"Oh, yes, we couldn't get along without her," answered Mrs. Bobbsey
with a smile.

"And I'm going to take Snoop!" cried Freddie, hugging the big, black
cat, which did not seem to mind being loved so hard.

"Well if Snoop goes, then we ought to take Snap, the dog, too,"
declared Bert. "Snap would be lonesome if he were left behind,
wouldn't he?"

"Oh, may we take them both, mamma?" begged Nan.

"Well, I guess so," was the answer, as Mrs. Bobbsey looked at her
husband.

"That will be all right," he nodded. "The country is just the place
for dogs and cats--it's better for them than houseboats."

"Oh, what fun we'll have!" sang Flossie. "What lovely times!"

"And I'm going to take my fire engine, and squirt water in it from the
brook," declared Freddie.

"Well, be careful not to fall in," his father said. "And now I shall
have to go back to the office again, to do a little work so as to get
ready for going away again. So I'll leave my little fat fireman and
fat fairy for a while," and he smiled at Freddie and Flossie, as he
called them by their pet names.