“Thank you,” said Mr. Bobbsey.  By this time Freddie was safely out of the turtle pool, and the big creature, relieved of that strange thing on his back, had sunk down to the bottom of the pool, as though to hide away.  It was lucky he had kept himself afloat as long as he had, or Freddie might have been wet all over.

“Well, you do seem to have the queerest things happen to you, Freddie,” said his father with a smile.  “What will you do next?”

“I—­I couldn’t help this, Daddy,” said the little fellow.  “I—­I just slipped!”

“Well, don’t do it again,” said the Aquarium man, with a smile.  “If you had fallen in the other pool, where there are half a dozen turtles, though none as large as the one you rode on, you might have been bitten.  But you’re all right.  Now come along and we’ll dry you out.”

It was an easy matter to dry Freddie’s feet and legs in front of the warm furnaces in the boiler room, but his shoes and stockings did not get rid of their wetness so soon.  And, as Mr. Bobbsey did not want to wait, he sent one of the attendants out to buy new shoes and stockings for his son.  With these on, and carrying the damp ones in a bundle, Freddie was soon ready to go home.

“I guess I’ve had enough of the ’quarium,” he said.  “Anyhow I had a funny ride.”

“I should say you did!” agreed Bert.  “I wish we had a picture of you riding around on the back of that turtle.”

Mrs. Bobbsey was at first alarmed, and then she laughed, when told of what had happened.  She made Freddie drink some hot milk, so he would not get cold, but he told her the water of the turtle pool was warm, as it always is in Winter, and he said:  “I don’t think I’ll even have the snuffles,” which he did not, as the next day proved.

For two or three days Mr. Bobbsey was busy attending to his business in New York, but he found time to take the children to see the many sights.

“I want to go on a ferryboat and across the Brooklyn Bridge,” said Flossie, one day.

“Oh, I want to go on a ferryboat too.  And I want to see what makes the ferryboat go!” cried Freddie eagerly.

“All right; I’ll take you out to-day,” answered Mr. Bobbsey.  “And I’ll show you as much of the ferryboat as I can,” he added.

Then they went across the Brooklyn Bridge on a car, and later on they took quite a trip on the ferryboat to St. George, Staten Island, and back, and Freddy even got a glimpse into the engine-room of the boat and went home satisfied.

“There is so much to see!” exclaimed Nan, after a day spent in the Bronx Park, where there are many animals. “I don’t believe we could see it all in a year.”

“That’s right,” agreed Bert.  “But we’re going to see something good this afternoon.”

“What?” asked Flossie.  “Are we going to another ’quarium?”

“No, to a matinee in the theatre,” said her larger brother.  “It’s an awful funny play—­anyhow, the billboard pictures are.”