CHAPTER XI
A QUEER PLAY-HOUSE
Freddie Bobbsey thought for a minute. He and James had played numbers of games on other days when Freddie was allowed to come to his father's lumber yard. This time Freddie wanted to think of something new.
"Do you want me to tell you a story?" asked the watchman, for this was one of the "games." James knew many fine stories, for he had used to live in the woods, and had chopped down big trees, which were afterward sawed into boards, such as were now piled about the lumber yard.
Freddie always liked to have the old watchman tell tales of what had happened in the woods, but this time the little chap said:
"Thank you, no, James. I want to do some thing else."
"All right, Freddie. Shall we play steamboat, and shall I be the whistle?"
This was another fine game, in which Freddie got upon a pile of lumber and pretended it was a steamboat, while on the ground, down below, the watchman made a noise like a whistle, and pretended to put wood on the make-believe fire to send the steamboat along.
"No, I don't want to play steamboat," Freddie said. "But this game has a boat in it. Did you ever build a ship to go sailing in?"
"No, Freddie. I never did. Do you want to play that game?"