FLOSSIE'S DOLL
Captain Crane jingled a bell that told the engineer of the motor boat to
slow down. Then he steered the _Swallow_ over toward the other motor
boat in which was a man waving his hand, as though he wanted the
Bobbseys to stop, or at least to come closer, so that he might speak to
them.
The Bobbsey twins were wildly excited.
"Hello, Captain Harrison!" called Captain Crane, as soon as the two
boats were close enough to talk from one to the other. "Did you want to
see me?"
"Well, yes, I did," answered Captain Harrison, who was on the other
motor boat, which was named _Sea Foam_. "I think I have some news for
you."
"I hope it's good news," Captain Crane made reply.
"Yes, I believe it is. Are you going out to rescue a boy from an island
quite a way to the south of us?"
"Yes, these friends of mine are going," answered Captain Crane, pointing
to the Bobbseys and to Cousin Jasper, who were sitting on the deck under
the shade of an awning. "But how did you know?"
"I just passed Captain Peters in his boat, and he told me about your
starting off on a voyage," went on Captain Harrison. "As soon as I heard
what you were going to do, I made up my mind to tell you what I saw. I
passed that island, where you are going to look for a lost man----"
"It's a lost boy, and not a lost man," interrupted Captain Crane.
"Well, lost boy, then," went on Captain Harrison. "Anyhow, I passed that
island the other day, and I'm sure I saw some one running up and down on
the shore, waving a rag or something."
"You did!" cried Cousin Jasper, who, with the Bobbseys, was listening to
this talk. "Then why in the world didn't you go on shore and get Jack?
Why didn't you do that, Captain?"
"Because I couldn't," answered Captain Harrison. "A big storm was coming
up, and I couldn't get near the place on account of the rocks. But I
looked through my telescope, and I'm sure I saw a man--or, as you say,
maybe it was a boy--running up and down on the shore of the island,
waving something.
"When I found I couldn't get near the place, on account of the rocks and
the big waves, I made up my mind to go back as soon as I could. But the
storm kept up, and part of my motor engine broke, so I had to come back
here to get it fixed.
"I just got in, after a lot of trouble, and the first bit of news I
heard was that you were going to start off for this island to look for
some one there. So I thought I'd tell you there is some one on the
shore--at least there was a week ago, when I saw the place."
The Bobbsey twins listened "with all their ears" to this talk, and they
wondered what would happen next.
"Well, if Captain Harrison saw Jack there he must be alive," said Bert
to Nan.
"Unless something happened to him afterward in the storm," remarked Nan.
"I wish we could hurry up and get him," said Freddie.
"Be quiet, children," whispered Mrs. Bobbsey. "Captain Crane wants to
hear all that the other captain says."
"S-sh," hissed Flossie importantly.
"How long ago was this?" asked Captain Crane.
"About a week," answered Captain Harrison. "I had trouble getting back,
so it was a week ago. I tried to see some other boat to send to the
island to take off this lost boy, but I didn't meet any until I got
here. Somebody on shore told me about you. Then I thought, as long as
you are going there, I'd tell you what I saw."
"I'm glad you did," observed Cousin Jasper. "And I'm glad to know that
Jack is well enough to be up and around--or that he was when you saw
him. We must go there as fast as we can now, and rescue him."
"Maybe some other boat stopped and took him off the island," said
Captain Harrison.
"Well, maybe one did," agreed Cousin Jasper. "If so, that's all the
better. But if Jack is still there we'll get him. Thank you, Captain
Harrison."
Then the two motor boats started up again, one to go on to her dock at
St. Augustine and the other--the one with the Bobbsey twins on
board--heading for the deep blue sea which lay beyond.
"Do you think you can find Jack?" asked Freddie, as he stood beside
Captain Crane, who was steering the _Swallow_.
"Well, yes, little fat fireman. I hope so," was the answer. "If Captain
Harrison saw him running around the island, waving something for a flag,
that shows he was alive, anyhow, and not sick, as he was when the folks
took Mr. Dent off. So that's a good sign."
"But it was more than a week ago," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Of course we all
hope he can be found, but we must hurry as fast as we can."
"That's right," said Cousin Jasper. "Make the boat go as fast as you
can, Captain Crane."
"I will," answered the seaman. "You'll see how quickly my _Swallow_ can
skim over the waves."
Now that they were started on their voyage over the sea the Bobbsey
twins had a good chance to get better acquainted with Cousin Jasper.
There had been so much to do in getting ready for the trip and in
leaving the hotel that they had hardly spoken to him, or he to them.
But now that they were all on board the motor boat, and there was
nowhere else to go, and nothing to do, except to sit around on deck, or
eat when the meal times came, there was a chance to see Cousin Jasper
better and to talk with him more.
"I like him," said Freddie, as the four twins sat together under an
awning out of the sun, and listened to the conversation of the older
folk, who were talking about the news given them by Captain Harrison. "I
like Cousin Jasper!"
"So do I. And he likes my rubber doll," said Flossie.
"What makes you think he likes your doll?" asked Nan, with a laugh at
her little sister.
"'Cause when I dropped her on the floor in the cabin he picked her up
for me and asked if she was hurt."
"You can't hurt a rubber doll!" exclaimed Freddie.
"I know you can't," said Flossie, "'ceptin' maybe when you pretend, and
I wasn't doing that then. But Cousin Jasper brushed the dust off my
doll, and he liked her."
"That was nice of him," said Bert. "I like Captain Crane, too. He's
going to let me steer the boat, maybe, when we get out where there
aren't any other ships for me to knock into."
"And he's going to let me run the engine--maybe," added Freddie.
"Well, you'd better be careful how you run it," laughed Bert. "It's a
good deal bigger than your fire engine."
So the Bobbsey twins talked about Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane, and
they were sure they would like both men. As for Cousin Jasper, he really
loved the little folk, and had a warm place in his heart for them,
though he had not seen any of them since they were small babies.
On and on puffed the _Swallow_, over the deep blue sea, drawing nearer
to the island where they hoped to find Jack Nelson.
"But it will take us some little time to get there, even if nothing
happens," said Cousin Jasper, as they all sat down to dinner in the
cabin a little later. The meal was a good one, and Nan and her mother
were quite surprised that so much could be cooked in the little kitchen,
or "galley," as Captain Crane called it, for on a ship that is the name
of the kitchen.
One of the members of the crew was the cook, and he also helped about
the boat, polishing the shiny brass rails, and doing other things, for
there is as much work about a boat as there is about a house, as Nan's
mother said to her.
"Yes, Mother, I can see that there is a lot of work to do around a boat
like this, especially if they wish to keep it in really nice style,"
said Nan. "The sailors have to work just about as hard as the servants
do around a house."
"Yes, my dear, and they have to work in all sorts of weather, too."
"Well, we have to work in the house even in bad weather."
"That's true. But the sailors on a boat often have to work outside on
the deck when the weather is very rough."
"And that must be awfully dangerous," put in Bert.
"It does become dangerous at times, especially when there is a great
storm on."
"Do you think we'll run into a storm on this trip?" Nan questioned.
"I'm sure I hope not!" answered the mother quickly. "To run into a big
storm with such a small boat as this would be dangerous."
"Maybe we'd be wrecked and become regular Robinson Crusoes," said Bert.
"Oh, please, Bert! don't speak of such dreadful things!" said his
mother.
"But that would be fun, Mother."
"Fun!"
"All right. We won't be wrecked then." And Bert and his mother both
laughed.
After dinner the Bobbsey twins sat out on the deck, and watched the blue
waves. For some little time they could look back and see the shores of
Florida, and then, as the _Swallow_ flew farther and farther away, the
shores were only like a misty cloud, and then, a little longer, and they
could not be seen at all.
"Now we are just as much at sea as when we were on the big ship coming
from New York, aren't we?" Bert asked his father.
"Yes, just about," answered Mr. Bobbsey.
It was a little while after this that Mrs. Bobbsey, who had gone down to
the staterooms, to get a book she had left there, heard Flossie crying.
"What's the matter, little fairy?" asked her mother, as she came up on
deck.
"Oh, Mother, my nice rubber doll is gone, and Freddie took her and now
he's gone," said Flossie.
"Freddie gone!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "What do you mean, Flossie? Where
could Freddie go?"
"I don't know where he went. I guess he didn't go to look at any colored
ladies with baskets on their heads, 'cause there aren't any here. But he
went downstairs, where the engine is, and he took my doll with him. I
saw him, and I hollered at him, but he wouldn't bring her back to me.
Oh, I want my doll--my nice rubber doll!" and Flossie cried real tears.
"I must find Freddie," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I wonder where that boy could
have gone this time?"