"It's bigger'n a ground mole!" declared Freddie. "I saw it, an' it's
long and brown and has legs an' brown eyes that shine."
"Well, whatever it is it can't be very dangerous," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If
it was, Snoop never would have dared to get it. But I don't want to
reach under there in the dark and perhaps get bitten and scratched by
Snoop, or whatever he has. We'll wait for the flash light."
Bert now came running in with this, Sam following when he heard that the
cat had something strange under the table in the kitchen.
"Dey suah am lots ob t'ings happenin' dis day," observed Sam.
Mr. Bobbsey flashed the light under the table. The four twins had
stooped down to get a better view, and Freddie cried:
"I see its eyes shining!"
"I can see its tail! Oh, no, that's Snoop's tail!" added Flossie.
"Snoop, what have you there? Stop growling and give it to me!" demanded
Mr. Bobbsey, thrusting his hand under the table.
"Be careful," advised his wife. "It may bite."
Mr. Bobbsey laughed and thrust his hand farther under the table. There
was a little scuffle as Snoop tried to hold fast to what he had. He
clung so hard to it with teeth and claws that he was dragged over the
smooth linoleum on the floor.
"Here's your wild beast!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he arose, and held
something covered with brown fur dangling from one hand.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "That's not a rat."
"No, it's your fur neck piece," her husband said, with a laugh.
"Oh, I wore it to the picnic, for I thought it would be cool coming
home," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she took the piece of fur. "And I laid it
on the hall table. I forgot about Snoop. He must have seen it, thought
it was a strange animal, and carried it away with him. Oh, Snoop!" and
she shook her finger at the cat which, now that it had nothing to play
with, came out from beneath the table.
"It does look like an animal," said Nan.
And indeed the fur piece did. For it was fashioned with an imitation of
an animal's head, with yellow glass eyes. The fur piece was quite long
and four little legs were fastened to it. So that it is no wonder a cat,
or even a boy or a girl, at first look, would take it for something
real.
"Well, Snoop had a good time with it, while it lasted," said Mr.
Bobbsey, with a laugh.
"And my fur wouldn't have lasted much longer with him, if he'd started
to claw and bite it," remarked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm glad you called me in,
Dinah."
"Yessum, Ah thought maybe yo'd better see what the cat had, 'cause Ah
couldn't make out what 'twas," the cook answered.
"Well, now that the excitement is over, we'd better have supper," said
Mr. Bobbsey. "Or did you youngsters have enough at the picnic to last
until morning?"
"We want to eat now!" decided Bert. "That wasn't so much we had at the
picnic."
"I guess you were extra hungry, from being out of doors all day," his
mother said. "Well, supper will soon be ready."
As they ate they talked over the fun they had had at Pine Grove, and
Flossie remarked:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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