"Oh, please tell me!"
"Not now. Come on, skate faster!"
Bert and Nan skated on ahead, knowing that Flossie and Freddie would try to keep up with them, and so would get home more quickly. But they did not leave the smaller twins too far behind.
A little later the Bobbseys were safe at home. Tommy Todd went to his grandmother's house, and Flossie and Freddie took turns giving their mother an account of their escape from the ice-boat.
"Was there really any danger?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of Bert.
"Well, maybe, just a little. But I guess Mr. Watson would have stopped in time. He's a good ice-boat sailor."
"But don't let Flossie and Freddie get so far away from you another time. They might have been hurt."
Bert promised to look well after his little sister and brother, and then, having asked his mother if she wanted anything from the store, he said he was going down to his father's lumberyard.
"What for?" asked Nan, as she saw him leaving. "Is it about the secret?"
"Partly," answered Bert with a laugh.