobbsey soon loosened the littlegirl's leg from the loop of the rope, and then he carried her down theladder.
"You're just like a fireman, aren't you, Daddy?" cried Freddie, as hisfather set Nan on the ground.
"Well, a little, yes," admitted Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "But betternot any more of you try those firemen tricks," he warned the children asthe ladder was taken down.
"I'll have to put the swing away if you climb the rope any more,"threatened Uncle Daniel.
"We won't shinny up it any more," promised Bert and Harry, and theirfathers knew that if the boys did not do it Nan would not.
"I guess we've had enough swinging," said Bert. "Let's play somethingelse, Harry. Got any new games?"
"We can go down to the pond and fish."
"Oh, I love to fish!" exclaimed Nan. "What kind of fish can you catch inthe pond, Harry?"
"Bullfrogs, mostly."
"They aren't fish," laughed Nan.
"Well, it's just as much fun," went on the country boy.
"I guess I'd better go help mother unpack the trunks," Nan said, for shesaw the expressman drive up with two trunks that had been sent onahead. "Mother will want me to help her get the things out so we can goto the Bolton County Fair to-morrow. You're coming, aren't you, Harry?"
"Sure! It'll be great. But now we'll go fishing for bullfrogs. Come on,Bert!"
"I want to fish!" begged Freddie, hearing this magic word.
"No, you and Flossie come with me," directed Nan, knowing that the twoboys would not have much fun if they had to watch the small children andkeep them from tumbling into the pond.
"Don't want to come with you!" pouted Flossie. "We wants to go fishing!"
"How would you and Freddie like to go after eggs?" asked Nan, as she sawher brother and Harry making signals to her for her to do her best tokeep Flossie and Freddie from following. "Wouldn't you like to gathereggs?"
"Where do you get the eggs?" asked Freddie, who had forgotten.
"In the barn. We'll take the eggs out of the nests, and you and Flossiecan carry the eggs in a little basket to Aunt Bobbsey."
"Oh, yes!" cried Flossie. "I want to do that!"
"So do I!" added Freddie. Anything Flossie wanted to do he generally didalso.
"All right," said Nan, waving to Bert and Harry to hurry away before thesmall twins changed their minds. "Come with me, and after I help motherunpack the trunk we'll go and get the eggs."
As it happened, however, Mrs. Bobbsey did not need Nan's help. AuntSarah said she would aid in getting the things out of the trunks, so Nanwas allowed to go with Flossie and Freddie to the barn to gather eggs.
What fun it was to climb over the sweet hay, sliding down little hillsof it and landing on the barn floor, where more hay made a place like acushion! What fun it was to look in at the horses chewing their fodder!And when the children poked their heads in the horses stopped eating, toturn around and look to see who was watching them.
"Oh, I've found some eggs!" suddenly cried Flossie, as she spied some ofthe white objects in a nest in the hay.
"Pick them up carefully," advised Nan. "Eggs break very easily."
"I want to help pick up the eggs!" cried Freddie, hurrying over to hislittle sister's side.
"No, you go find a nest of your own!" exclaimed Flossie. "These are myeggs!"
"There are plenty of nests," said Nan. "You ought each to find two orthree. Come on, Freddie, we'll look for a nest for you. Be careful ofthose eggs, Flossie! I guess I'd better help you pick them up and putthem in a basket while Freddie looks for another nest."
So while Nan stayed with Flossie, Freddie started off by himself to lookfor another nest. And as Nan discovered a second nest not far from whereFlossie had found the first one, it took the sisters some time to pickup all the eggs.
This gave Freddie more time to himself, and he saw a ladder leading intothe upper part of the barn where most of the hay was stored.
"I guess maybe I'll find eggs up there," he said.
He climbed the ladder, going slowly and carefully, and soon foundhimself up in the haymow. It was rather dark there, but when he had beenin the place a little while Freddie could see better.
"I guess hens come up here to lay 'cause it's nice and quiet. Now I mustfind some nests and eggs."
He walked about over the slippery hay, peering here and there for acluster of white eggs. Suddenly Freddie felt himself sliding down.Faster and faster he went, feet first, and before he knew it he had sliddown into a big hole together with a lot of hay.
&
nbsp; "Nan! Nan!" he cried. "Come an' get me! I'm down in a hole!"