right," laughed Nan. She broke the eggs
into the dish, and then she let Flossie and Freddie take turns in
handing her the flour, sugar, and other things she needed; things that
could not be broken if little hands dropped them. But nothing more was
dropped, though Nan herself did spill a little flour on the floor.

"Is this batter right now, Dinah?" Nan asked, when she had stirred up
the cake mixture with a long spoon. The cook looked in the brown bowl.

"Jest a leetle mo' flour," she said, "den it'll be stiff enough an'
ready fo' de oven. An' after it's baked yo' kin mix up de sugar-icin' t'
go on de top."

Nan stirred in more flour and then poured the batter into a pan to be
baked in the oven of the stove. She carried the pan carefully across the
kitchen.

"Don't fall and spill it," called Flossie.

"I'll try not to," Nan said.

Just then into the kitchen with a rush came Snap. He saw Nan with a pan
in her hands, and he must have thought she had something for him to eat,
for with a joyful bark he made straight for her.

"Oh, hold him back! Don't let him come near me or I'll spill my cake
before it's baked!" cried Nan. "Hold Snap, Flossie--Freddie!"

"We will!" cried the smaller twins.

Both of them made a rush for Snap, and caught him by the collar. But the
dog thought this was some funny game, and, wagging his tail, he pulled
the two children across the slippery oilcloth of the kitchen floor.

"Hold him back! Hold him!" begged Nan. She was almost at the oven now.
If she could get the cake safely in it she would be all right, for Snap
would not go near the stove.

"We--we can't hold him!" panted Freddie. "He's pulling us too--too
hard!"

Snap, indeed, was dragging the little Bobbsey twins right across the
room toward Nan, who was moving slowly toward the stove. She could not
move fast for fear of spilling the cake batter, or dropping the pan.

"Dinah! Dinah!" called Flossie, to the colored cook who had gone into
the dining room for a moment. "Come quick, or Nan won't have any cake.
Snap wants it!"

I don't suppose that the dog really wanted the cake batter, though he
liked sweet things. But he thought Nan had his dinner in the pan.

However, before he could get near enough to her to "jiggle" her arm, and
make her drop the pan, Dinah came in.

"Heah, you Snap!" cried the cook with a laugh. "Yo' done got t' git
outen dish yeah kitchen when cake-bakin' am goin' on!"

She reached for Snap's collar, and