that he felt much happier.

"Let me take Snoop," begged Flossie of Tommy, and the "fresh air boy," as the twins called him, handed over the black cat. They all walked back to where Dinah and Mrs. Bobbsey were waiting. Snoop was put in her basket, where she curled up as if glad to be away from the noise and excitement.

The fresh air children had gone their various ways and Tommy set off down the street toward his poor home, which, as he had said, was down near the "dumps."

"Wait a minute!" called Mr. Bobbsey after him. "Give me your address, Tommy. Mrs. Bobbsey wants to come and see your grandmother."

"Oh!" exclaimed Tommy, and he seemed rather surprised. "Well, I live on Lombard Street."

"What number?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, taking out a note book and pencil.

"There isn't any number on our house," said Tommy. "Maybe there was once, but it's gone now. But it's the last house on the street, the left hand side as you go toward the dumps."

"All right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I guess we can find you. But that's a long way to walk from here. Aren't you going to take a car?"

"No—no, sir," answered Tommy. "I don't mind walking."

"Maybe he hasn't the car fare," whispered Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Just what I was thinking myself," answered her husband. "Here, Tommy," he went on. "Here's a quarter. Use it to ride home, and get yourself an ice cream soda. It's warmer here than out on the fresh air farm," and he held out the money. "The ice cream will cool you off."

"Oh, I—I don't want to take it," said Tommy. "I don't mind the walk."

"Come on, take it!" insisted Mr. Bobbsey. "You can run some errands for me later on, and earn it, if you like that better."

"Yes, I'll do that," said Tommy, and this time he took the money. "I'll run errands for you whenever you want me to," he added, as he started toward the street car.

"All right," said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "And tell your grandmother that we will get her more sewing to do."

"She'll be glad to hear that," Tommy said. He was quite a little man, though no older than Bert.

"And I won't forget about taking my saved-up money to buy a ship, so you and I can go and get your father from the desert island," said Freddie, as Tommy got on the car.

"And I'm coming too," added Flossie. "You said I could cook."

"You ought to take Dinah along to cook," laughed Nan.

"Maybe we will; sha'n't we, Freddie?" asked his little sister.

"Well, if we can get a ship big enough for her and us we will," Freddie decided. "But I haven't got much money, and Dinah needs lots of room."

With Snap and Snoop now safe, the Bobbseys and Dinah got in a carriage and left the station to drive to their home. On the way they saw the man whose dog had barked at Snap. The man had the animal by a chain and was leading him along. Snap growled as he looked out and saw him.

"Be quiet, sir!" ordered Bert.

"Yes, be nice and quiet like Snoop," said Flossie.

"There's our house!" cried Freddie, as they turned a corner. "Why, it's been painted!" he added, in surprise.

"Oh, so it has!" exclaimed Nan.

"Yes, I had it painted while you were at Meadow Brook," returned Mr. Bobbsey. "Do you like it?" he asked his wife.

"Yes, it's a lovely color. But I'd like it anyhow for it's home. It was nice in the country, but I'm glad to be home again."

"So are we!" cried Flossie. "We'll have lots of fun here; sha'n't we, Freddie?"

"That's what we will!"

"Home again! Home again!" gaily sang Nan as her father opened the front door, and they all went in. "We're all at home again!"

CHAPTER V

TOMMY'S TROUBLES

"Oh, there's Johnnie Wilson!" cried Freddie Bobbsey. "I'm going to call to him to come into our yard."

"Yes, and there's Alice Boyd," added Flossie. "I'm going to play with her. She's got a new doll. Come on over, Alice!" she called.

"And you come over, too, Johnnie!" shouted Freddie.

A boy and a girl came running across the street to the Bobbsey house. The two smaller twins and their little friends were soon having a good time in the yard. It was the morning after the family had come home from Meadow Brook.

"Did you have a good time in the country?" asked Alice of Flossie.

"Oh, didn't we just though! It was—scrumptious!"

"And false-face robbers stopped the train coming home," added Freddie. "Only it was make-believe."

"I wish I'd been there," said Johnnie, after Freddie had told about it. "We went up to a lake this Summer. Nothing much happened there except I fell in and most drowned."

"I call that something," said Freddie. "I fell in a brook, but it wasn't deep."

"The lake's awful deep," went on Johnnie. "It hasn't any bottom."

"It's got to have a bottom, or all the water would drop out, and then it wouldn't be a lake," said Freddie.

"Well, maybe it has," admitted his friend. "Anyhow, the bottom's awful far down. I didn't get to it and I was in the water a good while. It's a awful deep lake."

"It isn't as deep as the ocean," Freddie said, "and I'm going on the ocean in a ship."

"Are you? When?" asked Johnnie.

"When Tommy Todd and I start to look for his father. His father is lost at sea on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe, and we're going to find him."

"Take me along!" begged Johnnie. "I'm not afraid of the ocean, even if it's deeper'n the lake. Take me with you."

Freddie thought about it carefully.

"Well, you may come if the ship is big enough," he said. "I promised to let Flossie come. She's going to cook. Oh, no, Dinah's going to cook. I forgot about that. We'll have to get a bigger ship, I guess, so's to make room for Dinah. I guess you may come, Johnnie. I haven't counted how much money I've saved up, but I will soon."

"Is Tommy Dodd going to help buy the ship?" asked Johnnie.

"His name isn't Dodd, it's Todd," explained Freddie. "But he can't put in much money I guess, 'cause he's poor. He's a fresh air boy, but he's nice. He runs errands for Mr. Fitch, the grocer. We met Tommy on the train."

"Then if you put in the most money to buy the ship more'n half of it will be yours," said Johnnie, "and you can take as many as you like."

"No, half of the ship is going to be Tommy's," insisted the little Bobbsey twin, "'Cause it's his father we're going after, you see."

"That's so," admitted Johnnie. "Well, I'm coming anyhow. I'll put in some money to buy things to eat."

"That'll be nice," said Freddie. "I forgot about eating. I'm hungry now. I think Dinah is making cookies. Let's go 'round to the kitchen to see."

Flossie and Alice were up on the side porch, playing with their dolls, when Freddie and Johnnie ran around to the back door. Surely enough, Dinah was making cookies, and she gave the boys some.

"Do you think we'd better save any of these for the time when we go on the ship?" asked Johnnie, as he took a bite out of his second cookie.

"No, I don't guess so," replied Freddie. "We won't go for a week or two anyhow, and the cookies wouldn't keep that long. Anyhow, Dinah will make more. Say, I'll tell you what let's do!"

"What?"

"Go down to the lake and sail our boats."

"All right. But I don't want to fall in."

"We'll go down to my father's lumber yard, and if we fall in, near