The Bobbsey Twins at Home Part 35

"I like it, too," Flossie said, cuddling up in the man's strong arms.

"Are we too heavy for you?" asked Freddie. "'Cause if we are you only need to carry us a little way, until we're rested, and then we can walk."

"But I'm not rested yet," Flossie said quickly. She liked to be carried this way. It made her think of the time when her father used to carry her when she was a little tot.

"Don't be afraid. I can carry you for some time yet," the man said with a laugh, as he walked on through the drifts.

"You can put me down now, if you like," Freddie said, after a bit. "I'm kinder cold, and if I walk I'll be warmer."

"Well, perhaps you will," the man replied.

"And I can walk, too," added Flossie. "My legs are all right now."

"I don't believe you will have to walk much farther," went on the man.

"I think the path is near here, and then it will be easier for you."

The man soon found the path, though it was not easy to see, and, walking along that, they came to a road. A little later the Bobbsey twins and the man heard a bell ringing.

"That's a trolley-car!" cried the man. "Now we're all right."

And so they were. The trolley was one that ran between Belleville and Lakeport, and a little later the two children and the kind man were sitting in the warm electric car, speeding toward their home.

"I think I'd better get out at the nearest telephone, to let your folks know you are all right," the man said. "They will be worrying, and if we can't get another car we may find an automobile."

The car conductor knew where there was a telephone in a drug store that they pa.s.sed a little later, and the man called up Mr. Bobbsey at the lumber office.

Mr. Bobbsey and the strange man talked a while over the telephone, and then the man, coming back to where the twins were just finis.h.i.+ng their gla.s.ses of hot chocolate which he had bought for them, said:

"Your father is going to send the automobile for you, so we will stay here until it comes. I told him where we were."

"Was he worried?" asked Flossie.

"Yes, very much," the man answered. "Bert, your brother, went out to look for you but could not find you, and your father was just about to start out."

"Well, we're all right now," said Freddie, "and we thank you very much."

"Oh, that's all right," said the man, with a laugh. "In finding you I found myself, for I was lost, too."

In about half an hour Mr. Bobbsey's automobile came along, he himself being in it. He jumped out and hurried into the drug store.

"Flossie! Freddie!" he cried. "We were _so_ worried about you! What happened?"

"Oh, we just got lost," said Freddie, calmly, "and this nice man found us."

"We found each other," said the stranger, with a smile, "and now that I have done all I can, I think I will go on my way. I came to Lakeport to find my mother and my son. They'll be surprised to see me for they think that I am dead."

"You don't say so!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Where does your mother live?"

"Somewhere in Lakeport. At least she and my son did the last I heard, though they may have moved. Perhaps you can direct me. My name is Henry Todd, and I am looking for a Mrs. James Todd and her grandson, Tommy Todd. I am a sea captain, and I was wrecked a number of years ago. It was on a lonely island and----"

"Say!" cried Freddie, so excited that he slipped right off the soda-water counter seat. "Say! Are you--are you Tommy Todd's father?"

"Yes, that's who I am," the man said. "But what do you know of Tommy?"

"Why, we'd been leaving a basket of things at his house--with Tommy's grandmother. Then we went out in the storm and got lost," Freddie cried in much excitement. "Oh, if you are Tommy's father we won't have to buy a s.h.i.+p and go off to the desert island looking for you, like Robinson Crusoe. Oh, how glad he'll be that you have come back!"

"And how glad I'll be when I see him and my mother!" cried Mr. Todd.

"But you spoke of taking her some food. Is my mother poor, and in want?"

he asked Mr. Bobbsey.

"She is poor, but not exactly in want. My wife and I and some friends have been looking after her. Your boy, Tommy, runs errands for me."

"Well, well! Tommy must be getting to be quite a boy now. And to think it was your children whom I found and who told me where I was, so none of us were lost. It is very strange! And can you tell me where my mother lives?"

"I can, and I'll take you there. It is not a very nice house, but we have a better one for her. Only she did not want to move in this cold weather."

"I can not thank you enough for being kind to my mother and my son,"

said Mr. Todd. "But now I shall be able to look after them. I have plenty of money and they need want for nothing now."

In the automobile, going back to Lakeport through the storm, Mr. Todd told Mr. Bobbsey and Flossie and Freddie his story.

He had sailed away, just as Tommy Todd had said, some years before. The vessel of which he was captain was wrecked, and he and some other sailors got to an island where the natives were kind to them.

But for many years no other s.h.i.+p came that way. So Mr. Todd could not get home nor could he send any word, though he very much wanted to do so. In that time he found some pearls which were very valuable. So, when finally a s.h.i.+p did pa.s.s the island and take off the wrecked sailors, Mr.

Todd had more money than he had when he started out. For the pearls were very valuable.

As soon as Mr. Todd reached a place where he could send word to his aged mother that he was alive and safe he did so. But in some manner the message was never received.

As soon as he had sent the message Mr. Todd started out himself to get home. Finally, he reached the United States and took a train for Lakeport. But, as he had told Flossie and Freddie, he got off at the wrong station, and had come on in an automobile. Then came the accident to the tire and the storm, and the rest you know--how Mr. Todd and the Bobbsey twins met at the old shed on the meadows.

"Well, that is quite a wonderful story," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'm sure your mother and son will be wild with joy to see you again. They have long thought you dead."

"I suppose so," said Mr. Todd. "The papers said my vessel was lost with all on board, and it did seem so when I could send no word."

"Only Tommy and I thought maybe you _might_ be like Robinson Crusoe,"

said Freddie, "and we were going in a s.h.i.+p to look for you on the island, only I haven't money enough saved up in my bank."

"Bless your heart!" said Mr. Todd.

"I think this is what we will do," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We will stop at your mother's house, get her and Tommy, and bring you all to my house."

"Oh, that is too much trouble!" said Mr. Todd.

"No, not at all. I want you to have a happy time, and we shall be happy with you."

The automobile was stopped at the house by the dumps.

"I will go in first," said Mr. Bobbsey, "and tell your mother and boy that I have good news for them. If she were to see you too suddenly, your mother, who has not been well, might be taken ill again. I will prepare her for the good news."