come and get you out. What hole, Freddie?"

"Maybe it's a dark hole," suggested Flossie. "You 'member the verse:
'Charcoal! Charcoal! Put me in a dark hole.' Maybe Freddie is in a dark
hole."

"Yes, it is dark!" again sounded the muffled voice of the little boy.
"I can hear you, Nan, but I can't see you. Get me out of the dark hole!"

Nan was puzzled. She, too, could hear Freddie calling, but she could not
see him. There were so many nooks and corners in the old barn that it
was not strange Freddie was not easily found. It was a great place for
playing hide and go seek, so many dark spots were there in which to
crouch, and the seeker might be right alongside of you and not spy you.

"How did you get in the hole, Freddie?" asked Nan, knowing that talking
and listening to Freddie's answers was the best way to find out where he
was.

"I was looking for a nest," he said, his voice still muffled and far
away, "and I slipped on some hay and went down the hole. There's a lot
of hay in the hole with me now, and I'm stuck. I'm about half way down
in the hole, Nan."

Then Nan began to understand what had taken place. She remembered that
once something like this had happened to her.

"Are you sliding down or standing still, Freddie?" she called to her
brother.