"Quiet, Dinah, please," said Uncle Daniel. For Dinah had called out so loudly that many in the crowd turned to look at her. "But I wants Freddie--mah honey lamb!" the loving colored woman went on. "I wants him an' he's losted!" "We'll find him," said Uncle Daniel. "Now whom was he with when we came out of the tent?" "He had hold of my hand," said Bert, "but he pulled away and said he wanted to walk with Dinah." "De lubbin honey lamb!" crooned Dinah. "Did he come with you, Dinah?" went on Uncle Daniel, trying to find out exactly who had seen Freddie last. "Yais, sah, he done comed wif me fo' a little while in de crowd, an' den he slid away--he just seem t' melt away laik," explained the cook. "Which way did he go?" Uncle Daniel wanted to know. "Which way? I dunno," Dinah answered. "Oh, perhaps he went back to the animal tent," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. She was not really frightened as yet. Often before Freddie had been lost, but he had generally been found within a few minutes. But he had never before been lost at a circus. This time he seemed to have melted away in the big crowd. "Let's go back to the animal tent," suggested Uncle Daniel. "Freddie was so taken with feeding the elephants peanuts that he may have gone back to do that. We'll look." "Oh, if only dem ugly lions or tigers habn't got him!" sighed Dinah. "The wild animals couldn't get him, 'cause they're shut up in cages, aren't they?" asked Flossie. "Yes, dear," Nan said to her, not wanting her little sister to be frightened. "No wild animals could get Freddie." "We'll soon find him," declared Bert. "We'll help you look," spoke Tom Mason. "Come on, Harry." The three boys started to push their way back through the crowd toward the animal tent. "Now don't you three get lost," said Uncle Daniel. "We won't!" answered Bert, "but we're going to find Freddie!" "Oh, where can the darling be?" gasped Aunt Sarah, looking around at the crowd all about her. "What is it? What's the matter?" asked several ladies. "A little boy is lost--my nephew," Aunt Sarah explained. "Oh, isn't that too bad!" cried the sympathetic ladies. "We hope you find him!" Back into the animal tent the Bobbseys and their relatives and friends pushed their way. It was not easy to work back through the crowd that was anxious to get away, now that the afternoon performance of the circus was over. "He must be in there," said Uncle Daniel. "We'll find him." Carefully he looked through the crowd of persons who were still in the animal tent. A number had remained, with their children, to get another look at the elephants, lions and tigers. Men were feeding some of the animals, now that there was a little quiet spell, and this was interesting to the youngsters. "He doesn't seem to be here," said Aunt Sarah, as she peered through her spectacles. "Oh, he must be!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "He can't have gone on ahead of us, and if he turned back he would have to come into this tent."