"Oh, that'll dry," said Freddie. "And I can wash the mud off my feet. It was awful sticky."
It certainly seemed to be, for it took quite a while to wash it off his bare feet and legs, though he stood for some time in the brook, where there was a white, pebbly bottom, and used bunches of moss for a bath sponge.
But at last Freddie's legs were clean, though they were quite red from having been rubbed so hard with the moss-sponge. Flossie, too, having helped her brother scrub himself, had gotten some water on her shoes and stockings, and a little mud, too.
"But we can walk through places where the grass is high," said Freddie, "and that will brush the mud off, and the sun will dry your stockin's same as it will my pants."
"And we'll keep on calling for Snoop," said Flossie.
Freddie having put on his stockings and shoes, the two children set out again, wandering here and there, calling for the black cat. But either he did not hear them or he would not answer, and when, after an hour or two, they got back to camp, they had not found their pet.
"Where have you two been?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I was just getting anxious about you."
"We've been looking for Snoop," said Flossie.
"And I went in wadin' an' got stuck in the mud, and my pants got a little wet, and Flossie's shoes and stockin's got wet an' muddy, but we waded in tall grass and we're not very muddy now," said Freddie, all out of breath, but anxious to get the worst over with at once.
"Oh, you shouldn't have gone in wading!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.