Mrs. Bobbsey thought for a moment.
"Yes, I guess it will be all right," she said. "The woods are safe, and there are no snakes this time of year."
"I'm not afraid of snakes," exclaimed Freddie. "They only stick out their tongues at you."
"Some snakes bite," said Bert. "But, as mother says, there are none in the woods now. When it gets cold snakes crawl inside hollow logs and go to sleep. So get ready to go after chestnuts!"
The Bobbsey twins finished their breakfast, and while Bert found some old salt bags which he put in his pocket to hold his chestnuts, Flossie and Freddie went out to the kitchen where Dinah was working.
"Dinah, where is the biggest basket you have?" asked Freddie.
"And I want the next biggest!" exclaimed Flossie.
"Mah goodness, honey lambs! What am all de meanin' ob big baskets?" asked the colored cook.
"We're going after chestnuts," explained Freddie, "and we want something to put them in. Here's just the basket I want," and he took a big one, that Dinah used sometimes when she went to market.
"I'll take this one," said Flossie, as she picked up one in which Sam, Dinah's husband, used to bring in kindling wood for the fire.