“So maybe Jack can hear us, and he’ll know we’re here. Whenever me or Flossie gets lost we always holler; don’t we?” he asked his little sister.
“Yes,” she answered.
“And when Bert or Nan, or our father or mother is looking for us, even if we don’t know we’re lost, they always holler; don’t you, Bert?”
“Yes, and sometimes I have to ‘holler’ a lot before you answer,” said Nan’s brother.
“Well, perhaps it would be a good thing to call now,” agreed Mr. Bobbsey. “Shall we, Cousin Jasper?”
“Yes,” he answered. So the men, with the children to help them, began to shout.
“Jack! Jack! Where are you, Jack?”
The woods and the orange trees echoed the sound, but that was all.
Was the missing boy still on the island?
CHAPTER XXI
Looking for Jack
Again and again the Bobbseys and the others called the name of Jack, but the 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, looking about 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, and when we go there I can show you the wreck of my motor boat—that is, if the 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 some things 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 as soon as I can.”
“Maybe he’ll find us before we find him,” suggested Mr. Bobbsey. “I should think he would be on the lookout, every day, for a ship to which he could signal to be taken off.”
“Perhaps he is,” said Cousin Jasper. “Well, I hope he comes walking along 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 we would find oranges growing in such a place.”
“I forgot to speak about them,” said Cousin Jasper. “In fact I was so ill and so miserable after the wreck, that I did not take much notice of what 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 all right, 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 motor boat.”
“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 got here and found that Jack was all right,” answered Cousin Jasper. “But if he is ill, and needs a doctor, we shall have to go right back to Florida. However, until we are sure of that, we will get ready to camp out.”
“Oh, what fun!” cried Nan.
“It’ll be as nice as on Blueberry Island!” Flossie exclaimed, clapping her 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 men folks then began to bring things from the Swallow, which was anchored in a little bay, not far from shore.
Two tents were to be set up, and though the crew would stay on the boat with Captain Crane, to take care of the vessel if a sudden storm came up, 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 the boat so that cooking could be done without the uncertain waiting for a campfire, and boxes and baskets of food were set out.
“I want to put up the other tent,” said Freddie. “I know just how it ought to be done.”
“All right, Freddie, you can help,” was the answer from Bert. “Only, you had better not try to pound any of the pegs in the ground with the hatchet, 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 slipped from 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,” said Mrs. Bobbsey. “Here, you and Flossie can help put these boxes and baskets away. There is plenty of other work for you to do.”
A little later the second tent was in position, and everything about the camp 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 the missing Jack.
“I want to come, too,” said Freddie.
“Not now,” his mother told him. “It is too far for a little boy. Perhaps you and Flossie may go to-morrow. You stay and help me make the camp ready for night.”
This pleased Freddie and Flossie, and soon they were helping their mother, 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 where Cousin Jasper’s boat had struck the rocks and been wrecked, and Mr. Dent also showed them the place where he and Jack stayed while they were waiting for a boat to come for them.
“And here is where we set up our signal,” cried Mr. Bobbsey’s cousin, as he found a pole which had fallen over, having been broken off close to the ground. On top was still a piece of canvas that had fluttered as a flag.
“But why didn’t Jack leave it flying, to call a boat to come and get him when he found you gone?” asked Mr. Bobbsey.
“I don’t know,” said Cousin Jasper. “This is very strange. I thought surely we would find Jack as soon as we reached the island. It may be that he has been taken off by some fishermen, but I think I would have heard of it. And he was here about a week ago, for Captain Harrison saw him, 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 Jasper shook 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 to the place where Mrs. Bobbsey had been left with Nan and the two smaller twins, the camp on Orange Island was nearly finished. The tents had been put 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 husba
nd answered.
“Oh, isn’t that too bad?”
“Yes, I am very sorry,” sighed Cousin Jasper. “But I have not yet given up. I’ll stay here until either I find him, or make sure what has happened to him. Poor Jack has no relatives, and I am his nearest friend. I feel almost as though he were my son. We will find him if he is on this island.”
Bert and the others who had walked around to the other side of the island, hoping that Jack might be found, were tired from their trip, and when they got back were glad to sit on the beach in the shade. A meal was soon ready, and when they had eaten they all felt better.
“It is too late to do much more searching today,” 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 and Nan gathered oranges for breakfast.
“I wish we could live here always,” said Freddie. “I’d never have to go to 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 friends and 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 of a little hill, Freddie suddenly cried:
“Look out! I’m coming!”
And come he did, but in an odd way. For he slipped and fell, and rolled to the bottom, bringing up with a bump against a stump.
“Oh, my dear little fat fireman! Did you hurt yourself?” asked his father.
Freddie did not answer at first. He slowly got to his feet, looked up the hill down which he had rolled, and then at the stump, which was covered 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 and girls are just the kind to bring to a place like this. They can’t get hurt 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 name many times.
But all the sounds they heard in answer were those of the waves dashing on the beach or the cries of the sea-birds.
“It is very strange,” said Captain Crane. “If that boy was here about a week ago, you’d think we could find some trace of him—some place where he had built a fire, or set up a signal so it would be seen by passing ships. I believe, Mr. Dent, that he must have been taken away, and when we get back to St. Augustine he’ll be there waiting for us.”
“Well, perhaps you are right,” said Cousin Jasper, “but we will make sure. We’ll stay here a week, anyhow, and search every part of Orange Island.”
They had brought their lunch with them, so they would not have to go back to the camp when noon came, and, finding a pleasant place on the beach, near a little spring of water, they sat down to rest.
Flossie and Freddie, as often happened, finished long before the others did, 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 Cousin Jasper, 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 to get up and once more start the search; when Flossie and Freddie came running back. One look at their faces told their mother that something had happened.
“What is it, children?” she asked.
“We—we found a big, black cave!” answered Freddie, somewhat out of breath.
“An’—an’ they’s a—a giant in it!” added Flossie, who was also breathing 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 a cave?” 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 Captain Crane.
“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?” asked Nan.
“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 from the beach and of seeing a big hole—a regular cave. They went in a little 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 some animal, 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 Freddie to 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 a groan, 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 I can’t find him and—”
“But he’s found you!” cried Mr. Dent. “Oh, Jack! I’ve found you! I’ve found 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. Bobbsey and Captain Crane had pocket electric flashlights, and by these they could 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 was flushed, as if from fever, and a piece of sail-cloth was tied around one leg. Near him, on the ground where he was lying, were some oranges, and a few pieces of very dry crackers, called “pilot biscuits” by the sailors.
“Oh, Jack, what has happened to you? Are you hurt, and have you been in this 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 I can’t climb up and down the hill, so I got in here to stay out of the storms, and I thought no one would ever come to me.”
“You poor boy!” softly said Mrs. Bobbsey. “Don’t talk any more now. Wait until 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 the worst thing that could happen.
“No, not so very,” answered Jack. “When I found I couldn’t get around any m
ore, or not so well, on my sore leg, I crawled to the trees and got some oranges. I had a box of the biscuit and some other things that washed ashore from the wreck after you went away,” he said to Cousin Jasper.
“Well, tell us about it later,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “Now we are going to take 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 knew something about doctoring, bound up his leg, and when the lost boy had been given some hot soup, and put in a comfortable bed, he felt much better.
A little later he told what had happened to him.
“After you became so sick,” said Jack to Cousin Jasper, the others listening to the story, “I walked to the other end of the island to see if I could not see, from there, some ship I could signal to come and get us. 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, you weren’t there. I didn’t know what had happened to you and I couldn’t find you.”
“Men came in a boat and took me away,” said Cousin Jasper, “though I didn’t know it at the time. When I found myself in the hospital I wondered where you were, but they all thought I was out of my head when I wanted them to come to the island and rescue you. So I had to send for Mr. 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,” said his 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 was getting tired of staying on the island all alone.”
“What did you do all the while?” asked Bert. “Did you feel like Robinson Crusoe?”
“Well a little,” Jack answered. “But I didn’t have as much as Robinson had from the wreck of his ship. But I managed to get enough to eat, and I 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 my signals.”
The Bobbsey Twins Megapack Page 133