Bobbsey Twins 03: The Secret at the Seashore

BERT disappeared under the water. The swimmer in distress had become panicky and grabbed the boy around the neck. There was a brief struggle, then Bert rose to the surface again, holding the man.

“I had to hit him to make him let go,” Bert panted. “But he’s all right.”

The man shook his head and looked around. “I’m okay now.”

“Just rest your hands on my shoulder,” Bert directed, “and I’ll tow you to shore.”

The man did as he was told. Dorothy and Harry swam alongside Bert, ready to help if needed. When the four staggered onto the beach, the lifeguard, Nan, and the small twins ran up.

“Are you all right, Mr. Cole?” the guard asked. “What happened?”

“I’m okay,” the man said. “I got a cramp out there and couldn’t swim. This boy saved my life !”

The lifeguard turned to Bert and put out his hand. “You did a wonderful jobl I didn’t know Mr. Cole was out there or I never would have left the beach!”

“Well, everything’s turned out all right,” Mr. Cole said, “thanks to this young man here!”

Bert reddened at the praise. “I’m glad we heard you call,” he said modestly.

After a few more words of thanks, Mr. Cole went off with the lifeguard, who had offered to drive him home. The six children climbed the path to the Minturns’ house.

“You really were brave, Bert!” Flossie said admiringly, and the others agreed heartily.

Bert grinned. “I just happened to get there first! Dorothy and Harry would have saved him if I hadn‘t!”

But at the supper table when the grownups heard the story, they all declared that Bert had been a real hero. To change the subject, Bert asked if there were any report about the stolen boat.

“I’ve just called the police,” Uncle William spoke up. “They haven’t found it yet.”

“Maybe someone along the lakeshore has seen it,” Bert suggested. “Do you mind if we ask?”

The older children went over to the lake. They walked along the shore road, stopping at each cottage to ask about the missing motorboat. No one remembered having seen it since Sunday evening after the water carnival.

“It must have been taken during the night,” Dorothy decided, “or someone would have noticed it. We may as well give up for tonight.”

The next morning Bert thought of his resolve to explore the island where Freddie and Flossie had heard the threatening voice. When he mentioned it to Dorothy, she had a suggestion.

“Let’s all go there and have a picnic!” she said. “Maybe Hal will take us in his canoe.”

Bert ran to the telephone and called Hal. When he heard the plan Hal agreed at once. “I don’t think my canoe will hold us all. But I can get that rowboat Freddie and Flossie borrowed the other day. I’ll meet you at the boathouse at eleven.”

Dorothy took the telephone from Bert. “We’ll bring the picnic,” she said. “Is there anything you especially like?”

“I could go for some chocolate cake!” Hal replied with a laugh.

Dinah chuckled when Dorothy told her about Hal’s request. “I’ll make the biggest, most chocolatey cake you ever saw!” she said, hurrying to get out the ingredients.

By eleven o‘clock the lunch was packed in a straw basket. “Now you watch this cake!” Dinah warned, as she handed Nan a big paste-board box tied with string.

Hal was waiting at the boathouse when the Bobbseys and Dorothy arrived. The canoe and the rowboat were drawn up on the bank, side by side.

“We have a choc‘late cake with marshmallow frosting!” Flossie said with a giggle.

It was decided that Bert, Nan, and Flossie would go in Hal’s canoe, while Dorothy and Harry would take Freddie in the borrowed craft. Bert got in first and went forward to the bow paddle. Then Hal helped Nan and Flossie in. They settled themselves on cushions in the bottom. Nan held the cake box.

The lunch basket was put in the rowboat with Freddie. Hal and Harry pushed the two craft out into the water and jumped in. Soon they were gliding along quietly side by side.

“It’s fun to have a lake picnic even if we don’t find anyone on the island!” Dorothy called.

Presently the boats rounded the bend in the shoreline and the island lay before them. In another few minutes they touched shore. Bert jumped out and held Hal’s canoe steady.

“Hold this, Flossie, while I get out,” Nan directed, handing the cake box to Flossie, who stood behind her.

Nan stepped ashore and turned to take the cake from Flossie. At that moment the canoe tipped. Flossie tried desperately to keep her balance. As she teetered back and forth the paste-board box slipped from her grasp!

“Look out!” Hal shouted. “The cake!” Nan made a quick lunge forward. With one hand she caught the string on the box!

“Good catch!” Hal and Bert cried at the same time. Then Hal shook his head in mock despair. “I thought my cake was going to the fishes for sure!” he said with a grin.

By this time Harry and Dorothy had beached their rowboat. Freddie ran up with the picnic basket.

“Okay!” Dorothy rumpled her little cousin’s hair. “We don’t want anyone dying of starvation!”

“This looks like a good place here,” Hal observed, indicating the clean, white beach.

The island was thickly wooded, but on three sides it was bordered by white sand. Nan and Dorothy, with Flossie’s help, quickly spread out the picnic cloth and set out paper plates and napkins. Bert opened the soft drinks and poured them into paper cups.

“Dinah gave us a good picnic!” Dorothy said as they began to eat the chicken and ham sandwiches and the potato salad.

“I’m saving room for the cake!” Hal announced as he turned down a third sandwich.

“Ooh, isn’t it bee-yoo-ti-ful!” Flossie exclaimed when the lid of the cake box was lifted. The big round cake was covered with a snowy white frosting from which bumps of marshmallow rose in little mounds.

Each of the children had two pieces. Freddie considered having a third. “You’d better not!” Flossie giggled. “You’ll be so heavy you’ll sink the boat!”

At that moment Bert gave a yell and held up his arm. A giant crab was clinging to his wrist! The boy jerked his arm as hard as he could. The crab flew off and landed some distance away.

“Oh, Bert, did it nip you?” Nan asked anxiously as she ran to her brother.

Bert examined his wrist. “I guess it didn’t bite me,” he admitted, “but it sure did pinch!”

As Dorothy started to walk over the crab, Harry yelled, “Look out!”

Dorothy bent over and picked it up. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He’s harmless!” With a quick movement she tossed it to Bert.

The boy jumped aside and stared down at the crab. Then he looked sheepish. “The crab is made of rubber!” Bert exclaimed. “Okay, Dorothy!” he said with a grin. “I guess this makes us even for the alarm clocks!”

Still laughing about the rubber crab, the children gathered up the remains of their picnic.

When everything was tidy again Bert said eagerly, “Shall we explore the island now? I’d like to find out who scared Freddie and Flossie the other day.”

“Just a minute,” Hal replied. “I want to make sure the boats are safe.” He ran over and pulled the craft up farther on the beach. “I’d hate to be marooned here!”

“Does anyone live on this island, Dorothy?” Nan asked as the children walked into the woods.

“I don’t think so. People come here for picnics,” Dorothy replied, “but I never heard that anybody lives here.”

The woods seemed very quiet Even the birds were still. Then a queer little honking sound broke the silence.

Dorothy put her finger to her lips and tiptoed over to a little bush. “There!” She pointed. “Tree frogs.”

Clinging to a branch of the bush were two grayish-brown frogs not more than two inches long. Their throats were puffed out into round yellow sacs.

“They do that when they’re talking to each other,” Dorothy explained.

Freddie had joined his twin. “Let’s take the frogs home,” he suggested. He put out his hand to pick up a frog, but the little animals hopped farther up on the branch and disappeared behind the leaves.

“Come on, Freddie and Flossie I” Bert called. “Stay with us so you won’t get lost.”

The children went on into the woods, looking carefully for a sign that anyone had been there before them. They came to a little brook, and all of them took off their sneakers to wade across it.

As Bert sat down on the ground to put his shoes on again, he glanced up the bank of the stream. “Say!” he called. “That looks like some sort of a shelter!”

The others followed him to a crude lean-to. Several branches had been placed across the space between two trees, the ends resting in the notches where the limbs met the tree trunk. Leafy branches had been laid over these to form a roof.

“And look!” Nan pointed out. “Someone had a campfire here!”

Hal bent down and felt the bits of burned wood and ash. “They’re still warm!” he said. “Whoever built this fire hasn’t been gone long!”

“Which way do you suppose he went?” Harry asked eagerly.

“I suggest we fan out and search,” Bert said. “Nan, you and Hal go to the left; Harry and Dorothy go to the right and I’ll go straight ahead with Freddie and Flossie. The first person who sees anyone, call out and the rest of us will come!”

They did as Bert suggested and once more the search went forward. But they had no success. After a half hour the three groups met back on the beach.

“It’s no use,” Bert said in a discouraged tone. “Whoever was here must have left before we arrived.”

Dorothy had been peering at the sky. “I think we’d better start home,” she said in a worried tone. “It looks as if a storm is coming up and this lake gets horribly rough.”

Quickly the children put the picnic basket in Hal’s canoe and took their places. Just as Harry shoved off in the borrowed rowboat a brilliant streak of lightning flashed across the sky. Nan, who was seated in the canoe, suddenly called out:

“Look! There’s a man in an outboard motorboat! Is it the Firefly, Dorothy?”