The father of the Bobbsey twins stooped down and looked at the soft earth.  He soon found what he was looking for—­the tiny footprints of his little girl.

“She went over this way,” he said.  “Come on, we’ll pretend we are hunters on the trail.  We’ll soon find Flossie.”

“Oh, this is fun!” laughed Freddie.  But it was not exactly fun for the others.  Even Nan and Bert were worried.

The footprints of Flossie wandered off among the shocks of corn, and in a few moments they stopped at a place where two or three shocks had been piled together, making a large heap.

And then, before any one could say a word, from behind this pile of cornstalks a sleepy voice called, asking: 

“Where are you, Freddie?”

“There she is!  That’s Flossie!” cried Bert.

He and his mother made a dash around the big shock and there, lying with her little cloak wrapped around her, was Flossie, nestled amid the corn husks, curled up and just awakening from a nap.

“Oh, Flossie! why did you run away?” asked her mother, clasping her little daughter in her arms.

“I didn’t runned away, I walked!” declared Flossie, rubbing her eyes.  “What you all lookin’ at me for?” she wanted to know.  “Was I a bad girl, Mother?”

“Not exactly bad, but you frightened us,” her father said.  “However, we’re glad we have found you.”

Flossie had just wandered away by herself, unnoticed by Bert, Nan, or Harry, and, growing tired and sleepy, had nestled in the corn to take a nap.  Freddie had been so busy shelling corn that he did not notice which way his little sister went.

But everything was all right now, and the happy families went back to the farmhouse, the smaller twins being allowed to feed some of their corn to the chickens.

True to his promise, Mr. Richard Bobbsey took his children to the Bolton County Fair the next day, his wife going with him this time.  Of course Harry also went along, for it would not have been polite to leave him at home.  As for Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah, they said they would go to the fair another day.

“Will you ask Mr. Blipper about your coat and the missing robe?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey, on the way to the fair grounds.

“Yes.  And I’ll ask him about Bob Guess, also,” her husband answered.  “There is something strange about that boy.”

The Bobbsey twins and Harry were talking among themselves, while Nan also looked after Flossie and Freddie.

“They’re going to put the big balloon up to-day,” said Harry.

“They are if the wind doesn’t blow too much,” Bert agreed.  “And I’m afraid it’s blowing too hard.  Do you think the wind is blowing too much for them to send the big balloon up?” he anxiously asked his father.

Mr. Bobbsey looked at the sky.

“To my mind,” he said, “I think there is going to be a storm.  I’m afraid the wind will keep on blowing harder all day.  Of course I don’t know how strong a wind it takes to keep a balloon man from going up, but I should say there would be danger in going up to-day.”