ever could
find the way all by herself. Oh, maybe she's lost!"

CHAPTER XIV

FREDDIE AND THE PUMPKIN

The cornfield where the Bobbsey twins and Harry had gone to work and
play was a long distance from the farmhouse. Nan knew this, and that is
why she was frightened when Freddie said that Flossie had "gone home."

"Maybe she could find her way," said Bert.

"She's a smart little girl," added Harry. "I wish I had a sister like
her."

"How long ago did she leave you, Freddie?" asked Nan.

"Oh, 'bout maybe three four hours," answered the little boy.

"We haven't been here an hour!" exclaimed Bert.

"Well, maybe it was minutes, then," admitted Freddie. He did not have a
very good idea of time, you see.

"If it was only a little while ago she can't have gone very far," said
Nan. "Flossie! Flossie!" she called. "Where are you?"

But there was no answer. Bert and Harry then took up the call, as they
had louder voices than had Nan, and even Freddie added his shout, but it
was of no use. Flossie did not answer.

"I guess she's too far away," Harry stated.

"We'd better hurry after her!" said Bert.

"Oh, come on!" cried Nan, half sobbing. "Mother told me to keep good
watch over her, and I didn't! I shouldn't have played hide and go seek!"

"It wasn't your fault!" her brother consoled her. "It was as much mine
as yours. But we'll find Flossie all right. I guess she's home by this
time."

But when they had hurried to the farmhouse there was no sign of the
little girl. Mrs. Bobbsey became much frightened when told what had
happened.

"Is there any water she could fall into?" she asked Aunt Sarah.

"No, not even a duck pond near the cornfield. She's all right, I'm
sure," said the other Mrs. Bobbsey. "We'll go back to the cornfield and
find her hiding, I feel certain."

"But she wasn't playing hide and go seek," declared Nan. "She wouldn't
hide from us."

"You can't tell," said Aunt Sarah, so cheerfully that the others took
heart. Back they hurried to the field where the big shocks of dried
cornstalks stood. The two Mr. Bobbseys also went along to help in the
search.

"Now show us where you and Flossie were playing at shell the corn," said
the mother of the twins.

"Right here," Freddie stated, and he pointed to some of the yellow
kernels on the ground.

The father of the Bobbsey twins stooped down and looked at the soft
earth. He soon found what he was looking for--the tiny footprints of his
lit