“We can camp out here until she does come back,” observed Nan. “We have lots left to eat.”
“There won’t be much after supper,” Bert said. “But we can catch some turtles, or find some more eggs, and get fish, and live that way.”
“I’ll catch a fish,” promised Freddie.
“I don’t understand this,” said Captain Crane, with another shake of his head. “I must go out and have a look around.”
“How are you going?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
“In the small boat. I’ll row out into the bay for a little way,” said the seaman. “It may be that the Swallow is around some point of the island, just out of sight. I’ll have a look before we get ready to camp here all night.”
“I’ll come with you,” offered Cousin Jasper.
“All right, and we’ll leave Mr. Bobbsey here with his family,” the captain said. “Don’t be afraid,” he added to the children and Mrs. Bobbsey. “Even if the worst has happened, and the Swallow, by some mistake, has gone away without us, we can stay here for a while. And many ships pass this island, so we shall be taken off pretty soon.”
“We can be like Robinson Crusoe, really,” Bert said.
“That isn’t as much fun as it seems when you’re reading the book,” put in his mother. “But we will make the best of it.”