As the Bobbseys were to leave town soon, they did not unpack very much from the valises they had brought from the houseboat.
This boat was tied up at a dock in the lumber yard, which was on the edge of the lake. The children spent the morning playing about in the yard, some of their friends, who had not gone away for the summer, coming to join in their games.
After lunch Mr. Bobbsey came up to the house in an automobile, bringing his wife some things she had asked him to get from the store.
"Oh, may I have a ride?" begged Freddie, when he saw his father in the machine, which Mr. Bobbsey and some of the other members of his lumber firm used when they were in a hurry.
"Yes, jump in!" invited his father. "Want to come, Bert?" he asked of the older Bobbsey boy.
"Yes, thank you," was the answer. "Where are you going?"
"I have to go up the lake shore, to a place called Tenbly, to see another lumber dealer on some business," Mr. Bobbsey said. "Where are Nan and Flossie?" he asked his wife, who had come out on the porch just then. "I could take them along also. There is plenty of room."
"Flossie and Nan have gone over to Mrs. Black's house," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "Run along without them. It's just as well. I'd rather they wouldn't be out in the hot sun, as we have to take a long train journey to-morrow."
"All right," agreed Mr. Bobbsey, as he started off in the automobile with Freddie and Bert. "We'll soon be back."
Neither Mr. Bobbsey nor the boys knew what was to happen on that ride, nor how it was to affect them afterward.