BOBBY'S GREAT DISCOVERY
Meg ran back, and the twins tumbled pell-mell after her.
"What is it?" they all cried breathlessly. "What is it?"
Bobby held up two small silver mugs.
"Found them down between these two rocks," he explained. "They
must belong to Mr. Harley's little boys. And that isn't all--look
here!"
Bobby was so excited his hands shook. He spread three or four
stained sheets of paper on the ground.
"It looks like a letter," said Meg, puzzled.
"It is," announced Bobby triumphantly. "I can't read it very well,
'cause the writing goes together, but see here's the beginning:
'My dearest Lou,'--that must be Mrs. Harley."
"Show us where you found 'em," demanded the twins. "Right down in
those little rocks?"
"It's a kind of cave," said Bobby. "See, in between there's a
hollow place and I was just going to see how far it went. It's
lined with bricks in there."
"My d-e-a-r-e-s-t L-o-u," spelled Meg, who could not read as well
as Bobby. "Oh, Bobby, hurry and let Mother read it. Maybe it will
say where Mrs. Harley went."
No going through the woods this time. The four little Blossoms ran
as hard as they could, making every possible short cut and paying
no attention to inquisitive bushes that reached out brier fingers
and tore their clothes. Meg carried the cups and Bobby the letter,
and when they reached the bungalow they were all so breathless
that at first they could not speak.
"Oh, Mother!" gasped Bobby, when he could speak, "we found a
letter to Mrs. Harley. At least we think it is to Mrs. Harley.
Back of some rocks. You read it."
"Does it say where she went?" cried Dot, dancing up and down
impatiently. "Does it say where she went, Mother?"
Mother Blossom had to laugh.
"Every one of you sit down and wait until I see what this is Bobby
has found," she commanded. "You are all so excited, I can not half
understand what you are trying to tell me. Did you find the cups,
too?"
Bobby nodded.
Mother Blossom took the sheets of paper and the children waited as
patiently as they could while she read them. When she put them
down her eyes were shining.
"This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Bobby, my precious, you don't
know what you have done. This is not one letter, but three, and
written by an uncle and aunt of Mrs. Harley's living in a town
called Cordova. It is in Oklahoma. They ask Mrs. Harley to bring
the children and come out there to live with them, and I shouldn't
be surprised if she had gone there. We must get these letters to
Mr. Harley right away."
"Captain Jenks won't be here till this afternoon and Daddy's
coming with him," said Bobby. "Let me row you over, Mother?"
"I'm afraid you and I will have to go," answered Mother Blossom.
"Chicks, if Daddy were here, you all should go; but I know Meg and
the twins will wait patiently for us and we will hurry back and
tell you exactly what Mr. Harley says and what he thinks he had
better do."
Meg and Twaddles and Dot wanted to go dreadfully, but they knew
that five could not go in one boat and neither Meg nor Bobby could
row well enough to manage a boat alone. So the three left behind
waited with the best grace they could until Mother Blossom and
Bobby came back. They brought Father Blossom and the fireworks
with them.
"Did you see Mr. Harley?" was Meg's first question. "Was he glad?
Is he going to Oklahoma?"
"Let me fasten the boat," pleaded Father Blossom. "If our boats
drift away some fine night we would be in a pretty fix. Yes,
Daughter, we saw Mr. Harley and gave him the letters. He has
telegraphed to Cordova, and as soon as he receives a reply he has
promised to come over and let us know."
"How long does it take to telegraph to Cordova?" Twaddles wanted
to know.
Father Blossom laughed as he gathered up his packages of
fireworks.
"I knew that would be the next question," he said. "Why, Son, it
takes several hours; it may be night, it may be to-morrow morning,
before we hear from Mr. Harley."
"Did the mugs belong to his little boys?" asked Dot, skipping
beside her father on the way to the bungalow. "Was he glad to get
'em, Daddy?"
"Very glad," answered Father Blossom. "The little silver mugs were
given to the children by the Greenpier minister when they were
christened."
Throughout the afternoon the children talked of little else than
the Harley family. Mr. Harley had asked Father Blossom to search
the brick-lined hole between the two rocks, thinking perhaps there
might be something else hidden there. He himself was unwilling to
leave Greenpier until an answer to his telegram had been received,
even though he knew it could not come very soon.
Father Blossom searched carefully, but there was nothing else in
the hole.
Mr. Harley did not come that afternoon, but the next morning the
Blossoms had just finished breakfast when he knocked at the door.
But such a changed Mr. Harley!
His eyes were bright and clear, and his face was beaming with
happiness. He wore a new suit of clothes and a new hat and was
freshly shaved. The Blossoms knew instantly that he had had good
news.
"Everything is all right," he announced in a ringing voice. "Had
an answer from Cordova at nine o'clock last night. Lou and the
boys are living with her Uncle Matthew, and they want me to come
out there as quick as trains will carry me. I'm off this morning!"
"I'm so glad," Mother Blossom kept saying. "I'm so glad."
"Can't be half as glad as I am," answered the smiling Mr. Harley.
"And to think if it hadn't been for this boy here I never would
have found them! I'll never forget the Blossoms if I live to be a
hundred."
Mr. Harley, we'll tell you here, did find his wife and two sons in
Oklahoma, and as they did not want to return to Apple Tree Island
where they had been so unhappy, he settled down in Cordova with
them and helped the uncle to farm. Uncle Matthew Dexter and Aunt
Sue were both growing old and they were very glad to have a
younger and stronger man to lend them a hand. As for the two boys
and Mrs. Harley, they declared that they never would give them up,
so it was fortunate that Mr. Harley liked to farm. Dick and
Herbert grew into fine young lads. So we may leave the Harley
family with a comfortable mind.
Fourth of July dawned hot and sunny on Apple Tree Island. Captain
Jenks came over in his motor-boat and brought a huge chunk of ice
for the freezing of the ice-cream. He had been invited to stay to
dinner and to see the fireworks in the evening, and when, after
dinner, it grew so hot that Father Blossom declared the sun would
certainly set fire to the sparklers without any punk, the jolly
captain loaded "all hands" on board The Sarah and took them off
for a sail around the island.
There was plenty of breeze then, you may be sure, and the children
had great fun lighting their sparklers and hanging them over the
rail to burn. They had to keep away from the engine with their
"fizzers," as the captain would call them, because he said he
wouldn't trust even guaranteed fireworks to be harmless around a
gasoline engine, but they had plenty of excitement without blowing
up the good ship Sarah.
"Why, we're not going home--we're going to Greenpier!" cried Meg,
when they had sailed around the island and were headed for the
opposite shore.
Mother and Father Blossom looked very mysterious, but said
nothing, and Captain Jenks answered all questions by ordering them
not to talk to "the man at the wheel."
When The Sarah bumped into the Greenpier wharf, the four little
Blossoms made a simultaneous discovery.
"Jud!" they shrieked in unison. "Jud Apgar! Oh, Juddy!"
It was Jud, Jud grinning happily with a traveling bag in one hand
and a box in the other.
"Go easy now," he warned the children as they descended upon him
in a body. "Miss Polly sent your mother some fresh eggs--you don't
want to smash 'em, do you?"
Mother Blossom rescued the egg box, and the children escorted Jud
on deck and introduced him to Captain Jenks.
"Guess you surprised some folks," said the captain, shaking Jud's
hand as though he were very glad to see him. "Some folks couldn't
see why we should come to Greenpier on a Wednesday afternoon and a
holiday at that."
Mother and Father Blossom and Aunt Polly had planned the surprise,
it seemed. Jud could never leave Brookside Farm for long at one
time in the Summer, there was so much work to be done, but Aunt
Polly assured him that he could easily be spared for a few days'
visit to Apple Tree Island. She had planned it with Father and
Mother Blossom through letters and they had kept the secret
successfully.
If the afternoon was still hot when they reached home, no one knew
it. The whole island had to be shown to Jud, and he had to see the
Harley shack and hear of the discovery of the silver mugs and the
letters. It was supper time before the children realized it and
then, in a little while, it was dark.
"Dark enough for fireworks?" said Twaddles for the twentieth time,
and he bounced with delight when Father Blossom said:
"Dark enough to begin, I think."
Mother Blossom and the children and Captain Jenks sat on the steps
of the bungalow while Father Blossom and Jud set off the
fireworks. Each child was allowed to apply the punk to one piece,
but they soon found it was better fun to sit quietly and watch.
"There goes a flower-pot!" cried Meg, as a brilliant shower of red
and yellow sparks bloomed out against the velvet blackness of the
Summer night.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven--seven stars," counted
Bobby as Jud set off a Roman candle.
"Now a rocket!" said Mother Blossom, and Captain Jenks gave a
hurrah as the beautiful shooting star thing hissed and fell far
out into Sunset Lake.
Father Blossom and Jud were kept busy setting off the many pieces,
for Jud had brought more in his bag, and when they lit the last
red light it was discovered that Dot was fast asleep sitting
upright against a porch post.
It was a tired and sleepy family that, Jud carrying Dot, marched
to bed when the red light had burned itself out. But they were
immensely happy. So was Captain Jenks, whistling on his way to his
boat--nothing would induce him to stay all night. So was the
Harley family far out in Oklahoma. And they were all happy for the
same reason.
THE END