a, pumpkin!"

But the pumpkin kept on rolling! The little chap made a dive for it,
missed it by a few inches, and then, falling over, he, too, rolled out
under the tent and down the hill.

Freddie was not quite so round as a pumpkin, but he managed to get a
good start, and rolled over and over. And as his father, mother, and the
others hurried out of the tent they saw Freddie and the big yellow
vegetable tumbling down the hill together.

"Oh, look! Look!" cried a little girl. "A boy and a pumpkin are having a
race! Oh, look! How funny! A boy and a pumpkin are having a race!"

CHAPTER XV

UP IN A BALLOON

The pumpkin won the race. I suppose you had already guessed that it
would. For the pumpkin, being almost perfectly round, could roll down
the hill faster than Freddie could.

So the pumpkin was the first to reach the bottom of the little grassy
hill on which stood the tent where the prize fruits and vegetables were
on exhibition. And Freddie came tumbling after, like Jack and Jill, you
know.

And I believe it is a good thing the pumpkin reached the bottom of the
hill first, for if Freddie had been first the big, heavy pumpkin would
have rolled up against him with a bump, and might have hurt him. But
Freddie, bumping into the pumpkin, as he did, was not hurt at all.

"Oh, you funny little boy!" cried the little girl who had laughed, as
she ran up to Freddie, who was now sitting on the grass. "The pumpkin
beat you in the rolling race down hill. But maybe you'll win next time."

"There isn't going to be any next time," laughed Mother Bobbsey, as she
ran to pick Freddie up. "He didn't do that on purpose, little girl."

"Oh, I thought he did. Anyhow, it was funny!" and she laughed again.

"Yes, it was funny," agreed Bert. "And here comes a man after the
pumpkin, I guess."

"Be careful that he doesn't take you and put you on exhibition in the
tent," said Nan to her little brother.

"Will he, Mother?" asked Flossie.

"No, of course not. Nan is only joking."

"The pumpkin isn't hurt any," said Harry, helping the man lift it up on
his shoulder.

"I'm glad of it," the man said. "It has won the prize, and the farmer
who owns it wouldn't like it if it should be broken."

"Let's go over to the merry-go-round," suggested Freddie, who did not
like so many people looking at him, for quite a crowd had gathered when
word of the funny pumpkin race spread. "I want a ride on the
merry-go-round."

"So do I,"