"Well, it's about time dat yo' come t' help us, Sam Johnson!" exclaimed his wife. "It's about time!"
"Didn't know yo' all was a-comin', Dinah! Didn't know yo' all would get heah so soon, 'deed I didn't!" Sam exclaimed, with a laugh, that showed his white teeth in strange contrast to his black face. "Freddie, shall I take yo' package? Flossie, let me reliebe yo', little Missie!"
"No, Sam, thank you!" answered the little girl, who was just about the size and build of Freddie. "I have only Snoop, our cat, and I can carry him easily enough. You help Dinah!"
"'Deed an' he had better help me!" exclaimed the colored cook.
Sam took all the packages he could carry, and hurried with them to the stoop. But he had not gone very far before something happened.
From behind him rushed a big dog, barking and leaping about, glad, probably, to be home again from part of the summer vacation.
"Look out, Sam!" called Bert Bobbsey,
