“I wonder what that nice woodchopper man is doing now?” asked Flossie.  “Uncle Jack, I mean.”

“I hope his pain is better,” said Freddie.  “Maybe we could get him work here on the elevated railroad, chopping tickets at the station.”  When people drop their tickets into the glass boxes at the elevated or subway stations they are “chopped” into fine pieces by the men who pump the handles up and down.  “Uncle Jack chops wood,” went on Freddie, “and he could easy chop tickets.”

So Flossie and Freddie kept on with their long ride, talking and looking out of the train windows.

CHAPTER IX

IN THE STORE

Mr. Bobbsey bought his tickets, put his change in his pocket, and turned to gather his little party together to take them through the gate, past the ticket chopper.

“Why, where are Freddie and Flossie?” he asked.

Mrs. Bobbsey, Nan, Bert, none of them, had seen the little twins rush past the ticket chopper and on to the train.  All began to turn here and there excitedly, looking about for the blue-eyed boy and girl.

“Now, now,” said Mr. Bobbsey, “don’t worry.  You, Bert, and your mother and Nan will wait here at the head of the stairs, while I go down to the street and see if the children went down there again.  I’ll not be gone long.  If they are not close at hand, I’ll come back to you before making further search.  Now, as I said, don’t worry.  In a city children are always quickly found.”

Mr. Bobbsey did as he said, but, of course, saw nothing of Freddie and Flossie, who were now having a very nice ride and a very good time indeed on the elevated express train.

By this time the ticket chopper, the agent who sold tickets, the station porter and several persons who were waiting to take a train, had heard from Nan and Bert what had happened.  These people offered all sorts of advice, but Mr. Bobbsey thought it best to listen to that of the ticket agent, who, of course, would know more about the elevated trains than persons who only rode on them two or three times a day.

The ticket chopper had seen the children rush by him and on to the train, but they had gone by so quickly that he had not been able to stop them, and, as there were a good many people on the platform, he did not know to whom they belonged.  So he told the ticket seller and Mr. Bobbsey that Flossie and Freddie had taken the last express train that had passed the station.

“It would have been easy enough to stop them if you’d only known it at first,” said the ticket seller; “but they’ve got the start of you now, and after Sixty-sixth Street these express trains make only a few stops before they reach the end of the line.  But I can telephone to one of the ticket sellers at one of the uptown stations and have him meet the train and take the children off.”

“What will he do with them?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey.