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"'Cause Captain Crane said we'd be at the island to-morrow if we didn't have a storm, or if nothing happened."
On and on went the Swallow. When dinner time came there was served some of the turtle soup from the big crawler that had pulled on Flossie's dress. There was also fish, but Freddie did not catch any more.
Cousin Jasper and Mr. Bobbsey fished off the side of the motor boat and caught some large ones, which the cook cleaned and got ready for the table.
"Going to sea is very nice," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You don't have to send to the store for anything to eat, and when you are hungry all you have to do is to drop your hook overboard and catch a fish."
It was about noon of the next day when Bert, who was standing in the bow, or front part of the vessel, said to his father:
"I see something like a black speck out there," and he pointed. "Maybe it's another boat."
Mr. Bobbsey looked and said:
"I think more likely that is an island. Perhaps it is the very one we are sailing for -- the one where Cousin Jasper left Jack."
He called to Captain Crane, who brought a powerful telescope, and through that the men looked at the speck Bert had first seen.
"It's land all right," said Captain Crane. In about an hour they were so near the island that its shape could easily be made out, even without a glass. Then Cousin Jasper said:
"That's it all right. Now to go ashore and find that poor boy!"
On raced the Swallow, and soon she dropped anchor in a little bay like the one at Palm Island. In a small boat the Bobbseys and others were rowed to the shore.
"Oh, look at the orange trees!" cried Nan, as she saw some in a grove near the beach.
"Are they real oranges, Captain?" asked the younger girl twin.
"Yes. And it looks as though some one had an orange grove here at one time, not so very long ago, though it hasn't been kept up."
"Is this Orange Island?" asked Bert.
"Well, we can call it that," said Cousin Jasper. "In fact it never had a name, as far as I know. We'll call it Orange Island now."
"That's a good name for it, I think," remarked Nan.
"And now to see if we can find Jack!" went on Nan's twin.
"Let's all holler!" suddenly said Freddie. "Let's all holler as loud as we can!"
"What for?" asked Cousin Jasper, smiling at the little boy. "Why do you want to halloo, Freddie?"
"So maybe Jack can hear us, and he'll know we're here. Whenever me or Flossie gets lost we always holler; don't we?" he asked his little sister.
"Yes," she answered.
"And when Bert or Nan, or our father or mother is looking for us, even if we don't know we're lost, they always holler; don't you, Bert?"
"Yes, and sometimes I have to 'holler' a lot before you answer," said Nan's brother.
"Well, perhaps it would be a good thing to call now," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "Shall we, Cousin Jasper?"
"Yes," he answered. So the men, with the children to help them, began to shout.
"Jack! Jack! Where are you, Jack?"
The woods and the orange trees echoed the sound, but that was all.
Was the missing boy still on the island?
Chapter XXI
Looking For Jack
Again and again the Bobbseys and the others called the name of Jack, but the children's voices sounding loud, clear and shrill above the others. But, as at first, only the echoes answered.
"That's the way we always holler when we're lost," said Freddie.
"But I guess Jack doesn't hear us," added Flossie.
"No, I guess not," said Cousin Jasper, in rather a sad voice.
"Are you sure this is the right island?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, looking about the place where they had landed from the Swallow.
"Oh, yes, this is the island where I was shipwrecked," said Mr. Dent, "though Jack and I did not land just here. It was on the other side, and when we go there I can show you the wreck of my motor boat -- that is, if the storms have not washed it all away."
"Well, then maybe Jack is on the other side of the island," said Bert. "And he couldn't hear us."
"Yes, that might be so," agreed Cousin Jasper. "We'll go around there. But as it will take us some little time, and as we want to get some things ashore from the ship, we had better wait until later in the day, or, perhaps, until to-morrow, to look. Though I want to find Jack as soon as I can."
"Maybe he'll find us before we find him," suggested Mr. Bobbsey. "I should think he would be on the lookout, every day, for a ship to which he could signal to be taken off."
"Perhaps he is," said Cousin Jasper. "Well, I hope he comes walking along and finds us. He'll be very glad to be taken away from this place, I guess."
"And yet it is lovely here," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I never thought we would find oranges growing in such a place."
"I forgot to speak about them," said Cousin Jasper. "In fact I was so ill and so miserable after the wreck, that I did not take much notice of what was on the island. But there are many orange trees. It must have, at some time, been quite a grove."
"I was thinking maybe we'd find cocoanuts," said Freddie.
"But oranges are just as nice," put in his little sister.
"Nicer," Freddie declared. "I like oranges. May we eat some, Mother?"
"Why, yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey slowly. "Will it be all right, Cousin Jasper?"