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"Only there isn't any cave," Freddie said.
"Maybe there is," returned Nan. "We haven't looked around yet. Maybe we might find a cave here; mightn't we, Mother?"
"Oh, yes, you might. But don't go looking for one. I don't want you to get lost here. We must all stay together."
In a little while Bert and Mr. Bobbsey came back with baskets filled with good things to eat. They were spread out on a cloth on the clean sand, not far from where the waves broke on the beach, and then, under the waving palms, the picnic was held, Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper having a share in it. On the Swallow th...
"How long shall we be here?" Mr. Bobbsey asked.
"About two days more," answered Captain Crane. "It will take longer than we at first thought to fix the break."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that!" exclaimed Cousin Jasper. "I wanted to get to the other island as soon as we could, and save Jack. It must be very lonesome for him there, and perhaps he is hurt, or has become ill. I wish we could get to him."
"We'll go there as soon as we can," promised Captain Crane. "I am as anxious to get that poor boy as you are, Mr. Dent. At the same time I hope he has, before this, been taken off the island by some other boat that may have seen him waving to them."
"I hope so, too," said Mr. Dent. "Still I would feel better if we were at the other island and had Jack safe with us."
They all felt sorry for the poor boy, and wondered what he was doing just then.
"I hope he has something as good to eat as we have." Nan spoke with a sigh of satisfaction.
"Indeed, this is a very nice meal, for a picnic," said her mother. "We ought to be very thankful to Cousin Jasper for taking us on such a nice voyage."
"I am glad you like it," returned Mr. Dent. "All the while I was in the hospital, as soon as I was able to think, my thoughts were with this poor boy.
"I tried to get the hospital people to send a boat to rescue Jack; but they said he could not be on the island, or the sailors who brought me off would have seen him. Then they thought I was out of my head with illness, and paid little attention to me.
"Then I thought of you, Dick, and I wrote to you. I knew you liked traveling about, and especially when it was to help some one."
"Indeed I do," said the father of the Bobbsey twins. "And if all goes well we'll soon rescue Jack!"
After the picnic lunch the Bobbseys and their friends sat in the shade of the palms and talked over what had so far happened on the voyage. Flossie and Freddie wandered down the beach, and the little girl was showing her brother where she sat when the turtle grabbed her dress.
"Let's dig a hole in the sand," Freddie said, a little later.
"We haven't any shovels," Flossie answered.
"We can take shells," said Freddie.
Soon the two little twins were having fun in the sand of the beach. They had not been digging very long when Freddie gave a shout.
"Oh, I hope nothing more has happened!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, starting up.
"What is it, Freddie?" called Mr. Bobbsey.
"Look at the funny nest we found!" answered the little boy. "It's a funny nest in the sand, and it's got a lot of chicken's eggs in it! Come and look!"
Chapter XVIII
The "Swallow" Is Gone
"What is the child saying?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, for she did not hear all that Freddie said.
"He's calling about having found a hen's nest," Mr. Bobbsey answered, "but he must be mistaken. There can't be any chickens on this island."
"Maybe there are," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps, after all, some one lives here, on the other side where we haven't been. And they may keep chickens."
"Oh, no," answered her husband.
"I hardly think so," said Cousin Jasper. "But we'll go to look at what Freddie has found."
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, with Cousin Jasper, followed by Bert and Nan, hurried down the beach to Flossie and Freddie, standing beside a hole they had dug in the sand. The children were looking down into it.
"I busted one egg with my clam-shell shovel," Freddie was saying, "but there's a lot left."
"They were all covered with sand," added Flossie. "And we dug 'em up! Didn't we, Freddie? We dug up the chickie's nest!"
"But we didn't see any chickens," said the little boy.
"And for a very good reason," stated Cousin Jasper with a laugh, as he looked down into the little sand pit. "Those are the eggs of a turtle. Perhaps the very turtle that had hold of your dress, Flossie."
"Do turtles lay eggs?" asked Freddie in surprise.
"Indeed they do," said Cousin Jasper.
"O-o-oh!" gasped Flossie.
"And the turtle's eggs are good to eat, too. They are not quite as nice as the eggs of a hen, but lots of people, especially those who live on some of these islands, like them very much," went on Mr. Dent.
"Does a turkle lay its eggs in a nest like a hen?" Flossie questioned. "What made them all be covered up?"
"Well," answered Cousin Jasper, as they all looked at the eggs in the sand, "a turtle lays eggs like a hen, but she cannot hover over them, and hatch them, as a hen can, because a turtle has no warm feathers. You know it takes warmth and heat to make an egg hatch. And, as a turtle isn't warm enough to do that, she lays...
"Would turtles come out of these eggs?" asked Nan.
"Really, truly?" added Flossie.
"Just as surely as little chickens come out of hen's eggs," answered Cousin Jasper. "But they must be kept warm."
"Then we'd better cover 'em up again!" exclaimed Freddie. "We found the turtle's eggs when we were digging in the sand -- Flossie and me. And I didn't know they were there and I busted one of the eggs. First I thought they were white stones, but when I busted one, and the white and yellow came out, I found they were eg...
"And the shells aren't hard," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she leaned over the hole and touched the queer eggs in the sand-nest. "The shells are like the shell of a soft egg a hen sometimes lays."
"Except that the shells, or rather, skins, of these eggs are thicker than those of a chicken," explained Cousin Jasper. "These egg-skins are like a piece of leather. If they were hard, like the eggs of a hen, perhaps the little turtles could not break their way out, as a turtle, though it can give a hard bite, has no p...