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.

"h.e.l.lo!" 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 ash.o.r.e 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, as Captain Jenks remarked, the rescue was complete.

Soon they reached the wharf on Apple Tree Island, and the four little Blossoms were put ash.o.r.e, 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 gra.s.ses 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.ses.

"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 gla.s.s, splashing Twaddles' clean blouse and plentifully decorating Dot's white ap.r.o.n.

"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 d.i.c.k has looked, everywhere for some kind of note or even a letter she might have left. There isn't a sc.r.a.p to build on."

A few days after this Daddy Blossom announced that he was going to Greenpier on important business.

"I know, Daddy," shouted Twaddles. "Fireworks for the Fourth of July."

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.