The Bobbsey twins at Cloverbank

by Laura Lee Hope

As Bert hoped, Nan and the smaller twins were in the doorway and saw him coming.

“Oh, look at Bert!” cried Flossie.

“He’s driving a real horse!” added Freddie.

“So he is!” exclaimed Nan.

Bert “began to put on airs,” then, as his father said later. But just as he was urging the horse up the little slope that led into the barn, Bert saw a turtle crawling across the lane in front of him. The wheels of the cart would almost surely pass over the turtle’s shell, crushing it.

“Look out there, Mr. Mud Turtle!” cried Bert. But the turtle, like all of its kind, was a slow mover. It did not get out of the way.

OVER WENT LITTLE BOY AND ALL.

The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank. Page [124]

Bert pulled sharply on the left rein to turn the horse and swerve the cart. But he pulled too hard. The horse turned too suddenly, and the cart began to tilt to one side.