“Oh, my dear little fat fireman! Did you hurt yourself?” asked his father.
Freddie did not answer at first. He slowly got to his feet, looked up the hill down which he had rolled, and then at the stump, which was covered with moss.
“I—I guess I’m all right,” he said.
“He’s so fat he didn’t get hurt,” said Cousin Jasper. “Fat boys and girls are just the kind to bring to a place like this. They can’t get hurt easily.”
Freddie laughed, and so did the others, and then they went on again. They looked in different places for the missing boy, and called his name many times.
But all the sounds they heard in answer were those of the waves dashing on the beach or the cries of the sea-birds.
“It is very strange,” said Captain Crane. “If that boy was here about a week ago, you’d think we could find some trace of him—some place where he had built a fire, or set up a signal so it would be seen by passing ships. I believe, Mr. Dent, that he must have been taken away, and when we get back to St. Augustine he’ll be there waiting for us.”
“Well, perhaps you are right,” said Cousin Jasper, “but we will make sure. We’ll stay here a week, anyhow, and search every part of Orange Island.”
They had brought their lunch with them, so they would not have to go back to the camp when noon came, and, finding a pleasant place on the beach, near a little spring of water, they sat down to rest.
Flossie and Freddie, as often happened, finished long before the others did, and soon they strolled off, hand in hand, down the sands.