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.
"d.i.c.k!" 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 who clings to it, up out of the sea so they will not drown.
"Get your life preservers!" cried Mr. Bobbsey; then, when he saw that his wife had one, and that the children were reaching under their berths for theirs, he took his.
The smoke was getting thicker in the staterooms, and the yells and shouts of Captain Crane, Cousin Jasper and the crew could be heard.
Up on deck rushed the Bobbseys. There they found the electric lights glowing, and they saw more smoke. Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane had a hose and were pointing it toward what seemed to be a hole in the back part of the boat.
"Oh, see!" shouted Flossie.
"Is the fire engine working?" Freddie demanded, as he saw them. "Can I help put the fire out?"
"No, little fireman!" said Captain Crane with a laugh, and when Mrs.
Bobbsey heard this she felt better, for she thought that there was not much danger, or the captain would not have been so jolly. "We have the fire almost out now," the captain went on. "Don"t be worried, and don"t any of you jump overboard," he said as he saw Mrs. Bobbsey, with the twins, standing rather close to the rail.
"No, we won"t do that," she said. "But I was getting ready to jump into a boat."
"I guess you won"t have to do that," said Cousin Jasper.
"Is the _Swallow_ on fire?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"It was," his cousin answered. "But we have put it out now. There is a good pump on board, and we pumped water on the blaze as soon as we saw it."
From the hold, which was a place where canned food and other things could be stored, smoke was still pouring, and now and then little tongues of fire shot up. It was this fire which Mr. Bobbsey had seen through the open door of his stateroom.
"Oh, maybe it"s going to be an awful big fire!" said Freddie. "Maybe it"ll burn the whole boat up!"
"Freddie, Freddie! Don"t say such dreadful things!" broke in his mother.
"We don"t want this boat to burn up."
"I see where it is," said Flossie. "It"s down in that great big cellar-like place where they keep all those things to eat--those boxes of corn and beans and salmon and sardines and tomatoes, and all the things like that."
"Yes. And the "densed milk!" put in Freddie. "And "spargus. And the jam!
And all those nice sweet things, too!" he added mournfully.
"What shall we do if all our food is burnt up?" went on Flossie.
"We can"t live on the boat if we haven"t anything to eat," a.s.serted Freddie. "We"ll have to go on sh.o.r.e and get something."
"You might catch another big fish," suggested his twin.
"Would you let me have your doll?"
"No, I wouldn"t!" was the prompt response. "You can get lots of other things for bait, and you know it, Freddie Bobbsey!"