Latest / The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank / The Queer Cloud

Transcript

The Queer Cloud · The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank

• 0:00
  Chapter eighteen of The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 0:11
  please visit LibriVox dot org. The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank by Laura Lee
• 0:17
  Hope the Queer Cloud will help you look for your glasses, Missus Martin offered
• 0:23
  Nan, though she wished very much to finish her story. Won't we Burt,
• 0:28
  Sure we will, he answered, boy fashion, and though he very
• 0:32
  much wanted to go fishing, he gave up his pleasure for the time being
• 0:36
  to help the old lady. Missus Martin was really quite distressed about losing her
• 0:40
  glasses, as most people are whose eyes are so poor that they cannot see
• 0:45
  well or read without the help of spectacles. Where did you have them?
• 0:49
  Last, asked Nan, as she had often heard her mother ask when one
• 0:53
  of the children lost to toy. I had them on my head, over
• 0:56
  my nose and in front of my eyes, Missus Martin answered. Then all
• 1:00
  of a sudden, I heard Missus Watson cry out about the cattle coming into
• 1:03
  the garden, and I grabbed off my glasses to get the broom. I
• 1:07
  was afraid i'd break them chasing after the cows. By this time, Missus
• 1:11
  Watson, who had been putting the baby to sleep, came out on the
• 1:14
  side porch. Yes, I saw your glasses on you, just before the
• 1:18
  cattle began running wild, said Jenny's mother. Then so much happened all at
• 1:22
  once that I don't know what you did with them. Maybe they're still on
• 1:25
  top of your head, suggested Bert. Once Charlie Mason's grandmother lost her glasses
• 1:30
  and we looked all over for them, and all the while she had them
• 1:34
  pushed up on top of her head. Well mine aren't there, missus Martin
• 1:38
  replied, putting up her hand, however, to feel and make sure I
• 1:42
  don't see what I did with them. Then the search began, with the
• 1:45
  other Bopsey twins and Missus Watson helping. The porch was searched carefully, and
• 1:49
  the children looked on the ground around it, stepping carefully so they would not
• 1:53
  tread on and break the glasses if they should have happened to fall. But
• 1:57
  the glasses could not be found. Then Missus Bobbsey came and helped, but
• 2:01
  she was no more successful than the others. Had been inside and outside the
• 2:06
  house. The search went on, but the spectacles could not be found.
• 2:09
  Maybe they'll turn up after a while, said mister Watson, when he came
• 2:14
  in from the peach sorting to get washed for dinner. Well, I hope
• 2:16
  they will. His wife's cousin said, meanwhile, I can't read a word,
• 2:21
  and I can't see very well. I declare I can hardly tell one
• 2:24
  Bobbsey twin from the other. She said, with a sigh. We can
• 2:28
  tell you our names. Freddy suggested he and Flossie had come back from sailing
• 2:32
  their toy boats and had taken part in the hunt for the glasses. Yes,
• 2:36
  my dear, that's kind of you, and I suppose you could do
• 2:38
  that, murmured the old lady. But I would like to see when a
• 2:43
  further search did not bring the missing glasses to light, mister Watson said,
• 2:46
  can't you mail the prescription to the people who made them and have another set
• 2:51
  made? Yes, I could do that if I had the prescription, agreed
• 2:54
  missus Martin. But I haven't got that paper. I lost it. If
• 2:59
  I only had, things wouldn't be so bad, for it would mean only
• 3:01
  a few days before I could order new spectacles by mail. But I've lost
• 3:06
  the prescription. Your doctor has a copy, mister Watson said. My doctors
• 3:10
  always keep copies of the prescriptions they give their patients. Probably doctor Bangert has
• 3:15
  a copy of mine. Missus Martin agreed with a sigh. But he has
• 3:19
  gone away on summer vacation and I don't know where to reach him. When
• 3:23
  he gave me the prescription, he told me to take good care of it
• 3:25
  as he was going away and could not be reached until the fall. I
• 3:30
  think he has gone hunting in the wilds of Canada. Then it looks as
• 3:32
  if you would either have to go to another doctor around here and get him
• 3:37
  to fit you with glasses, said mister Watson, or else find those that
• 3:40
  are lost. I don't want to go to another doctor, said Missus Martin.
• 3:45
  I don't believe anybody but doctor Bangert could fit my eyes. Oh I
• 3:49
  must find those glasses. They can't be far away. Maybe they got caught
• 3:53
  on one of the horns of the cows and carried off, suggested Freddie.
• 3:57
  You think of the funniest things, laughed Missus Watson. But the cows didn't
• 4:00
  come near enough the porch to take my cousin's glasses. She must have dropped
• 4:04
  them in some out of the way corner. Though once again they searched all
• 4:10
  over, even in places where Missus Watson said she had never been with her
• 4:13
  glasses. The spectacles could not be found, and she was quite in despair.
• 4:17
  Having done all he could to help the old lady, Bert decided that
• 4:20
  he would spend the afternoon fishing, for he was fond of this sport,
• 4:25
  and mister Watson said that in the creek across the meadow from the brook there
• 4:29
  were good fish to be had. He had brought his fishing outfit with him,
• 4:31
  so that all he needed now was some bait, and on the advice
• 4:34
  of Zeke, he took both worms and grasshoppers. The worms he and his
• 4:40
  brother and Nan dug in the garden, putting the crawling creatures in a baking
• 4:44
  powder box with some earth to give the worms air. Bert punched holes in
• 4:47
  the top and bottom of the tin box. Sometimes when the fish won't bite
• 4:51
  on worms, they will on grasshoppers, suggested the hired man. Just take
• 4:56
  another box with you and walk through the lower hay meadow. The grasshoppers are
• 5:00
  thick there. You can catch them in your hand as you walk along and
• 5:03
  pop them in the box. But you want to be careful how you do
• 5:06
  it. Why will grasshoppers bite, asked Bert, though he had never heard
• 5:11
  of them doing that. No, answered the hired man with a laugh.
• 5:14
  But after you catch one grasshopper and put it in the box, when you
• 5:17
  take off the cover to put in another, often the first one will jump
• 5:20
  out, and you can't catch many fish on one hopper. Oh, I
• 5:25
  see what you mean, laughed Bert. He found it just as Zeke had
• 5:28
  said. It was easy enough to grab a green grasshopper off the head of
• 5:31
  Timothy grass in the hayfield. But when he caught his second one and opened
• 5:35
  the box covered to slip the creature in out jump the first one. But
• 5:40
  Bert made a prisoner of the second one, and when he had his third,
• 5:43
  he was more careful in opening the box. He raised the lid only
• 5:46
  a little way, and through the crack he shoved the green insect. Soon
• 5:49
  he had enough, he thought, with the worms he had brought, and
• 5:53
  he made his way to the edge of the creek, picking out a spot
• 5:56
  where the water foamed and bubbled over. The stony bottom worms were easier to
• 6:00
  put on the hook than the grasshoppers, which were very lively. Bert baited
• 6:04
  with one of the crawling creatures and cast in a hook. The Bobbsey boy
• 6:09
  was about as patient as most lads, but when he had pulled out several
• 6:13
  times thinking he had bites, and found nothing on his hook, Bert began
• 6:16
  to think perhaps it would be well to change the bait. He opened his
• 6:20
  other tin box to get one of the grasshoppers, but no sooner was the
• 6:25
  lid raised than with one accord, every grasshopper and the container leaped out and
• 6:29
  sailed away. Well say that wasn't very polite, laughed Bert. Still I
• 6:33
  can't blame you, he went on. I guess it isn't much fun to
• 6:36
  be stuck on a hook and swallowed by a fish. I'll catch my grasshoppers
• 6:41
  right here, one at a time, as I need them. He said.
• 6:45
  He had noticed that in the field just back of the place he had
• 6:47
  picked out for fishing, many grasshoppers were jumping from weed to wheat. Bert
• 6:51
  laid aside his pole, having noted that the worm had been nearly nibbled off
• 6:57
  the hook now by small fish too little to land, and going back he
• 7:00
  caught a grasshopper in his hand. Now for a big fish, said the
• 7:04
  lad. But after waiting some time and getting no bites, Bert was inclined
• 7:09
  to think that he had chosen a wrong spot, or else that his bait
• 7:12
  or the day was wrong. His first guess was borne out a little later
• 7:15
  when a voice hailed him, saying, you'll never get any fish there.
• 7:19
  Bert Bopsey turned and saw a country lad of about his own age, standing
• 7:23
  on the edge of the weed grown field. The boy was barefooted, his
• 7:27
  clothes were ragged, and he had a torn straw hat on his head.
• 7:30
  Over his shoulder was a crooked stick cut from a tree, and fastened to
• 7:33
  it was a line with many knots in it, as if it had been
• 7:36
  broken and tied a number of times. Why won't I get any fish here,
• 7:41
  asked Bert, cause there ain't any there. It's too shallow. If
• 7:45
  you want to get big ones, you'll have to go up above to the
• 7:47
  eddy where the water's deep. Well, I must say I haven't had much
• 7:50
  luck here, admitted Bert. I've tried worms and grasshoppers, and the only
• 7:56
  bites are little nibbles. Those are just baby fish. They suck off the
• 8:00
  bait without getting caught on the hook, said the country lad. Come on
• 8:03
  with me if you want to, and I'll show you a good place.
• 8:05
  Thanks, answered Bert. Do you live around here? Yes, just over
• 8:09
  that hill. My name's Sam Porter. What's yours? Bert Bobbsey was the
• 8:13
  answer. You live around here, asked Sam. I never saw you before
• 8:18
  that I know of. No, I don't live here. Bert said,
• 8:20
  I'm visiting at Cloverbank. Oh yes I know, mister Watson, exclaimed Sam.
• 8:26
  My father works for him. He's picking peaches now. Sam proved to
• 8:30
  be a nice lad, and he and Bert soon became good friends, talking
• 8:33
  about fishing and other outdoor sports. Sam led the way up the bank of
• 8:37
  the creek to a quiet, shady spot beneath some overhanging willow trees. There's
• 8:41
  the eddy, he said, pointing to where the water ran deep and quiet.
• 8:46
  The stream had washed out a place in the earth bank, making a
• 8:48
  deep pool where the water swirled around in a circle, or eddie, as
• 8:52
  the country lad called it. On the other side of the creek, opposite
• 8:56
  this point, the stream was shallow and ran rapidly over the stones. But
• 9:01
  the big fish come to this pool, Sam said, you'll soon have a
• 9:05
  big one. He was right. Bert had only thrown his worm baited hook
• 9:09
  in the water and waited a few minutes before the bobber on his line dipped
• 9:13
  suddenly under water. You've got him a big one, whispered Sam. Pull
• 9:16
  up. Neither Sam nor Bert were doing fishing in a scientific way with a
• 9:20
  reel, and the only way to land a fish once he was hooked was
• 9:24
  to pull up the pole quickly. This Bert Bobbsey did. He felt a
• 9:28
  weight on his bamboo rod, and as it went in a sweeping circle over
• 9:33
  his head, he had a glimpse of something flashing like silver in the sun.
• 9:37
  You got him a beauty, yelled Sam, a big one. When
• 9:41
  Bert ran to look in the grass where he had landed his catch, he
• 9:43
  was delighted to find that he had caught a good sized chub, as Sam
• 9:48
  named the fish. Say you brought me to a good place, all right,
• 9:50
  cried Bert in delight to his companion. There's fish here, all right.
• 9:54
  I hope you get one. Oh, I'll get one, all right,
• 9:58
  said Sam. I hardly ever come here without getting as many as we
• 10:01
  can use at home. My mother likes fish, and about twice a week
• 10:05
  I come here to get a mess. He had retained his seat on the
• 10:07
  bank, his line dangling in the water while Bert landed his catch, and
• 10:13
  he watched the bobbsey boy as he took the chub off the hook, which
• 10:16
  was not easy to do since the fish had swallowed the hook in its eagerness
• 10:20
  to get the bait. When Bert had his prize loose, he strung a
• 10:22
  string through the gills, and then, fastening on a cross stick so the
• 10:26
  fish would not slip off, he put it back in a little pool,
• 10:30
  tying the shore end of the string to a tree. The chub feebly flapped
• 10:33
  its tail and tried to swim away, but he was held a prisoner in
• 10:37
  the water. He would be kept fresh until Bert was ready to go home
• 10:41
  with any others he might land. Sam caught the next one, tossing back
• 10:45
  on the grass of fish not quite as big as Bert's, but fair in
• 10:48
  size. Now my luck's beginning, exclaimed Sam, as he fastened his fish
• 10:52
  to another string and let it swim about in a pool. His fish had
• 10:56
  only been hooked through the lip and was hardly hurt at all. The two
• 11:00
  lads then took turns, so to speak, in landing fish. It was
• 11:03
  a fine day and a good place and first Bert would land one, and
• 11:07
  then Sam would follow. Well, I guess I have enough, Bert said
• 11:11
  after a while, and I have two. Agreed Sam, we might as
• 11:13
  well clean'em and wash'em here, and then there won't be such a
• 11:16
  mess around the house. The boys prepared the fish for cooking, and then
• 11:20
  put them with wet grass and baskets they had brought for that purpose. If
• 11:24
  you come with me across the field, I'll show you a short cut back
• 11:28
  to Cloverbank, suggested Sam. When they were ready to go all right.
• 11:31
  The two boys were going across a green meadow in a little valley between two
• 11:35
  low hills when Bert suddenly heard a low humming sound in the air. At
• 11:39
  first he thought it was a distant airplane, but on looking around, he
• 11:43
  saw what seemed to be a small black cloud coming toward him and Sam.
• 11:48
  Look cried Bert, pointing, Golly, you better duck, exclaimed Sam.
• 11:52
  He dropped his pole and basket of fish and began running toward a low clump
• 11:56
  of bushes, calling to Bert as he ran, come on, come on
• 12:00
  on in here until it gets past end of chapter eighteen,