"Why we can swing on some of the ropes that are in the haymow. I guess the ropes are there to tie things up on in the winter. But we can swing on 'em now, and make believe we're sailors, just as we did when we found that boy in the cave where we went with Cousin Jasper."
"Oh, so we can!" cried Nan. "Come on!"
"I'll be a fireman on the ship!" declared fat Freddie, as he got slowly to his feet from the floor where he had been sitting near Bert. "I'll be a fireman and squirt water."
"Not real—only make believe," cried Bert. "Water spoils hay, you know,
Freddie. You can't splash any water on daddy's hay in the barn."
"No, I'll only make believe," agreed the light-haired little boy. "Come on Flossie!" he called to his sister, who had slipped down off the porch to run after a big black cat that marched along with his tail in the air, "like a fishing pole," Bert said. "Come on, Flossie!" called Freddie. "We'll go out to the barn and play ship and sailors, and I'll be a fireman and you can be——"
"I'm going to be hungry, and have something good to eat! That's what
I'll be," declared Flossie quickly. "I'm going to be AWFUL hungry!"
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Nan, but she was laughing. "That's always the way.
Those two want to do something different."
"Well, we can all make believe we're hungry," said Bert. "And maybe
Dinah will give us some cookies to eat."
"There she goes now. I'll ask her!" offered Nan, as she saw the Bobbsey's fat and good-natured colored cook cross the lawn with a small basket of clothes to hang up. "We'll have a little play-party out in the barn."
"But I'm going to be real hungry—not make believe!" said Freddie. "I want to eat real."