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Nan's Trolley Ride · The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank

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  Chapter thirteen of The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Helen Kay The Bobbsey Twins at
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  Cloverbank by Laura LeHo NaN's trolley Ride. What's that you said, Flossy?
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  Where are you going? Asked Freddie, scrambling to his feet in her excitement
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  over what she had seen. Flossie screamed in such a shrill voice that her
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  brother hardly understood her. What's the matter? What are you running for?
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  He called to her. I guess you'd run yourself if you saw a bear,
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  panted Flossie. She could not run very fast, for the passage,
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  like a wooden tunnel, was covered on the bottom with wisps of hair,
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  and that made it slippery. A bear, gasped Freddy, did you see
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  a bear? By this time, he and Flossie had gotten out of the
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  passage and were back in the big barn on the other side of the small
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  door they had opened. There was no one else near them, none of
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  the peach workers, Noah's Bert, no Nan the small twins had this part
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  of the barn to themselves. Yes he was a bear, declared Flossie,
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  not so excited now that she saw a door between herself and the beast.
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  It wasn't a very big bear, she added, Just a little bear.
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  I'm going to look, declared Freddy. For unlike his sister, he was
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  not afraid of wild animals like bears, wolves and lions. At least,
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  Freddy said he wasn't. Oh, you mustn't go in there, exclaimed Flossie
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  when she saw her brother about to open the small door. The bear will
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  get you. We'd better go tell Daddy or mother. I don't believe there's
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  a bear in there, asserted Freddy. How could a bear get here anyhow?
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  Bears don't eat peaches. Well, maybe they eat hay, and there's
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  lots of hay in this barn, Flossi said. And I heard mister Watson
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  say he was going to put more in soon. Maybe the bear wants hay.
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  Bears don't eat hair, went on Freddy. They eat people. But
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  I'm not afraid of a bear anyhow, not of a little bear. And
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  I don't believe there's a bear here. They stay in the woods Flossie knew
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  that, as a rule, bears did do this, but she was sure
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  she had seen some queer beast, so she ran to Freddy as he was
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  trying to open the door, and cried, don't go in, don't go
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  in. If it wasn't a bear, it was some terrible wild animal.
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  Let's run. But Freddy wanted to show off before his sister to prove how
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  brave he was. The bear won't hurt me, he insisted. You stay
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  back there, Flossy, but I'll open the door and look at him,
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  and if it's a big bear, I'll go call mister Watson. He has
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  a gun. I saw it in the house. Flossi got ready to run
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  further back into the barn, and Freddy was tugging at the door, which
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  had swung shut rather tightly. When he was spared the trouble of opening it,
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  the door opened itself, or perhaps something on the other side pushed it
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  open, and the two children saw a strange beast staring at them. It
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  was a creature with a black, bushy head, and at the sight of
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  it, Flossi cried, there it is the bear. It is the bear.
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  Now you'd better run, Freddy, Bobbsey. Yes, it's a bear
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  all right, gasped the boy. And it's a big one too. I'll
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  go and get mister Watson, and he's gone. The two children ran out
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  of the side door of the barn, some distance away from that part of
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  the building where the peaches were being sorted. They saw Zeke, the hired
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  man, walking toward them. Oh there's a bear in here, screamed Flossie.
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  A big pear, added Freddy, as if that explained why he was
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  also running for he didn't want it to be known that he would retreat from
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  a small bear. What's that you say, asked the hired man. A
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  bear in the barn, added Flossie. He came out of the little door,
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  went on Freddy. Oh you meaning the fodder tunnel, said the hired
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  man. Well, there can't be a bear there, but we saw him,
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  insisted Flossie. And he had a black, bushy head, explained her
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  brother. Zeke, laughing and shaking his head, entered the barn, followed
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  by the two children. Hadn't you better get a gun, asked Freddy.
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  No, I guess your bear will come and eat out of my hand,
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  said Zeke. Oh, is he a trained bear. Flossi wanted to know
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  she was not frightened now, and Freddy's courage also came back to him.
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  Zeke did not answer, but led the way to the fodder tunnel door.
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  The children followed him. Then, just before reaching the place, they were
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  startled by a loud nay, there's your bear, chuckled Zeke. A moment
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  later, a half grown calf ran toward him and Flossy and Freddy. But
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  it was not like any calf the children had ever seen. Its head was
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  large and black and bushy. What makes him look so queer, asked Freddy,
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  as the calf, again uttering it's mare cry, began nosing Zike's hand,
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  as if seeking a taste of salt, of which all cattle are very
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  fond. Why this calf has been roaming around the pasture a lot, exclaimed
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  the hiredman. And he's got a lot of birdock burrs and other stickers all
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  over his head. No wonder he looked like a bear. My, But
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  you are a sight suki, he said to the calf, to which he
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  explained later he had given that odd name. We'll have to get a curry
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  comb and brush and clean you up, He went on, as he began
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  pulling the burrs from the animal's shaggy head. Is that all it was?
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  A calf, asked Flossie. That's all, said Zeke. It looked like
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  a bear, Freddy remarked. Both children, but especially Freddy, felt a
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  little disappointed now their fright was over, to find that their bear was only
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  a calf. I haven't the least doubt of it, chuckled Zeke in answer
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  to Freddy's remark, He's got a head almost as big as a buffalo's.
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  This was true. Suki had rambled into one brier and bur patch after another.
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  Then he had found his way down near a lower part of the barn
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  connected with a fodder tunnel. The calf had gotten into this tunnel, which
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  was used as a passageway from one part of the building to another, and
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  pushing along the calf with his head looking like a bear, as FLOSSI thought,
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  had confronted the little girl. When she and Freddy ran back into the
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  main barn, the calf followed them, and, hoping to get something to
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  eat, possibly had pushed the door open. It will be a week before
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  you look like yourself again, said Zeke to the calf. But I suppose
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  you didn't know any better, Well, I'll turn you out where you belong,
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  and he led the calf to a side door, and a little later
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  the children saw the hired man using a curry comb on the creature. Never
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  was there such a jolly place to have fun as Clover Bank. Not only
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  was there the big farmhouse with its attic containing many wonderful things, but there
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  were barns, an ice house, a smoke house, and many other buildings
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  where all sorts of games could be played. The attic alone would keep the
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  children busy two or three rainy days at least, Missus Watson said, But
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  as yet the Bobbsey twins had done no more than peer into the delightful attic.
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  While the sun shone, they wanted to be out of doors, and
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  for the first week of their visit to the farm the weather was fine.
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  It was just what was needed to allow the peach crop to be gathered.
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  In the days that followed the experience of Floss and fredday with the bear,
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  the children often visited the orchards, where they helped pick the red and yellow
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  fruit. At other times they would help sort it in the barn, and
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  once they rode with zeke to the canning factory with a load of soft peaches,
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  which must quickly be made up into his marmalade lest they spoil. One
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  day, when a lull came in the hard and fast work of picking and
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  sorting the peaches, Nan, passing through the kitchen, saw Missus Watson getting
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  ready to make some biscuits. Oh may I do that? Begged Nan.
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  I know how mother showed me, didn't you, she asked Missus Bobbsey,
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  who had just then come into the kitchen. Yes, Nan bakes very good
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  biscuits, was the answer. I'd be glad to let her bake mine,
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  returned Missus Watson. The baby's so fretful today, she doesn't want me to
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  leave her, So go ahead, Nan, and I wish you look.
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  You'd better wish us something else, put in Bert with a laugh. What
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  do you mean, asked Jenny's mother. I mean you'd better wish that Flossy
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  doesn't sit down in the batch of biscuits. Bert went on, FLOSSI did
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  that to NaN's biscuits the time we were keeping house last winter, and he
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  explained what had taken place, as has been related in the book before this
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  one that will never happen again, said Nan, I'll watch where I put
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  the pan of biscuits, and I'll watch Flossy she won't sit in any more
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  of them. Well, in that case, I'll let you do the baking,
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  promised missus Watson. And soon Nan was in her element. She loved
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  to cook, and she really knew how to make very good biscuits. And
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  as Flossie and Freddy were playing at sailing boats down in the brook, the
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  little twin girl and boy did not appear on the scene to cause trouble.
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  NaN's biscuits came out of the oven a lovely brown, and when mister Watson
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  asked for a third helping of them at the table when supper was served,
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  Nan felt just a little bit proud as well. She might the best biscuits
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  I ever ate, except those my wife makes, said the farmer with a
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  laugh. Mister Bobbsey had to return to Lakeport to see about some business matters,
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  but he planned to return to the farm as soon as he could.
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  He would have to make trips back and forth that way all during the summer,
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  he told his family. It was the day after mister Bobbsey went away
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  that Nan strolled out into the large barn in time to see a big wagon
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  loaded with hay drive into the yard. She saw several men, a horse,
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  a long rope, and what looked like a big iron letter you turned
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  upside down near the hay wagon. What's it all about, asked Nan.
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  That's the hay fork an unloading trolley, explained Zeke, who was busily hurrying
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  to and fro. You see, we have such a lot of hay that
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  some of it has to be stored in the top story of the barn.
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  It would take too long to carry it up one pitchfork full at a time,
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  so we have this hay fark. It's like the letter you turned up,
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  as you see, and on each of the legs as you might call
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  them, are prongs which fold up when they aren't in use. The man
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  jabs the two ends of the u down into the hay. Then he pulls
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  on a rope and that makes the prong stick out, and they hold a
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  big bundle of hay. Then the horse starts walking along the ground and he
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  pulls the hay fork full up to the top of the barn over the pulley
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  wheel. The horse does most of the work, you see, and we
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  can put in a lot of hay in a short time. Nan watched as
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  the fork took up what seemed to be a quarter of the load on the
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  wagon, and then as the horse pulled up, the mass of dried grass
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  rose in the air. Then it rolled along by means of a grooved trolley
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  wheel on a tight rope until it reached the open door of the second story
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  of the big barn. Into the door went the mass of hay, and
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  a man there pulled on another rope, loosening the prongs of the legs of
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  the eew and the hay fell out. Then the empty fork coasted back down
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  the inclined stretch rope until it was at the wagon again. Nan found this
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  very interesting to watch, and in order to see better, she climbed up
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  to the top story of the barn and found herself in the hay mow,
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  which was being filled. Hello, who's there, asked Zeke as he heard
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  some one behind him. Dick had gone up to empty the hay fark after
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  each full trip. I came up to watch, said Nan. All right,
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  stand over there and you'll be safe, said the hired man, As
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  one wagon was emptied of its load in this quick fashion. Another drove into
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  the yard and the fork began taking the hay off fat. Then someone called
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  Zeke away, and Nan was left alone in the moor. As she stood
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  there, the horse on the ground below started off, raising a fork full
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  of hay and pulling it toward the open moor door. Oh, dear,
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  exclaimed Nan. Here there's a lot of hay coming and no one to open
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  the fork. I wish I could do it. I think I could.
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  I watched Zeke. All he does is to pull the short rope. I'll
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  do it. And so when the fork full of hay swung into the barn,
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  Nan made a jump for the dangling short rope and pulled on it.
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  But the hay fork did not open. Something was caught or jammed. Nan
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  fairly lifted herself off the ground in her eagerness to pull, and hung dangling
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  by the rope, fast to the fork full of hay. Just then Zeke,
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  who had gone out of the barn, looked up and saw the fork
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  full of hay in the open door. What did you hold that up for,
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  he asked the man who was driving the horse. I'm not there to
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  open the fork, oh, said the man. I didn't know that I
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  thought you were there. I'll let the hay come back again, he spoke
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  to the horse. The animal began backing, and the big bundle of hay
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  began to roll down the inclined trolley rope as it came out of the barn.
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  Zeke and the others were startled to see Nan Bobbsey clinging to the rope
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  before she could let go. She was being given a dangerous hay trolley ride
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  out of the barn, high in the air over the yard. Oh oh,
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  gasped the little girl as she realized her plight. Hold On, hold
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  on, shouted Zeke, don't let go, and you'll be all right in
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  a minute. Hold on end of chapter thirteen.