CHAPTER XVII
OLD FRIENDS
"Now, Aunt Sarah," pleaded Nan the next morning, "you might just aswell wait and go home on the excursion train. All Meadow Brook willbe down, and it will be so much pleasanter for you. The train will behere by noon and leave at three o'clock."
"But think of the hour that would bring us to Meadow Brook!" objectedAunt Sarah.
"Well, you will have lots of company, and if Uncle Daniel shouldn'tmeet you, you can ride up with the Hopkinses or anybody along yourroad."
Mrs. Bobbsey and Aunt Emily added their entreaties to Nan's, and AuntSarah finally agreed to wait.
"If I keep on," she said, "I'll be here all summer. And think of thefruit that's waiting to be preserved!"
"Hurrah!" shouted Bert, giving his aunt a good hug. "Then Harry and Ican have a fine time with the Meadow Brook boys," and Bert dashed outto take the good news to Harry and Hal Bingham, who were out at thedonkey house.
"Come on, fellows!" he called. "Down to the beach! We can have aswim before the crowd gets there." And with renewed interest the triostarted off for the breakers.
"I would like to live at the beach all summer," remarked Harry. "Evenin winter it must be fine here."
"It is," said Hal. "But the winds blow everything away regularly, andthey all have to be carted back again each spring. This shore, withall its trimmings now, will look like a bald head by the first ofDecember."
All three boys were fine swimmers, and they promptly struck off forthe water that was "straightened out," as Bert said, beyond thetearing of the breakers at the edge. There were few people in thesurf and the boys made their way around as if they owned the ocean.
Suddenly Hal thought he heard a call!
Then a man's arm appeared above the water's surface, a few yards away.
"Cramps," yelled Hal to Harry and Bert, while all three hurried towhere the man's hand had been seen.
But it did not come up again.
"I'll dive down!" spluttered Hal, who had the reputation of being ableto stay a long time under water.
It seemed quite a while to Bert and Harry before Hal came up again,but when he did he was trying to pull with him a big, fat man, who wasall but unconscious.
"Can't move," gasped Hal, as the heavy burden was pulling him down.
Bit by bit the man with cramps gained a little strength, and with theboys' help he was towed in to shore.
There was not a life-guard in sight, and Hal had to hurry off to thepier for some restoratives, for the man was very weak. On his way,Hal met a guard who, of course, ran to the spot where Harry and Bertwere giving the man artificial respiration.
"You boys did well!" declared the guard, promptly, seeing how hardthey worked with the sick man.
"Yes--they saved--my life!" gasped the half-drowned man. "This littlefellow"--pointing to Hal--"brought--me up--almost--from--the bottom!"and he caught his breath, painfully.
The man was assisted to a room at the end of the pier, and after alittle while he became much better. Of course the boys did not standaround, being satisfied they could be of no more use.
"I must get those lads' names," declared the man to the guard. "Mineis ----," and he gave the name of the famous millionaire who had amagnificent summer home in another colony, three miles away.
"And you swam from the Cedars, Mr. Black," exclaimed the guard. "Nowonder you got cramps."
An hour later the millionaire was walking the beach looking for thelife-savers. He finally spied Hal.
"Here, there, you boy," he called, and Hal came in to the edge, buthardly recognized the man in street clothes.
"I want your name," demanded the stranger. "Do you know there aremedals given to young heroes like you?"
"Oh, that was nothing," stammered Hal, quite confused now.
"Nothing! Why, I was about dead, and pulled on you with all my twohundred pounds. You knew, too, you had hardly a chance to bring meup. Yes, indeed, I want your name," and as he insisted, Halreluctantly gave it, but felt quite foolish to make such a fuss "overnothing," as he said.
It was now about time for the excursion train to come in, so the boysleft the water and prepared to meet their old friends.
"I hope Jack Hopkins comes," said Bert, for Jack was a great friend.
"Oh, he will be along," Harry remarked. "Nobody likes a good timebetter than Jack."
"Here they come!" announced Hal, the next minute, as a crowd ofchildren with many lunch boxes came running down to the ocean.
"Hello there! Hello there!" called everybody at once, for, of course,all the children knew Harry and many also knew Bert.
There were Tom Mason, Jack Hopkins, August Stout, and Ned Prentice inthe first crowd, while a number of girls, friends of Nan's, were inanother group. Nan, Nellie, and Dorothy had been detained by somebodyfurther up on the road, but were now coming down, slowly.
Such a delight as the ocean was to the country children!
As each roller slipped out on the sands the children unconsciouslyfollowed it, and so, many unsuspected pairs of shoes were caught bythe next wave that washed in.
"Well, here comes Uncle Daniel!" called Bert, as, sure enough, down tothe edge came Uncle Daniel with Dorothy holding on one arm, Nanclinging to the other, while Nellie carried his small satchel.
Santa Claus could hardly have been more welcome to the Bobbseys atthat moment than was Uncle Daniel. They simply overpowered him, asthe surprise of his coming made the treat so much better. The girlshad "dragged him" down to the ocean, he said, when he had intendedfirst going to Aunt Emily's.
"I must see the others," he insisted; "Freddie and Flossie."
"Oh, they are all coming down," Nan assured him. "Aunt Sarah, too, iscoming."
"All right, then," agreed Uncle Daniel. "I'll wait awhile. Well,Harry, you look like an Indian. Can you see through that coat oftan?"
Harry laughed and said he had been an Indian in having a good time.
Presently somebody jumped up on Uncle Daniel's back. As he wassitting on the sands the shock almost brought him down. Of course itwas Freddie, who was so overjoyed he really treated the good-natureduncle a little roughly.
"Freddie boy! Freddie boy!" exclaimed Uncle Daniel, giving his nephewa good long hug. "And you have turned Indian, too! Where's thatsea-serpent you were going to catch for me?"
"I'll get him yet," declared the little fellow. "It hasn't rainedhardly since we came down, and they only come in to land out of therain."
This explanation made Uncle Daniel laugh heartily. The whole familysat around on the sands, and it was like being in the country and atthe seashore at the one time, Flossie declared.
The boys, of course, were in the water. August Stout had not learnedmuch about swimming since he fell off the plank while fishing inMeadow Brook, so that out in the waves the other boys had great funwith their fat friend.
"And there is Nettie Prentice!" exclaimed Nan, suddenly, as she espiedher little country friend looking through the crowd, evidentlysearching for friends.
"Oh, Nan!" called Nettie, in delight, "I'm just as glad to see you asI am to see the ocean, and I never saw that before," and the twolittle girls exchanged greetings of genuine love for each other.
"Won't we have a perfectly splendid time?" declared Nan. "Dorothy, mycousin, is so jolly, and here's Nellie--you remember her?"
Of course Nettie did remember her, and now all the little girls wentaround hunting for fun in every possible corner where fun might behidden.
As soon as the boys were satisfied with their bath they went in searchof the big sun umbrellas, so that Uncle William, Aunt Emily,Mrs. Bobbsey, and Aunt Sarah might sit under the sunshades, whileeating lunch. Then the boys got long boards and arranged them frombench to bench in picnic style, so that all the Meadow Brook friendsmight have a pleasant time eating their box lunches.
"Let's make lemonade," suggested Hal. "I know where I can get a pailof nice clean water."
"I'll buy the
lemons," offered Harry.
"I'll look after sugar," put in Bert.
"And I'll do the mixing," declared August Stout, while all set to workto produce the wonderful picnic lemonade.
"Now, don't go putting in white sand instead of sugar," teased UncleDaniel, as the "caterers," with sleeves rolled up, worked hard overthe lemonade.
"What can we use for cups?" asked Nan.
"Oh, I know," said Harry, "over at the Indian stand they have a lot ofgourds, the kind of mock oranges that Mexicans drink out of. I canbuy them for five cents each, and after the picnic we can bring themhome and hang them up for souvenirs."
"Just the thing!" declared Hal, who had a great regard for things thathang up and look like curios. "I'll go along and help you make thebargain."
When the boys came back they had a dozen of the funny drinking cups.
The long crooked handles were so queer that each person tried to getthe cup to his or her mouth in a different way.
"We stopped at the hydrant and washed the gourds thoroughly," declaredHal, "so you need not expect to find any Mexican diamonds in them."
"Or tarantulas," put in Uncle Daniel.
"What's them?" asked Freddie, with an ear for anything that soundedlike a menagerie.
"A very bad kind of spider, that sometimes comes in fruit from othercountries," explained Uncle Daniel. Then Nan filled his gourd fromthe dipper that stood in the big pail of lemonade, and he smacked hislips in appreciation.
There was so much to do and so much to see that the few hours allowedthe excursionists slipped by all too quickly. Dorothy ran away andsoon returned with her donkey cart, to take Nettie Prentice and a fewof Nettie's friends for a ride along the beach. Nan and Nellie didnot go, preferring to give the treat to the little country girls.
"Now don't go far," directed Aunt Emily, for Aunt Sarah and UncleDaniel were already leaving the beach to make ready for the train. Ofcourse Harry and Aunt Sarah were all "packed up" and had very littleto do at Aunt Emily's before starting.
Hal and Bert were sorry, indeed, to have Harry go, for Harry was sucha good leader in outdoor sports, his country training always standingby him in emergencies.
Finally Dorothy came back with the girls from their ride, and thepeople were beginning to crowd into the long line of cars that waitedon a switch near the station.
"Now, Nettie, be sure to write to me," said Nan, bidding her littlefriend good-by.
"And come down next year," insisted Dorothy.
"I had such a lovely time," declared Nettie. "I'm sure I will comeagain if I can."
The Meadow Brook Bobbseys had secured good seats in the middlecar,--Aunt Sarah thought that the safest,--and now the locomotivewhistle was tooting, calling the few stragglers who insisted onwaiting at the beach until the very last minute.
Freddie wanted to cry when he realized that Uncle Daniel, Aunt Sarah,and even Harry were going away, but with the promises of meeting againChristmas, and possibly Thanksgiving, all the good-bys were said, andthe excursion train puffed out on its long trip to dear old MeadowBrook, and beyond.