is mean? Such little tots out in
this storm!"

"We're lost!" said Flossie.

The strange man laughed.

"Lost? So am I!" he cried. "It isn't the first time, either. I've been
lost a whole lot worse than this. Now, as we're lost together, we'll see
if we can't get found together. Here, we'll go in out of the storm a
minute and you can tell me about yourselves."

With one pull of his strong arms he opened the shed door and went inside
with Flossie and Freddie.

CHAPTER XXII

HAPPY DAYS

"This is better," said the man, as he closed the door to keep out the
wind and snow. "This isn't exactly a warm house, but it will do until we
get our breath. Now tell me how you came to be lost."

"We were out taking some things to a poor lady," said Freddie, "and she
told us some nice stories."

"One was about a little red hen," put in Flossie.

"Yes," went on Freddie. "And when we saw it was snowing we came out in a
hurry and took the wrong turn, I guess. We couldn't see any houses, and
we hollered and nobody heard us, and then I saw this meadow grass and I
knew where we were."

"So this is the meadows?" asked the strange man.

"Yes, sir, this is the meadows," said Freddy.

"We know we're on the meadows but we don't know where our house is,"
said Flossie. "We live in Lakeport, and we're the Bobbsey twins."

"The Bobbsey twins; eh?" returned the man. "Well, that's a nice name,
I'm sure."

"And there are two more twins at home," went on Freddie. "They are Nan
and Bert, and they're older than we are."

"They aren't lost," explained Flossie, carefully.

"I'm glad of that," the man said. "And I don't believe you'll be lost
much longer."

"Do you know where our house is?" asked Freddie.

"No, not exactly," the man answered.

"Didn't you say you were lost, too?" asked Flossie.

"Yes, I did, little girl. I was lost. But now that you have told me
where I am, I think I am found. And I think, too, that I can help you
find your home. So you live in Lakeport. That's where I'm going."

"How did you come to get out on these meadows?" asked Freddie.

"Well, this is how it happened," the man said. "I was on my way to
Lakeport, but, by mistake, I got off the train at Belleville. That's the
station just below here. I did not want to wait for the next train so I
hired a man with an automobile to take me on to Lakeport. But about a
mile from here one of the tires of the automobile burst so the man could
not take me any f