"He's back there at the merry-go-round. We had some trouble with the engine. But I guess he has it fixed by now. He's back at the fair grounds. It opens to-morrow. That is, he's there unless he has come chasing after me." "Do you think he'd do that?" asked Bert. It was quite an exciting adventure, Bert thought, to run away and be chased by Mr. Blipper. "Well, he said if I ever ran away he'd run after me and bring me back," answered Bob. "Anyhow, I've run away, but it isn't as much fun as I thought it'd be. Only I can't stand Mr. Blipper! He's too cross!" "Poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Bobbsey again. "Get him something to eat, Dick. He must be very hungry!" And Bob was, to judge by the manner in which he ate some of the Bobbsey's lunch. It was a good thing there was plenty. Having eaten all he seemed to care for and drinking two glasses of milk, Bob leaned back against a tree stump and said: "Now can't I do something to pay you for my meal?" "Do something to pay for it?" repeated Mrs. Bobbsey, wonderingly. "Yes, Mr. Blipper says I've always got to work for my board. Sometimes he says I'm not worth my salt." "Well, this time there is no need of doing anything for us," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You are welcome to what you have had to eat. But now what are you going to do?" "I'm going to run away farther if I can," Bob Guess answered. "Hum! I'm not so sure that we ought to let you, now that we know about you," went on the father of the Bobbsey twins. "Has this Mr. Blipper any claim on you?" "He says he adopted me and can keep me until I'm twenty-one years old." "He may be right. I don't know about that. It must be looked into. Anyhow, I don't feel like letting you run away, Bob," went on Mr. Bobbsey kindly. "I'd like to have a talk with Blipper on my own account, and I could ask him about you. Did you happen to see----" But before Mr. Bobbsey could ask what he intended to--about his missing coat and the lap robe--a man from the garage where the automobile had been left to have the tire changed came across the field. "It's a good thing you stopped when you did, Mr. Bobbsey," said the garage man. "Why so?" "Because if you had gone on a little farther one of the wheels of your car would have come off, and if you had been going fast, or down-hill, you might have had a bad accident. I found the break when I was putting on the tire, and I came over to ask if you wanted me to fix it." "Yes, I suppose so. I'll come and have a look. We don't want to go on if there is any danger." "There is danger. And it will take half a day to mend the break." "Half a day!" said Mr. Bobbsey, as he followed the man, forgetting for the time all about Bob and Mr. Blipper. "That means we'll not get to Meadow Brook to-night. Is there a good hotel in town?" "Yes, a very good one not far from my garage." "Well then, in case we have to remain, we can stay at the hotel. But wait until I take a look at the broken wheel."