"I think you'll find him all right," said the elevator man. "No accident has happened or I'd have heard of it."
"Yes; don't worry!" advised Mr. Bobbsey.
But Mrs. Bobbsey could not help worrying, and Nan, Bert and Flossie were very much frightened. They were almost crying. Even though the Bobbseys got in an express elevator after getting out of the small, slower one, it could not go down fast enough to suit Freddie's mother. When the ground floor was reached she was the first to rush out.
One look around the big corridor of the Woolworth Building showed Mrs. Bobbsey that something had happened over near one of the elevators. There was a crowd there, and, for a moment, she was very much frightened. But the next second she saw Freddie himself, with a crowd of men around him, and they were all laughing.
"Oh, Freddie! where did you go and what have you been doing?" cried his frightened mother as she caught him up in her arms.
"I've been having rides in the elevator," announced the small boy. "And it went as fast as anything! I rode up and down lots of times!"
"Yes, that's what he did," said the elevator man, with a laugh. "I didn't pay much attention to him at first, but when I saw that he was staying in my car trip after trip, I asked him at what floor he wanted to get out. He said he didn't want to get out at all—that he liked me, and liked to stay in and ride!"
And at this the crowd laughed again.
"And is that what you have been doing, Freddie—riding up and down in the elevator?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Yes, and I liked it!" exclaimed Freddie. "I wished Flossie was with me."