CHAPTER XVIII
ON THE ROCKS
The whole world seemed a very dreary and unhappy place to Mr. and Mrs.Bobbsey as they started off in the motor-boat to look for Flossie andFreddie. In the first place, if one of the little Bobbsey twins had justbeen lost--plain lost--as Flossie was in the cornfield, it would havebeen sad enough. But when both tots were missing, and when the last seenof them had been a sight of them shooting away in a balloon through agathering storm, well, it was enough to make any father and mother feelvery unhappy.
Besides this, there was the rain, and as the motor-boat, in charge ofCaptain Craig, swung out into the lake, the big, pelting drops came downharder than ever.
"Oh, what a sad, sad day!" sighed Mrs. Bobbsey. "And it started off sohappily, too!"
"Perhaps it will end happily," said Mr. Bobbsey, hopefully. "It will notbe night for several hours yet, and before then we may find Flossie andFreddie. In fact I'm sure we shall!"
"I think so, too," declared Mr. Trench, the owner of the balloon. "Thatcraft of mine wasn't filled with enough gas to go far, and it had tocome down soon."
"But where would it come down? That's the point!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey."If it came down in the lake----"
"It's on Hemlock Island, take my word for it!" growled out CaptainCraig, in whose motor-boat the searching party was riding. It was notbecause he was cross that his voice had a growling sound. It was justnaturally hoarse. He was out on the water so much, often in the cold andrain, that he seemed to have an everlasting cold. "We'll find theballoon and the children, too, on Hemlock Island," he went on. "Half adozen men I talked to, just before you came, said they saw something bigand black, like an airship, swooping down on the island. We'll find 'emthere, never fear!"
"How far are we from Hemlock Island?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of CaptainCraig, when they had been in the motor-boat about fifteen minutes.
"Oh, a few miles--just a few miles," was the answer.
"And how long will it take to get there?" Mrs. Bobbsey asked.
"Well, that's hard to say," was the answer. "It might take us a longwhile, and again it might not take us so long."
"Why is that?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, wondering whether Bert and Nan wouldbe all right, left to themselves as they were. But then they would havetheir uncle, aunt, and cousin to look after them.
"Well," went on Captain Craig, as he steered the boat to one side, "yousee it's getting thicker and thicker--I mean the weather. The rain iscoming down harder and it's getting foggy, too. I can't very well seewhere to steer, and I have to run at slow speed. So it will take melonger to get to Hemlock Island than if it was a clear day and I couldrun as fast as my boat would go."
"Well, get there as soon as you can," begged Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm sure ifFlossie and Freddie are on the island in all this rain they will beterribly frightened!"
"Well, they may be--a little," admitted Mr. Bobbsey. "But Flossie andFreddie are brave children. They'll make the best of things I'm sure!"
The motor-boat went chug-chugging its way across the big lake, notrunning as fast as it could have done on a fair day. The rain poureddown, making a hissing sound in the water. Those in the boat wore rubbercoats, for Captain Craig had supplied them at his boathouse beforestarting out. He owned a boat dock, and also a fishing pier, andsupplied pleasure parties with nearly everything they needed for fairweather or stormy.
Suddenly Mrs. Bobbsey, who was straining her eyes to peer through themist and rain, uttered a cry.
"There's something!" she called out.
"Where?" asked her husband, and Captain Craig leaned forward, his handsgripping the spokes of the steering wheel.
"Right straight ahead," went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "Something black islooming up in the fog. Maybe it's the balloon!"
"We can't be anywhere near the island yet," said the captain. "That isunless I'm away off my course. But we'll soon find out what it is."
They could all see the black object now, though it looked dim anduncertain, for a fog was settling down over the lake and the mist andvapor, together with the rain, made it hard to see more than a few feetahead.
"It's a boat!" suddenly cried Mr. Bobbsey. "A large boat."
And that is what it was.
"Ahoy there!" called Captain Craig in his deep voice. "Ahoy there!"
"Ahoy!" answered the men in the boat.
"Have you seen anything of a runaway balloon?" asked Mr. Trench. "Minegot away from the Bolton County Fair, and it had two little children inthe balloon basket. Have you seen them?"
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey and all in the motor boat waited anxiously for theanswer. Captain Craig had shut off his engine so its noise would notdrown the words of those in the other boat.
"We saw something big and black sailing through the air over our headsabout an hour ago," was the answer. "We thought it was the aeroplanefrom the fair grounds."
"That was my balloon!" declared Mr. Trench.
"Did you see anything of my children?" Mrs. Bobbsey begged to know.
"No. But we couldn't see very well on account of the fog and because theballoon--if that's what it was--kept up pretty high," came the answer.
"Which way was she heading?" Captain Craig wanted to know, this beinghis sailor way of asking which way the balloon was going.
"Due north," answered one of the men in the other boat, which was acraft containing a number of fishermen.
"Towards Hemlock Island," stated another.
"Well, we're going in the right direction," went on Captain Craig. "Muchobliged," he called to the fishermen, as the motor-boat again startedoff through the fog.
Soon the vessel that had been hailed was lost to sight in the mist, andagain all eyes, including those of Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, were strainedin looking for a first sight of Hemlock Island.
"Are you warm enough?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife, wrapping therubber coat more closely about her.
"Oh, yes. I'm not thinking of myself," she answered, with a sigh. "I amworried about my darlings!"
"I think they'll come out of it all right," said her husband. "Flossieand Freddie, as well as Bert and Nan, have been in many a scrape, butthe Bobbsey luck seems to hold good. They always get out all right."
"Yes. And I hope they will this time," answered Mrs. Bobbsey, trying toappear more cheerful.
For a while they ran along in silence, every one peering out into therain and the mist striving to catch sight, if not of the balloon, atleast of the shore of Hemlock Island.
"My, but this fog is getting thicker and thicker!" exclaimed CaptainCraig. "I'll have to go a bit slower yet."
He cut down the speed of the engine until the boat was moving at lessthan half speed. But even this did not save her from an accident whichcame a short time later.
Suddenly, as they were cruising along, every eye on the lookout for asight of the island, there came a violent crash. All in the boat werethrown forward.
"Gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, as she struggled to regain her seat.
"What have we struck?" Mr. Bobbsey asked.
"We've struck Hemlock Island," said Captain Craig grimly. "We've fairlybumped into it. I ought to have known I was somewhere near it. We'vefairly rammed it, and we're on the rocks!"
"'On the rocks!'" repeated Mrs. Bobbsey. "Are we in danger?"
"That's what I'm going to find out," said the captain. "At least wecan't sink, for we're right on shore," and as he spoke the fog blew awayfor a moment, showing a bleak shore of rocks with hemlock trees a littleway up from the beach. "Yes, sir, we ran plumb on the rocks!" mutteredCaptain Craig, as he stood up and tried to peer through the fog that wasnow closing in again.