as blowing them, and seeing this one of
the officers pulled loose one corner of the robe and there he saw Flossie,
Freddie and Laddie.

"Well, I do declare!" cried a policeman with a red mustache. "It's
children!"

"Three of 'em!" cried another.

The the two Bobbsey twins crawled from under the seat, and Laddie came
with them, to stand up in the swaying automobile between the two rows of
policemen.

"Where in the world did you come from?" asked one officer.

"Under there," answered Freddie, and he pointed to the place where the
blankets were still rolled up.

"And how did you get there?"

"We crawled in to get a ride," said Flossie, "and I couldn't help
sneezing. That fuzzy blanket tickled my nose so!"

The policemen laughed at this.

"But who are you and where do you belong?" asked one of the officers who,
having some stripes on his sleeve and some gold lace on his cap, seemed to
be the leader.

"We're part of the Bobbsey twins," said Freddie. "The other half of
us--that's Nan and Bert--have gone to see a stuffed whale."

"No, the whale isn't stuffed--it's the sea lion, or wallyrus--I forget
which," put in Flossie. "The whale's only made out of plaster and wood."

"Well, anyhow, Nan and Bert are there," said Freddie.

"And you're here," said the red-mustached policeman, "That's easy to see,
though what he means about being half of the Bobbsey twins is more than I
can guess. How many is twins, anyhow?"

"Two," some one said.

"We're four--that is, two sets," explained Flossie painstakingly. "Bert
and Nan are older than us."

"Oh, I see," said the policeman whom the other officers called Captain, or
"Cap." for short. "Well, where did you come from and where are you going?"

"We live at the Parkview Hotel," said Freddie, "and we got in here to have
a ride. We didn't think you'd find us so soon."

"It _is_ too bad," said the captain, with a laugh. "And I'm afraid I can't
give you a ride any farther than to the station house. I suppose you know
who you are and where you live," he went on, with a smile; "but, as we
have to do things by rule in the police department, I'll have to make
sure. So I'll take you to my office and telephone to the hotel. If I find
you belong there I'll take you back."

"Then we'll have another ride!" said Flossie. "That will be nice, won't
it, Freddie?"

"Um, I guess so. Only I'd like to sit out in front with the driver as long
as you sneezed and told 'em we were here."