“Oh, I was having a race with our cat Snoop; but I guess I beat, ’cause Snoop didn’t get here to the porch before I did.”

“Yes, you won the race all right,” laughed Bert.  “But it’s too hot for any more running games.  I wish we were back on the island where we found that boy, Jack Nelson, and could play we were sailors and could splash in the water.”

“That would be fun!” sighed Nan, as she fanned herself harder than ever with her hat.

The Bobbsey twins had, a few days before, returned to their home from a vacation spent on a strange island off the coast of Florida.  They had gone there with Cousin Jasper Dent to rescue a boy who had been left in a lonely cave, and very many strange adventures the Bobbsey twins and their father and mother, to say nothing of Cousin Jasper, had had on that voyage.

Now the simple games they tried to get up around the house, and the thought of having to go back to school soon, made them feel a bit lonesome for the deep, blue sea, over which they had made a voyage to rescue the boy, Jack Nelson, and also for Blueberry Island, where once they spent a vacation.

“I know what we can do!” cried Nan, after a rest.

“What?” asked Bert, always ready to join Nan in any fun she thought of.  “What can we do?”

“Go out to the barn and play that’s a ship like the one we went on to Florida.  It’ll be cooler in the barn than it is here, anyhow.”

“That’s so,” admitted Bert.  “And oh!  I know how we can have packs of fun!”

“How?” This time it was Nan who eagerly asked.

“Why we can swing on some of the ropes that are in the haymow.  I guess the ropes are there to tie things up on in the winter.  But we can swing on ’em now, and make believe we’re sailors, just as we did when we found that boy in the cave where we went with Cousin Jasper.”

“Oh, so we can!” cried Nan.  “Come on!”

“I’ll be a fireman on the ship!” declared fat Freddie, as he got slowly to his feet from the floor where he had been sitting near Bert.  I’ll be a fireman and squirt water.”

“Not real—­only make believe” cried Bert.  “Water spoils hay, you know, Freddie.  You can’t splash any water on daddy’s hay in the barn.”

“No, I’ll only make believe,” agreed the light-haired little boy.  “Come on Flossie!” he called to his sister, who had slipped down off the porch to run after a big black cat that marched along with his tail in the air, “like a fishing pole,” Bert said.  “Come on, Flossie!” called Freddie.  “We’ll go out to the barn and play ship and sailors, and I’ll be a fireman and you can be——­”

“I’m going to be hungry, and have something good to eat!  That’s what I’ll be,” declared Flossie quickly.  “I’m going to be awful hungry!”

“Oh dear!” exclaimed Nan, but she was laughing.  “That’s always the way.  Those two want to do something different.”

“Well, we can all make believe we’re hungry,” said Bert.  “And maybe Dinah will give us some cookies to eat.”