Everybody laughed and the children clapped hands at the length of
Dinah's appetite, but when the others had finished they found their
own were even longer than the maid's, the average being eighteen
miles!

"When will we get to Aunt Emily's?" Flossie asked, growing tired over
the day's journey.

"Not until night," her father answered. "When we leave the train we
will have quite a way to go by stage. We could go all the way by
train, but it would be a long distance around, and I think the stage
ride in the fresh air will do us good."

"Oh yes, let's go by the stage," pleaded Freddie, to whom the word
stage was a stranger, except in the way it had been used at the Meadow
Brook circus.

"This stage will be a great, big wagon," Bert told him, "with seats
along the sides."

"Can I sit up top and drive?" the little one asked.

"Maybe the man will let you sit by him," answered Mr. Bobbsey, "but
you could hardly drive a big horse over those rough roads."

The train came to a standstill, just then, on a switch. There was no
station, but the shore train had taken on another section.

"Can Flossie and I walk through that new car?" Nan asked, as the cars
had been separated and the new section joined to that directly back of