"I know it, dear," said her mamma gently, "and I'm getting out the silver cup for you. Only you must be very careful of it, and not drop it, for it is solid silver and will dent, or mar, easily." She was searching in her bags and presently took out a very valuable drinking cup, gold lined and with much engraving on it. The cup had been presented to Flossie and Freddie on their first birthday, and bore each of their names. They were very proud of it.

"Now be careful," warned Mrs. Bobbsey, as she held out the cup. "Hold on to the seats as you walk along."

"I'll carry the cup," said Freddie. "I'm the biggest."

"You are not!" declared his sister quickly. "I'm just as big."

"Well, anyhow, I'm a boy," went on Freddie, and Flossie could not deny this. "And boys always carries things," her brother went on. "I'll carry the cup."

"Very well, but be careful of it," said his mother with a smile, as she handed it to him. The two children went down the aisle of the car. They stopped for a moment at the seat where Dinah was.

"Is Snoop all right?" asked Freddie, peering into a box that was made of slats, with spaces between them for air.

"'Deed an' he am, honey," said Dinah with a smile, laughing so that she shook all over her big, fleshy body.

"I 'spect he's lonesome; aren't you, Snoop?" asked Flossie, poking her finger in one of the cracks, to caress, as well as she could, a fat, black cat. The cat, like Dinah the cook, went with the Bobbseys on all their summer outings.

"Well, maybe he am lonesome," admitted Dinah, with another laugh, "but he's been real good. He hain't yowled once--not once!"

"He'll soon be out of his cage; won't you, snoop?" said Freddie, and then he and his sister went on to the water cooler Near by they saw something else to look at This was the sight of a very, very fat lady who occupied nearly all of one seat in the end of the car. She was so large that only a very little baby could have found room beside her.

"Look--look at her." whispered Flossie to Freddie, as they paused. The fat woman's back was toward them, and she seemed to be much interested in looking out of the window.

"She is fat," admitted Freddie. "Did you ever see one so big before?"

"Only in a circus," said Flossie "She'd make--make two of Dinah," went on her brother.

"She would not," contradicted Flossie quickly. "Cause Dinah's black, and this lady is white."

"That's so," admitted Freddie, with a smile. "I didn't think of that."

A sway of the train nearly made Flossie fall, and she caught quickly at her brother.

"Look out!" he cried. "You 'most knocked the cup down."

"I didn't mean to," spoke Flossie. "Oh, there goes my hat! Get it, Freddie, before someone steps on it!"

Her brother managed to get the hat just as it was sliding under the seat where the fat lady sat.

After some confusion the hat was placed on Flossie's head, and once more she and her brother moved on toward the water cooler. It was getting dusk now, and some of the lamps in the car had been lighted.

Freddie, carrying the cup, filled it with water at the little faucet, and, very politely, offered it to his sister first. Freddie was no better than most boys of his age, but he did not forget some of the little polite ways his mamma was continually teaching him. One of these was "ladies first," though Freddie did not always carry it out, especially when he was in a hurry.

"Do you want any more?" he asked, before he would get himself a drink.

"Just a little," said Flossie. "The silver cup doesn't hold much."

"No, I guess it's 'cause there's so much silver in it," replied her brother. "It's worth a lot of money, mamma said."

"Yes, and it's all ours. When I grow up I'm going to have my half made into a bracelet."

"You are?" said Freddie slowly. "If you do there won't be enough left for me to drink out of."

"Well, you can have your share of it made into a watch, and drink out of a glass."

"That's so," agreed Freddie, his face brightening. He gave his sister more water, and then took some himself. As he drank his eyes were constantly looking at the very fat lady who filled so much of her seat. She turned from the window and looked at the two children, smiling broadly. Freddie was somewhat confused, and looked down quickly. Just then the train gave another lurch and Freddie suddenly spilled some of the water on his coat.

"Oh, look what you did!" cried Flossie "And that's your best coat!"

"I--I couldn't help it," stammered Freddie.

"Never mind, little boy," said the fat lady. "It's only clean water. Come here and I'll wipe it off with my handkerchief. I'd come to you, only I'm so stout it's hard 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, papa, what is it?" asked Flossie, wondering whether she was going to cry.

"I don't know, my dear. Nothing serious, I guess. The engineer must have put the brakes on too quickly. I'll look out and see."

Knowing that his children were safe, Mr. Bobbsey put them down and led them back to where his wife was anxiously waiting.

"They're all right," he called. "No one seems to be hurt."

Bert Bobbsey looked out of the window. Though darkness had fallen there seemed to be many lights up ahead of the stopped train. And in the light Bert could see some camels, an elephant or two, a number of horses, and cages containing lions and tigers strung out along the track.

"Why--why, what's this--a circus?" he asked. "Look, Nan! See those monkeys!"

"Why, it is a circus--and the train must have been wrecked!" exclaimed his sister. "Oh mamma, what can it be?"

A brakeman came into the car where the Bobbseys were.