shouted as he whizzed by. His last
words seemed whipped away by the wind and the children did not know what
he meant.

"Maybe he meant next time he'd be sure to run into us," said Tommy Todd.

"Oh, he wouldn't do _that!_" declared Bert "That was Mr. Watson. He buys
lumber from my father. I guess he meant that next time he'd give us a
ride."

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Nan. "Would you ride in one of those dangerous things,
Bert Bobbsey?"

"Would I? Well, just give me the chance! How about you, Tommy?"

"I should say so! They're great!"

"Oh, I can't bear them!" went on Nan. "Please let's stop and rest. My
heart is beating so fast I can't skate for a while."

"All right--we'll call the race off," agreed Bert. Flossie and Freddie
were a little startled by the closeness of the ice-boat, and they skated
back to join their brother and sister.

And while they are taking a little rest on the ice I shall have a chance
to let my new readers know something of the past history of the children
about whom I am writing.

There were two pairs of Bobbsey twins. They were the children of Mr.
Richard Bobbsey and his wife Mary, and the family lived in an Eastern city
called Lakeport, which was at the head of Lake Metoka. Mr. Bobbsey was in
the lumber business, having a yard and docks on the shore of the lake
about a quarter of a mile from his house.

The older Bobbsey twins were Nan and Bert. They had dark hair and eyes,
and were rather tall and slim. Flossie and Freddie, the younger twins,
were short and fat, with light hair and blue eyes. So it would have been
easy to tell the twins apart, even if one pair had not been older than
the other. Besides the children and their parents there were in the
"family" two other persons--Dinah Johnson, the fat, good-natured colored
cook, and Sam, her husband, who looked after the furnace in the Winter and
cut the grass in Summer.

Then there was Snoop, and Snap. The first was a fine black cat and the
second a big dog, both great pets of the children. Those of you who have
read the first book of this series, entitled "The Bobbsey Twins," do not
need to read this explanation here, but others may care to. In the second
volume I told you of the fun the twins had in the country. After that they
went to the seashore, and this subject has a book all to itself, telling
of the adventures there.

Later on the Bobbseys went back to school, where they had plenty of fun,
and when they were at Snow Lodge t