“Nor I,” said Mrs. Bobbsey. “I suppose they didn’t find chestnuts where they expected to, and wandered on. Are there any wild animals in the woods?”
“Well, no, none to speak of,” her husband said slowly. “You don’t need to worry about that. But I’ll get Jim Denton, and some of the men, and we’ll start right out after Bert and Nan.”
“I wish I could come with you!” exclaimed his wife, as anxious and worried as was Mr. Bobbsey.
“You’ll have to stay here with Flossie and Freddie,” he said. “I’ll soon find Bert and Nan and bring them back.”
“I hope so,” murmured his wife, but as she glanced out of the window and saw how dark it was getting and how fast the snow still came down and heard how the wind howled, it is no wonder the mother of the older Bobbsey twins was worried. So was Mr. Bobbsey.
“I’ll go right away and get Jim and some of the men, and we’ll start out on the search,” said Mr. Bobbsey, having warmed himself at the stove. “We must not wait!”
“No,” agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. “I’ll stay and amuse Flossie and Freddie.”
The smaller Bobbsey twins, of course, did not worry because Bert and Nan had not yet come home. Flossie and Freddie were having too much fun playing a little game on the foot of Flossie’s bed. Mrs. Baxter, the housekeeper, had started the game for the children by bringing in some funny wooden blocks her husband had cut out on one of the long winter evenings that were sometimes so dreary in Cedar Camp.
The blocks could be fitted together to make a house, a bridge, a boat and many other play objects, and Flossie and Freddie enjoyed playing with them, for which their mother was glad. She really was so worried that she could not very well talk to them or tell them stories.
Telling his wife to keep up her courage and not to worry too much, Mr. Bobbsey went out into the storm again.