“Hello!  What’s that?” asked one of the policemen in the automobile.

“Sounded like a sneeze,” said another.

“Sure it was a sneeze,” came from a third.

“Maybe it was Mike, the chauffeur,” suggested the first officer.

“It didn’t sound like him,” ventured a policeman, close to where the driver sat behind his wooden back-rest.  “I say, Mike!” called the policeman, “did you sneeze?”

“Nope!  Haven’t time for sneezes now,” answered the chauffeur.

“Then it was back here in this automobile,” went on the first policeman, who was quite fat.

“Maybe it was a cat,” suggested some one.

“Or a dog,” added another.

Just then Freddie laughed—­snickered would be more like what he did, I suppose—­and once more Flossie sneezed.  And Laddie snickered, too.  They really could not help it any more than Flossie could help sneezing.  For the two boys thought it very funny to listen to what the policemen were saying about Flossie’s sneezes.  And when the little girl’s nose was tickled the second time by the fuzzy blanket, and she sneezed again, and the boys laughed or snickered—­the policemen knew where the noises came from.

“It’s in here—­right in our automobile!” said the fat policeman again.

“And it sounded right at my feet,” added another.

Then all the policemen in the automobile leaned over and looked down.  Even Flossie was laughing now, for it all seemed so funny, and she was wondering what her father and mother would say.

The laughter of the children made the blankets, under which they were hiding, shake as though the wind was blowing them, and seeing this one of the officers pulled loose one corner of the robe and there he saw Flossie, Freddie and Laddie.

“Well, I do declare!” cried a policeman with a red mustache.  “It’s children!”

“Three of ’em!” cried another.

The the two Bobbsey twins crawled from under the seat, and Laddie came with them, to stand up in the swaying automobile between the two rows of policemen.

“Where in the world did you come from?” asked one officer.

“Under there,” answered Freddie, and he pointed to the place where the blankets were still rolled up.

“And how did you get there?”

“We crawled in to get a ride,” said Flossie, “and I couldn’t help sneezing.  That fuzzy blanket tickled my nose so!”

The policemen laughed at this.

“But who are you and where do you belong?” asked one of the officers who, having some stripes on his sleeve and some gold lace on his cap, seemed to be the leader.

“We’re part of the Bobbsey twins,” said Freddie.  “The other half of us—­that’s Nan and Bert—­have gone to see a stuffed whale.”

“No, the whale isn’t stuffed—­it’s the sea lion, or wallyrus—­I forget which,” put in Flossie.  “The whale’s only made out of plaster and wood.”