"Why, Freddie! what in the world were you trying to do?" asked his father, when the little boy was placed in his arms. "I--I just wanted a ride," Freddie explained. "I got tired of ridin' on wooden lions. I wanted a live horse." "Well, he picked a lively one all right!" laughed a man in the crowd. "That horse he rode has won every race, so far." "You must never do such a thing again, Freddie," his father told him, when the excitement had died down and the racing was once more started. "Never again." "No, I won't," Freddie promised. "But when I grow up I'm goin' to ride horses, I am!" "That will be a good while yet," laughed Bert. "I'm glad your mother wasn't here," said Mr. Bobbsey. "She would have almost fainted, I'm sure, if she had seen you out on the race track like a regular jockey." "Did I look like a jockey?" Freddie asked, eagerly. "Well, not exactly," Bert said. "You didn't have any silk blouse on." "I'll get Dinah to make me one when I go home," Freddie declared. "I'll have a red one, I guess, and then if I get tired of ridin' horses I can be a fireman." "Well, I think we've had excitement enough for one day," remarked Mr. Bobbsey. "We'll have something to eat, look around a little more, and then go home." "But we can come back again, can't we?" asked Bert. "I haven't seen the balloon go up yet." "Yes, we want to see that," added Harry. "I'll bring you to the fair again to-morrow or next day," promised Mr. Bobbsey. "I want to come back myself. I've met a number of men to-day I'd like to talk with further. Then I'd like to have a talk with that Mr. Blipper." That night, at Meadow Brook Farm, Mr. Bobbsey and his wife, after the children had gone to bed, talked over the strange disappearance of Mr. Bobbsey's coat and the auto lap robe. "I'm sure that Blipper knows something about them," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Or perhaps that strange Bob Guess--what an odd name." "It is an odd name," agreed Mr. Bobbsey, "But it fits, for they don't know what his real name is--at least he says he doesn't. But I don't believe Bob had anything to do with the taking of my coat and the robe. I'd like to find out more about the boy. He seems bright, and I feel sorry for him. I must see that man, Blipper, and have a talk with him." "Wasn't he at his merry-go-round to-day?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "No, he had gone off somewhere. But I am going to the fair again with the children, and I'll get at Blipper sooner or later." "Well, if you go to the fair again, please keep an eye on Freddie!" begged the mother of the Bobbsey twins. "He's a little tyke when it comes to slipping away and doing strange things." "Yes, he is," agreed her husband. But the next day was to prove that Flossie could also "slip away," when there was a chance.