With a bark the dog bounded through the storm after the two children, and you can imagine how surprised Bert Bobbsey on the rock was when he heard shouts in answer to his own. He did not know, of course, that Freddie and Flossie were anywhere near him. He thought it was his father and some of the men from Cedar Camp.
A little later the small Bobbsey twins came within sight of the big rock. They could not see Bert on it on account of the blinding snow. But Rover caught the smell of the wildcat, and with a savage bark he sprang to drive the creature away.
“Good old Rover! Good dog!” cried Bert, as the snow stopped for a moment and he caught sight of the dog that he knew. “Sic him, Rover!”
And Rover rushed at the wildcat with such fierceness that the beast scuttled back to its den under the half-fallen tree. And then Bert looked and saw Flossie and Freddie.
At the same time the small Bobbsey twins looked up and caught a glimpse of their brother on the rock.
“Oh, Bert!” cried Freddie, “did you come out to look for us? We’re lost!”
“So am I, I guess,” Bert answered, as he jumped down, landing in a bank of soft snow and beginning to pet Rover. “Where in the world did you children come from?”
“We came out after daddy and Mr. Jim and Mr. Case,” Freddie went on. “They’re going to take some things to Mrs. Bimby.”
“Mrs. Bimby!” cried Bert “Why, I left her and Nan this morning. They haven’t got hardly anything left to eat. But where is the camp?”
“Don’t you know?” asked Freddie. “We don’t know. We’re lost.”