And it was while they were thus walking through the woods,
wondering what would happen next and if their father and mother would
ever find them, that Freddie saw something.
"Oh, Flossie! There's a house!" he shouted.
"Where?" demanded the little girl.
"Right over there! Among the trees! Down near the shore!"
Freddie pointed and Flossie, looking, saw dimly through the fog the
outlines of some sort of building.
"Let's go there and they can telephone to daddy that we're here," said
Flossie. "I guess we're all right now. And maybe Bert and Nan will wish
they'd come on a balloon ride with us."
"Maybe," agreed Freddie, as he tramped along with his sister under the
rubber blanket toward the building on the shore of the lake.
But alas for the hopes of the children! When they reached the place they
found that what Freddie had thought was a house was only an old empty
cabin. It had once been used by campers or by fishermen, and at one time
may have been a cosy place. But now the glass in the windows was broken,
the door hung sagging by one hinge, and inside there was a rusty stove
which showed no signs of a warm, cheerful fire.
"There's nobody here," said Flossie sadly, after they had looked inside
and had seen that the shack was deserted.
"Well, but it doesn't rain so hard inside as it does outside," remarked
Freddie. "Let's go in. This blanket makes me tired."
The rubber covering was rather heavy for the little children, and they
were glad to step inside the cabin.
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