“Sam had to go away!” gasped Nan.
“Is he sick?” inquired Bert.
“No, he isn’t sick,” Dinah answered. “But his brother down South is terrible sick, an’ a tellygram come sayin’ dat Sam mus’ come right off quick. So he went on de noon train.”
“Oh, well, maybe Sam’s brother will get better,” replied Bert.
“’Tisn’t dat I’s worryin’ so much about,” explained Dinah. “But wif Sam gone dey isn’t no man around de house now, an’ we’s likely to hab mo’ bad storms. Dey isn’t any man heah!”
“I can look after things!” cried Bert. “I can shovel snow ’most as good as Sam. And I can shovel coal, too.”
“Oh, we’ll be all right,” added Nan. Though, deep in her heart, she had a feeling that keeping house with Sam, the big, strong protector gone, was not going to be as much fun as it had seemed at first.
CHAPTER VIII
BERT’S TUMBLE
Truth to tell, Dinah had worried more on the children’s account than on her own when it was found necessary for Sam to go to his brother, after a telegram had been received calling him to the South.