"I'll soon sweep off dish yeah porch," said Dinah. "Sam, yo' git me a broom." "Oh, don't bother now, Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Make a cup of tea, first. The dust doesn't matter, and we'll not be here long." "Won't we?" exclaimed Nan. "Oh, where are we going next?" "We'll talk about it as soon as your father comes home," said Mrs. Bobbsey, for her husband had stopped on the way from the houseboat dock, where the family had lately landed, to go to his lumber office for a little while. "Let Snoop out!" begged little Flossie. "Snoop's tired of being shut up in that box." In order to carry him from the boat to the house Snoop had been put in a small traveling crate. "I'll let him out as soon as I get a screwdriver," promised Bert. "My, but it's hot here!" "Indeed it is," agreed his mother, who was fanning herself with her pocket handkerchief as she sat in a rocking-chair. "It isn't much like our nice houseboat, is it?" "No, indeed," agreed Nan. "I wish we hadn't come home." "And summer is only half over," went on Bert. "Here it is only August." "Oh, well, there are plenty of good times ahead of you children yet, before school begins," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Now let's see. Have we everything?" and she looked at the pile of bundles and valises on the porch. "I guess we didn't forget anything, except papa," said Freddie. "And he's coming," he added, as the others laughed. "Sam, am de fire made?" demanded Dinah. "I wants t' make a cup ob tea." "Fire all made," reported the colored man. "I'll go git a fresh pail ob water now. I didn't know jest prezackly when yo' was comin'," he said to Mrs. Bobbsey, "or I'd a' been down to de dock t' meet de houseboat." "Might a' come anyhow," muttered Dinah. "Yo' all didn't hab nuffin' t' do heah!" "Huh! I didn't, eh?" cried Sam. "Nuffin t' do! Why, I cut de grass, an' fed de chickens, an' watered de lawn, an'--an'--" "Go 'long wif yo'," ordered his wife with a laugh. "Bring in some mo' wood for de fire!" "And get a screw-driver so I can let Snoop out," begged Flossie. "He's tired of being shut up in the crate!" "Right away, Missie! Right away!" promised good-natured Sam. A little later Snoop, the black cat, was stretching himself on the porch, while Snap, the big dog, rushed up and down the lawn, barking loudly to let all the neighbors' dogs know he was back home again--at least for a time. Meanwhile Bert, as the "little man of the house," had brought in the packages and satchels from the porch. Nan was helping her mother get out a cool kimona, while Dinah was down in the kitchen getting ready a cup of tea for Mrs. Bobbsey. Flossie and Freddie, as the youngest Bobbsey twins, had nothing in particular to do, so they ran about, here, there, everywhere, renewing acquaintance with the familiar objects about the yard--things they had forgotten during the two months they had been away on a houseboat, for part of their summer vacation.