The
larger end of it was close to where Flossie had been sitting with Nan,
and this end did look somewhat like a snake, with a mouth and eyes. The
middle of the stick was covered with pine needles, and the lower end
stuck out beyond the needles and dried leaves close to where Freddie
stood.
When the little boy took a step his foot touched the thin end of the
branch, and made the thick end, near Flossie, move. Flossie took this
for the swaying of a snake's head, and so she had screamed in fright.
"There's your snake--only a tree branch!" laughed Nan, as she lifted the
dead limb and held it up.
"Ho! Ho!" laughed Freddie.
"Was that it--for sure?" asked Flossie.
"Of course!" answered Nan. "Come sit down and finish your sandwich. Then
we'll play until it's time to eat our regular lunch."
"Well, I'm glad it wasn't a real snake," sighed Flossie, as she took her
place with her sister beneath the tree.
"If it had been a real snake I'd 'a' pegged a rock at it!" boasted
Freddie.
This was not the only fright at the picnic, for a little girl about
Flossie's age cried when she saw a big frog in a pool, and a little boy
ran screaming to his mother because a grasshopper perched on his
shoulder.
But things like these always happen at picnics, and when the little
frights were over even the children themselves laughed at their
short-lived terror.
After the ball game Bert and Nan took the smaller Bobbsey twins for a
row in a boat.
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