“It will be a lovely place to stay,” stated Nan. “I just love to sit under a tree, and look at the waves and the white sand.”
“I’m going in swimming!” declared Bert. “It’s awful hot, and a good swim will cool me off.”
“Don’t go in until we take a look and see if there are any sharks or big fish around,” his father warned him. “Remember we are down South, where the water of the ocean is warm, and sharks like warm water. This is not like it was at Uncle William’s at Ocean Cliff. So, remember, children, don’t go in the water unless your mother, or some of the grown people, are with you.”
The children promised they would not, and a little later the rowboat grated on the sandy shore and they all got out on the beach of Palm Island.
“Then this isn’t the place where you were wrecked with Jack?” asked Mr. Bobbsey of Cousin Jasper.
“No; it isn’t the same place at all. It is a beautiful island, though; much nicer than the one where I was.”
“I wonder if any one lives on it,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.
“I think not,” answered Captain Crane. “Most of these islands are too small for people to live on for any length of time, though fishermen might camp out on them for a week or so. However, this will be a good place for us to stay while the engines are being fixed.”
“Can we sleep here at night?” asked Bert, who wanted very much to do as he had read of Robinson Crusoe doing.
“Well, no, I hardly think you could sleep here at night,” said Captain Crane. “We may not be here more than two days, and it wouldn’t be wise to get out the camping things for such a little while. Then, too, a storm might come up, and we would have to move the boat. You can spend the days on Palm Island and sleep on the Swallow.”