CHAPTER III
STRANGE NEWS
Bert and Nan Bobbsey looked at one another. They were a little olderthan Flossie and Freddie, and they saw that something must have happenedto make their father come home from the lumber office so early, for onmost days he did not come until dinner time. And here it was scarcelyeleven o'clock yet, and Dinah was only getting ready to cook the dinner.
"Is it bad news?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband.
"Well, part of it is bad," he said. "But no one is hurt, or killed oranything like that."
"Tell us now!" begged Bert. "Tell us the strange news, Daddy!"
"Oh, I couldn't think of it while you look the way you do," said Mr.Bobbsey. "First get washed nice and clean, and put on dry clothes. Thenyou'll be ready for the news."
"I'll hurry," promised Bert, as he ran toward the house, followed bySnap, the trick dog that had once been in a circus. Snap had come out ofthe barn, where he stayed a good part of the time. He wanted to see whatall the noise was about when Bert had called as he found himself stuckin the mud.
"Are you sure no one is hurt?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband. "AreUncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah all right?"
"Oh, yes, of course."
"And Uncle William and Aunt Emily?"
"Yes, they're all right, too. My news is about my cousin, Jasper Dent.You don't know him very well; but I did, when I was a boy," went on MrBobbsey. "There is a little bad news about him. He has been hurt and isnow ill in a hospital, but he is getting well."
"And is the strange news about him?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she walkedon, with Flossie, Freddie and Nan following.
"Yes, about Cousin Jasper," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "But don't get worried,even if we should have to go on a voyage."
"On a voyage?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey in surprise.
"Yes," and Mr. Bobbsey smiled.
"Do you mean in a real ship, like we played our raft was?" askedFreddie.
"Yes, my little fireman!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey, catching the littlebare-footed boy up in his arms. Often Freddie was called little"fireman," for he had a toy fire engine, and he was very fond ofsquirting water through the hose fastened to it--a real hose thatsprinkled real water. Freddie was very fond of playing he was a fireman.
"And will the ship go on the ocean?" asked Flossie.
"Yes, my little fat fairy!" her father replied, as he caught her up andkissed her in turn.
"If your mother thinks we ought to, after I tell the strange news aboutCousin Jasper, we may all take a trip on the deep blue sea."
"Oh, what fun!" cried Freddie.
"I hope we can go soon," murmured Nan.
"But Bert mustn't get off the ship to push it; must he, Daddy?" askedFlossie.
"No, indeed!" laughed her father, as he set her down in the grass. "Ifhe does the water will come up more than above his knees. But now pleasedon't ask me any more questions until I can sit down after dinner andtell you the whole story."
The children thought the dinner never would be finished, and Bert, whohad put on dry clothes, tried to hurry through with his food.
"Bert, my dear, you must not eat so fast," remonstrated his mother, asshe saw him hurrying.
"Bert is eating like a regular steam engine," came from Flossie.
At this Nan burst out laughing.
"Flossie, did you ever see an engine eat?" she asked.
"Well, I don't care! You know what I mean," returned the little girl.
"Course engines eat!" cried Freddie. "Don't they eat piles of coal?" hewent on triumphantly.
"Well, not an auto engine," said Nan.
"Yes, that eats up gasolene," said Bert.
But they were all in a hurry to listen to what their father might haveto say, and so wasted no further time in argument. And when the ricepudding was brought in Nan said:
"Dinner is over now, Daddy, for this is the dessert, and when you're ina hurry to go back to the office you don't wait for that. So can't wehear the strange news now?"
"Yes, I guess so," answered her father, and he drew from his pocket aletter. "This came this morning," he said, "and I thought it best tocome right home and tell you about it," he said to his wife.
"The letter is from my Cousin Jasper. When we were boys we lived in thesame town. Jasper was always fond of the ocean, and often said, when hegrew up, he would make a long voyage."
"Freddie and I were having a voyage on a raft to-day," said Flossie."And we had fun until Bert fell in."
"I didn't fall in--I jumped in and I got stuck in the mud," put in Bert.
"Don't interrupt, dears, if you want to hear Daddy's news," said Mrs.Bobbsey, and her husband, after looking at the letter, as if to makesure about what he was talking, went on.
"Cousin Jasper Dent did become a sailor, when he grew up. But he sailedmore on steamboats than on ships with sails that have to be blown by thewind. Many things happened to him, so he has told me in letters that hehas written, for I have not seen him very often, of late years. And nowthe strangest of all has happened, so he tells me here."
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Well, he has been shipwrecked, for one thing."
"And was he cast away on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe?" askedBert, who was old enough to read that wonderful book.
"Well, that's what I don't know," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Cousin Jasperdoes not write all that happened to him. He says he has been shipwreckedand has had many adventures, and he wants me to come to him so that hemay tell me more."
"Where is he?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"In a hospital in St. Augustine, Florida," was the answer.
"Oh, Florida!" exclaimed Flossie. "That's where the cocoanuts grow;isn't it, Daddy?"
"Well, maybe a few grow there, but I guess you are thinking of oranges,"her father answered with a smile. "Lots of oranges grow in Florida."
"And are we going there?" asked Bert.
"That's what I want to talk to your mother about," went on Mr. Bobbsey."Cousin Jasper doesn't say just what happened to him, nor why he is soanxious to see me. But he wants me to come down to Florida to see him."
"It would be a nice trip if we could go, and take the children," saidMrs. Bobbsey. "Though, I suppose, this is hardly the time of year to goto such a place."
"Oh, it is always nice in Florida," her husband said, "though of coursewhen it is winter here it seems nicer there because it is so warm, andthe flowers are in blossom."
"And do the oranges grow then?" asked Freddie.
"I guess so," his father said. "At any rate it is now early spring here,and even in Florida, where it is warmer than it is up North where welive, I think it will not be too hot for us. Besides, I don't believeCousin Jasper intends to stay in Florida, or have us stay there."
"Why not?" Mrs. Bobbsey asked.
"Well, in his letter he says, after he has told me the strange news, hehopes I will go on a voyage with him to search for some one who islost."
"Some one lost!" replied Nan. "What does he mean, Daddy?"
"That's what I don't know. I guess Cousin Jasper was too ill to writeall he wanted to, and he would rather see me and tell me. So I came toask if you would like to go to Florida," and Mr. Bobbsey looked at hiswife and smiled.
"Oh, yes! Let's go!" begged Bert.
"And pick oranges!" added Flossie.
"Please say you'll go, Mother!" cried Nan. "Please do!"
"I want to go in big steamboat!" fairly shouted Freddie. "And I'll takemy fire engine with me and put out the fire!"
"Oh, children dear, do be quiet one little minute and let me think,"begged Mrs. Bobbsey. "Let me see the letter, dear," she said to herhusband.
Mr. Bobbsey handed his wife the sheets of paper, and she read themcarefully.
"Well, they don't tell very much," she said as she folded them andhanded them back. "Still your cousin does say something strange happenedwhen he was shipwrecked, wherever that was. I think you had better goand see him, if you can leave the lumberyard, Dick."
r /> "Oh, yes, the lumber business will be all right," said Mr. Bobbsey, whomhis wife called Dick. "And would you like to go with me?" he asked hiswife.
"And take the children?"
"Yes, we could take them. A sail on the ocean would do them good, Ithink. They have been shut up pretty much all winter."
"Will we go on a sailboat?" asked Bert.
"No, I hardly think so. They are too slow. If we go we will, verylikely, go on a steamer," Mr. Bobbsey said.
"Oh, goody!" cried Freddie, while Mrs. Bobbsey smiled her consent.
"Well, then, I'll call it settled," went on the twins' father, "and I'llwrite Cousin Jasper that we're coming to hear his strange news, thoughwhy he couldn't put it in his letter I can't see. But maybe he had agood reason. Now I'll go back to the office and see about getting readyfor a trip on the deep, blue sea. And I wonder----"
Just then, out in the yard, a loud noise sounded.
Snap, the big dog, could be heard barking, and a child's voice cried:
"No, you can't have it! You can't have it! Oh, Nan! Bert! Make your doggo 'way!"
Mr. Bobbsey, pushing back his chair so hard that it fell over, rushedfrom the room.