l let you after a while," promised Bert. "Let me get used to him
first."

When the Bobbsey twins came riding down their street in the goat wagon
you can imagine how surprised all the other children were. They gathered
in front of the house and rushed into the yard when Bert turned Whisker
up the driveway.

"Oh, give us a ride! Give us a ride!" cried the playmates of the Bobbsey
twins.

"Yes, I'll give you all rides," promised Bert good-naturedly.

Then began a jolly time for the Bobbsey twins and their friends. Whisker
did not seem to mind how many children he hauled around the smooth level
yard at the side of the house, and sometimes the wagon was as full as it
could hold. Nor did the goat try to butt any one with his horns, letting
the boys and girls pet him as much as they pleased.

"He's almost as nice as my doll the gypsies took," said Helen Porter,
after she had had a ride. "I like Whisker."

"Did you find your doll?" asked Flossie.

"No. I can't find Mollie anywhere. I just know she's been turned into a
gypsy. Oh, dear!"

"Flossie and I'll help you find her," promised Freddie once again. "Some
day I'm going to drive the goat all alone, and I'll give you and Flossie
a long ride, Helen. Then we'll go off and find your doll."

"That'll be nice," said Helen.

The Bobbsey twins never knew how many friends they had until they got
the goat wagon. For a time Snoop and Snap were forgotten, because there
was so much fun to be had with Whisker. Bert gave many rides to his
little sister and brother and to their playmates, and in a few days
Freddie was allowed to drive the goat, so gentle was the white animal.

One day, soon after Bert had hitched Whisker to the wagon, and was going
to give his two sisters and brother a ride, a telephone message came
from Mr. Bobbsey, asking Bert to come to the lumber office to get
something Mr. Bobbsey had to send home to his wife.

"I'll give you a ride when I come back," promised Bert, hurrying down
the street.

"We'll leave Whisker hitched up," said Nan. "I'll go in and finish
sewing up that hole in my stocking I was mending."

"And I'll stay out here in the goat wagon," said Freddie, while Flossie
nodded her head to say she would do the same thing.

A little later, and before Bert had come back from his father's office,
Helen Porter came walking past the Bobbsey house. Looking in the yard,
she saw Flossie and Freddie seated in the goat wagon.

"Come on in," invited Fl