Excerpt: ... the eggs into their basket they heard Freddie's cries for help. Surprised and a little frightened, they ran out of that part of the barn where Flossie had found the first nest and Nan the second. "Freddie! Freddie!" cried Nan. "Where are you, Freddie?" "Down in a hole!" came the muffled answer. "What hole?" Nan wanted to know. "Tell me where the hole is so I can come and get you out. What hole, Freddie?" "Maybe it's a dark hole," suggested Flossie. "You 'member the verse: 'Charcoal! Charcoal! Put me in a dark ...
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Excerpt: ... the eggs into their basket they heard Freddie's cries for help. Surprised and a little frightened, they ran out of that part of the barn where Flossie had found the first nest and Nan the second. "Freddie! Freddie!" cried Nan. "Where are you, Freddie?" "Down in a hole!" came the muffled answer. "What hole?" Nan wanted to know. "Tell me where the hole is so I can come and get you out. What hole, Freddie?" "Maybe it's a dark hole," suggested Flossie. "You 'member the verse: 'Charcoal! Charcoal! Put me in a dark hole.' Maybe Freddie is in a dark hole." "Yes, it is dark!" again sounded the muffled voice of the little boy. "I can hear you, Nan, but I can't see you. Get me out of the dark hole!" Nan was puzzled. She, too, could hear Freddie calling, but she could not see him. There were so many nooks and corners in the old barn that it was not strange Freddie was not easily found. It was a great place for playing hide and go seek, so many dark spots were there in which to crouch, and the seeker might be right alongside of you and not spy you. "How did you get in the hole, Freddie?" asked Nan, knowing that talking and listening to Freddie's answers was the best way to find out where he was. "I was looking for a nest," he said, his voice still muffled and far away, "and I slipped on some hay and went down the hole. There's a lot of hay in the hole with me now, and I'm stuck. I'm about half way down in the hole, Nan." Then Nan began to understand what had taken place. She remembered that once something like this had happened to her. "Are you sliding down or standing still, Freddie?" she called to her brother. "I was sliding, but I'm standing still now," he answered. "I'm stuck fast in a lot of hay." "Well, wiggle as hard as you can," advised Nan. "I know where you are. You're in one of the chutes, or wooden tubes, that Uncle Daniel shoves hay down from the top floor of the barn to the lower floor. You stepped into a hay chute and you're stuck half way...
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