CHAPTER XVI
A LOST BABY
Very much frightened and hardly knowing what he was doing, Freddie sprang toward the hammock and started to take Baby May up in his arms. It was almost more than he could do, for he did not know much about the way to carry babies. But he made up his mind to keep Baby May safe.
Freddie gave one look back over his shoulder as he reached down to take up the infant, and he saw that the old lady, whoever she was, did not intend to come into the yard. She had put her hand on the gate as if to open it, and then she seemed to change her mind.
She was muttering something to herself, but what it was Freddie could not hear.
Again he cried:
“You can’t come in here! Go away! You can’t have Baby May!”
The old woman turned away without opening the gate, and walked off down the street. Freddie’s heart stopped beating so fast.
Mrs. Bobbsey, alarmed by Freddie’s screams, came running out of the house after having answered the telephone.
“Freddie, what is the matter?” his mother asked. “You shouldn’t take Baby May up out of the hammock!” she went on. “You might drop her. Don’t lift her up!”
By this time Freddie had ceased trying to lift Baby May. He let her sink back on the soft blankets in the hammock and, then, turning to his mother, he said: