Bert put the button carefully away, and the party guests were soon eating their ice cream, and discussing the disappearance of the freezer and the finding of it by the boys. Then with the playing of more games, and the singing of songs, the affair came to a close, and good-nights were said.
"We've had a lovely time!" said the boys and girls to Flossie and
Freddie, as they left.
"Glad you did—come again," invited the small Bobbsey twins.
Even Snap seemed to have enjoyed himself. And when the house was settling down to quietness for the night, and when Dinah and Mrs. Bobbsey were picking up the dishes, the circus dog marched around like a soldier, with a stick for a gun, and one of the fancy caps, that came in the "surprise" packets, on his head.
When Bert went to bed that night he laid the button found in the ice cream where he would be sure to see it in the morning.
"I'm going to find out whose coat that came off of," he said to himself.
The little Bobbsey twins slept late the next morning, and so did
Nan, but Bert was up early.
"I'm going over to the barn, and see if I can tell by looking around it, how many were at our freezer," he said.
But there was nothing there to help him in his search. Some old boxes, placed in a sort of circle, showed where the ones who had taken the ice cream, had rested to eat it.
"They must have had spoons with them," said Bert to himself, as he looked about. "That shows they came all prepared to take our ice cream. So they must have known it was going to be here. Well, I'll see whose coat has a button missing."