The Bismarck Tribune

ADVENTURE OF THE TWINS

BY OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON

"Good morning, Mr. Zip!" said Mrs. Yellowbill Duck as she waddled through the turnstile of Happy Go Lucky Park, followed by her six children.

"Good morning, Mrs. Yellowbill!" nodded the little fairyman in a friendly way. Mister Zip was in a very good humor because business was so good.

"Good morning, Mrs. Yellowbill!" said Nick and Nancy as the duck lady and her family approached the lemonade, lollypop, ice cream cone stand.

"Good morning," quacked Mrs. Yellowbill pleasantly. "What kind of lollypops do you have today?"

"Crab, watercress, cornmeal and lettuce," said Nick, picking out the flavors that he thought the Duck children would like.

"Crab! I want a crab lollypop," quacked Davy Duck. "I just love crab flavoring."

"Do you have any lollypops flavored with frogs?" asked Dolly Duck. "I think frog flavoring is better than vanilla or peppermint or anything."

"What's that?" boomed a big voice nearby. "Who is it that likes frog flavoring, I'd like to know?"

And there stood big green Grandfather Frog looking over his glasses as cross as two sticks.

"We were just saying," remarked Mrs. Yellowbill loudly, as she waddled up close to Grandfather, "that we all liked frog flavoring very, very much indeed." and as she finished speaking, she didn't close her mouth at all but held it open so wide that Grandfather didn't need his glasses to see half way down her throat.

"I--I heard you the first time," said Grandfather hastily backing away to the place where his grandsons were waiting for him in the weeds. "Come, boys, we'll go and chute-the-chutes. I can't stand here all day talking about lollypops."

"Wh-what was he saying about shooting?" asked Mrs. Yellowbill, nervously. "Did I hear him say that he was going to shoot something?"

"He's just going to chute-the-chutes," said Nick. "It's a sort of roller coaster that slides you off into the water and you get all splashed. I think that you and the children would like it."

"Why, I believe we would," said Mrs. Yellowbill. "Hurry, children, pick out your lollypops and we'll be going. Whatever it means to chute-the-chutes I don't know, but if it is something that splashes you, I'm sure we shall like it."

She paid for the lollypops and tucked her big pocketbook under her wing, and away they all went, wiggling their tails and all talking at once, and by and by they came to the place where a big sign said "Chute-the-Chutes. 5 cents a Ride!"

"You get six tickets for a quarter," said Nick, who had followed along to see that the duck lady didn't get lost.

"Make it seven and I'll come," said Mrs. Yellowbill.