CHAPTER XV
LOST ON AN ISLAND
The calm that always follows a storm settled down upon the Cliffs theday after the carnival. The talk of the entire summer settlement wasNellie and her prize, and naturally, the little girl herself thoughtof home and the lonely mother, who was going to receive such asurprise--fifty dollars!
It was a pleasant morning, and Freddie and Flossie were out watchingDowny trying to get through the fence that the boys had built to keephim out of the ocean. Freddie had a pretty little boat Uncle Williamhad brought down from the city. It had sails, that really caught thewind, and carried the boat along.
Of course Freddie had a long cord tied to it, so it could not get outof his reach, and while Flossie tried to steer the vessel with a longwhip, Freddie made believe he was a canal man, and walked along thetow path with the cord in hand.
"I think I would have got a prize in the boat parade if I had thissteamer," said Freddie, feeling his craft was really as fine as anythat had taken part in the carnival.
"Maybe you would," agreed Flossie. "Now let me sail it a little."
"All right," said Freddie, and he offered the cord to his twin sister.
"Oh," she exclaimed, "I dropped it!"
The next minute the little boat made a turn with the breeze, andbefore Flossie could get hold of the string it was all in the water!
"Oh, my boat!" cried Freddie. "Get it quick!"
"I can't!" declared Flossie. "It is out too far! Oh, what shall wedo!"
"Now you just get it! You let it go," went on the brother, withoutrealizing that his sister could not reach the boat, nor the stringeither, for that matter.
"Oh, it's going far away!" cried Flossie; almost in tears.
The little boat was certainly making its way out into the lake, and itsailed along so proudly, it must have been very glad to be free.
"There's Hal Bingham's boat," ventured Flossie. "Maybe I could go outa little ways in that."
"Of course you can," promptly answered Freddie. "I can row."
"I don't know, we might upset!" Flossie said, hesitating.
"But it isn't deep. Why, Downy walks around out here," went on thebrother.
This assurance gave the little girl courage, and slipping the rope offthe peg that secured the boat to the shore, very carefully she putFreddie on one seat, while she sat herself on the other.
The oars were so big she did not attempt to handle them, but justdepended on the boat to do its own sailing.
"Isn't this lovely!" declared Freddie, as the boat drifted quietlyalong.
"Yes, but how can we get back?" asked Flossie, beginning to realizetheir predicament.
"Oh, easy!" replied Freddie, who suddenly seemed to have become a man,he was so brave. "The tide comes down pretty soon, and then our boatwill go back to shore."
Freddie had heard so much about the tide he felt he understood itperfectly. Of course, there was no tide on the lake, although thewaters ran lazily toward the ocean at times.
"But we are not getting near my boat," Freddie complained, for indeedthe toy sailboat was drifting just opposite their way.
"Well, I can't help it, I'm sure," cried Flossie. "And I just wish Icould get back. I'm going to call somebody."
"Nobody can hear you," said her brother. "They are all down by theocean, and there's so much noise there you can't even hear thunder."
Where the deep woods joined the lake there was a little island. Thiswas just around the turn, and entirely out of view of either theMinturn or the Bingham boat landing. Toward this little island thechildren's boat was now drifting.
"Oh, we'll be real Robinson Crusoes!" exclaimed Freddie, delighted atthe prospect of such an adventure.
"I don't want to be no Robinson Crusoe!" pouted his sister. "I justwant to get back home," and she began to cry.
"We're going to bunk," announced Freddie, as at that minute the boatdid really bump into the little island. "Come, Flossie, let us getashore," said the brother, in that superior way that had come to himin their distress.
Flossie willingly obeyed.
"Be careful!" she cautioned. "Don't step out till I get hold of yourhand. It is awfully easy to slip getting out of a boat."
Fortunately for the little ones they had been taught to be carefulwhen around boats, so that they were able to take care of themselvespretty well, even in their present danger.
Once on land, Flossie's fears left her, and she immediately set aboutpicking the pretty little water flowers, that grew plentifully amongthe ferns and flag lilies.
"I'm going to build a hut," said Freddie, putting pieces of dry sticksup against a willow tree. Soon the children became so interested theydid not notice their boat drift away, and really leave them all aloneon the island!
In the meantime everybody at the house was looking for the twins.Their first fear, of course, was the ocean, and down to the beachMrs. Bobbsey, Aunt Sarah, and the boys hurried, while Aunt Emily andthe girls made their way to the Gypsy Camp, fearing the fortunetellers might have stolen the children in order to get money forbringing them back again.
Dorothy walked boldly up to the tent. An old woman sat outside andlooked very wicked, her face was so dark and her hair so black andtangled.
"Have you seen a little boy and girl around here?" asked Dorothy,looking straight into the tent.
"No, nobody round here. Tell your fortune, lady?" This to Aunt Emily,who waited for Dorothy.
"Not to-day," answered Aunt Emily. "We are looking for two children.Are you sure you have not seen them?"
"No, lady. Gypsy tell lady's fortune, then lady find them," shesuggested, with that trick her class always uses, trying to impose onpersons in trouble with the suggestion of helping them out of it.
"No, we have not time," insisted Aunt Emily; really quite alarmed nowthat there was no trace of the little twins.
"Let me look through your tent?" asked Dorothy, bravely.
"What for?" demanded the old woman.
"To make sure the children are not hiding," and without waiting for aword from the old woman, Dorothy walked straight into that gypsy tent!
Even Aunt Emily was frightened.
Suppose somebody inside should keep Dorothy?
"Come out of my house!" muttered the woman, starting after Dorothy.
"Come out, Dorothy," called her mother, but the girl was making herway through the old beds and things inside, to make sure there was noFreddie or Flossie to be found in the tent.
It was a small place, of course, and it did not take Dorothy very longto search it.
Presently she appeared again, much to the relief of her mother, Nan,and Nellie, who waited breathlessly outside.
"They are not around here," said Dorothy. "Now, mother, give the oldwoman some change to make up for my trespassing."
Aunt Emily took a coin from her chatelaine.
"Thank the lady! Good lady," exclaimed the old gypsy. "Lady find herbabies; babies play--see!" (And she pretended to look into the futurewith some dirty cards.) "Babies play in woods. Natalie sees babiespicking flowers."
Now, how could anybody ever guess that the old gypsy had just comedown from picking dandelions by the lake, where she really had seenFreddie and Flossie on the island?
And how could anybody know that she was too wicked to tell Aunt Emilythis, but was waiting until night, to bring the children back homeherself, and get a reward for doing so?
She had seen the boat drift away and she knew the little ones werehelpless to return home unless someone found them.
Mrs. Bobbsey and the boys were now coming up from the beach.
What, at first, seemed only a mishap, now looked like a very seriousmatter.
"We must go to the woods," insisted Dorothy. "Maybe that old womanknew they were in the woods."
But as such things always happen, the searchers went to the end of thewoods, far away from the island. Of course they all called loudly,and the boys gave the familiar yodel, but the noi
se of the ocean madeit impossible for the call to reach Freddie and Flossie.
"Oh, I'm so afraid they are drowned!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, breakingdown and crying.
"No, mamma," insisted Nan, "I am sure they are not. Flossie is soafraid of the water, and Freddie always minds Flossie. They must beplaying somewhere. Maybe they are home by this time," and so it wasagreed to go back to the house and if the little ones were notthere--then----
"But they must be there," insisted Nellie, starting on a run over theswampy grounds toward the Cliffs.
And all this time Freddie and Flossie were quite unconcerned playingon the island.
"Oh, there's a man!" shouted Freddie, seeing someone in the woods."Maybe it's Friday. Say there, Mister!" he shouted. "Say, will youhelp us get to land?"
The man heard the child's voice and hurried to the edge of the lake.
"Wall, I declare!" he exclaimed, "if them babies ain't lost out there.And here comes their boat. Well, I'll just fetch them in before theytry to swim out," he told himself, swinging into the drifting boat,and with the stout stick he had in his hand, pushing off for thelittle island.
The island was quite near to shore on that side, and it was only a fewminutes' work for the man to reach the children.
"What's your name?" he demanded, as soon as he touched land.
"Freddie Bobbsey," spoke up the little fellow, bravely, "and we liveat the Cliffs."
"You do, eh? Then it was your brothers who brought my cow home, so Ican pay them back by taking you home now. I can't row to the farshore with this stick, so we'll have to tramp it through the woods.Come along." and carefully he lifted the little ones into the boat,pushing to the woods, and started off to walk the round-about way,through the woods, to the bridge, then along the road back to theCliffs, where a whole household was in great distress because of thetwins' absence.