"Well, well," said Mr. Bobbsey, "everything is turning out right for you children now."
"And Snoop really was in this cave!" exclaimed Bert.
And so it proved. Whether he had wandered off and had become lost in some little hole of the cave, where he could not get out, or whether the gypsies had stolen him, as they had Snap, the Bobbseys never heard. But they knew they had their black cat again, and they were happy, especially the little twins.
"I want to hug him!" cried Flossie, as the cat rubbed up against her legs.
"So do I!" cried Freddie. "And I want to hug the head part. You can hug the tail end!"
"That end doesn't purr!" exclaimed Flossie. "I want the end that purrs."
"You must take turns," said Mrs. Bobbsey, laughing. "You ought to be glad you have Snoop back instead of quarreling about him. Well, we have found nearly everything we wanted now, except that bacon some one took the first night."
"I guess the gypsies got that," said Mr. Bobbsey. "It must have been one of them who was sneaking around in the night, and who awakened the children. They probably wanted to have something to eat in their cave. But they've gone now."
"Yes, and they seem to have left something behind them," observed one of the policemen. "I see something white over on one of the boxes they used for a table. Maybe it's only some old papers, though."
Bert hurried over and picked up the white thing.