The basket tipped over sideways,
spilling Flossie and Freddie out, but not hurting them as they fell in a
pile of dried leaves. Some of the things in the basket fell out with
them.

Once the children were out of the balloon it rose a little, was blown
along a short distance by the wind, and then, getting tangled in the
tree branches, came to a stop.

"Well, we're all right now," said Freddie, as he arose and brushed the
leaves from him.

"But I'm getting all wet!" sobbed Flossie. "I'm soaked!"

And so she was, as well as Freddie, for it was raining hard.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SEARCHING PARTY

Every one at the fair grounds was anxious to help Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey
get back Flossie and Freddie, who had been carried off in the runaway
balloon. The men who owned the big gas bag were the first to make the
right sort of plans.

"The balloon is being blown over the lake," said Mr. Trench, the owner
of the big bag. "We must go in that direction."

"Over the lake!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, if they should fall in!"

"The balloon will float on the water," her husband told her. "The
children will be all right, I'm sure."

"Yes, indeed," agreed Mr. Trench. "Don't worry, lady. We'll get your
children back. The first thing to do is to go to the lake, and then we
can hire a motor-boat there."

"I'm going with you!" declared Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw the preparations
being made for the searching party.

"I think you had better stay with Bert and Nan," said Mr. Bobbsey.

"Oh, we'll be all right!" Nan hastened to tell her father.

"Can't Harry and I come on the searching party?" asked Bert.

"No, I would rather not," his father answered. "You stay with your
mother and Nan."

"I simply am coming with you, Dick!" said Mrs. Bobbsey, and when she
spoke in that tone her husband knew there was no use trying to get her
to change her mind.

"Very well," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "We will go to the lake in my auto. Mr.
Trench knows where we can hire a motor-boat."

The lake, a large one, came within a few miles of the fair grounds. The
balloon man knew in which direction the water lay, and he had seen the
wind carrying the big gas bag toward the water.

"Bert, you and Nan and Harry must go back to Meadow Brook Farm,"
directed Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll see if I can't hire an auto to take you
there, as it is going to storm soon. It's sprinkling now."

"We'll take them back," offered a gentleman who had come to the fair
with his wif