CHAPTER XXI
LOOKING FOR JACK
Again and again the Bobbseys and the others called the name of Jack, butthe children's voices sounding loud, clear and shrill above the others.But, as at first, only the echoes answered.
"That's the way we always holler when we're lost," said Freddie.
"But I guess Jack doesn't hear us," added Flossie.
"No, I guess not," said Cousin Jasper, in rather a sad voice.
"Are you sure this is the right island?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, lookingabout the place where they had landed from the _Swallow_.
"Oh, yes, this is the island where I was shipwrecked," said Mr. Dent,"though Jack and I did not land just here. It was on the other side, andwhen we go there I can show you the wreck of my motor boat--that is, ifthe storms have not washed it all away."
"Well, then maybe Jack is on the other side of the island," said Bert."And he couldn't hear us."
"Yes, that might be so," agreed Cousin Jasper. "We'll go around there.But as it will take us some little time, and as we want to get somethings ashore from the ship, we had better wait until later in the day,or, perhaps, until to-morrow, to look. Though I want to find Jack assoon as I can."
"Maybe he'll find us before we find him," suggested Mr. Bobbsey. "Ishould think he would be on the lookout, every day, for a ship to whichhe could signal to be taken off."
"Perhaps he is," said Cousin Jasper. "Well, I hope he comes walkingalong and finds us. He'll be very glad to be taken away from this place,I guess."
"And yet it is lovely here," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I never thought wewould find oranges growing in such a place."
"I forgot to speak about them," said Cousin Jasper. "In fact I was soill and so miserable after the wreck, that I did not take much notice ofwhat was on the island. But there are many orange trees. It must have,at some time, been quite a grove."
"I was thinking maybe we'd find cocoanuts," said Freddie.
"But oranges are just as nice," put in his little sister.
"Nicer," Freddie declared. "I like oranges. May we eat some, Mother?"
"Why, yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey slowly. "Will it be allright, Cousin Jasper?"
"Oh, yes, the oranges are for whomsoever wants them. Help yourselves,children, while we get the things on shore that we need from the motorboat."
"Oh, goody!" shouted Flossie.
"Are we going to sleep here at night?" asked Bert.
"Well, I did think we might camp out here for a week or so, after we gothere and found that Jack was all right," answered Cousin Jasper. "But ifhe is ill, and needs a doctor, we shall have to go right back toFlorida. However, until we are sure of that, we will get ready to campout."
"Oh, what fun!" cried Nan.
"It'll be as nice as on Blueberry Island!" Flossie exclaimed, clappingher fat little hands.
"But there weren't any oranges on Blueberry Island," added Freddie."Still the blueberries made nice pies."
"Mother made the pies," said Flossie.
"Well, the blueberries helped her," Freddie said, with a laugh.
The Bobbsey twins gathered oranges from the trees and ate them. The menfolks then began to bring things from the _Swallow_, which was anchoredin a little bay, not far from shore.
Two tents were to be set up, and though the crew would stay on the boatwith Captain Crane, to take care of the vessel if a sudden storm cameup, the Bobbseys and Cousin Jasper would camp out on Orange Island.
In a little while one tent was put up, an oil-stove brought from theboat so that cooking could be done without the uncertain waiting for acampfire, and boxes and baskets of food were set out.
"I want to put up the other tent," said Freddie. "I know just how itought to be done."
"All right, Freddie, you can help," was the answer from Bert. "Only, youhad better not try to pound any of the pegs in the ground with thehatchet, or you may pound your fingers."
"Ho! I guess I'm just as good a carpenter as you are, Bert Bobbsey!"said the little boy stoutly.
He took hold of one of the poles and raised it up, but then it slippedfrom his grasp and one end hit Nan on the shoulder.
"Oh, Freddie! do be careful!" she cried.
"I didn't mean to hit you, Nan," he said contritely. "It didn't hurt,did it?"
"Not very much. But I don't want to get hit again."
"Freddie, you had better let the older folks set up that tent," saidMrs. Bobbsey. "Here, you and Flossie can help put these boxes andbaskets away. There is plenty of other work for you to do."
A little later the second tent was in position, and everything about thecamp was put in good shape.
Then Cousin Jasper, Mr. Bobbsey and the captain, taking Bert with them,started around for the other side of the island to look and call for themissing Jack.
"I want to come, too," said Freddie.
"Not now," his mother told him. "It is too far for a little boy. Perhapsyou and Flossie may go to-morrow. You stay and help me make the campready for night."
This pleased Freddie and Flossie, and soon they were helping theirmother, one of the sailors doing the heavy lifting.
Meanwhile Bert, his father and the others walked on through the woods,around to the other side of the island. They found the place whereCousin Jasper's boat had struck the rocks and been wrecked, and Mr. Dentalso showed them the place where he and Jack stayed while they werewaiting for a boat to come for them.
"And here is where we set up our signal," cried Mr. Bobbsey's cousin, ashe found a pole which had fallen over, having been broken off close tothe ground. On top was still a piece of canvas that had fluttered as aflag.
"But why didn't Jack leave it flying, to call a boat to come and get himwhen he found you gone?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"I don't know," said Cousin Jasper. "This is very strange. I thoughtsurely we would find Jack as soon as we reached the island. It may bethat he has been taken off by some fishermen, but I think I would haveheard of it. And he was here about a week ago, for Captain Harrison sawhim, you remember he told us. Well, we must look further."
"And yell and yell some more," added Bert. "Maybe he can hear us now."
So they shouted and called, but no one answered them, and Cousin Jaspershook his head.
"I wonder what can have happened to the poor boy!" he said.
They walked along the beach, and up among the palm and orange trees,looking for the missing boy. But they saw no signs of him.
CHAPTER XXII
FOUND AT LAST
When Bert, with his father, Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane, got back tothe place where Mrs. Bobbsey had been left with Nan and the two smallertwins, the camp on Orange Island was nearly finished. The tents had beenput up, and the oil-stove was ready for cooking.
"Didn't you find that poor boy?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"No, we saw no trace of him," her husband answered.
"Oh, isn't that too bad?"
"Yes, I am very sorry," sighed Cousin Jasper. "But I have not yet givenup. I'll stay here until either I find him, or make sure what hashappened to him. Poor Jack has no relatives, and I am his nearestfriend. I feel almost as though he were my son. We will find him if heis on this island."
Bert and the others who had walked around to the other side of theisland, hoping that Jack might be found, were tired from their trip, andwhen they got back were glad to sit on the beach in the shade. A mealwas soon ready, and when they had eaten they all felt better.
"It is too late to do much more searching to-day," said Cousin Jasper,"but we will start early in the morning."
And this they did, after a quiet night spent on the island. As soon,almost, as the sun had risen, the Bobbsey twins were up, and Bert andNan gathered oranges for breakfast.
"I wish we could live here always," said Freddie. "I'd never have to goto the store for any fruit."
"But if we stayed here we couldn't have Snap or Snoop or Dinah or Sam,or anybody like that from Lakeport," put in Flossie.
"Couldn't
we, Mother?" asked the little boy.
"Course we couldn't!" insisted Flossie.
"Well, I guess it would be hard to bring from Lakeport all the friendsand all the things you like there," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Well, then we'll go back home after we find Jack," decided Freddie.
Breakfast over, the search for the missing boy was begun once more, Mrs.Bobbsey and the smaller twins going along.
In some places, however, the way was rough and steep, and once on top ofa little hill, Freddie suddenly cried:
"Look out! I'm coming!"
And come he did, but in a queer way. For he slipped and fell, and rolledto the bottom, bringing up with a bump against a stump.
"Oh, my dear little fat fireman! Did you hurt yourself?" asked hisfather.
Freddie did not answer at first. He slowly got to his feet, looked upthe hill down which he had rolled, and then at the stump, which wascovered with moss.
"I--I guess I'm all right," he said.
"He's so fat he didn't get hurt," said Cousin Jasper. "Fat boys andgirls are just the kind to bring to a place like this. They can't gethurt easily."
Freddie laughed, and so did the others, and then they went on again.They looked in different places for the missing boy, and called his namemany times.
But all the sounds they heard in answer were those of the waves dashingon the beach or the cries of the sea-birds.
"It is very strange," said Captain Crane. "If that boy was here about aweek ago, you'd think we could find some trace of him--some place wherehe had built a fire, or set up a signal so it would be seen by passingships. I believe, Mr. Dent, that he must have been taken away, and whenwe get back to St. Augustine he'll be there waiting for us."
"Well, perhaps you are right," said Cousin Jasper, "but we will makesure. We'll stay here a week, anyhow, and search every part of OrangeIsland."
They had brought their lunch with them, so they would not have to goback to the camp when noon came, and, finding a pleasant place on thebeach, near a little spring of water, they sat down to rest.
Flossie and Freddie, as often happened, finished long before the othersdid, and soon they strolled off, hand in hand, down the sands.
"Where are you going, children?" called Mrs. Bobbsey to them.
"Oh, just for a walk," Freddie answered.
"An' maybe we'll see Jack," added Flossie.
"I only wish they would, but it is too much to hope for," said CousinJasper, and he looked worried.
Bert, Nan and the others stayed for some little time after lunch,sitting in the shade on the beach, and talking. They were just about toget up and once more start the search; when Flossie and Freddie camerunning back. One look at their faces told their mother that somethinghad happened.
"What is it, children?" she asked.
"We--we found a big, black cave!" answered Freddie, somewhat out ofbreath.
"An'--an' they's a--a _giant_ in it!" added Flossie, who was alsobreathing hard.
"A cave!" cried Mr. Bobbsey.
"What do you mean by a giant in it?" asked Cousin Jasper.
"Well, when you see a big black hole in the side of a hill, isn't that acave?" asked Freddie.
"It surely is," said his father.
"An' when you hear somebody making a big noise like 'Boo-oo-oo-oo! Boo!'maybe that's a giant, like it is in the story," said Flossie.
"Oh, I guess perhaps you heard the wind moaning in a cave," said CaptainCrane.
"No, there wasn't any wind blowing," Freddie said. And, surely enough,there was not. The day was clear and calm.
"We heard the booing noise," Freddie said.
"Are you sure it wasn't a mooing noise, such as the cows make?" askedNan.
"There aren't any cows on Orange Island; are there, Cousin Jasper?"asked Bert.
"I think not. Tell me, children, just what you heard, and where it was,"he said to Flossie and Freddie.
Then the little twins told of walking along the hill that led up fromthe beach and of seeing a big hole--a regular cave. They went in alittle way and then they heard the strange, moaning sound.
Cousin Jasper seemed greatly excited.
"I believe there may be something there," he said. "We must go and look.If they heard a noise in the cave, it may be that it was caused by someanimal, or it may be that it was----"
"Jack!" exclaimed Bert. "Maybe it's Jack!"
"Maybe," said Cousin Jasper. "We'll go to look!"
Cousin Jasper and Mr. Bobbsey walked on ahead, with Flossie and Freddieto show where they had seen the big, black hole. It was not far away,but so hidden by bushes that it could have been seen only by accident,unless some one knew where it was.
Outside the entrance they all stopped.
"Listen!" said Flossie.
It was quiet for a moment, and then came a sound that surely was agroan, as if some one was in pain.
"Who's in there?" cried Cousin Jasper.
"I am," was the faint answer. "Oh, will you please come in and help me.I fell and hurt my leg and I can't walk, and----"
"Are you Jack Nelson?" cried Cousin Jasper.
"Yes, that's my name. A friend and I were wrecked on this island, but Ican't find him and----"
"But he's found you!" cried Mr. Dent. "Oh, Jack! I've found you! I'vefound you! I've come back to get you! Now you'll be all right!"
Into the cave rushed Cousin Jasper, followed by the others. Mr. Bobbseyand Captain Crane had pocket electric flashlights, and by these theycould see some one lying on a pile of moss in one corner of the cavern.
It was a boy, and one look at him showed that he was ill. His face wasflushed, as if from fever, and a piece of sail-cloth was tied around oneleg. Near him, on the ground where he was lying, were some oranges, anda few pieces of very dry crackers, called "pilot biscuits" by thesailors.
"Oh, Jack, what has happened to you? Are you hurt, and have you been inthis cave all the while?" asked Mr. Dent.
"No, not all the while, though I've been in here now for nearly a week,I guess, ever since I hurt my leg. I can crawl about a little but Ican't climb up and down the hill, so I got in here to stay out of thestorms, and I thought no one would ever come to me."
"You poor boy!" softly said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Don't talk any more now. Waituntil you feel better and then you can tell us all about it. Poor boy!"
"Are you hungry?" asked Freddie; for that, to him, seemed about theworst thing that could happen.
"No, not so very," answered Jack. "When I found I couldn't get aroundany more, or not so well, on my sore leg, I crawled to the trees and gotsome oranges. I had a box of the biscuit and some other things thatwashed ashore from the wreck after you went away," he said to CousinJasper.
"Well, tell us about it later," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Now we are going totake care of you."
They made a sort of little bed on poles, with pieces of the sail-cloth,and the men carried Jack to the camp. There Captain Crane, who knewsomething about doctoring, bound up his leg, and when the lost boy hadbeen given some hot soup, and put in a comfortable bed, he felt muchbetter.
A little later he told what had happened to him.
"After you became so sick," said Jack to Cousin Jasper, the otherslistening to the story, "I walked to the other end of the island to seeif I could not see, from there, some ship I could signal to come and getus. I was so tired I must have fallen asleep when I sat down to rest,and when I woke up, and went back to where you had been, Mr. Dent, youweren't there. I didn't know what had happened to you and I couldn'tfind you."
"Men came in a boat and took me away," said Cousin Jasper, "though Ididn't know it at the time. When I found myself in the hospital Iwondered where you were, but they all thought I was out of my head whenI wanted them to come to the island and rescue you. So I had to send forMr. Bobbsey to come."
"And we found the cave, didn't we?" cried Freddie.
"Yes, only for you and Flossie, just stumbling on it, as it were," saidhis father, "we might still be hunting for Jack."
>
"I'm glad we found you," said Flossie.
"So'm I," added Freddie.
"I'm glad myself," Jack said, with a smile at the Bobbsey twins. "I wasgetting tired of staying on the island all alone."
"What did you do all the while?" asked Bert. "Did you feel like RobinsonCrusoe?"
"Well a little," Jack answered. "But I didn't have as much as Robinsonhad from the wreck of his ship. But I managed to get enough to eat, andI had the cave to stay in. I found that other one, and went into that,as it was better than where we first were," he said to Mr. Dent.
"I made smudges of smoke, and set up signals of cloth," the boy went on,"but a storm blew one of my poles down, and I guess no one saw mysignals."
"Yes, Captain Harrison did, but it was so stormy he couldn't get closeenough to take you from the island," said Captain Crane.
"And then we came on as soon as we could," added Cousin Jasper. "Oh,Jack, I'm so glad we have found you, and that you are all right! You hada hard time!"
"Yes, it was sort of hard," the boy admitted. "But it's a good thingoranges grow here. I got some clams, too, and I found a nest of turtle'seggs, and roasted some of them. I didn't like them much, but theystopped me from being hungry."
"Well, now we'll feed you on the best in camp," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"And I caught a turkle, once!" added Flossie.
"I guess you mean the turtle caught you," said Nan with a laugh.
But now Jack's troubles were over. As he was weak from not having hadgood food, and from being ill, it was decided to keep him at the campfor a short while. In that time the Bobbsey twins had a good time onOrange Island, and when he was able to walk about, even though he had tolimp on a stick for a crutch, Jack went about with the children, showingthem the different parts of the cave where he had stayed. He could nothave lived there much longer alone, for his food was almost gone whenFlossie and Freddie heard him groaning in the cavern.
"And we thought you were a giant!" said Flossie with a laugh.
They had found, by accident, what the others had been looking for socarefully but could not find. And Jack had no idea his friends were onthe island until they walked into the cave with the flashing lights.
"Oh, I'm glad we traveled on the deep, blue sea," said Nan, about a weekafter Jack had been found. "This is the nicest adventure we ever had!"
These were happy days on Orange Island. Jack rapidly grew better, andwould soon be able to make the trip back to St. Augustine in the motorboat. But it was so lovely on that island in the deep, blue sea that theBobbseys stayed there nearly a month, and by that time they were all asbrown as berries, including Jack, who had been pale because of hisillness.
So the lost and lonely boy was found, and he and Cousin Jasper werebetter friends than ever. And as for the Bobbsey twins, though they hadhad many adventures on this voyage, still others were in store for them.But now we will say "Good-bye!" for a time.
THE END
BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
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