The Bobbsey Twins in Washington

  Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team.

  The Bobbsey Twinsin Washington

  BY LAURA LEE HOPE

  AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS," "THE BUNNYBROWN SERIES," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLSSERIES," ETC.

  ILLUSTRATED

  BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE

  12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.

  THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT HOSTESS HOUSE

  CONTENTS

  I UNDER THE HAY II DIGGING OUT III THE WASHINGTON CHILDREN IV MISS POMPRET'S CHINA V "WHAT A LOT OF MONEY!" VI WONDERFUL NEWS VII ON A TRIP VIII IN NEW YORK IX WASHINGTON AT LAST X LOST XI THE PRESIDENT XII WASHINGTON MONUMENT XIII A STRAY CAT XIV STRAY CHILDREN XV "WHERE ARE THEY?" XVI THE FIRE BELL XVII FREDDIE'S REAL ALARM XVIII THE ORIENTAL CHILDREN XIX "OH LOOK!" XX A GREAT BARGAIN XXI JUST SUPPOSE XXII HAPPY DAYS

  CHAPTER I

  UNDER THE HAY

  "This is 'most as much fun as we had on Blueberry Island, or when wewent to Florida on the deep, blue sea, isn't it, Bert?" asked NanBobbsey, as she sat on the porch and fanned herself with her hat. Sheand her brother had been running around the house, playing a new game,and Nan was warm.

  "Yes, it's fun all right," agreed Bert. "But I liked the deep, blue seabetter--or even Blueberry Island," and off came his hat to cool hisflushed face, for, though it was late in September, the day was warm.

  "But we couldn't stay on the island, always," went on Nan. "We have togo to school, daddy says!"

  "Don't speak about it!" begged Bert. "I don't want to go to school for along, long time, and not then!"

  "Have we got to go to school?" asked a little light-haired and blue-eyedgirl, as she ran up the steps, to sink in a heap at the feet of hersister, Nan Bobbsey. "When do we go?" she went on.

  "Oh, not right away, 'little fat fairy!'" laughed Nan, giving Flossiethe name her father sometimes called her. "School won't open for twoweeks more."

  "Hurray!" cried Bert. "The longer it stays closed the better I like it.But come on, Nan! Let's have some more fun. This isn't like BlueberryIsland, sitting still on a porch!"

  "You haven't sat still more than three minutes, Bert Bobbsey!" cried hissister. "I can hardly get my breath, you made me run so fast!"

  Just then a little boy, who had the same sort of blue eyes and goldenhair that made Flossie such a pretty little girl, came tumbling up thesteps with a clatter and a bang, falling down at Bert's feet. The olderboy caught his small brother just in time, or there might have been abumped nose.

  "Hi there, Freddie, what's the matter?" asked Bert, with a laugh. "Isour dog Snap chasing you, or have you been playing a trick on our catSnoop?"

  "I--I--I'm a--a fireman!" panted Freddie, for he, too, was out of breathfrom running. "I'm a fireman, and I--I've got to get the engine. There'sa big, big fire!" and his eyes opened wide and round.

  "A big fire--really?" asked Nan quickly.

  "Course not! He's only making believe!" replied Bert.

  "Well, I thought maybe he might have seen some boys start a bonfiresomewhere," explained Nan. "They sometimes do."

  "I know they do," admitted Bert. "And I hope they don't start one neardaddy's lumberyard."

  "There was a fire down in the lumber once!" exclaimed Freddie. He wastoo young to have seen it, but he had heard his father and mother talkabout the time Mr. Bobbsey's lumberyard was nearly burned out. FreddieBobbsey was very fond of a toy fire engine he had been given forChristmas, and his father often called Freddie a "little fireman," justas Flossie was named a "fairy."

  "Well, if it's only a make-believe fire we can sit here and cool off,"went on Nan. "What were you doing, Flossie?" she asked her littlesister.

  "Oh, I was having a race with our cat Snoop; but I guess I beat, 'causeSnoop didn't get here to the porch before I did."

  "Yes, you won the race all right," laughed Bert. "But it's too hot forany more running games. I wish we were back on the island where we foundthat boy, Jack Nelson, and could play we were sailors and could splashin the water."

  "That would be fun!" sighed Nan, as she fanned herself harder than everwith her hat.

  The Bobbsey twins had, a few days before, returned to their home from avacation spent on a strange island off the coast of Florida. They hadgone there with Cousin Jasper Dent to rescue a boy who had been left ina lonely cave, and very many strange adventures the Bobbsey twins andtheir father and mother, to say nothing of Cousin Jasper, had had onthat voyage.

  Now the simple games they tried to get up around the house, and thethought of having to go back to school soon, made them feel a bitlonesome for the deep, blue sea, over which they had made a voyage torescue the boy, Jack Nelson, and also for Blueberry Island, where oncethey spent a vacation.

  "I know what we can do!" cried Nan, after a rest.

  "What?" asked Bert, always ready to join Nan in any fun she thought of."What can we do?"

  "Go out to the barn and play that's a ship like the one we went on toFlorida. It'll be cooler in the barn than it is here, anyhow."

  "That's so," admitted Bert. "And oh! I know how we can have packs offun!"

  "How?" This time it was Nan who eagerly asked.

  "Why we can swing on some of the ropes that are in the haymow. I guessthe ropes are there to tie things up on in the winter. But we can swingon 'em now, and make believe we're sailors, just as we did when we foundthat boy in the cave where we went with Cousin Jasper."

  "Oh, so we can!" cried Nan. "Come on!"

  "I'll be a fireman on the ship!" declared fat Freddie, as he got slowlyto his feet from the floor where he had been sitting near Bert. "I'll bea fireman and squirt water."

  "Not real--only make believe," cried Bert. "Water spoils hay, you know,Freddie. You can't splash any water on daddy's hay in the barn."

  "No, I'll only make believe," agreed the light-haired little boy. "Comeon Flossie!" he called to his sister, who had slipped down off the porchto run after a big black cat that marched along with his tail in theair, "like a fishing pole," Bert said. "Come on, Flossie!" calledFreddie. "We'll go out to the barn and play ship and sailors, and I'llbe a fireman and you can be----"

  "I'm going to be hungry, and have something good to eat! That's whatI'll be," declared Flossie quickly. "I'm going to be AWFUL hungry!"

  "Oh dear!" exclaimed Nan, but she was laughing. "That's always the way.Those two want to do something different."

  "Well, we can all make believe we're hungry," said Bert. "And maybeDinah will give us some cookies to eat."

  "There she goes now. I'll ask her!" offered Nan, as she saw theBobbsey's fat and good-natured col
ored cook cross the lawn with a smallbasket of clothes to hang up. "We'll have a little play-party out in thebarn."

  "But I'm going to be real hungry--not make believe!" said Freddie. "Iwant to eat real."

  "And so you can!" declared Nan. "I'll get enough for all of us."

  A little later the Bobbsey twins--the two pairs of them--were on the wayto the barn that stood a little way back of the house. Mr. Bobbsey didnot live on a farm. He lived in a town, but his place was large enoughto have a barn on it as well as a house. He kept a horse, and sometimesa cow, but just now there was no cow in the stable--only a horse.

  And the horse was not there, either, just then, for it was being used topull a wagon about the streets of Lakeport. Mr. Bobbsey had anautomobile, but he also kept the horse, and this animal was sometimesused by the clerks from the lumber office.

  So out to the barn, which had in it the winter supply of hay and oatsfor the horse, went the Bobbsey twins. Nan and Bert, being older,reached the place first, each one carrying some sugar and molassescookies Dinah had given them. After Nan and Bert ran Flossie andFreddie, each one looking anxiously at the packages of cookies.

  "Don't those cookies look good?" cried Flossie.

  "And I guess they'll eat just as good as they look," was Freddie'scomment.

  Just then Nan's foot slipped on a small stone, and she came very nearfalling down.

  "Oh!" cried Flossie and Freddie together.

  "Don't drop your cookies, Nan!" came quickly from Bert.

  "Oh, if you dropped 'em they'd get all dirty," said Flossie.

  "They wouldn't get very dirty," answered Freddie hopefully. "Anyway, wecould brush 'em off. They'd be good enough to eat, wouldn't they?" andhe looked at Bert.

  "I guess they wouldn't get very dirty," answered Bert. "Anyway, Nandidn't drop them. But you'd better be careful, Nan," he went on.

  "Don't be so scared, Bert Bobbsey," answered his sister. "I won't dropthem."

  In a minute more the Bobbsey twins were at the barn where the sugar andmolasses cookies Dinah had given them were put in a safe place.

  "There are the ropes!" exclaimed Bert, as he pointed to some danglingfrom a beam near the haymow.

  "They're too high to climb!" Nan said, for some of the ropes were fastto the rafters of the barn.

  "Oh, we won't climb 'em!" Bert quickly returned, for he knew his motherwould never allow this. "We'll just swing on 'em, low down near thispile of hay, so if we fall we can't hurt ourselves."

  "I want to swing on a rope, too!" exclaimed Freddie, as he heard whathis older brother and sister were talking of. "I like to be a sailor andswing on a rope."

  "Not now, Freddie," answered Bert. "The ropes are too high for you andFlossie. You just play around on the barn floor, and you can watch Nanand me swing. Then we'll play steamboat, maybe."

  "I want to be the steam, and go puff-puff!" cried Freddie.

  "And I want to be the captain and say 'All aboard!'" was Flossie's wish.

  "You can take turns," agreed Bert. "Now don't get in our way, Flossieand Freddie. Nan and I want to see how big a swing we can take byholding to the ropes."

  "All right. I'll go and see if I can find any eggs," replied Freddie."Hens lay eggs in the barn."

  "Well, if you find a nest don't step in it and break all the eggs,"warned Nan.

  She and Bert, as Flossie and Freddie went marching around the big barn,climbed up on the pile of hay, and began swinging on the ropes. To andfro swung the older Bobbsey twins.

  "Isn't this better than Blueberry Island?" asked Nan.

  "Well no, it isn't any better," said Bert; "but it's just as good. Look,I'm going to let go and drop on the hay."

  "Be careful and don't hurt yourself!" begged Nan, as she swung to andfro, her feet raised from the hay beneath her, while Bert, also, swayedslowly to and fro.

  "Oh, I'll be careful!" Bert promised. "Anyhow, the hay is nice and softto fall in. I'll make believe I'm a man in the circus, falling from thetop of the tent."

  He swung a little farther to and fro, and then suddenly cried:

  "Here I go!"

  "Oh!" screamed Nan, but, really, nothing happened to harm Bert. He justdropped into the pile of soft hay.

  "Come on, Nan! You try it! Lots of fun!" laughed Bert as he scrambled upand made for his rope again.

  Nan said "no" at first, but when Bert had swung once more and againdropped into the hay, she took her turn. Into the hay she plunged, andsank down to her shoulders in the soft, dried grass.

  "Come on--let's do it some more!" laughed Bert. Then he and his oldersister had lots of fun swinging on the ropes and dropping into a pile ofhay.

  "I wonder what Flossie and Freddie are doing," said Bert, after they hadhad about an hour of this fun. "I haven't seen them for a long while."

  "Maybe they found a hen's nest and took the eggs to the house," saidNan. "They'd do that."

  "Yes, if they found one," agreed Bert. "Well, we'll see where they areafter I take another swing. And I'm going to take a big one."

  "So will I!" decided Nan. "Oh, it's just as nice as Blueberry Island oron the deep, blue sea, isn't it, Bert?"

  "It is when we play this way--yes. But just watch me."

  "Here come Flossie and Freddie now!" exclaimed Nan, as she glanced ather older brother, who was taking a firm hold of the rope for his bigswing. The two smaller twins, at this moment, came into the barn throughthe door that led to the cow stable.

  "Where have you been?" asked Nan, as she watched Bert get ready for hisswing.

  "Oh, we had fun," said Flossie.

  "And I squirted water, out where the horse drinks," added Freddie,

  "I hope you didn't get wet!" exclaimed Nan. "If you did----"

  "Well, I have on a dirty waist, so it won't hurt me any if I am wet,"said Freddie calmly. "I want to swing like that, Bert," he added. "Giveme a swing!"

  "After I've had my turn I'll give you and Flossie each one," promisedNan. "Watch me, Bert!" she called.

  Off the mow swung Nan, clinging to the swaying rope with both hands.

  "Come on--let's both let go together and see who falls into the hayfirst!" proposed Bert.

  "All right!" agreed Nan.

  "One, two, three!" cried Bert. "Ready! Let go!"

  He and Nan let go of the ropes at the same time. Together they droppeddown to the hay--and then something happened! The two older Bobbseychildren jumped too near the edge of the mow, where the hay was piled ina big roll, like a great feather bed bolster, over the top rail. AndBert and Nan, in their drop, caused a big pile of hay--almost awagonload--to slip from the mow and down to the barn floor. And directlyunderneath were Flossie and Freddie!

  Down on the two little twins fell Bert and Nan and the big pile of driedgrass, and, in an instant, the two golden heads were buried out of sighton the barn floor in a large heap of hay.