“It will soon be cold enough to have a frost,” said Mr. Bobbsey.

“Yes,” said his wife, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we had one to-night.  I have brought in my geraniums and other plants.”

“A frost!” cried Bert.  “Good!  That means the chestnuts will crack out of their burrs.  We’ll go chestnutting!”

The next morning Bert hopped out of bed earlier than usual.  He looked from the window.  The ground was white, and so was the roof of the porch.

“Oh, it’s snow!” cried Freddie, who also got up.

“No, it’s just frost,” Bert said.  “The first frost of the Winter.  Now we’ll get ready to have some fun.  I’m glad to-day is Saturday.  No school, and we can go after chestnuts!”

“Hurrah!” cried Freddie.  “May I come, Bert?”

“Yes, we’ll all go!”

CHAPTER XIV

AFTER CHESTNUTS

Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie all came down to breakfast together.

“Well, well!” exclaimed Mother Bobbsey, smiling at the children.  “What does this mean?  Saturday morning, and you are all up as early as though it were a school day.  You haven’t looked at the wrong date on the calendar; have you?”

“No, Mother,” answered Freddie.  “But we’re going after chestnuts, and we must get to the woods early.”

“So the squirrels won’t get all the nuts, Bert says,” put in Nan.

“But we’ll leave some for them; won’t we?” asked Flossie.  “I wouldn’t want the squirrels to go hungry.”

“I guess there’ll be enough for all of us,” said Bert.  “But there will be a lot of fellows after the nuts this morning, on account of the frost which has cracked open the prickly burrs, and let the nuts fall out.  So if we want to get our share we’ll have to start soon.  Nan and I will look after Flossie and Freddie, Mother.”

Mrs. Bobbsey thought for a moment.

“Yes, I guess it will be all right,” she said.  “The woods are safe, and there are no snakes this time of year.”

“I’m not afraid of snakes,” exclaimed Freddie.  “They only stick out their tongues at you.”

“Some snakes bite,” said Bert.  “But, as mother says, there are none in the woods now.  When it gets cold snakes crawl inside hollow logs and go to sleep.  So get ready to go after chestnuts!”

The Bobbsey twins finished their breakfast, and while Bert found some old salt bags which he put in his pocket to hold his chestnuts, Flossie and Freddie went out to the kitchen where Dinah was working.

“Dinah, where is the biggest basket you have?” asked Freddie.

“And I want the next biggest!” exclaimed Flossie.

“Mah goodness, honey lambs!  What am all de meanin’ ob big baskets?” asked the colored cook.

“We’re going after chestnuts,” explained Freddie, “and we want something to put them in.  Here’s just the basket I want,” and he took a big one, that Dinah used sometimes when she went to market.