Part 24 (1/2)

”Yes, but go to sleep now,” Bert advised.

”I can't, the wind makes so much noise,” Freddie answered.

The wind was certainly howling and moaning loudly around the corner of the house. Suddenly there was a big crash on the roof of the kitchen extension near the windows of the room where Freddie and Bert slept.

Then, after the first crash, came another.

Something smashed through the gla.s.s in the window nearest Freddie's bed and there was a thumping sound on the floor.

”Oh! oh!” cried Freddie throwing off the covers and jumping out. ”The house is blowing down! The house is blowing down!”

CHAPTER XVI

THE FIRST SNOW

There was noise enough from the howling wind to make almost any one believe the house really was tumbling down after the crash which seemed to have broken in the window of the boys' room.

”What's the matter in there, Bert?” called Mr. Bobbsey.

”The house is falling down!” cried Freddie. ”I'm afraid, Daddy! I want to come in with you.”

”Well, come along, sonny,” called Mrs. Bobbsey.

Freddie ran out into the hall, where there was a dim light burning. Bert felt the cold wind blowing in on him through the broken window. He could also feel flakes of snow on his face.

”Something really is the matter in here, Dad!” he called. ”I guess the house is all right, but our window is broken.”

”Did you hear that, Flossie?” asked Nan of her little sister, who was sleeping with her. But they were both awake now. ”The wind was so strong that it blew in Bert's window.”

”Oh, what a terrible storm,” whispered Flossie, covering her head with the clothes. ”I don't like it.”

By this time Bert had slipped on his bath robe and had gone out into the hall. His father was coming along and, having turned on the electric light in the room where the two boys slept, he saw what had happened.

Both large panes of gla.s.s in one window were broken. The shattered gla.s.s lay on the carpet and the snow was blowing in, for the white flakes were coming down fast now. And there were also a number of bricks on the floor.

”Oh! oh!” cried Freddie, who had come back with his father. ”Some one threw bricks through our window. Was that Jack Frost?”

”I guess it was North Wind,” answered Mr. Bobbsey.

”What happened?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

”The wind blew the top of the chimney off,” replied her husband, ”and some of the bricks crashed through Bert's window. Not much damage done, but the wind and snow are coming in.”

”We can't sleep in our room!” cried Freddie. ”What are we going to do?”

”I'll close the shutters and fasten a blanket over the window,” said Mr.

Bobbsey. ”That will keep out nearly all the snow. What little wind blows in will not hurt--fresh air in the bedroom is a good thing.”

Mr. Bobbsey closed the shutters, and tacked a blanket over the place where the gla.s.s was broken out of the window. Then, after he had taken away the bricks and swept up the broken gla.s.s so Bert and Freddie would not cut their feet on it, the boys went back to bed again.