“And I won’t forget about taking my saved-up money to buy a ship, so you and I can go and get your father from the desert island,” said Freddie, as Tommy got on the car.

“And I’m coming too,” added Flossie.  “You said I could cook.”

“You ought to take Dinah along to cook,” laughed Nan.

“Maybe we will; sha’n’t we, Freddie?” asked his little sister.

“Well, if we can get a ship big enough for her and us we will,” Freddie decided.  “But I haven’t got much money, and Dinah needs lots of room.”

With Snap and Snoop now safe, the Bobbseys and Dinah got in a carriage and left the station to drive to their home.  On the way they saw the man whose dog had barked at Snap.  The man had the animal by a chain and was leading him along.  Snap growled as he looked out and saw him.

“Be quiet, sir!” ordered Bert.

“Yes, be nice and quiet like Snoop,” said Flossie.

“There’s our house!” cried Freddie, as they turned a corner.  “Why, it’s been painted!” he added, in surprise.

“Oh, so it has!” exclaimed Nan.

“Yes, I had it painted while you were at Meadow Brook,” returned Mr. Bobbsey.  “Do you like it?” he asked his wife.

“Yes, it’s a lovely color.  But I’d like it anyhow for it’s home.  It was nice in the country, but I’m glad to be home again.”

“So are we!” cried Flossie.  “We’ll have lots of fun here; sha’n’t we, Freddie?”

“That’s what we will!”

“Home again!  Home again!” gaily sang Nan as her father opened the front door, and they all went in.  “We’re all at home again!”

CHAPTER V

TOMMY’S TROUBLES

“Oh, there’s Johnnie Wilson!” cried Freddie Bobbsey.  “I’m going to call to him to come into our yard.”

“Yes, and there’s Alice Boyd,” added Flossie.  “I’m going to play with her.  She’s got a new doll.  Come on over, Alice!” she called.

“And you come over, too, Johnnie!” shouted Freddie.

A boy and a girl came running across the street to the Bobbsey house.  The two smaller twins and their little friends were soon having a good time in the yard.  It was the morning after the family had come home from Meadow Brook.

“Did you have a good time in the country?” asked Alice of Flossie.

“Oh, didn’t we just though!  It was—­scrumptious!”

“And false-face robbers stopped the train coming home,” added Freddie.  “Only it was make-believe.”

“I wish I’d been there,” said Johnnie, after Freddie had told about it.  “We went up to a lake this Summer.  Nothing much happened there except I fell in and most drowned.”

“I call that something,” said Freddie.  “I fell in a brook, but it wasn’t deep.”

“The lake’s awful deep,” went on Johnnie.  “It hasn’t any bottom.”

“It’s got to have a bottom, or all the water would drop out, and then it wouldn’t be a lake,” said Freddie.