"Whoop-la! I'll be a lumberman, too, part of the time!"
"Now wait a minute, Son," said Mr. Bobbsey gently. "I don't want to
spoil your fun, but we can't take you out West with us."
"You can't?" cried Bert. "Why, I thought we could all go--Nan,
Flossie, Freddie, everybody!"
"No, I don't see how we can take you children," said Mr. Bobbsey,
while his wife also shook her head. "You see we have to leave in a
hurry, and it would not do to take you youngsters out of school. We
will not be gone longer than we can help."
"And have we got to stay here all alone?" asked Nan, and there was a
suspicion of tears in her voice.
"You won't mind staying here," said her mother. "There will be Dinah
to cook for you and to look after Freddie and Flossie. Sam will be
around the house all the while, and there will be Mr. Hickson, too.
Besides this we have a surprise for you."
"What is it?" cried Bert. "Are you going to take us after all? Oh, say
you are! Tell me you were only fooling when you said we would have to
stay here all alone!"
"No, I wasn't fooling," replied his mother.
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