They walked along the beach, and up among the palm and orange trees, looking for the missing boy. But they saw no signs of him.
[CHAPTER XXII—FOUND AT LAST]
When Bert, with his father, Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane, got back to the place where Mrs. Bobbsey had been left with Nan and the two smaller twins, the camp on Orange Island was nearly finished. The tents had been put up, and the oil-stove was ready for cooking.
“Didn’t you find that poor boy?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
“No, we saw no trace of him,” her husband answered.
“Oh, isn’t that too bad?”
“Yes, I am very sorry,” sighed Cousin Jasper. “But I have not yet given up. I’ll stay here until either I find him, or make sure what has happened to him. Poor Jack has no relatives, and I am his nearest friend. I feel almost as though he were my son. We will find him if he is on this island.”
Bert and the others who had walked around to the other side of the island, hoping that Jack might be found, were tired from their trip, and when they got back were glad to sit on the beach in the shade. A meal was soon ready, and when they had eaten they all felt better.
“It is too late to do much more searching to-day,” said Cousin Jasper, “but we will start early in the morning.”
And this they did, after a quiet night spent on the island. As soon, almost, as the sun had risen, the Bobbsey twins were up, and Bert and Nan gathered oranges for breakfast.