he called, as he felt something strike against him. "Who's doin'
that? Stop it! Stop it, I say!"

"Freddie, are you talking in your sleep?" asked his mother, who had not
slept very soundly.

"No, I'm not asleep," Freddie answered. "But something bumped me. It's
outside the tent."

"Maybe it's Whisker feeling of you with his horns," said Flossie, who
slept near her brother, and who had been awakened when he called out so
loudly.

"It--it didn't feel like Whisker. It was softer than his horns," Freddie
said. "Momsie, I want to come into your bed."

"No, Freddie, you must stay where you are. I guess it was only the wind
blowing on you."

"No, it wasn't!" said Freddie. "It was a bump that hit me. I'm afraid
over here!"

CHAPTER X

THE "GO-AROUND" BUGS

Without waiting for his mother to tell him that he might, Freddie
slipped off his cot and went scurrying over the board floor of the tent
toward Mrs. Bobbsey's bed.

"I'm coming, too!" said Flossie, who generally went everywhere her small
brother did.

"Did something hit you, too?" asked Freddie, turning to his sister.

"No, but it might. If you are afraid I'm afraid, too."

"Oh, you children!" said Mrs. Bobbsey with sigh. "I believe you only
dreamed it, Freddie."

"No, Momsie, I didn't! Really I didn't! Somethin' bumped me from outside
the tent. It hit me in the back--not hard, but sort of soft like,
an'--an' I woked up. I want to sleep with you!"

"What's it all about?" asked Daddy Bobbsey. Then Freddie had to explain
again, and Flossie also talked until Nan and Bert were awakened.

"It might have been Whisker," said Bert. "If he got loose and brushed
against the tent and Freddie had rolled with his back close against the
side it would be like that."

Just then there sounded in the night the "Baa-a-a-a-a!" of the white
goat.

"There he is!" cried Bert.

"But it sounds as though he were still safely tied up," said Mr.
Bobbsey. "I'll have a look outside. Too bad we haven't Snap with us.
He'd give the alarm in a minute if anything were wrong."

The goat bleated again, but the sound did not seem near the tent, as it
would have done if Whisker has been loose. Putting on his bath robe and
slippers, Mr. Bobbsey took a lantern and went outside. Bert wanted to
come with his father, but Mrs. Bobbsey would not hear of it.

"We want a little man in here to look after us," she said, smiling.

"Ain't I almost a man? I can make my fire engine go," Fr