"I guess he won't follow us any more," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Hurry along now, children. We are almost at the trolley." He turned away from the dog, who seemed to be asleep now, and the family went on.

For a minute or two, as Nan could tell by looking back, the dog did not follow, but just as the Bobbseys were about to make a turn in the path, up jumped the animal and came trotting on after the children and their parents, wagging his tail so fast that it seemed as if it would come loose.

"Is he coming?" asked Flossie.

"He certainly is," answered Bert, who was in the rear. "I guess he wants us to take him home with us."

"Oh, let's do it!" begged Flossie.

"Please, papa," pleaded Freddie. "We haven't got Snoop now, so let us have a dog. And I'm sure we could teach him to do tricks--he's so smart."

"And so he's coming after us still!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, well, I don't know what to do," and he came to a stop on the path.

"Couldn't we take him home just for tonight?" asked Nan, "and then in the morning we could find out who owns him and return him."

"Oh, please do," begged Freddie and Flossie, impulsively.

"But how can we take him on a trolley car?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "The conductor would not let us."

"Maybe he would--if he was a kind man," suggested Freddie. "We could tell him how it was, and how we lost our cat--"

"And our silver cup," added Flossie.

"Well, certainly the dog doesn't seem to want to go home," said Mr. Bobbsey, after he had tried two or three times more to drive the animal back. But it would not go.

"Go on a little farther," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. "By the time we get to the trolley he may get tired, and go back. And if we want to lose him I think we can, by getting on the car quickly."

"But we don't want to lose him!" cried Freddie.

"No, no!" said Flossie. "We want to keep him. He can run along behind the trolley car. I'll ask the motorman to go slow, papa."

"My! This has been a mixed-up day!" sighed Mr. Bobbsey. "I really don't know what to do."

The dog seemed to think that he was one of the family, now. He came up to Flossie and Freddie and let them pat him. His tail kept wagging all the while.

"Well, we'll see what happens when we get to the trolley," decided Mr. Bobbsey, thinking that there would be the best and only place to get rid of the dog. "Come along, children."

Freddie and Flossie came on, the dog between them, and this seemed to suit the fine animal. He had found friends, now, he evidently thought. Mr. Bobbsey wondered why so valuable a dog would leave its home. And he was very much puzzled as to what he should do if the children insisted on keeping the animal, and if it came aboard the trolley car.

"There's the car!" exclaimed Bert, as they went around another turn in the path and came to a road. Down it could be seen the headlight of an approaching trolley, and also the twin lamps of an oncoming automobile.

"Look out for the auto, children!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.

They stood at the side of the road, and as the auto came up the man in it slowed down his machine. It was a big car and he was alone in it.

"Well, I declare!" exclaimed the autoist, as his engine stopped.

"If it isn't the Bobbsey family--twins and all! What are you doing here, Mr. Bobbsey?"

"Why, it's Mr. Blake!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, seeing that the autoist was a neighbor, and a business friend of his. "Oh, our train was held back by a circus wreck, so we walked across the lots to the car. We're homeward bound from the seash.o.r.e."

"Well, well! A circus wreck, eh? Where did you get the dog?"

"Oh, he followed us," said Mrs. Bobbsey.

"And we're going to keep him, too!" exclaimed Flossie.

"And take him in the trolley with us," added her little brother.

"Well, well!" exclaimed Mr. Blake. "Say, now, I have a better plan than that," he went on. "Why should you folks go home in a trolley, when I have this big empty auto here? Pile in, all of you, and I'll get you there in a jiffy. Come, Dinah, I see you, too."

"Yes, sah, Ma.s.sa Blake, I'se heah! Can't lose ole Dinah!"

"But we lost our cat, Snoop!" said Flossie, regretfully.

"And we nearly ran over an elephant," added Freddie, bound that his sister should not tell all the news.

"Well, get in the auto," invited Mr. Blake.

"Do you really mean it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps we are keeping you from going somewhere."

"Indeed not. Pile in, and you'll soon be home."

"Can we bring the dog, too?" asked Flossie.

"Yes, there's plenty of room for the dog," laughed Mr. Blake. "Lift him in."

But the strange dog did not need lifting. He sprang into the tonneau of the auto as soon as the door was opened. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey lifted in Flossie and Freddie, and Nan and Bert followed. Then in got Papa and Mamma Bobbsey and Mr. Blake started off.

"This is lovely," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a sigh of relief. She was more tired than she had thought.

"It certainly is kind of you, Mr. Blake," said Papa Bobbsey.

"I'm only too glad I happened to meet you. Are you children comfortable?"

"Yep!" chorused Freddie and Flossie.

"And the dog?"

"We're holding him so he won't fall out," explained Flossie. She and her little brother had the dog between them.

On went the auto, and with the telling of the adventures of the day the journey seemed very short. Soon the Bobbsey home was reached.

There were lights in it, for Sam, the colored man, had been telephoned to, to have the place opened for the family. Sam came out on the stoop to greet them and his wife Dinah.

"Here we are!" cried Papa Bobbsey. "Come, Flossie--Freddie--we're home."

Flossie and Freddie did not answer. They were fast asleep, their heads on the s.h.a.ggy back of the big dog.