Dinah, coming into the dining tent to clear
away the dishes, caused some excitement when she asked:

"Has any ob you all seen Snoop?"

"What? Is our cat gone?" asked Bert.

"Well, I hasn't seen 'im since Flossie an' Freddie was playin' hitch him
up like a hoss to a cigar box wagon," went on Dinah. "He come out to me
an' I gib 'im some milk, an' now, when I called 'im t' come an' git his
supper, he ain't heah!"

Flossie and Freddie looked at each other. So did Nan and Bert. Even Mr.
Bobbsey seemed surprised. But he said:

"Oh, I guess he just went off in the woods for a rest after Flossie and
Freddie mauled him when they were playing with him. Go call him, Bert."

So Bert went out in front of the tent and called: "Snoop! Snoop! Hi,
Snoop, where are you?"

But no Snoop answered. Then Flossie and Freddie called, and so did Nan,
while Sam went farther into the woods among the trees. But the big black
cat, that the children loved so dearly, was missing. Snoop did not come
to his supper that night.

CHAPTER XVII

FREDDIE IS CAUGHT

"Hark! Wasn't that Snoop?"

"Listen, everybody!"

Bert and Nan suddenly made these exclamations as they, with the rest of
the Bobbsey family, were sitting in the main tent after supper. The
lanterns had been lighted, the mosquito net drawn over the front door,
or flap of the tent, to keep out the bugs, and the camping family was
spending a quiet hour before going to bed.

Bert thought he heard, in the woods outside, a noise that sounded like
that made by the missing cat Snoop, and Nan, also, thought she heard the
same sound.

They all listened, Mr. Bobbsey looking up from his book, while Flossie
and Freddie ceased their play. Mrs. Bobbsey stopped her sewing.

"There it is again!" exclaimed Nan, as from the darkness outside the
tent there came a queer sound.

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "It doesn't sound like Snoop."

"Maybe it's Snap!" exclaimed Freddie. "He used to howl like that."

"It did sound a bit like a dog's howl," admitted Bert. "May I go out and
see what it is, Daddy?"

"I'll take a look," said Mr. Bobbsey. He stepped to the flap of the tent
and listened. The queer sound came again, and he went outside, while
Bert went near the tent opening to listen. He, as well as his father,
then heard another noise--that made by some one walking across the
ground, stepping on and breaking small sticks.

"Who's there?" suddenly called Mr. Bobbsey, exactly, as Be