“I think you are safe,” answered his father, laughing.

When the Bobbsey twins went to bed that night they could hear the wind moaning and howling around the house.  It gave them a “shivery” sort of feeling, and they were glad to cuddle down in their warm beds.  Soon they were asleep.

But about the middle of the night Bert and Freddie, who slept in the same room, were awakened by a loud noise.

“What was it?” asked Freddie in a whisper.

“The wind banging a shutter, I guess,” Bert answered.  “It woke me up.  But go to sleep again, Freddie boy.”

Just then the banging noise sounded again.

“Yes, it was a shutter,” said Bert.  “It has blown loose.  I can hear daddy getting up to fasten it.”

“It certainly is going to be a hard storm,” Bert and Freddie heard their father say to their mother.  “It’s beginning to snow.”

“Oh goodie!” whispered Freddie.  “Did you hear that, Bert?”

“I certainly did.”

“We’ll have some fun to-morrow,” Freddie went on.  “I can go coasting.”

“Yes, but go to sleep now,” Bert advised.

“I can’t, the wind makes so much noise,” Freddie answered.

The wind was certainly howling and moaning loudly around the corner of the house.  Suddenly there was a big crash on the roof of the kitchen extension near the windows of the room where Freddie and Bert slept.  Then, after the first crash, came another.

Something smashed through the glass in the window nearest Freddie’s bed and there was a thumping sound on the floor.

“Oh! oh!” cried Freddie throwing off the covers and jumping out.  “The house is blowing down!  The house is blowing down!”

CHAPTER XVI

THE FIRST SNOW

There was noise enough from the howling wind to make almost any one believe the house really was tumbling down after the crash which seemed to have broken in the window of the boys’ room.

“What’s the matter in there, Bert?” called Mr. Bobbsey.

“The house is falling down!” cried Freddie.  “I’m afraid, Daddy!  I want to come in with you.”

“Well, come along, sonny,” called Mrs. Bobbsey.

Freddie ran out into the hall, where there was a dim light burning.  Bert felt the cold wind blowing in on him through the broken window.  He could also feel flakes of snow on his face.

“Something really is the matter in here, Dad!” he called.  “I guess the house is all right, but our window is broken.”

“Did you hear that, Flossie?” asked Nan of her little sister, who was sleeping with her.  But they were both awake now.  “The wind was so strong that it blew in Bert’s window.”

“Oh, what a terrible storm,” whispered Flossie, covering her head with the clothes.  “I don’t like it.”

By this time Bert had slipped on his bath robe and had gone out into the hall.  His father was coming along and, having turned on the electric light in the room where the two boys slept, he saw what had happened.