The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp by Laura Lee Hope

Author:Laura Lee Hope [Hope, Laura Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-09-28T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XV—A BARE CUPBOARD

Having finished drinking the weak tea which Mrs. Bimby brewed for them, eating with it some of the lunch they had brought along, Bert and Nan sat in the lonely cabin in the woods wondering what would happen next. There was no other cabin or house near them, and as they heard the wind howl down the chimney and moan around the corners, and heard the rattle of hard snow against the window, the older Bobbsey twins were glad they had found this shelter.

“Do you think we’ll be able to start back soon, Mrs. Bimby?” asked Nan, as she helped the old woman clear the tea things off the table.

“Back where, dearie?”

“Back to our camp.”

“Oh, not to-night, surely,” said Mrs. Bimby. “You won’t dare venture out in this storm. It’s getting worse, and black night is coming on. You just stay here with me. I can make up beds for you, and I’ll be glad to have you, since my Jim isn’t coming back, I reckon.”

“What do you think has become of him?” asked Bert, who was interested in looking at a gun that hung over the mantel.

“Well, I reckon he got to the village, but found the storm so bad he didn’t dare to start back,” answered Mrs. Bimby.

Of course she did not know what had happened to Old Jim any more than Jim knew that the older Bobbsey twins were in his own cabin.

“But Jim’ll be here in the morning,” said his wife. “And I do hope he’ll bring in something to eat. If he doesn’t——”

She did not finish what she started to say, and Nan asked:

“Will you starve, Mrs. Bimby?”

“Well, not exactly starve, for I s’pose a body could keep alive on tea and condensed milk for a while. But we’ll be pretty hungry. There’ll be three to feed instead of just one,” the old woman went on.

“We’ve some food left,” said Bert. “And we can cook our chestnuts. We got quite a few before the storm came.”

“Bless your hearts, dearies!” exclaimed Mrs. Bimby. “You may be able to eat chestnuts, but my old teeth are too poor for that. But I dare say we’ll get along somehow, even if the cupboard is almost bare. Don’t you want to go to bed?”

“Oh, it’s too early,” objected Bert.

“Have you any games we could play?” asked Nan.

She and her brother were in the habit of playing simple games at home before going to bed, and it seemed natural to do it now. After the first shock of feeling that they were lost in the snow storm had passed, the Bobbsey twins were quite content. They felt that their father and mother must realize that they were safe.

“Games, dearie?” asked Mrs. Bimby. “Well, seems to me there’s some dominoes around somewhere, and I did see a checker board the other day. Jim used to play ’em when the loggers came in. I’ll see if I can dig ’em out.”

She rummaged through an old chest and brought to light a box of battered dominoes.

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