Bert and Nan and Flossie and Freddie were fond of fun and good times, and they had plenty of them in the country, at school, at the seashore and on trips. There are various books telling of the adventures of the Bobbsey twins in different places, at grandpa’s farm, on the deep blue sea, and out West. Just before this story opens the Bobbsey twins had been camping and had had some wonderful adventures.
“Well, Bert, was anything broken?” asked his mother, when the “mess,” as she called it, of the elevated railroad had been cleared away.
“No, nothing much, Mother,” he answered. “One of the cars lost a wheel, but that’s always coming off. I guess Sam can fix it.” Sam was Dinah’s husband, a jolly, stout, colored man-of-all-work about the Bobbsey place.
“I think you’d better wash now and get ready for supper,” his mother told him.
“If I could put on my bathing suit and stand out in the rain I wouldn’t have to wash—the shower would wash me,” Bert said, laughing.
“Oh, could we do that? Could we put on our bathing suits?” begged Freddie.
“Please!” begged Flossie, who was all over her crying spell caused by having been hit on the head when the ironing board fell.
“No, indeed!” laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. “This isn’t summer yet. The rain is a cold one. I hope your father doesn’t get drenched. But what made your elevated railroad fall, Bert?”
“Oh, I guess Flossie or Freddie moved one of the chairs when they crawled under the ironing board to make believe they were under a bridge,” the boy answered.
“I didn’t!” asserted Freddie. “It was the thunder!”
“Well, maybe it was,” admitted Bert. “It rumbled terribly loud, anyhow.”
“Oh! is it going to thunder again?” cried Flossie, getting ready to bury her head in Nan’s lap.
“No. But I think I heard daddy come in,” said the older Bobbsey girl.
“Yes, there he is!” cried Bert, and a moment later Mr. Bobbsey, his face sparkling with rain drops that had blown beneath his umbrella, entered the room.
“All safe and sound?” he asked cheerfully.
“Yes,” his wife answered. “But if you had been here a little while ago—”
“Oh, my elevated railroad was wrecked!” laughed Bert, and by turns the children told of the happening.
“Daddy,” began Nan a little later, as they sat at the supper table, the storm having quieted somewhat. “Daddy—”