"Get along, Esmeralda!" called the man to the horse, and so the
Bobbsey twins had a ride to school.
"Let's go down and play on your father's lumber piles to-day," said
Danny Rugg to Bert, when school was out in the afternoon.
"Yes, we had a dandy time the other day!" chimed in Charley Mason.
"Let's go again."
"All right, we'll go!" agreed Bert.
But when he and the two boys reached the yard where the sweet-smelling boards were piled in great heaps, Bert saw his father coming from the office.
"May we play on the lumber?" asked Bert.
"Yes, but come home early," Mr. Bobbsey answered. "I'm going home now,
Bert, and I think you'd better come soon."
"Is anything the matter?" asked the boy, for he knew it was early for his father to leave his office unless something had happened.
"Nothing serious," was the answer. "But I have just had some strange news from the West, and I want to tell your mother about it. The news came in a letter, and it may make a big change in our plans for the summer."