“Maybe a big mud turkle came and pulled the ship away,” said Flossie.
“Or a whale,” added Freddie. Any big fish or swimming animal, the little twins thought, might do such a thing as that.
“No, nothing like that happened,” said Captain Crane. “And yet the Swallow is gone. The men could not have thought a storm was coming up, and gone out to sea to be safe. There is no sign of a storm, and they never would have gone away, unless something happened, without blowing a whistle to tell us.”
“Maybe,” said Bert, “they got word from Jack, on the other island, to come and get him right away, and they couldn’t wait for us.”
Captain Crane shook his head.
“That couldn’t happen,” he said, “unless another boat brought word from poor Jack. And if there had been another boat we’d have seen her.”
“Unless both boats went away together,” suggested Mr. Bobbsey.
“No, I think nothing like that happened,” said the captain.
“But what can we do?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey. “Shall we have to stay on this island until the Swallow comes back?”
“She may not be gone very long,” Mr. Bobbsey said.