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In the Apple Orchard · The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank

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  Chapter fifteen 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 Lee Hope. In the apple orchard, Bert Bert hold On
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  screamed, Nan, I I am holding on all I can. Her brother
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  answered, but desperately, as he clutched at the grass and ground. It
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  was of no use. They were both wet, for Bert had splashed water
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  around when he was working to fix his wheel in place, and father and
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  father down the slope he slid. Oh, he'll be drowned, yell Flossie,
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  as she saw what was going to happen. No, I won't drown,
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  Colbert in reply, but I'm going to get wet. Here I go,
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  he shouted, and then into the pool he plunged, going in over
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  his head, for the falling water had washed out quite a hollow place.
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  I'll get him, I'll help him out, cried Freddy, making a dash
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  toward his brother. You stay right where you are, Freddy, Bobbsey insisted,
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  Nan, catching the little fellow before he could reach the edge of the
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  brook. Bert can look out for himself, and we don't want too in
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  the water at the same time, keep back. Freddy had to obey,
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  whether he wanted to or not, but there was really no need of his
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  help in getting Burt out, for the older lad could take good care of
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  himself in the water. He held his breath as he felt himself going under,
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  and then as he came up, as one always does after the first
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  plunge in, he shook his head to clear his eyes of water and struck
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  out for the bank only a short distance away. Are you all right,
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  asked Nan, as he climbed out, dripping water all over, like a
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  big dog that has gone in to bring back a stick. Sure I'm all
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  right, said Bert, gasping a bit, for he had swallowed a little
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  water. Not hurt a bit. Only my clothes will need drying, I
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  should say, they would, laughed Nan. If you had your fan going
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  now, you could start it and stand in front of it. Wind dries
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  clothes very fast. Well, I haven't got my fan, and I came
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  near not having my water wheel, said Bert. I fell on it when
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  I slipped. I hope I didn't break it. More concerned about his latest
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  invention and about himself, Bert went back to the waterfall, his shoes making
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  a queer sloshing sound, as Freddy called it, but they were half full
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  of water. He found the water wheel pulled a little out of place.
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  For in his excitement when he found himself falling, he had made a grab
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  for it. But I can easily fix that, he said, and he
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  got a hammer, some nails and bits of wood from a box he had
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  brought down to the brook, together with his paddle wheel. You aren't going
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  to keep on at that, now, are you, asked Nan, in
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  evident surprise. Why not? Bert wanted to know, Because you're all wet,
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  You ought to go up to the house and get dry clothes on.
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  No, said Bert. If I go up, mother might not let me
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  come down again. Besides, these are the oldest clothes I have, and
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  I couldn't play around again until they'd dried. They'll dry on me just as
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  well off me. I'm going to keep him on stay right here, but
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  you'd better take off your shoes and stockings, Nan advised him. They'll dry
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  quicker off you than on you, I guess. That's a good idea.
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  Bert agreed, and soon his footwear was placed on bushes out in the hot
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  sun, and he resumed work on his watermill. Nan looked after Flossy and
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  Freddy so they would not get in Bert's way nor into the brook, and
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  soon the older bobbsey boy gave a cry of delight. What's the matter?
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  Nan called, she works? She works? He responded, look at my
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  paddle wheel turn. Indeed, it was splashing around bravely under the dashing water
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  that came over the rocks. Around and around went the wooden blades, just
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  like the larger wheel in a big mill that grinds grist for the farmers.
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  Now all I have to do, said Bert as he and the others watched
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  how regularly the paddles turned is to make my fan and then connect it with
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  this water mill by a string belt on the two pully wheels. Then we
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  can sit down on the porch and we'll keep cool by the fan which will
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  be turned by this water wheel. Oh, Bert exclaimed, Nan, you
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  can never make the fan run so far away from the brook. Yes,
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  I can, he declared. I can have a long string belt and it
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  will work fine. But when he came to try it, Bert found many
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  difficulties in the way. True, the pully wheel on the paddles turned around
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  all right, and when the boy tried it with a short string belt,
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  this too went circling around as he held the farther end out on a smooth
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  stick. But when he came to use a longer piece of cord, and
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  even this was only halfway to the porch, it wouldn't turn at all.
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  The reason for that, said missus Bobbsey, who had meanwhile come to the
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  brook, is that your paddle wheel isn't powerful enough. Bert. It takes
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  force to move the string, which gets wet, you see, and is
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  all the heavier on that account. But you are wet yourself. She went
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  on, noticing Bert's damp condition. What happened, Oh, I just now
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  sort of fell in, he admitted. I'm all right and most dry.
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  But don't you think my water wheel will turn a wooden fan up on the
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  porch? Mother, No, son, I think not, she answered.
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  The fan will be too far away, and the water wheel isn't powerful enough
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  to turn the long wet string and the fan pully in addition, but you
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  may try if you like, she knew Bert would learn best by actually doing
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  what he had in mind, And after a day of hard work, he
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  found that his mother was right. Though the paddle wheel turned under the falling
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  water, the long string belt would not move, and neither would the fan.
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  Besides, the string got tangled on bushes, and once Freddy reported he
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  found a grasshopper sitting on it taking a sunbath. I guess I'll just work
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  the paddle wheel in the water and nothing else, decided Bert, I believe
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  that will be best, agreed his mother. We don't really need a fan
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  to keep cool on the porch. There are lovely cool breezes at Clover Bank.
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  Mister Bobbsey returned from a trip to the city, and he and the
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  twins and their mother had another happy day on the farm. There was so
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  much to do and watch, aside from the gathering of the peaches, that
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  not an hour passed without something happening. It seemed one afternoon when Bert and
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  Nan decided to walk to the post office to mail some letters and postals they
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  had written to their playmates in Lakeport. They passed the lower edge of the
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  apple orchard. There they heard the voice of Flossy. Now look what you
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  did Freddy, Bobsey accused the little girl. Just look what you did.
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  Oh, it's terrible, and she began to cry. Something's happened, shouted
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  Bert, breaking into a run. Sounds so, agreed Nan. But anyhow,
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  they haven't fallen into the water, for there isn't any around here.
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  Maybe that calf that got all burrs and stickers is chasing them, suggested Bert.
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  It would be just like Freddy to try to get up on its back
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  and ride it. It was nothing as exciting as this, it turned out.
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  When Bert and Nan reached the orchard, they saw the two children standing
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  under one of the trees, gazing up into the branches, which were laden
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  with fruit just beginning to ripen. What's the matter, asked Bert. Is
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  your kite up there? Freddy? No, it's my doll. And Freddy
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  threw her up there, the little girl answered, drying her tears on her
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  dress, And she won't come down, and maybe I'll never have her again.
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  Oh dear, what in the world did you toss Flossy's doll up into
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  a tree for? Asked Nan of the little boy. I threw her up
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  so she'd bring down some apples, was the answer. We wanted some apples,
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  and we threw up stones and sticks, but we couldn't knock any down.
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  Then I asked Flossy if I shouldn't throw her doll up, cause she's
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  easier to throw than a stick. Flossi said yes, so I did.
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  But I didn't think my doll was going to stay up there, objected Flossie.
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  You said she'd come down with some apples. That's what you did.
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  But how'd I know she was going to stick there? Asked Freddy. Anyhow
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  I'll climb up and get her down for you. No, you don't,
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  cried Bert, catching Freddy as he was about to climb the tree. I
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  see where the doll is. She's too high for you to reach. I
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  think I can make her come down with a long stick. Bert found one,
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  with which he managed not only to dislodge the doll, but to bring
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  some apples as well, to the delight of the small twins. Then restoring
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  her plaything to Flossy, Bert and Nan took the small ones to the post
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  office with them. When they returned, they heard voices in the dining room
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  of the farmhouse. Voices in excited talk, it seemed, and at the
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  sound of one voice, Bert and Nan looked at each other in surprise.
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  It's missus Martin, whispered Nan. That's right, agreed her brother. I
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  wonder if she's crazy again and has come to take the baby away. It
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  was missus Martin who had been left in charge of baby Jenny while her parents
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  went to South America, and who had left the little one on the Bobs's
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  doorstep in the rain that strange day. And now missus Martin was at Clover
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  Bank. What could it mean? End of Chapter fifteen.