"Maybe he's lost under the hay," suggested Tom. "I read of a boy getting caught under a pile of hay once, and they didn't get him out for a long time." "Oh, Freddie's lost! Freddie's lost!" cried Flossie, bursting into tears. CHAPTER IX THE FIVE-PIN SHOW. "Hush, Flossie, don't cry, dear!" begged Nan, putting her arms around her little sister. "But--but I--I can't help it," stammered Flossie. "Freddie's losted!" "We'll find him!" said Bert. "He's somewhere inside the barn, that is sure. He'd never go out in all this rain," for the big drops were now coming down thick and fast. "Freddie isn't afraid of water--he's a fireman--papa's little fat fireman, and I'm papa's little fat fairy, and Freddie's losted--and--and--oh, dear!" sobbed Flossie, as she thought of her missing brother. "Come on, let's start in all together and find him," suggested Harry. "He must be hid somewhere around here." "Away down under the hay," suggested Tom Mason. "Hush! Don't say that," spoke Bert in a low tone. "You'll scare the girls!" "Maybe we'd better go tell papa and mamma," said Nan. "Let's try by ourselves, first," suggested her brother. "We'll find Freddie, never fear." The children began a search of the barn, now almost filled with sweet-smelling hay. Up and down in the mow they looked to find where Freddie might have hidden himself away. They called and shouted to him, but no answer came. "I don't see why he doesn't reply to us," said Nan to Bert. "He wouldn't keep quiet when we've told him he could come in free. Freddie is too fond of playing hide and go seek to stay away, unless he had to. I am afraid something has happened to him, Bert." "What could happen to him?" he asked. "Oh, I don't know, but--" and Nan hesitated and looked worried. Where could Freddie have hidden himself away in the hay, and stranger, still, why did he not answer the many calls made for him? For the children kept shouting as they searched. Bert had made up his mind, after looking about for some time, that perhaps, after all, he had better go into the house and tell his father what had happened. Just then Tom Mason slid down from a high part of the haymow to a little hollowed-out place. As he landed, a crackling sound was heard, and then Tom cried: "Oh, my! Now I have done it! Oh, dear! What a mess! Oh! Oh!" "Have you found him? Is Freddie there?" asked Flossie from where she stood in the middle of the barn floor. "No, but I slid right into a hen's nest, and I've broken all the eggs!" cried Tom. "Oh, me! Oh, my!" He managed to get to his feet, and there he stood, his hands held out in front of him, for they were dripping with the whites and yolks of the broken eggs. Tom's clothes were pretty well splashed up. "What a sight I am!" he murmured. "And I've broken all the eggs!"