The four little Blossoms crowded to the rail of The Sarah and stared dumbly at the slim girl in a pink frock who had been waving the oar.
"Why, if it isn't Letty Blake!" said Captain Jenks cheerfully."How long have you been living on Kidd's Island?"
To the surprise of the children, Letty Blake flung her oar to one side and sat down in the sand and cried.
Captain Jenks hastily tied his boat to the wooden post and jumped ashore.
"You're all right now, child," he told the girl, patting her kindly on the shoulder. "Look at all the crew who offered to come help me rescue you. And who are these small tykes?"
The two little boys came closer to Letty. "They're my cousins," explained Letty, drying her eyes. "They came to visit us last week; and I took them for a row this morning and we wanted to get some flowers. I thought I tied the boat, but when we looked up it was drifting off. Oh, dear!"
"There, there," said Captain Jenks comfortably. "Nothing to cry about, Letty. Lots of people find out too late they didn't fasten the boat. Hop ashore, youngsters, and I'll introduce you to new friends."
The four little Blossoms, though bursting with curiosity, had remained politely on deck. Now at Captain Jenk's invitation, they joined hands and jumped, landing like four plump little ducks.
"Letty," declared the captain gravely, "here are four mighty good friends of mine, Meg and Bobby and Dot and Twaddles Blossom. They don't use any other names in the summer time."
The four little Blossoms giggled at this and Letty Blake smiled a little. She was a pretty girl, apparently about twelve years old, with dark blue eyes and a tanned skin that showed she was used to outdoor living.
"These are my cousins, Nelson and Albert Bennett," she said, pulling the two boys forward.
"Hello!" beamed Twaddles, who seldom suffered from shyness. "We came to rescue you."
"Don't want to be rescued," said Nelson suddenly. "Do we, Letty?"
"Of course we do," retorted his cousin. "How do you expect to get any lunch if we have to stay on this island? And where would you sleep? We're going on board The Sarah this minute and Captain Jenks will take us home."
Letty had stopped crying, and now she shouldered the oar, ready to carry it to The Sarah.
"How's it come you have one oar?" asked Captain Jenks, plainly puzzled. "Where's the other?"
"In the boat," said Letty. "We brought this ashore because the boys wanted to play jungle travelers and carry things slung on a pole over their shoulders. But the oar was too heavy for them to lift."
Captain Jenks laughed as he marshaled the children on the boat.
"I suppose Uncle Silas will be put out over the boat being lost," said Letty thoughtfully, pulling Nelson and Albert out of the captain's way as he started the engine. "He had just painted it and the oarlocks were new this year. I wish I had made sure that knot was tied."
"No use grieving over what's done and past," said Captain Jenks wisely. "Meg, we're going to lose Dot overboard again, if she isn't removed from that railing."
Sure enough, there was Dot half way over the railing, her small sandals hooked around a cleat in an endeavor to keep her balance. Just as Meg opened her mouth to call her, she turned.
"Ship ahoy!" she cried, trying to imitate Captain Jenk's most nautical term.
"Starboard or port?" asked the captain gravely, though his eyes twinkled.
The four little Blossoms had picked up several odds and ends of navigation in the few weeks they had known the captain, but Dot was too excited to remember what she had learned.
"It's right HERE" she shouted. "Oh, you'll run into it!"
"The rowboat! The rowboat!" cried Letty, dancing up and down. "Oh, Captain Jenks, what do you think of that? It's Uncle Silas's boat and the oar is in it, and our sweaters and everything!"
"Fine! But don't lose your heads," said Captain Jenks placidly. No one had ever seen him agitated. "Bobby, you take the wheel and hold it steady."
Bobby proudly took the wheel, and Captain Jenks, while the others watched breathlessly, brought the rowboat alongside with a long iron hook and with another drew up the long rope that was tied to an iron ring in the prow.
Then the rowboat was fastened to the stern of The Sarah, and, asCaptain Jenks remarked, the rescue was complete.
Soon they reached the wharf on Apple Tree Island, and the four little Blossoms were put ashore, after saying good-by to Letty Blake and her cousins. She lived in Greenpier, and Captain Jenks had known her since she was Dot's age.
"Let's have lunch ready by the time Daddy and Mother come back," suggested Meg. "We can do it every bit ourselves."
Working like four beavers, they soon had lunch—and a good lunch, too—set out on the table. They had promised never to light the oil stove, so they could not make tea, but Mother Blossom could do that in a very few minutes when she came.
When the table was ready Meg ran out for some red clover and tall grasses for a bouquet and Bobby followed her, leaving Dot and Twaddles alone.
"I think we ought to have some jelly on the table, don't you?" said Dot. "We never have enough jelly. Mother likes currant."
"You get it, and I'll open it," promised Twaddles. "Bobby never lets me have the can opener."
Dot got a chair and climbed up on it. She was just able to reach the shelf in the closet where the tumblers of jelly were kept. She knew that currant jelly was red and she handed down a ruby red glass to the waiting Twaddles.
"Don't cut yourself," she admonished him as he punched the can opener into the tin lid.
Twaddles and Dot did not know that jelly tumblers are not opened with can openers. Mother Blossom and Norah always pried off the tin lids and used them the next year for other glasses.
"Oh, gee, there's a lot of wax on top," Twaddles reported when he had torn a jagged hole in the lid and found the jelly was protected with a layer of paraffin. "How'll I get that off?"
"Take a fork," advised Dot. "Here—I'll show you."
She seized a fork and jammed it into the paraffin. Bits of wax and jelly flew from the glass, splashing Twaddles' clean blouse and plentifully decorating Dot's white apron.
"Mother's coming!" cried Meg, rushing into the kitchen with her flowers. Then she stopped. "Dot Blossom, look what you're done!" she wailed.
Well, there was not much use in scolding, after it was done, and Daddy and Mother Blossom said that since the twins had been so good about helping to get lunch, that they should not be punished beyond having to go without any jelly for that meal.
Of course the four little Blossoms had a great deal to tell about the children they had helped Captain Jenks to rescue from Kidd's Island. Daddy and Mother Blossom had seen the captain in Greenpier and already knew of the rescue, but did not know many of the details that the children now gave them.
"We saw Mr. Harley," said Mother Blossom, bringing out her darning basket after lunch to one of the pretty trees where the family were fond of sitting.
"I wish he could find Mrs. Harley," grieved Meg. "Yesterday, when we were playing at Mr. Harley's house, we found a little hobby horse, that must have belonged to one of the boys. I s'pose there wasn't room for it in the trunk."
"I don't think poor Mrs. Harley packed a trunk," sighed Mother Blossom. "Mr. Harley says he believes she walked out of the house and took nothing with her except the clothes she wore. She had a suitcase of things for the children, Polly said, and that was all."
"Well, if that's the case, it's funny we can't find a clue," remarked Daddy Blossom. "I've looked, and I know Dick has looked, everywhere for some kind of note or even a letter she might have left. There isn't a scrap to build on."
A few days after this Daddy Blossom announced that he was going toGreenpier on important business.
"I know, Daddy," shouted Twaddles. "Fireworks for the Fourth ofJuly."
Father Blossom was going over on the morning boat to do his shopping, and soon after he had gone down to the wharf the four little Blossoms decided to go to "Mr. Harley's house" to play. Mother Blossom, who was writing a long letter to Aunt Polly, was willing, and the four trotted off down the little path their own feet had worn.
"Let's go another way," suggested Meg suddenly. "We've always said we'd go through the woods, and we always come this same old way. Come on, Bobby, we can't get lost."
The "woods" that Meg spoke of were mostly underbrush and second growth of trees, with here and there a fine old oak that had escaped the wood-chopper's ax. The children scrambled through the bushes, climbed over the big gray rocks that stood half hidden under a covering of dead leaves and creeping vines, and finally came out behind the Harley shack.
"I never saw this side of it, did you, Meg?" asked Bobby. "Look, this must have been the lean-to where Mrs. Harley did the washing. Yes, here's an old wooden tub all fallen to pieces."
The children poked about in the rubbish carelessly until Twaddles happened to spy one of the apple trees on the point.
"They're ripe!" he cried in great excitement, though he had had his breakfast less than an hour before. "The apples are ripe, Dot! Mr. Harley said we could eat 'em!"
He and Dot raced for the tree, while Meg followed more slowly.Bobby remained to turn more stones over with his foot.
Presently the others heard him shout.
"Meg! Oh, Meg! Hurry up and see what I've found!"
Meg ran back, and the twins tumbled pell-mell after her.
"What is it?" they all cried breathlessly. "What is it?"
Bobby held up two small silver mugs.
"Found them down between these two rocks," he explained. "They must belong to Mr. Harley's little boys. And that isn't all—look here!"
Bobby was so excited his hands shook. He spread three or four stained sheets of paper on the ground.
"It looks like a letter," said Meg, puzzled.
"It is," announced Bobby triumphantly. "I can't read it very well, 'cause the writing goes together, but see here's the beginning: 'My dearest Lou,'—that must be Mrs. Harley."
"Show us where you found 'em," demanded the twins. "Right down in those little rocks?"
"It's a kind of cave," said Bobby. "See, in between there's a hollow place and I was just going to see how far it went. It's lined with bricks in there."
"My d-e-a-r-e-s-t L-o-u," spelled Meg, who could not read as well as Bobby. "Oh, Bobby, hurry and let Mother read it. Maybe it will say where Mrs. Harley went."
No going through the woods this time. The four little Blossoms ran as hard as they could, making every possible short cut and paying no attention to inquisitive bushes that reached out brier fingers and tore their clothes. Meg carried the cups and Bobby the letter, and when they reached the bungalow they were all so breathless that at first they could not speak.
"Oh, Mother!" gasped Bobby, when he could speak, "we found a letter to Mrs. Harley. At least we think it is to Mrs. Harley. Back of some rocks. You read it."
"Does it say where she went?" cried Dot, dancing up and down impatiently. "Does it say where she went, Mother?"
Mother Blossom had to laugh.
"Every one of you sit down and wait until I see what this is Bobby has found," she commanded. "You are all so excited, I can not half understand what you are trying to tell me. Did you find the cups, too?"
Bobby nodded.
Mother Blossom took the sheets of paper and the children waited as patiently as they could while she read them. When she put them down her eyes were shining.
"This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Bobby, my precious, you don't know what you have done. This is not one letter, but three, and written by an uncle and aunt of Mrs. Harley's living in a town called Cordova. It is in Oklahoma. They ask Mrs. Harley to bring the children and come out there to live with them, and I shouldn't be surprised if she had gone there. We must get these letters to Mr. Harley right away."
"Captain Jenks won't be here till this afternoon and Daddy's coming with him," said Bobby. "Let me row you over, Mother?"
"I'm afraid you and I will have to go," answered Mother Blossom. "Chicks, if Daddy were here, you all should go; but I know Meg and the twins will wait patiently for us and we will hurry back and tell you exactly what Mr. Harley says and what he thinks he had better do."
Meg and Twaddles and Dot wanted to go dreadfully, but they knew that five could not go in one boat and neither Meg nor Bobby could row well enough to manage a boat alone. So the three left behind waited with the best grace they could until Mother Blossom and Bobby came back. They brought Father Blossom and the fireworks with them.
"Did you see Mr. Harley?" was Meg's first question. "Was he glad?Is he going to Oklahoma?"
"Let me fasten the boat," pleaded Father Blossom. "If our boats drift away some fine night we would be in a pretty fix. Yes, Daughter, we saw Mr. Harley and gave him the letters. He has telegraphed to Cordova, and as soon as he receives a reply he has promised to come over and let us know."
"How long does it take to telegraph to Cordova?" Twaddles wanted to know.
Father Blossom laughed as he gathered up his packages of fireworks.
"I knew that would be the next question," he said. "Why, Son, it takes several hours; it may be night, it may be to-morrow morning, before we hear from Mr. Harley."
"Did the mugs belong to his little boys?" asked Dot, skipping beside her father on the way to the bungalow. "Was he glad to get 'em, Daddy?"
"Very glad," answered Father Blossom. "The little silver mugs were given to the children by the Greenpier minister when they were christened."
Throughout the afternoon the children talked of little else than the Harley family. Mr. Harley had asked Father Blossom to search the brick-lined hole between the two rocks, thinking perhaps there might be something else hidden there. He himself was unwilling to leave Greenpier until an answer to his telegram had been received, even though he knew it could not come very soon.
Father Blossom searched carefully, but there was nothing else in the hole.
Mr. Harley did not come that afternoon, but the next morning theBlossoms had just finished breakfast when he knocked at the door.
But such a changed Mr. Harley!
His eyes were bright and clear, and his face was beaming with happiness. He wore a new suit of clothes and a new hat and was freshly shaved. The Blossoms knew instantly that he had had good news.
"Everything is all right," he announced in a ringing voice. "Had an answer from Cordova at nine o'clock last night. Lou and the boys are living with her Uncle Matthew, and they want me to come out there as quick as trains will carry me. I'm off this morning!"
"I'm so glad," Mother Blossom kept saying. "I'm so glad."
"Can't be half as glad as I am," answered the smiling Mr. Harley. "And to think if it hadn't been for this boy here I never would have found them! I'll never forget the Blossoms if I live to be a hundred."
Mr. Harley, we'll tell you here, did find his wife and two sons in Oklahoma, and as they did not want to return to Apple Tree Island where they had been so unhappy, he settled down in Cordova with them and helped the uncle to farm. Uncle Matthew Dexter and Aunt Sue were both growing old and they were very glad to have a younger and stronger man to lend them a hand. As for the two boys and Mrs. Harley, they declared that they never would give them up, so it was fortunate that Mr. Harley liked to farm. Dick and Herbert grew into fine young lads. So we may leave the Harley family with a comfortable mind.
Fourth of July dawned hot and sunny on Apple Tree Island. Captain Jenks came over in his motor-boat and brought a huge chunk of ice for the freezing of the ice-cream. He had been invited to stay to dinner and to see the fireworks in the evening, and when, after dinner, it grew so hot that Father Blossom declared the sun would certainly set fire to the sparklers without any punk, the jolly captain loaded "all hands" on board The Sarah and took them off for a sail around the island.
There was plenty of breeze then, you may be sure, and the children had great fun lighting their sparklers and hanging them over the rail to burn. They had to keep away from the engine with their "fizzers," as the captain would call them, because he said he wouldn't trust even guaranteed fireworks to be harmless around a gasoline engine, but they had plenty of excitement without blowing up the good ship Sarah.
"Why, we're not going home—we're going to Greenpier!" cried Meg, when they had sailed around the island and were headed for the opposite shore.
Mother and Father Blossom looked very mysterious, but said nothing, and Captain Jenks answered all questions by ordering them not to talk to "the man at the wheel."
When The Sarah bumped into the Greenpier wharf, the four littleBlossoms made a simultaneous discovery.
"Jud!" they shrieked in unison. "Jud Apgar! Oh, Juddy!"
It was Jud, Jud grinning happily with a traveling bag in one hand and a box in the other.
"Go easy now," he warned the children as they descended upon him in a body. "Miss Polly sent your mother some fresh eggs—you don't want to smash 'em, do you?"
Mother Blossom rescued the egg box, and the children escorted Jud on deck and introduced him to Captain Jenks.
"Guess you surprised some folks," said the captain, shaking Jud's hand as though he were very glad to see him. "Some folks couldn't see why we should come to Greenpier on a Wednesday afternoon and a holiday at that."
Mother and Father Blossom and Aunt Polly had planned the surprise, it seemed. Jud could never leave Brookside Farm for long at one time in the Summer, there was so much work to be done, but Aunt Polly assured him that he could easily be spared for a few days' visit to Apple Tree Island. She had planned it with Father and Mother Blossom through letters and they had kept the secret successfully.
If the afternoon was still hot when they reached home, no one knew it. The whole island had to be shown to Jud, and he had to see the Harley shack and hear of the discovery of the silver mugs and the letters. It was supper time before the children realized it and then, in a little while, it was dark.
"Dark enough for fireworks?" said Twaddles for the twentieth time, and he bounced with delight when Father Blossom said:
"Dark enough to begin, I think."
Mother Blossom and the children and Captain Jenks sat on the steps of the bungalow while Father Blossom and Jud set off the fireworks. Each child was allowed to apply the punk to one piece, but they soon found it was better fun to sit quietly and watch.
"There goes a flower-pot!" cried Meg, as a brilliant shower of red and yellow sparks bloomed out against the velvet blackness of the Summer night.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—seven stars," countedBobby as Jud set off a Roman candle.
"Now a rocket!" said Mother Blossom, and Captain Jenks gave a hurrah as the beautiful shooting star thing hissed and fell far out into Sunset Lake.
Father Blossom and Jud were kept busy setting off the many pieces, for Jud had brought more in his bag, and when they lit the last red light it was discovered that Dot was fast asleep sitting upright against a porch post.
It was a tired and sleepy family that, Jud carrying Dot, marched to bed when the red light had burned itself out. But they were immensely happy. So was Captain Jenks, whistling on his way to his boat—nothing would induce him to stay all night. So was the Harley family far out in Oklahoma. And they were all happy for the same reason.