Part 35 (1/2)

”I like it, too,” Flossie said, cuddling up in the man's strong arms.

”Are we too heavy for you?” asked Freddie. ”'Cause if we are you only need to carry us a little way, until we're rested, and then we can walk.”

”But I'm not rested yet,” Flossie said quickly. She liked to be carried this way. It made her think of the time when her father used to carry her when she was a little tot.

”Don't be afraid. I can carry you for some time yet,” the man said with a laugh, as he walked on through the drifts.

”You can put me down now, if you like,” Freddie said, after a bit. ”I'm kinder cold, and if I walk I'll be warmer.”

”Well, perhaps you will,” the man replied.

”And I can walk, too,” added Flossie. ”My legs are all right now.”

”I don't believe you will have to walk much farther,” went on the man.

”I think the path is near here, and then it will be easier for you.”

The man soon found the path, though it was not easy to see, and, walking along that, they came to a road. A little later the Bobbsey twins and the man heard a bell ringing.

”That's a trolley-car!” cried the man. ”Now we're all right.”

And so they were. The trolley was one that ran between Belleville and Lakeport, and a little later the two children and the kind man were sitting in the warm electric car, speeding toward their home.

”I think I'd better get out at the nearest telephone, to let your folks know you are all right,” the man said. ”They will be worrying, and if we can't get another car we may find an automobile.”

The car conductor knew where there was a telephone in a drug store that they pa.s.sed a little later, and the man called up Mr. Bobbsey at the lumber office.

Mr. Bobbsey and the strange man talked a while over the telephone, and then the man, coming back to where the twins were just finis.h.i.+ng their gla.s.ses of hot chocolate which he had bought for them, said:

”Your father is going to send the automobile for you, so we will stay here until it comes. I told him where we were.”

”Was he worried?” asked Flossie.

”Yes, very much,” the man answered. ”Bert, your brother, went out to look for you but could not find you, and your father was just about to start out.”

”Well, we're all right now,” said Freddie, ”and we thank you very much.”

”Oh, that's all right,” said the man, with a laugh. ”In finding you I found myself, for I was lost, too.”

In about half an hour Mr. Bobbsey's automobile came along, he himself being in it. He jumped out and hurried into the drug store.

”Flossie! Freddie!” he cried. ”We were _so_ worried about you! What happened?”

”Oh, we just got lost,” said Freddie, calmly, ”and this nice man found us.”

”We found each other,” said the stranger, with a smile, ”and now that I have done all I can, I think I will go on my way. I came to Lakeport to find my mother and my son. They'll be surprised to see me for they think that I am dead.”

”You don't say so!” cried Mr. Bobbsey. ”Where does your mother live?”

”Somewhere in Lakeport. At least she and my son did the last I heard, though they may have moved. Perhaps you can direct me. My name is Henry Todd, and I am looking for a Mrs. James Todd and her grandson, Tommy Todd. I am a sea captain, and I was wrecked a number of years ago. It was on a lonely island and----”

”Say!” cried Freddie, so excited that he slipped right off the soda-water counter seat. ”Say! Are you--are you Tommy Todd's father?”