a goat here, and we could hardly take
it to Lakeport with us. So I'm afraid Freddie will have to do without it."

"All right," said Mike good-naturedly, as he took the dollar.

Of course Freddie and Flossie were disappointed at not having the goat and
wagon, but they soon forgot that when their mother promised to take them
to see another play that afternoon.

"It's a wonder Flossie or Freddie didn't try to bring the goat up to our
rooms in the elevator," said Bert, when they were in their apartment
again.

"Well, he was a good goat!" declared Freddie.

"And he could go fast," added Flossie.

"I was going to play fireman with him when we got back to Lakeport," went
on Freddie. "Now I can't."

"I think you'll have just as much fun some other way," said his mother,
laughing.

Three days after that, when Mrs. Bobbsey came in from shopping with the
two sets of twins, she heard some one moving about in their apartment as
she entered.

"Oh, it's Daddy!" cried Flossie, as some one caught her up in his arms.
"Daddy's come back!"

"I'm so glad!" called Freddie, running to get a hug and kiss from his
father. "And we almost had a goat!" he added.

CHAPTER XXI

UNCLE JACK'S REAL NAME

"Well! Well!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey, when he heard what Freddie said.
"That's great! Almost had a goat, did you? I must hear about that!"

"But first tell us about Uncle Jack," begged Nan. "Is he going to get
better?"

"Oh, I hope he is going to get better!" broke in Freddie. "It isn't a bit
nice to be sick. You have to stay in bed, and sometimes you have to have
your head all bound up, and sometimes you have to take the awfullest kind
of medicine ever was."

"You don't always have to stay in bed when you're sick," put in Flossie.
"And sometimes the medicine isn't bad a bit. It's sweet and nice."

"But tell us about Uncle Jack," begged Nan again. "He'll get better, won't
he?"

"That is something the doctors can't tell," answered her father. "I saw
him in the hospital."

"Was he glad to see you?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Well, to tell you the truth he didn't know me. He was very ill and was
out of his head with fever. I did what I could for him, and saw that he
would be well taken care of, and then went to Mr. Todd's house to stay all
night. I said I'd go back to the hospital in the morning, but Uncle Jack
was no better, and, after waiting two or three days, I decided to come
back here."

"Didn't he know you at all?" aske