"The Bobbsey twins; eh?" returned the man. "Well, that's a nice name, I'm sure."
"And there are two more twins at home," went on Freddie. "They are Nan and Bert, and they're older than we are."
"They aren't lost," explained Flossie, carefully.
"I'm glad of that," the man said. "And I don't believe you'll be lost much longer."
"Do you know where our house is?" asked Freddie.
"No, not exactly," the man answered.
"Didn't you say you were lost, too?" asked Flossie.
"Yes, I did, little girl. I was lost. But now that you have told me where I am, I think I am found. And I think, too, that I can help you find your home. So you live in Lakeport. That's where I'm going."
"How did you come to get out on these meadows?" asked Freddie.
"Well, this is how it happened," the man said. "I was on my way to Lakeport, but, by mistake, I got off the train at Belleville. That's the station just below here. I did not want to wait for the next train so I hired a man with an automobile to take me on to Lakeport. But about a mile from here one of the tires of the automobile burst so the man could not take me any farther. Then I said I'd walk, as I thought I knew the road. I used to live in Lakeport about five years ago. I started off, but the storm came up, and I lost my way. The first I knew I found myself out in this big field which you say is the meadows."