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A Strange Alarm · The Bobbsey Twins at Cherry Corners

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  Chapter fifteen of The Bobsey Twins at Cherry Corners by Laura Lee Hope. This
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  LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Martha Heaton a strange alarm.
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  Having finished his cherry picking for that day, Bert Bobbsey came up to
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  the farmhouse in time to hear NaN's sad voice. What's the matter, he
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  asked. Somebody took the chocolate cake I just baked and set out here to
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  cool, was the answer. They did, exclaimed Bert. That was a
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  funny thing to do. I call it a mean trick, cried Nan.
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  Took your cake? Did they? Honey? Muttered Dinah as she waddled out
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  to where Nan was explaining matters to her brother. Where am d Rascal?
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  I'll done fix him? Where am he? Oh? I didn't see anyone
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  take it. Nan made haste to explain. I just came out here and
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  it was gone. Are you sure you put it here? Bert asked,
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  why, of course, I'm sure, declared Nan. What do you mean,
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  Well, I mean sometimes you put things down and forget where you laid
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  them, explained Bert. Oh, I do the same thing myself, he
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  hastened to say, as he noted NaN's cheeks flushing. It wasn't like that
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  at all, retorted Bert's sister. I baked the cake and carried it out
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  here. Dinah saw me, deed, and I did, asserted the colored
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  cook. Besides, you can see the rim of the pan, resumed Nan,
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  and look, Bert, here are some cake crumbs. The evidence was
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  too plain to be mistaken. There was a slightly greasy rim on the bench,
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  a rim made by the pan on which Nan had set her cake after
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  putting chocolate between the layers and on top, and there were fresh crumbs.
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  I know who took that cake, suddenly exclaimed Bert. You do, who
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  was it? Demanded Nan. That Nick Dodge he sneaked up here and took
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  it to eat him and some of those other pickers that were with him to
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  see the circus train. Did you see him, asked Nan. No,
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  but I'll bet he took it. It would be just like him. Oh,
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  if you didn't see him, you can't be sure he took it,
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  And NaN's voice showed disappointment. No, and you mustn't say Nick took it
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  unless you are positive. Put in missus Bobbsey, who would come into the
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  kitchen in time to hear what had happened. Are you sure, Bert,
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  No, Mother, I'm not sure. But then don't say it, she
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  warned him. It may have been anybody else. While Nick is mischievous and
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  tricky, we must not accuse him wrongly. I'm going over there and find
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  out if he did take it, declared Bert, starting in the direction of
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  mister Winton's house, where Nick boarded together with the other cherry pickers. No,
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  Bert, don't do that, advised his mother. There has been trouble
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  enough with that boy. You cannot even suggest that he took the chocolate cake
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  unless you have some good reason. But there was none except Bert's idea that
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  it was just the kind of trick Nick would play, and so the matter
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  had to be dropped. The lovely cake Nan had made had just mysteriously vanished.
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  Flossie and Freddie, who had been playing back of the farm house,
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  were questioned, but said they had seen no boys sneaking around, as if
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  on the lookout for an unexpected treat. Maybe the birds ate the cake,
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  suggested Flossie. If it had been birds, they would have picked up all
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  the crumbs, declared Nan. They wouldn't have left those big ones, as
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  she pointed to several rather large pieces of cake on the bench. It's just
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  as if a fellow grabbed the cake up quickly and ran off with it,
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  said Bert, And that was how it seemed to all. However, the
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  cake was gone and there was no use trying to find it, though Flossie
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  and Freddy wandered the back yard and the orchard hoping they might discover it.
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  Luckily, Dinah had made up while Nan was baking her cake, so there
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  was dessert for supper after all. That night there was a lovely full moon,
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  and it was so pleasant that Missus Bobbsey allowed even Flossy and Freddy to
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  sit up later than usual on the porch before going to bed. Mister Bobbsey
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  was there talking to his wife about the cherry crop. It's the largest in
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  many years, he said. We came to Redgate Farm just in time.
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  The children are having a lovely vacation, said their mother. It's doing them
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  good. And I've got enough now for my new fish pole, announced Bert.
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  I like picking cherries. It's hard work, but I like it too,
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  said Nan. I'm going to start picking again tomorrow. You'll have to
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  be lively. Her father warned her. The cherry season will not last forever.
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  And though there are a number of trees of late ones that will soon
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  be ready, most of the crop is already gathered. If you would let
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  me climb high up in the trees, I could pick more cherries. Freddie,
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  you had one accident in a tree, warned his mother. And we
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  don't want any more. And now I think it's time you two were in
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  bed. The smaller twins protested it this and begged for a little more time,
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  which was allowed them, and then, yawning and trying to keep their
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  eyes open, but insisting they were not in the least sleepy, they went
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  upstairs. About an hour later. The rest of the family followed, and
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  soon the farmhouse was quiet, with the silvery moon shining down on it.
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  But about midnight, or perhaps an hour afterward, missus Bobbsey was awakened in
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  her room, which was across from the one where Freddie was sleeping alone,
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  for he and FLOSSI were now considered large enough to have beds to themselves.
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  Mother mother murmured Freddie in a half sleepy voice. What is it, dear?
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  Do you want to drink? She asked, for this was frequently the
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  cause of awakening on the part of the younger twins. No, I don't
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  want to drink, Fredda, he answered. Then he cried out, as
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  if in terror, there's somebody in my room. His voice was so excited
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  that it alarmed his mother, who hurriedly left her bed and crossed the hall,
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  saying, nonsense, no one could be in your room. You're just
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  having a funny dream, Freddy. But when she reached him, she found
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  him sitting up in bed, and the light she turned on showed his eyes
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  wide in wonder and some alarm. He pointed to the open window. Something
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  came in there, he declared. I saw it in the moonlight. What
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  was it like, asked mister Bobbsey, who had joined his wife in Freddie's
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  room. It was like a dog, declared the little boy. I guess
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  maybe it was Snap trying to get in to sleep in my bed. And
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  he laughed when he said this, for he loved Snap. Yes, perhaps
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  it was Snap, said mister Bobbsey. At the same time he made a
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  signal to his wife to say nothing more to Freddy. He added, now
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  go to sleep again. I'll go down and chain Snap up so he wo't
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  bother you again. Oh he didn't bother me I like Snap to come in
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  my room, went on Freddy. But he looked so funny there on my
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  windows, still in the moonlight, and the little boy laughed. He was
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  no longer alarmed, but turned over and was asleep almost as soon as his
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  head lay back on the pillow. How could Snap climb up the side of
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  the house and get in Freddy's window, whispered Missus Bobbsey to her husband when
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  they were out of Freddy's room. The dog didn't climb up, was the
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  answer. Freddie just had a dream, but I let him think it was
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  Snap. That was the best way to quiet him. It might have been
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  Snap, though, better take a look and see where he is. And
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  when it was found that the dog was lying out in front of his kennel,
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  mister and Missus Bobbsey knew it could not have been the children's pet that
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  caused the night alarm. I suppose it was a dream, said Missus Bobbsey,
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  and she went back to bed. But that was not the end of
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  the night disturbance. About two hours later, Flossy Go gave a wailing cry,
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  and when her mother hurried into the room, the little girl pointed to
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  her open window and exclaimed, A big cat came in there. He wanted
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  to get in my bed, but I threw one of my shoes at him.
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  I don't like cats to get on my bed, except maybe snoop,
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  and he isn't up here. It was a brown cat, not a black
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  one. Nonsense, dear soothed her mother. There has been no cat in
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  your room, Yes, there has, insisted Flossie. I saw him on
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  my window sill, and I threw my shoe at him when he jumped to
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  come up on my bed. Look, there's my shoe by the window now.
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  And sure enough, when the light was turned up, one of Flossy's
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  shoes was in the middle of the room, half way between her bed and
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  the window. The other shoe, with her stockings nicely folded, was near
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  the chair that contained her garments. She did throw it, said Missus Bobbsey.
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  She too must have been dreaming, remarked mister Bobbsey. It is rather
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  strange that they should both be dreaming about animals coming into their rooms, said
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  Missus Bobbsey, as she and her husband went out, having calmed Flossie so
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  that she turned over to go to sleep again. It is rather admitted mister
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  Bobbsey. I'll have a look around outside, but he saw nothing and told
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  his wife. So perhaps it was shadows cast by the trees in the moonlight,
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  said Missus Bobbsey, as the house settled down to quiet again. There
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  was no further excitement that night, and in the morning Freddie and Flossie forgot
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  about the strange alarms, for they were to go on a picnic with their
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  mother that day to eat lunch in the woods, and this always pleased them.
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  Dinah was also to go along. The colored cook objected at first,
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  saying she had too much work to do, but as mister Bobbsey had engaged
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  another cook to look after the cherry pickers who slept and ate in a small
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  house some distance away from the main one, there was really no reason why
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  Dinah could not go on the picnic. We'll leave something for Bert and mister
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  Bobbsey to eat, and we'll take a day off, said Missus Bobbsey,
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  and so it was arranged. Bert and his father had a busy day before
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  them, and some of the cherries were ripening faster than they had expected.
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  They found their lunch set out for them in Dinah's kitchen, and after eating
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  it, went again back to the orchard. It was when Dinah, missus
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  bobbsey Nan, and the smaller twins returned to the house that something else was
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  found to have happened. The colored cook took one look inside the room where
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  she held sway, and excitedly cried, Oh, look what done took place
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  in m kitchen? Oh what a mess somebody's been cutting up in here.
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  End of chapter fifteen, read by Martha Heaton, September twenty twenty three.