the fire, and was waiting to
take them back.

As Freddie had said, the chauffeur on the front seat could not see what
went on in the back of the wagon, for there was a high board against which
he leaned. And there were two long seats, one on each side of the auto
patrol, under which three children could easily hide if the police were
not too particular in looking inside their wagon as they rode back to the
station house.

The three children hurried out into the hall and got in the elevator,
which Laddie called to the floor by pressing the electric signal button.

"Am yo' all gwine far?" asked George, the colored elevator boy, as he shot
up to the tenth floor and opened the door.

"I guess not very far," answered Freddie. None of them knew how long a ride
they would get.

Out the front entrance of the hotel went the three tots. Because of the
fire no one paid much attention to them, and the hotel help were used to
seeing the children come and go, and perhaps thought Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey,
or Mrs. Whipple, were not far away.

So Flossie, Freddie and Laddie had no trouble in getting out, and then
they walked quietly down to the automobile patrol. No one was near it, for
automobiles--even police ones--are too common to look at in New York,
especially when there is a fire around the corner, even if the blaze is a
small one.

So, as it was, no one noticed the children climb into the patrol, and the
driver, half dozing, did not hear them.

As Freddie had said, there was plenty of room for such small tots as these
three to crawl under the long seats. And when they were stowing themselves
away, Freddie found some blankets, which covered himself, his sister and
Laddie.

"Now they can't see us!" said Freddie. "But we must keep still!"

"Hush!" cautioned Flossie. "Somebody's coming!"

And somebody was coming. It was the policemen coming back to take their
places in the patrol, for the fire was out. Laughing and talking, they
took their places on the long seat, never noticing the children hidden
below.

And, a few seconds later, away started the automobile, taking the two
Bobbsey twins and Laddie on a queer ride.

CHAPTER XIX

THE GOAT

Everything would have been all right if Flossie had not sneezed. At least
that's what Freddie said afterward, and Freddie ought to have known, for
he was right there. Laddie Dickerson did not say it was Flossie's fault,
but then it is only brothers who say such things to t