ON THE ISLAND
There was great excitement down on the ground when the cry of Mrs.
Bobbsey told her husband, the other children, and the big crowd that
Flossie and Freddie had been carried away in the balloon. At first some
did not believe it, and even Mr. Bobbsey found it hard to imagine that
such a thing could happen.
But one look up at the swaying basket dangling from the runaway balloon
showed him the faces of Flossie and Freddie looking down at the earth
which seemed to be dropping away from them.
"Oh, my children! My children! Flossie! Freddie!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey,
tears streaming down her cheeks, as she raised her hands toward the
swiftly rising balloon.
"Get them down!"
"We'll catch 'em if they jump!"
"Get a ladder!"
"Have the man in the aeroplane go after them!"
These were some of the cries--foolish cries in some cases--that sounded
on all sides as Flossie and Freddie were carried away. For how could any
ladder be long enough to reach up to the balloon?
"Oh, can't we do something?" wailed Mrs. Bobbsey, holding to her
husband.
"We'll save them! We'll save Flossie and Freddie," said Mr. Bobbsey. Nan
was crying also, and Harry and Bert looked at each other with strange
faces. They didn't know what to do or say.
Mr. Bobbsey felt the wind blowing stronger and stronger and saw the
gathering storm. As he saw how fast the balloon was moving upward and
onward, away from the fair grounds, he, too, was much frightened.
"How did those children get in there?" asked one of the balloon men.
"They must have crawled in the basket when we weren't looking," answered
Mr. Bobbsey.
"Is there any way of saving my little children?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Now don't you worry," said the balloon man kindly. "They'll be all
right if they stay in the basket. The balloon hasn't all its gas in, and
it won't blow very far. It will soon come down to the ground."
"But won't they be killed?"
"No, a balloon comes down very gently when the gas gives out." said the
man. "It's almost like a parachute. Your children will come down like
feathers. We'll get up a searching party and go after them." He knew
there was great danger but he did not want to add to Mrs. Bobbsey's
fears.
"Oh, yes! Do something!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "We must save them!"
While down below there was all excitement and while a searching party
was getting ready to start out to rescue Flossie and Freddie, the two
little children themselves were safe enough in the balloon basket. That
is they were safe for the time being, for they could not fall unless
they climbed over the side of the basket, and they would hardly do this.
They were also safe from banging into anything, for they were now high
in the air, well above all trees and buildings, and there were no other
balloons or any aeroplanes in sight.
At the fair grounds was an aeroplane, but it had not gone up yet, and
could not, for the engine was broken, and the man had to mend it before
he could make a flight. So as long as Flossie and Freddie remained in
the basket they were safe.
They did not even feel the wind blow, for as they were being carried
right along in the gale, being a part of it, so to speak, they did not
feel it as they had when standing on the ground.
But, in spite of all this, Flossie's little heart was beating very fast
and tears came into her eyes.
"Oh, Freddie!" she half sobbed, "what you s'pose's goin' to happen to
us?"
"I don't know," he answered. "But anyhow we're up in a balloon and we're
having a fine sail. I like a balloon, don't you, Flossie?"
Flossie thought it over for a moment. Now that the first fright was
passed she rather enjoyed the quiet, easy motion. For there were no
bumps as in an automobile, and there was no swaying as on the
merry-go-round. It was like flying with the birds, and Flossie had
always wanted to be a bird.
"It is--yes, I guess it is nice," she said. "Are we high up?"
"Not very," Freddie answered. "Don't look over the edge or you might
fall out of the basket," he told his sister, as he saw her getting ready
to stand on her tiptoes and peer down. Freddie had looked down once, as
had Flossie, when they first felt themselves going up, and it had made
him a little dizzy. He did not want Flossie to fall out.
"Let's see if we can find something to eat," suggested the little boy.
"I'm hungry."
"So'm I," agreed Flossie. This was something new to think about.
They poked among the things in the balloon basket. There were funny
objects, the uses of which they could only guess at, but there were also
some crackers and sandwiches, as well as a bottle of milk, and some
water.
"Oh, we can have a regular camp-out!" laughed Flossie. "We'll make
believe we're on a steamer."
"It'll be lots of fun," agreed Freddie. So they ate and were quite
happy, while those they had left behind were very much worried and
miserable.
The wind blew harder and harder, but, as I have said, Flossie and
Freddie did not notice it. Soon, however, they began to notice something
else, and this was some drops of water.
"Oh, the balloon's leaking!" cried Flossie, as she felt a damp spot on
her red cheek.
Freddie also felt some wet splashes, but he saw at once what they were.
"It's raining!" he cried. And so it was. The storm had broken.
"Raining!" cried Flossie. "And we hasn't got any umbrella!"
"We don't need one," said the little boy. "The balloon's so big it will
be like an umbrella over us."
This was partly true. The bag of the balloon bulged out over the heads
of the children, keeping off most of the rain. But some blew in sideways
over the top of the basket, and the children would have been quite wet
had they not wrapped themselves in blankets. These kept them warm and
dry, for one of the blankets was of rubber.
Thus the little Bobbsey twins sailed on in a balloon, the first ride of
this kind they had ever taken. Their first fright was over, but they
began wondering what would happen next.
Suddenly Flossie discovered a hole in the bottom of the basket, through
which she could look down to the earth. And as she looked she cried:
"Oh, Freddie, we're going down into a lake!"
Freddie looked and saw what his sister had seen. The balloon was now
going down. Probably the gas had leaked out, or there may not have been
more than enough to carry the balloon a short distance. At any rate it
was now falling, and, as the children saw, straight toward a body of
water.
"Shall we fall into the water?" asked Flossie.
"No--no, I don't guess so," Freddie answered. He hoped that was not
going to happen. But as he looked down and saw the water seemingly
coming nearer and nearer, though of course it was the balloon going
down, the little boy did not feel at all sure but they would drop right
into the lake.
"We'd better hold on hard to the basket," said Freddie, after thinking
over the best thing to do. "When we get in the lake we can hold on to
the basket until somebody comes."
This idea made Flossie feel a little better. She was glad she had
Freddie with her, and Freddie was glad Flossie was with him.
Down, down the balloon gently dropped. The rain was pouring hard now,
splashing into the lake, which was covered in some places with a blanket
of fog.
Then, just when it seemed that Flossie and Freddie and the balloon would
splash into the water, an island loomed in sight.
"Oh, if we could only land on the island!" cried Freddie.
And that's just what happened! Through the branches of trees the balloon
crashed, this helping to stop it more gently. Down to the island it
fell, the basket banging on the ground. The basket tipped over sideways,
spilling Flossie and Freddie out, but not hurting them as they fell in a
pile of dried leaves. Some of the things in the basket fell out with
them.
Once the children were out of the balloon it rose a little, was blown
along a short distance by the wind, and then, getting tangled in the
tree branches, came to a stop.
"Well, we're all right now," said Freddie, as he arose and brushed the
leaves from him.
"But I'm getting all wet!" sobbed Flossie. "I'm soaked!"
And so she was, as well as Freddie, for it was raining hard.