d enough for me to walk anyhow, and when the
train is moving I simply can't do it."

Freddie and Flossie went to her seat, and with a handkerchief, that
Flossie said afterward was almost as big as a table cloth, the fat lady
wiped the water off Freddie's coat.

The little boy held the silver cup in his hand, and feeling, somehow,
that he ought to repay the fat lady's kindness in some way, after
thanking her, he asked:

"Would you like a drink of water? I can bring it to you if you would."

"Thank you," she answered. "What a kind little boy you are! I saw you
give your sister a drink first, too. Yes, I would like a drink. I've
been wanting one some time, but I didn't dare get up to go after it."

"I'll get it!" cried Freddie, eager to show what a little man he was.
He made his way to the cooler without accident, and then, moving
slowly, taking hold of the seat on the way back, so as not to spill the
water, he brought the silver cup brimful to the fat lady.

"Oh, what a beautiful cup," she said, as she took it.

"And it cost a lot of money, too," said Flossie. "It's ours--our
birthday cup, and when I grow up I'm going to have a bracelet made from
my half."

"That will be nice," said the fat lady, as she prepared to drink.

But she never got more than a sip of the water Freddie had so kindly
brought her, for, no sooner did her lips touch the cup than there was a
grinding, shrieking sound, a jar to the railway coach, and the train
came to such a sudden stop that many passengers were thrown from their
seats.

Flossie and Freddie sat down suddenly in the aisle, but they were so
fat that they did not mind it in the least. As surprised as he was,
Freddie noticed that the fat lady was so large that she could not be
thrown out of her seat, no matter how suddenly the train stopped. The
little Bobbsey boy saw the water from the cup spill all over the fat
lady, and she held the silver vessel in her big, pudgy hand, looking
curiously at it, as though wondering what had so quickly become of the
water.

"It's a wreck--the train's off the track!" a man exclaimed.

"We've hit something!" cried another.

"It's an accident, anyhow," said still a third, and then every one
seemed to be talking at once.

Mr. Bobbsey came running down the aisle to where Flossie and Freddie
still sat, dazed.

"Are you hurt?" he cried, picking them both up together, which was
rather hard to do.

"No--no," said Freddie slowly.

"Oh,