CHAPTER XVI
FRANK'S STORY
They all gazed in the direction in which Nan pointed. The crowd of visitors to the circus was thinning out now, and down toward the edge of a little creek could be seen the missing Freddie walking along, his hand thrust trustingly into that of the strange boy.
"Why—why!" began Bert. "That fellow—that boy—he—" and then he stopped. Bert was not exactly sure of what he was going to say.
"Oh, Freddie!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, running forward. "Where have you been! Such a start as you've given us! Where were you?"
But Freddie himself did not seem as anxious to rush into his mother's arms as she was to clasp him. He plodded along with the strange boy, looking quite content, and as if he wondered what all the fuss was about.
"Dere de honey lamb am!" exclaimed black
Dinah, a grin spreading over her face. "De ole lion didn't cotch him after all. Dere's mah honey lamb!"
"Freddie! Freddie!" cried Flossie, who had been resting in Uncle
Daniel's arms, "did a lion eat you, Freddie? Did he?"
"A lion eat him? Of course not!" laughed Bert. And Bert was doing some hard thinking as he stared at the strange boy who had Freddie by the hand.