Whether Danny Rugg was afraid the princ.i.p.al had seen him trying to force a fight on Bert, or whether the unexpected fall that came to him, caused it, no one knew, but certainly, for the next few days, Danny let Bert alone. When he pa.s.sed him he scowled, or shook his fist, or muttered something about "getting even," but this was all.

Perhaps it was the thought of what Bert had seen fall from Danny's pocket that made the bully less anxious to keep up the quarrel.

At any rate, Bert was left alone and he was glad of it. He was not afraid, but he liked peace.

The school days went on, and the cla.s.ses settled down to their work for the long Winter term. And the thought of the snow and ice that would comparatively soon be with them, made the Bobbsey twins rejoice.

"Charley Mason and I are going to make a dandy big bob this year,"

said Bert one day. "It's going to carry ten fellows."

"And no girls?" asked Nan with a smile. She was walking along behind her brother with Grace and Nellie.

"Sure, we'll let you girls ride once in a while," said Charley, as he caught up to his chum. "But you can't steer."

"I steered a bob once," said Grace, who was quite athletic for her age. "It was Danny Rugg's, too."

"Pooh! His is a little one alongside the one Charley and I are going to make!" exclaimed Bert. "Ours will be hard to steer, and it's going to have a gong on it to tell folks to get out of the way."

"That's right," agreed Charley. "And we'd better start it right away, Bert. It may soon snow."

"It doesn't feel so now," spoke Nan. "It is very warm. It feels more like ice cream cones."

"And if you'll come with me I'll treat you all to some," exclaimed Nellie Parks, whose father was quite well off. "I have some of my birthday money left."

"Oh, but there are five of us!" cried Nan, counting. "That is too much--twenty-five cents, Nellie."

"I've got fifty, and really it is very hot to-day."

It was warm, being the end of September, with Indian Summer near at hand.

"Well, let's go to Johnson's," suggested Nellie. "They have the best cream."

"Oh, here comes Flossie and Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "We don't want to take them, Nellie. That means---"

"Of course I'll take them!" exclaimed Nellie, generously. "I've got fifty cents, I told you."

"I'll give them each a penny and let them run along home," offered Bert.

"No, I'm going to treat them, too," insisted Nellie. "Come on!" she called to the little twins, "we're going to get ice cream cones, it's so warm."

"Oh, goodie!" cried Flossie. "I was just wishing for one."

"So was I," added her brother.

"And I'll ask you to my party next week," the little girl went on.

"I'm going to have one on my birthday."

"Oh, are you really, Flossie?" asked Nan. "I hadn't heard about it."

"Yep--I am. Mamma said I could, but she told me not to tell. I don't care, I wanted Nellie to know, as she's going to treat us to cones."

"And it's half my party, 'cause my birthday's the same day,"

explained Freddie. "So you can come to my party at the same time, Nellie."

"Thank you, dear, I shall. Now let's hurry to the store, for it's getting warmer all the while."

The ice cream in the funny little cones was much enjoyed by all.

Bert and Charley walked on together eating, and talking of the bob sled they were going to make. They pa.s.sed Danny Rugg, who looked rather enviously at them.

"Hey, Charley," called Danny, "come here, I want to speak to you."

"I'm busy now," answered Charley. "Bert and I have something to do."

"So have I. I've got a dandy plan."

"Well, I'll see you later," spoke Charley,

He had once been quite friendly with Danny, but he grew not to like his ways, and so became more chummy with Bert, who was very glad, for he liked Charley.

The two boys went on to Bert's barn, where they were going to build the bob sled. The girls, with Flossie and Freddie, went on the Bobbsey lawn, where there were some easy chairs. They sat in the shade of the trees, and Freddie had Snap do some of his tricks for the visitors.

"Can he jump through a hoop, covered with paper as they do in the circus?" asked Nellie.

"Oh, we never thought to try that," said Freddie. "I'm going to make one," and, filled with this new idea, he hurried into the house.

"Dinah," he said, "I want some paper and paste."

"Land sakes, chile! what yo' gwine t' do now?" asked the colored cook. "Make a kite, an' take Snoop up in de air laik yo' brother Bert done once?"

"No, we're not going to do that," answered the little boy. "We're going to cover a hoop with paper, and make Snap jump through it, like in a circus."

"Mah goodness mustard pot!" cried Dinah. "What will yo' all be up to next?"

"I don't know," answered Freddie. "But will you make me some paste, Dinah? And you know we haven't got Snoop, anyhow, so we couldn't send him up on a kite tail," added Freddie.

"Deah me! Yo' chilluns done make me do de mostest wuk!" complained Dinah, but she laughed, which showed that she did not really mean it, and set at mixing some flour and water for the paste.

Flossie and Freddie insisted on making the paper covered hoop themselves. They started, but they got so much of the sticky stuff on their hands and faces that Nan feared they would soil their clothes, so she insisted on being allowed to do the pasting for them.

"But we can help, can't we?" asked Freddie.

"Yes," said Nan.

Even for Nan covering a hoop with paper was not as easy as she thought it would be. Grace and Nellie helped, but sometimes the wind would blow the paper away just as they were ready to fold it around the rim of the hoop. Then the paste would get on the girls'

hands.

"What are you doing?" asked Bert, as he and Charley came from the barn. They had to stop work on their job, as they could not find a long enough plank. The decided to get one from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard, later.

"We're going to have Snap do the circus trick of jumping through a paper hoop," explained Nan. "Only we can't seem to get the hoop made."