The Bobbsey Twins on the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 6

There was so much going on with the sailing of the shipso many passengers hurrying to and fro, calling and waving good-bye, so much noise made by the jingling bells and the tooting whistlesthat Mrs. Bobbsey could hardly hear her own voice as she called:

Flossie! Freddie! Where are you?

But the little twins did not answer, nor could they be seen on deck near Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey where they stood with Bert and Nan.

They were here a minute ago, said Bert. I saw Flossie holding up her rubber doll to show her the Woolworth Building. This, as you know, is the highest building in New York, if not in the world.

But where is Flossie now? asked Mrs. Bobbsey, and there was a worried look on her face.

Maybe she went downstairs, said Mr. Bobbsey.

And where is Freddie? asked his mother.

I saw him getting his ball of string ready to go fishing, laughed Bert. I told him to put it away until we got out on the ocean. Then I saw a fat man lose his hat and run after it and I didnt watch Freddie any more.

Oh, dont laugh, Bert! Where can those children be? cried Mrs. Bobbsey. I told them not to go away, but to stay on deck near us, and now theyve disappeared!

Did they go ashore? asked Nan. Oh, Mother! if they did well have to stop the ship and go back after them!

They didnt go ashore, said Bert. They couldnt get there, because the gangplank was pulled in while Freddie was standing here by me, getting out his ball of string.

Then theyre all right, Mr. Bobbsey said. They are on board, and well soon find them. Ill ask some of the officers or the crew. The twins cant be lost.

Oh, but if they have fallen overboard! exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey.

Dont worry, said her husband. Wed have heard of it before this if anything like that had happened. Theyre all right.

And so it proved. A little later Flossie and Freddie came walking along the deck hand in hand. Flossie was carrying her rubber doll, and Freddie had his ball of string, all ready to begin fishing as soon as the ship should get out of New York Harbor.

Where have you been? cried Mrs. Bobbsey. You children have given us such a fright! Where were you?

We went to look at a poodle dog, explained Flossie.

A lady had him in a basket, added Freddie.

What do you meana poodle dog in a basket? asked Bert.

Then Freddie explained, while Mr. Bobbsey went to tell the steward, or one of the officers of the ship, that the lost children had come safely back.

The smaller twins had seen one of the passengers with a pet dog in a blue silk-lined basket, and they had followed her around the deck to the other side of the ship, away from their parents, to get a better look at the poodle. It was a pretty and friendly little animal, and the children had been allowed to pat it. So they forgot what their mother had said to them about not going away.

Well, dont do it again, warned Mr. Bobbsey, and Flossie and Freddie said they would not.

By this time the big ship was well on her way down New York Bay toward the Statue of Liberty, which the children looked at with wondering eyes. They took their last view of the tall buildings which cluster in the lower end of the island of Manhattan, and then they felt that they were really well started on their voyage.

Oh, I hope we have lots of fun in Florida! said Nan. Ive always wanted to go there, always!

So have I, Bert said. But maybe we wont stay in Florida long.

Why not? his sister asked.

Because didnt father say Cousin Jasper wanted us to take a trip with him?

So he did, replied Nan. I wonder where he is going.

Thats part of the strange news hes going to tell, said Bert. Anyhow well have a good time.

And maybe well get shipwrecked! exclaimed Freddie, who, with his little sister Flossie, was listening to what the older Bobbsey twins were saying.

Shipwrecked! cried Bert. You wouldnt want that, would you?

Maybe. If we could live on an island like Robinson Crusoe, Freddie answered, that would be lots of fun.

Yes, but if we had to live on an island without anything to eat and no water to drink, that wouldnt be so much fun, said Nan.

If it was an island thered be a lot of water all around itthats what an island is, Flossie said. I learned it in geogogafy at school. An island has water all around it, my geogogafy says.

Yes, but at sea the water is salty and you cant drink it, Bert said. I dont want to be shipwrecked.

Well, maybe I dont want to, either, said Freddie, after thinking about it a little. Anyhow well have some fun!

Yes, agreed Bert, I guess I will.

Now Im going to fish, remarked Freddie.

You wont catch anything, Bert said.

Why not? Freddie wanted to know, as he again took the ball of string from his pocket.

Cause were not out at sea yet, Bert replied. This is only the bay, and fish dont come up here on account of too many ships that scare em away. Youll have to wait until we get out where the water is colored blue.

Do fish like blue water? asked Flossie.

I guess so, answered Bert. Anyhow, I dont spose you can catch any fish here, Freddie.

However, the little Bobbsey twin boy had his own idea about that. He had been planning to catch some fish ever since he had heard about the trip to Florida. Freddie had been to the seashore several times, on visits to Ocean Cliff, where Uncle William Minturn lived. But this was the first time the small chap had been on a big ship. He knew that fish were caught in the sea, for he had seen the men come in with boatloads of them at Ocean Cliff. And he had caught fish himself at Blueberry Island. But that, he remembered, was not in the sea.

Come on, Flossie, said Freddie, when Bert and Nan had walked away down the deck. Come on, Im going to do it.

Do what, Freddie?

Im going to catch some fish. Ive got my string all untangled now.

You havent any fishhook, observed the little girl; and you cant catch any fish lessen you have a hook.

I can make one out of a pin, and Ive got a pin, answered Freddie. I dassent ever have a real hook, anyhow, all alone by myself, till I get bigger. But I can catch a fish on a pin-hook.

He did have a pin fastened to his coat, and this pin he now bent into the shape of a hook and stuck it through a knot in the end of the long, dangling string.

Where are you going to fish? asked Flossie. She and her brother were on the deck not far from the two staterooms of the Bobbsey family. Mrs. Bobbsey was sitting in a steamer chair near the door of her room, where she could watch the children.

Im going to fish right here, Freddie said, pointing to the rail at the side of the ship. Im going to throw my line over here, with the hook on it, just like I fish off the bridge at home.

And Ill watch you, said Flossie.

Over the railing Freddie tossed his bent-pin hook and line. He thought it would reach down to the water, but he did not know how large the boat was on which he was sailing to Florida.

His little ball of string unwound as the end of it dropped over the rail, but the hook did not reach the water. Even if it had, Freddie could have caught nothing. In the first place a bent pin is not the right kind of hook, and, in the second place, Freddie had no bait on the hook. Bait is something that covers a hook and makes the fish want to bite on it. Then they are caught. But Freddie did not think of this just now, and his hook had nothing on it. Neither did it reach down to the water, and Freddie didnt know that.

But, as his string was dangling over the side of the ship there came a sudden tug on it, and the little boy pulled up as hard as he could.

Oh, Ive caught a fish! Ive caught a fish! he cried. Flossie, look, Ive caught a fish!

Of course Flossie could not see what was on the end of her brothers line, but it was something! She could easily tell that by the way Freddie was hauling in on the string.

Oh, what have you got? cried the little girl.

Ive got a big fish! said Freddie. I said Id catch a fish, and I did!

From somewhere down below came shouts and cries.

Whats that? asked Flossie.

Thems the people hollering cause I caught such a big fish, answered Freddie. Look, there it is!

Something large and black appeared above the edge of the rail.

Oh! Oh! cried Flossie.

Mrs. Bobbsey, from where she was sitting in her chair, heard the cries and came running over to the children.

What are you doing, Freddie? she asked.

Catching a fish! he answered. I got one and-

The black thing on the end of his line was pulled over the rail and flapped to the deck. Flossie and Freddie stared at it with wide-open eyes. Then Flossie said:

Oh, what a funny fish!

And so it was, for it wasnt a fish at all, but a womans big black hat, with feathers on it. Freddies bent-pin hook had caught in the hat which was being worn by a woman standing near the rail on the deck below where the Bobbsey family had their rooms. And Freddie had pulled the hat right off the womans head.

No wonder the lady yelled! laughed Bert when he came to see what was happening to his smaller brother and sister. Youre a great fisherman, Freddie.

Well, next time Ill catch a real fish, declared the little boy.

Bert carried the womans hat down to her, and said Freddie was sorry for having caught it in mistake for a fish. The woman laughed heartily and said no harm had been done.

But I couldnt imagine what was pulling my hat off my head, she told her friends. First I thought it was one of the seagulls.

Freddie wound up his string, and said he would not fish any more until he could see where his hook went to, and his father told him he had better wait until they got to St. Augustine, where he could fish from the shore and see what he was catching.

From the time they came on board until it was the hour to eat, the Bobbsey twins looked about the ship, seeing something new and wonderful on every side. They hardly wanted to go to bed when night came, but their mother said they must, as they would be about two days on the water, and they would have plenty of time to see everything.

Bert, Freddie and their father had one stateroom and Mrs. Bobbsey and the two girls slept in the other, next door, as you might say.

The night passed quietly, the ship steaming along over the ocean, and down the coast to Florida. The next day the four children were up early to see everything there was to see.

They found the ship now well out to sea, and out of sight of land. They were really on the deep ocean at last, and they liked it very much. Bert and Nan found some older children with whom to play, and Flossie and Freddie wandered off by themselves, promising not to go too far from Mrs. Bobbsey, who was on deck in her easy chair, reading.

After a while Flossie came running back to her mother in great excitement.

Oh, Mother! Oh, Mother! gasped the little girl. Hes gone!

Whos gone? asked Mrs. Bobbsey, dropping her book as she quickly stood up.

Freddies gone! We were playing hide-and-go-seek, and he went down a big pipe, and now I cant see him! Hes gone!