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"No, dear. But I don't want to sleep on the beach without a bed or any covers for you children."
"Perhaps we shall not have to," said Mr. Bobbsey.
They waited a while longer, watching the small boat in which were Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper, until it was rowed out of sight. Bert did not seem to mind much the prospect of having to stay all night on Palm Island.
Nan, however, like her mother and her father, was a bit worried. But Flossie and Freddie were having a good time digging in the sand with clam shells for shovels. The little twins did not worry about much of anything at any time, unless it was getting something to eat or having a good time.
"I know what I'm going to build!" cried Freddie.
"What?" demanded his twin quickly.
"I'm going to build a great big sand castle."
"You can't do it, Freddie Bobbsey. The sand won't stick together into a castle."
"I'm going to use wet sand," asserted Freddie. "That will stick together."
"You look out, Freddie Bobbsey, or you'll fall in!" cried his sister, when Freddie had gone further down near the water where the sand was wet.
"Freddie! Freddie! keep away from that water!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "I don't want you to get all wet and dirty."
"But I want to build a sand castle."
"Well, you come up here where the sand is dry and build it," continued Mrs. Bobbsey.
"All right. In a minute," answered Freddie.
Mr. Bobbsey was straining his eyes, looking out toward the point of rock, around which the rowboat had gone, and his wife was standing beside him, gazing in the same direction, when Bert, who looked the other way, cried:
"There she comes now! There's the Swallow!"
And, surely enough, there she came back, as if nothing had happened.
Mr. Bobbsey waved his hat and some one on the motor boat blew a whistle. And then, as if knowing that something was wrong, the boat was steered closer to shore than it had come before, and Mr. Chase cried:
"What's the matter? Did anything happen?"
"We thought something had happened to you!" shouted Mr. Bobbsey. "Captain Crane and Mr. Dent have gone off in the small boat to look for you."
"That's too bad," said Mr. Chase. "While you were away, on the other side of the island, we finished work on the engine. We wanted to try it, so we pulled up anchor and started off. We thought we would go around to the side of the island where you were, but something went wrong, after we were out a little while, and we...
"No, nothing happened. And we are all right," said Mr. Bobbsey, "except that we were afraid we'd have to stay on the island all night. And Captain Crane has gone to look for you."
"I'm sorry about that," returned the engineer. "It would have been all right, except that the motor didn't work as I wanted it to. But everything is fine now, and we can start for the other island as soon as we like. I'll blow the whistle and Captain Crane will know that we are back at our old place."
Several loud toots of the air whistle were given, and, a little later, from around the point came the small boat with the captain and Cousin Jasper in it. They had rowed for some distance, but had not seen the Swallow, and they were beginning to get more worried, wondering what had become of her.
"However, everything is all right now," said Captain Crane, when they were all once more on board the motor boat, it having been decided to have supper there instead of on Palm Island.
"Aren't we coming back here any more?" asked Freddie.
"Not right away," his father told him. "We stopped here only because we had to. Now we are going on again and try to find Jack Nelson."
"We have been longer getting there than I hoped we'd be," said Cousin Jasper, "but it could not be helped. I guess Jack will be glad to see us when we do arrive."
The things they had taken to Palm Island, when they had their meals under the trees, had been brought back on the Swallow. The motor boat was now ready to set forth again, and soon it was chug-chugging out of the quiet bay.
"And we won't stop again until we get to where Jack is," said Mr. Dent.
"Not unless we have to," said Captain Crane.
The Swallow appeared to go a little faster, now that the engine was fixed. The boat slipped through the blue sea, and, as the sun sank down, a golden ball of fire it seemed, the cook got the supper ready.
The Bobbseys had thought they might get to eat on the beach, but they were just as glad to be moving along again.
"And I hope nothing more happens," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Freddie, don't try to catch any more fish, or anything like that. There is no telling what might come of it."
"I won't," promised the little fellow. "But if I had my fire engine here Flossie and I could have some fun."
On and on sailed the Swallow. Every one was safely in bed, except one man who was steering and another who looked after the motor, when Mrs. Bobbsey, who was not a heavy sleeper, awakened her husband. It was about midnight.
"Dick!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper, "I smell smoke! Do you?"
Mr. Bobbsey sniffed the air. Then he jumped out of his berth.
"Yes, I smell smoke!" he cried. "And I see a blaze! Wake up, everybody!" he cried, "The boat is on fire!"
Chapter XX
Orange Island
Perhaps Freddie Bobbsey had been dreaming about a fire. At any rate he must have been thinking about it, for, no sooner did Mr. Bobbsey call, after his wife spoke to him, than Freddie, hardly awake, cried:
"Where's my fire engine? Where's my fire engine? I can put out the fire!"
Mr. Bobbsey hurried to the berths where the children were sleeping.
That is, they had been sleeping, but the call of their father, and the shouting of Freddie, awakened them. Flossie, Nan and Bert sat up, rubbing their eyes, though hardly understanding what it was all about.
"What's the matter?" cried Bert.
"The boat is on fire!" his mother answered. "Slip on a few clothes, take your life preserver, end get out on deck."
When the Bobbseys first came aboard the Swallow they were shown how to put on a life preserver, which is a jacket of canvas filled with cork. Cork is light, much lighter than wood, and it will not only float well in water, but, if a piece is large enough, as in life preservers, it will keep a person who wears it, or wh...