"Yes, Mr. Blipper says I've always got to work for my board. Sometimes
he says I'm not worth my salt."

"Well, this time there is no need of doing anything for us," said Mr.
Bobbsey. "You are welcome to what you have had to eat. But now what are
you going to do?"

"I'm going to run away farther if I can," Bob Guess answered.

"Hum! I'm not so sure that we ought to let you, now that we know about
you," went on the father of the Bobbsey twins. "Has this Mr. Blipper any
claim on you?"

"He says he adopted me and can keep me until I'm twenty-one years old."

"He may be right. I don't know about that. It must be looked into.
Anyhow, I don't feel like letting you run away, Bob," went on Mr.
Bobbsey kindly. "I'd like to have a talk with Blipper on my own account,
and I could ask him about you. Did you happen to see----"

But before Mr. Bobbsey could ask what he intended to--about his missing
coat and the lap robe--a man from the garage where the automobile had
been left to have the tire changed came across the field.

"It's a good thing you stopped when you did, Mr. Bobbsey," said the
garage man.

"Why so?"