Bobbsey Twins 03: The Secret at the Seashore

“Yes,” Bert replied. “I guess Freddie was right when he said he saw Garry in there.”

“Let’s take this to the police,” Nan suggested. “It’s more evidence that Albert Garry was here.”

The children piled into the canoe again. This time they did not stay along the shore but paddled in a straight line toward Ocean Cliff. When they reached police headquarters they were glad to find their friend Officer Weaver at the desk.

“Well, well, here are the young detectives!” he said cheerily. “Any more clues for us? We still haven’t been able to put our hands on that airline thief!”

When Bert gave him the ticket which Harry had found, the police officer said, “Garry must be hanging out in that park. But we’ve searched every inch of it without finding him! I’ll put a special plainclothes guard at the entrance to the Underground City in case he tries to get in there.”

He thanked the children for their help, then they went home. All the grownups were away except Dinah. Nan asked her where Freddie and Flossie were.

“Some neighbor took ‘em over to the lake to sail that boat Freddie won,” the cook replied.

At this moment the phone rang. Bert answered it. “What!” he exclaimed. “Yes, we’ll be right over!”

Bert ran to the others. “Freddie and Flossie have disappeared! That was Mrs. Smith, who took them to the lake. She left them for a few minutes to go for some ice cream. When she came back, they were gone!”

The five children dashed from the house and raced toward the lake.

An hour before this, Freddie and Flossie had been playing contentedly in a little cove on the lake shore with Mrs. Smith watching them.

The breeze had been coming from just the right direction. It filled the sails of the toy boat and sent it flying across the narrow strip of water that formed the cove.

“It’s a fast boat!” Freddie said proudly. He ran along the shore and picked it up when it touched land.

Then Flossie had a turn at launching the miniature craft. After they had sent the boat across the cove several times, Flossie suggested they play water carnival.

“How can we do that when there aren’t any other boats?” Freddie objected.

Freddie put the boat on the ground and helped his twin collect a few wildflowers and some trailing vines. Mrs. Smith said, “While you’re doing that, I’ll get ice cream for all of us. You’d like some, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, yes, thank you,” the twins answered, and she hurried off to the amusement park to make the purchase.

Flossie and Freddie wound the trailing vines around the masts and put the flowers on the deck.

“There! The boat looks bee-yoo-ti-ful!” Flossie cried, as she set the little craft in the water again.

While the children had been gathering the flowers, the wind had changed. Now, instead of sailing across the cove, the boat headed out into the lake.

“I can‘t!” Freddie answered in distress. “It’s too far out!”

The little boat sailed farther and farther away from the shore. Freddie looked around in desperation.

A short distance up the shore he saw a small rowboat tied to a dock. Freddie ran toward it.

“Oh, I don’t think we should!” Flossie objected. “Besides, you can’t row!”

“We-ell,” said Flossie doubtfully. “I guess we’ll have to take the boat if we want to rescue your prize.”

Freddie climbed in and took the middle seat “Take that rope off the pole,” he directed. “Then we can go.”

Flossie untied the rope, then sat down timidly, facing Freddie. The little boy put his hands on the oars and began to row.

“You watch the sailboat, Flossie!” he said, “and tell me when we get close to it.”

“It’s going awfully fast,” Flossie reported. “You’ll have to hurry to catch it!”

Freddie tried to row faster, but the oars were too heavy for him. As he gave a hard pull on one oar it skimmed the water, splashing Flossie from head to toe.

“Oh, Freddie!” she protested. “You don’t know how to row at all!”

“I do so!” he said. But the next minute he dug the oars too deeply into the water. They flew from his hands and one struck him on the chest. He fell backward off the seat into the bottom of the rowboat! The oars had unlocked and started to float away.

“Oh, Freddie,” said Flossie, her lip trembling. “Are you hurt?”

Freddie struggled back onto the seat. “I’m all right.” He tried to reach the oars, but they were too far away.

“Maybe we could just paddle with our hands,” Flossie suggested. “You paddle on one side and I’ll take the other.”

This did not work either. The boat moved quietly along, blown by the brisk wind.

“Yes, but we’re not getting very near it,” Flossie replied. “Maybe we should go back.”

“Oh, all right,” Freddie said, a little annoyed at his sister. He thought, “If I go home now, my little boat will be lost forever!”

Both children again paddled very hard with their hands, but the rowboat drifted farther and farther away from the shore. It was headed around a bend.

“Look, Freddie!” Flossie cried out. “An island. Let’s land there !”

“Okay,” Freddie agreed. “Maybe we can find someone to row us home and get my sailboat!”

The wind blew the boat nearer and nearer the island. “Watch out! We’re going to bump!” Flossie called.

At that moment the boat did bump on the shore of the island. Freddie stood up. “Come on, Flossie!” he said. “Let’s explore!”

But as Flossie rose to take her brother’s hand, a harsh voice called out:

“I don’t know, but we’d better leave!” her twin said, sitting down quickly.

They managed to turn the boat around so it was heading toward the shore of the lake.

But the wind was still blowing strongly up the lake, and the children could make no headway.

“Let’s yell, Flossie!” Freddie said. “Maybe someone will hear and come for us.”

At this moment Nan, Bert, Harry, and Mrs. Smith were standing on the shore. Hal had brought up his canoe. There was no sign of the small twins.

“Listen!” Dorothy commanded. “I think I hear someone calling.”

The five children became quiet. From far down the lake they heard the cry: “Help !”

“That sounds like Freddie!” Nan said fearfully. “They must be in trouble!”

“Come on, Bert!” Hal called. “We’ll take my canoe and go after them!”

The two boys jumped into the canoe and paddled swiftly out into the lake. In a short while the watchers on the bank saw two boats round the bend. Hal and Bert were paddling The Swan, with Freddie and Flossie seated in it. The borrowed rowboat was tied on behind.

On the way back Hal picked up the lost oars, and Bert rescued the sailboat.

The small twins told him. After they all reached the shore and the girls were making a fuss over Freddie and Flossie, Bert took the boys aside.

“I’d like to know who was on that island,” he said. “How about our going over there tomorrow and looking around?”

As Bert and Harry walked back toward the group, Uncle William came hurrying from the Minturn boathouse. “Did any of you take out the Firefly?” he asked.

“No, sir,” Bert replied, “we went in Hal’s canoe. Why?”

“I thought the motor was sputtering a bit yesterday,” Uncle William explained. “I planned to work on it before supper, but the boat’s gone!”

“Gone!” Bert echoed in dismay. “We put it away last night. It must have been taken this morning!”

As soon as they reached home, he reported the loss to the police, who promised to look for the boat.

“Do you suppose Albert Garry stole our boat?” Dorothy wondered as she and the other two girls climbed into their beds that night.

“I don’t know,” Nan admitted sleepily. “But I wish we could catch him!”

The girls had been asleep only a short while when they were awakened by a loud ringing noise.