“It will be nice to get out of the car for a change,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, and soon there was a jolly little picnic party under the trees in front of the old-fashioned farmhouse.
The children would have been pleased to stay there most of the afternoon, to look about the place, but when lunch was over and each of the twins had had two glasses of milk, Mr. Bobbsey suggested that they had better travel on, as he did not want to arrive in Hitchville after dark.
Back into the car they climbed, and with many thanks to the good-natured farm lady, once more they were on their way. Flossie and Freddie were quieter now, as they always were after lunch, and even Bert and Nan did not talk as much as they had during the first part of the trip.
But soon the quiet of the journey was broken by Mrs. Bobbsey, who gave a little jump. Their mother was sitting in the rear with Flossie and Freddie. She exclaimed:
“There’s something in this car!”
“Why, of course there is!” laughed her husband. “The whole Bobbsey family is in it!”
“No, I mean something else—something extra! Some kind of an animal!” insisted his wife. “I can feel it moving around my feet! Listen! What is it? Stop the car, Dick! There is some animal in it!”
CHAPTER VI
THE LONELY CABIN
Mrs. Bobbsey’s voice showed that she was in earnest, so her husband lost no time in guiding the car to the side of the road, to be out of the way of passing autoists, and then he brought it to a quick stop with a grinding and squeaking of the brakes.