"Sartin suah, sah! I done put it in de little auto when yo' all started off, 'case I reckoned it'd be dusty."
"Well, the lap robe is gone like my coat," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Too bad, for it was a new one."
"It suah am too bad!" declared Sam. "Yo' all has me worried!"
"Well, you don't need to worry, Sam," said Mrs. Bobbsey kindly. "It isn't your fault. I know you put the robe in the auto, for I saw it when we started. But when I wanted it to wrap around Mr. Bobbsey, after his coat was taken, and it was cool riding home, the robe was gone."
"Stolen, Mother, do you think?" asked Nan.
"I wouldn't say that. It may have fallen out on the way."
"Well, that's two things gone the same day," said Mr. Bobbsey, who was still in his shirt sleeves, as he had come from the picnic. "My coat and the lap robe. I guess that Blipper's merry-go-round, which is to show at the Bolton County Fair, didn't bring me any good luck."
Bert and Nan were wondering if Bob Guess or the red-faced man knew anything of their father's coat and the missing lap robe when from the kitchen Dinah's voice excitedly called:
"Come heah! Come heah if yo' please, Mr. Bobbsey! Suffin's done gone an' happened!"