"Not yet. We've been playing boats."
"And how are you, Johnnie?" went on Mr. Bobbsey, as he patted Freddie's playmate on the back.
"Oh, I'm all right. I'm going in the ship with Freddie to help find Tommy Todd's father who's on a desert island."
"Oh, you are; eh? Well speaking of Tommy, that looks like him out there now."
Mr. Bobbsey pointed to the outside office. There stood the boy Freddie and Flossie had talked to on the train. He was speaking to one of the clerks, who did not seem to want to let him inside the railing.
"That's all right," called Mr. Bobbsey. "He may come in. What is it, Tommy?" he asked kindly, as the clerk stepped aside.
"I've come to do the errands, to earn the quarter you gave me yesterday," said the fresh air boy, as he came in.
"Oh, there's no hurry about that," returned Mr. Bobbsey. "I don't know what errands I want done to-day."
"Well, I'd like to do some," Tommy said. "I'd like to earn that money, and then, maybe, you'd have some more errands for me to run, afterward, so I could earn more money. I need it very much, and Mr. Fitch hasn't any work for me to-day. I want to do all I can before school opens," Tommy went on, "'cause it gets dark early in the afternoon now, and my grandmother doesn't like to have me out too late."
"That's right. How is your grandmother, Tommy?"