“But it all ends happily,” said his wife.  “Oh, here’s Bob Guess!” she exclaimed, as she noticed the strange boy.

“Yes, and he knows where your missing coat is, and the lap robe, too!” exclaimed Bert.  “Blipper has ’em!”

“My, everything is happening at once!” laughed Mother Bobbsey.  “But we must get Flossie and Freddie to bed.  They have had a hard day!”

“Don’t want to go to bed!” declared Freddie.  “Want to see Bob.  Did you bring the merry-go-round?” he asked.

“As if he hadn’t troubles enough!” exclaimed Nan.

Finally the smaller Bobbsey twins were induced to take off their damp clothes and go to bed, where they fell asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillows.  They were very weary, for they had had an exciting trip, though they did not really think so at the time.

When all the stories had been told of how the children had been found on the island, how the motor-boat had been repaired, and of the trip back to the mainland safely made, Mr. Bobbsey turned to Bob Guess.

“Now we can give you a little attention,” he said.  “What’s your trouble?”

So Bob told the same story he had related to Bert and Nan.

“I always thought there was something wrong about Blipper!” declared the father of the Bobbsey twins.  “Now I know it!  We’ll get after Blipper in the morning.  You stay here to-night, Bob.  We’ll call you Bob Guess for the present, but I think we can find a better name for you soon.  I think we shall all feel better for a little rest.”

“And something to eat,” added Aunt Sarah.  “I’m sure you must be starved!”

“I am!” admitted Mother Bobbsey.  “I couldn’t eat when I was worrying about Flossie and Freddie, but now that they are safe I could eat two meals at once!”

There was a merry party around the farmhouse supper table, while the little Bobbsey twins slept peacefully upstairs, probably dreaming about their trip in the balloon.

The storm was over the next day, and after talking to several newspaper reporters who came to Meadow Brook Farm to get the story of the wonderful trip of Flossie and Freddie, Daddy Bobbsey started for the fair grounds with Bert and Bob Guess.  They stopped in the village to get a policeman and also a lawyer.

“If Blipper wants to put up a fight we’ll be ready for him,” said Mr. Bobbsey.

But when the fair grounds were reached there was no Blipper to be found.  In the night he had packed up his merry-go-round and had traveled on, leaving no word as to where he was going.

“I don’t care where he’s gone!” said the partner, Mr. Hardy.  “I’m through with him.  We’ve broken up the partnership.  I sold my share to him.  I don’t care to have anything to do with such a man.  He’s a thief!”

“Perhaps you can tell us about this boy—­Bob Guess,” suggested Mr. Bobbsey.

“Yes, I can.  I told Blipper I’d tell, after I found out he’d taken a coat and a robe that didn’t belong to him.  He carted them away with him too, so if they’re yours there’s no use looking for them,” he added to Mr. Bobbsey.