tired of being shut up in the crate!"

"Right away, Missie! Right away!" promised good-natured Sam.

A little later Snoop, the black cat, was stretching himself on the
porch, while Snap, the big dog, rushed up and down the lawn, barking
loudly to let all the neighbors' dogs know he was back home again--at
least for a time.

Meanwhile Bert, as the "little man of the house," had brought in the
packages and satchels from the porch. Nan was helping her mother get
out a cool kimona, while Dinah was down in the kitchen getting ready a
cup of tea for Mrs. Bobbsey.

Flossie and Freddie, as the youngest Bobbsey twins, had nothing in
particular to do, so they ran about, here, there, everywhere, renewing
acquaintance with the familiar objects about the yard--things they had
forgotten during the two months they had been away on a houseboat, for
part of their summer vacation.

"Oh, look! My flower-bed is full of weeds!" cried Flossie, as she came
to a corner of the yard where she had set out some pansy plants just
before going away.

"And I can't even see the lettuce I planted," said Freddie. "I guess
Sam didn't weed our gardens."

"Never mind, we can make new ones," Flossie said. "Oh, Freddie, look!
There's a strange cat!" Both children ran to where Snoop was making
the acquaintance of a pussy friend. The cats seemed to like one