“That would be a regular tent for us,” said Nan.
“Yes,” agreed Bert, peering through the storm at the tree toward which his sister pointed. “We could get under one of those. But I think maybe we’d better not stand still. Let’s walk on.”
“But toward home!” suggested Nan. “We oughtn’t to go any farther gathering nuts, Bert.”
“No, I guess not,” he agreed. “Anyhow, we have quite a lot. We’ll start back for Cedar Camp. And when we get hungry we’ll stop under a Christmas tree and eat. I’m beginning to feel hungry now,” and Bert felt in his overcoat pocket to make sure that the lunch, which he had put there, was still safe. It was, he was glad to find, and Nan had hers.
“Yes, we’ll eat in a little while,” she said. “But we’d better start back to camp.”
So the two older Bobbsey twins started off in the blinding snowstorm, little realizing that they were going directly away from camp instead of toward it. The wind whipped the snow into their faces, so that they could see only a little way in advance. And as they were in a strange woods, with only a small path leading back to camp, it is no wonder they became lost.
But we must not forget that we have left Flossie and Freddie, the smaller Bobbsey twins, in trouble. In playing sawmill Freddie had tipped Flossie out of the wheelbarrow, and the little girl had rolled down the slippery pine-needle hill into the stream just above the dam.
“Come quick! Come quick!” Freddie had cried. “Flossie’ll go over the waterfall! Oh, hurry, somebody!”
He knew enough about waterfalls to understand that they were dangerous; that once a boat or a person got into the current above the falls they would be pulled along, and cast over, to drop on the rocks below.
Poor Flossie was too frightened to cry. Besides, as she fell in her head went under the water, and you can’t call out when that happens. Flossie could only gurgle.