"Oh, I wouldn't," their mother said. "Leave the balloons here until
morning."
"And then we'll have a balloon race," proposed Bert.
"What's a balloon race?" Freddie wanted to know.
"No more talk to-night, little fat fireman!" said his mother. "Off to
bed you go!" and he and Flossie were "packed off," the other children
coming soon after.
Freddie and Flossie were up bright and early next morning, out playing
with their balloons before breakfast. They tied long threads to them,
and let them float above the trees.
"When will we have the balloon race?" asked Freddie.
"Whenever you like," Bert answered. "Only to have a race you have to
let your balloon sail off, without any string fast to it, and you will
not get it back again."
At first Freddie would not hear of that, but finally he and Flossie
became tired of the toy circus balloons, and came to Bert to beg him
to make a race for them.
Bert cut the string off both balloons. Freddie's was red and Flossie's
blue.
"Now we'll let go of both balloons at the same time," Bert explained,
"and the balloon that goes up highest will win the race.
Pages:
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159