ASTONISHMENT, surprise and disappointment were so great for a few seconds after the discovery that the best part of the party - the ice cream - was gone, that no one knew, what to say.Then Flossie burst out with:
"Are you sure, Dinah?Maybe it fell off the porch.""Deed an' it didn't, honey gal.I done looked eberywhar fo' dat freezer, an' it's jest gone complete.""Maybe Snap took it," suggested Freddie, as a last hope."Once he tookmy book and hid it.Snap, did you take the ice cream?"Snap barked and wagged his tail, looking rather pained at being asked such a question.
"No, indeedy, Snap couldn't take off a big freezer like dat," declared Dinah."It wasn't Snap.""Then who could it have been?" asked Nan.Everyone had stopped eatingwhile this talk went on."Who could have taken our ice cream?" "Dat's what I don't know, honey," answered the colored cook."Dat's whyI comed in heah to tell yo' mamma.I 'spects, Mrs.Bobbsey, datwe'dbetter phonograph fo' de police."
"Phonograph - I guess you mean telephone; don't you, Dinah?" asked Mrs.Bobbsey, with a smile.
"Yes'm, dat's what I done mean.Or else maybe we kin send mah man Sam down to de station house fo' 'em.""No, I had better telephone, in case it is necessary.But perhaps I had better take a look out there.Perhaps the man from the store may have set the cream off to one side.""No'm, he didn't do dat.I took p'ticlar notice where he set it.Dere's a wet ringmark on de porch where de freezer was, 'count of de salty water leakin' out.An' dat wet ringmark am all dat's left ob de cream, dar now!" and Dinah, standing with her hands on her hips, looked at the startled children, whose mouths were just ready for the ice cream.
"Well, I'm going to have a look, anyhow," said Bert."Come on, Charley.Maybe, after all, that Danny Rugg is up to some of his tricks.""I'm with you, Bert!" cried Charley."But we ought to have some sort ofa light.It's dark out.""I'll get my little pocket electric light," said Bert.He had one, and it gave a good light.He went to his room for it.
Flossie and Freddie did not know what to do.That their lovely party should be spoiled by the missing ice cream seemed too bad to be true.
"Mamma, if we can't find this ice cream, can't we buy more?" Flossie wanted to know."The girls just want some - so bad!""And the boys, too," added Freddie.
"Oh, I guess we'll manage to get some fo you, if we can't find this," answered Mrs.Bobbsey."We may have to wait a little while for it, though.""Well, we'll have a look," said Bert, as he came down with his little electric lamp.Some of his own particular chums, including Charley Mason, followed him out to the back porch, Dinah was in her kitchen, looking behind tables, under the sink, in the pantry and all about, hoping that, somehow or other, the freezer might have gotten in there.But it was not to be found.
"Well, here's where it stood," said Bert, as he looked at the round, wet mark on the porch where the freezer had set.He flashed his torch on it, and then cried out:
"And look, boys, here are some spots of water that must have leaked from the wooden tub that holds the tin freezer.See, the water has dripped down on each step! This is the way they carried off our ice cream."The others could see a trail of water drops leading from the stoop down the steps and along the stone walk at the side of the Bobbsey house.
"Now we can follow and see just where they took our cream!" cried Bert."This is the way Indians used to trail the white settlers.""Let me come!" cried Freddie, hearing this."I want to help hunt whoever took our ice cream.""No, you'd better stay back there," said Bert."Why?" his little brother wanted to know.
"Because it might be - tramps - who have it, and there'd be trouble," said Bert.
"Wait until I get my cap pistol!" cried Freddie."I can scare a tramp with that.""No, you go back there, and stay in the house," went on Bert."If we find tramps have it, we'll get a policeman.""It might be that a tramp did steal up on the steps, and lift off the freezer," said Mrs.Bobbsey."Bert, be careful," she called to her son, who set off in the darkness with his chums, flashing his electric light from time to time.
"I'll look out!" he called back.
For some distance it was easy to see which way the ice cream freezer had been carried, for there were the marks of the dripping water.Then these stopped about the middle of the sidewalk, and seemed to go over in the grass.
"We can't see 'em now," spoke Charley."That's too bad.""Well, we'll keep on this way in a straight line," suggested Bert."Maybe they took the freezer down back of our berry bushes to eat the cream.""I hope they left some," said John Anderson, in a mournful sort of voice.
Hurrying on after Bert, the boys looked eagerly about in the darkness for a sign of the missing ice cream.There were not many chances of them finding it, for though Bert's electric torch gave a brilliant light for a short distance, it was not very large.
"What's over there?" asked Charley, pausing and pointing to a patch of blackness.
"An old barn, that we used to use before we had our new one built," answered Bert."Why?""Well, maybe they took the ice cream in there to eat it," went on Charley."Is it open?""Yes, it's never locked.Say, we'll take a look in there, anyhow!" exclaimed Bert."Come on, fellows!"He led the way, the others following.As they approached the big,deserted barn Frank Black exclaimed in a whisper: "I see a light!""So do I!" added Will Evans.
"And it's moving around," spoke Charley Mason.
"It's them, all right," decided Bert."The tramps who took our ice cream are in there, all right!""What makes you think they are tramps?" asked Will.
"Well, I'm not sure, of course," admitted Bert."But we can soon tell.Come on!""Are you - are you going up there?" sked Charley."Sure!Why not?I think we can scare em away."The other boys hesitated.Some of them were older than Bert, and when they saw that he was determined to go on, they made up their minds that they would not let him go alone.
