"Quiet, Dinah, please," said Uncle Daniel. For Dinah had called out so loudly that many in the crowd turned to look at her.
"But I wants Freddie—mah honey lamb!" the loving colored woman went on. "I wants him an' he's losted!"
"We'll find him," said Uncle Daniel. "Now whom was he with when we came out of the tent?"
"He had hold of my hand," said Bert, "but he pulled away and said he wanted to walk with Dinah."
"De lubbin honey lamb!" crooned Dinah.
"Did he come with you, Dinah?" went on Uncle Daniel, trying to find out exactly who had seen Freddie last.
"Yais, sah, he done comed wif me fo' a little while in de crowd, an' den he slid away—he just seem t' melt away laik," explained the cook.
"Which way did he go?" Uncle Daniel wanted to know.
"Which way? I dunno," Dinah answered.
"Oh, perhaps he went back to the animal tent," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. She was not really frightened as yet. Often before Freddie had been lost, but he had generally been found within a few minutes. But he had never before been lost at a circus. This time he seemed to have melted away in the big crowd.