Читать книгу The Bobbsey Twins at Lighthouse Point - Lilian Garis - Страница 3

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“Nan, come quick! Freddie’s locked himself in the trunk!” said little Flossie Bobbsey as she looked anxiously over the banister. “Oh, do hurry!” she begged. “I’m afraid he’ll smother to death.”

Nan, her older sister, was in the hall below. She called to her twin brother Bert, who had just come in. Together they rushed with Flossie to the third floor room where the family luggage was stored. From a big old-fashioned trunk in the corner came muffled cries and thumps.

“Freddie climbed in there to get a ball out of the bottom of the trunk and the lid fell on him,” Flossie explained breathlessly. “I tried to get it up but I couldn’t.”

Nan tugged at the lid of the trunk but could not budge it.

Bert fumbled with the lock while Flossie and Nan fussed anxiously. Freddie’s kicks and shouts grew more desperate. Finally, when his sisters were beginning to fear that the little boy was shut in for good, the lock flew open. Bert flung back the lid and up popped Freddie.

Flossie giggled and clapped a chubby hand over her mouth.

“You look just like the Jack-in-the-box I got for Christmas,” she said.

“What were you doing in the trunk, anyway?” asked Nan as her little brother climbed out.

“I wanted to get a ball and I was looking for my bathing suit,” said Freddie. “I can’t go in swimming at Lighthouse Point without a bathing suit.”

The mention of Lighthouse Point reminded the children pleasantly of the vacation now so close at hand. They forgot about scolding Freddie and instead made happy plans for their summer at the seashore.

“Look!” said Bert suddenly.

He jumped forward to show Freddie the best way to dive under a wave. His arm caught in an old coat hanging above his head, so that the next moment he was hidden from view underneath it.

Flossie and Freddie giggled and even Nan had to laugh at the funny picture Bert made. Suddenly Flossie gave a cry of delight and pounced on something bright on the floor. It was a dime, shaken from the pocket of the old coat.

“Oh, let me see! It’s money!” cried Freddie, his eyes big.

“Maybe there’s more,” cried Flossie. “Let’s look.”

The children searched very thoroughly through all the pockets of the old coat, but found no more shiny dimes.

“Here’s something, though,” said Bert. He drew forth from the last pocket of all a crumpled newspaper clipping. It turned out to be the story of a rescue by the coast guard at Lighthouse Point.

“There’s a picture, too,” said Bert as the children crowded around him eagerly. “And look! It says that the hero of the rescue was a guardsman named Louis Bobbsey.”

“Why, that’s our name!” cried Freddie and Flossie together.

“Do you think he might be a relative of ours, Bert?” asked Nan thoughtfully. “You know Daddy says Bobbsey isn’t a very common name.”

“Maybe he is,” agreed her twin. “Anyway, we can ask Dad about him at dinner tonight.”

“So there you are!” said a voice from the hall. In a moment Mrs. Bobbsey paused in the doorway and smiled at her children. “Will someone go to the store for me? We need another loaf of bread.”

Rather to Mrs. Bobbsey’s surprise all the children seemed not only willing, but eager to go on the errand for her.

“We’ve found ten cents and we want to spend it for candy!” Freddie explained.

“May we, Mother?” asked Flossie, hugging her parent.

Mother Bobbsey gave her consent. Off went the children, arguing among themselves about how much candy could be bought for ten cents.

“I want hard candy. You can get lots of that for ten pennies,” said Freddie.

“I want marshmallows. They’re so nice and chewy,” decided Flossie.

“ ‘They’re so nice and chewy,’ ” mimicked an unpleasant voice back of them.

The Bobbsey twins knew before they turned around, that the voice belonged to Danny Rugg. He was a big, overgrown boy, one of the kind who loves to tease and torment other children, especially those smaller. He had been away from Lakeport for some time but now had returned. Much to the disgust of the twins he was as mean as ever.

This unpleasant boy had been walking behind the children ever since they had left the house. Now he pushed forward and bumped into Freddie so that the dime popped from the little boy’s hand. As the money rolled into the gutter, Danny pounced upon it. Almost before the Bobbseys knew what was happening, he had caught up the dime and dashed off with it.

“I’ll get it back. Don’t you worry,” said Bert angrily, running toward Danny.

The big boy had darted around the corner and run into a candy store. Bert raced after him, reaching the shop just a few steps ahead of Nan and the panting twins.

“Give me back the dime you took from my little brother,” cried Bert, advancing on the bully. “I saw you take it. Come on, give it back!”

“What dime?” returned Danny with a sneering grin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yes you do!” said Bert, clenching his fists. “You give me back that dime or—”

“Or what?” sneered the bully.

For answer Bert flung himself upon the bigger boy. Danny backed off. As he did so his elbow brushed against an open box of chocolates on the counter. It went clattering to the floor.

“Here, here, what’s this!” cried a gray-haired, fussy little man who came from the rear of the shop. “What are you doing to my merchandise? Stop it, I say!”

“You let me go,” cried Danny, struggling to throw Bert off.

“Not before you give back that dime,” the Bobbsey boy told him.

“Oh, all right. Take your old dime,” said the bully.

He threw the money on the floor beside the candy box and stamped out of the shop in a rage, slamming the door behind him. Freddie grabbed his dime, while Nan picked up the candy box. Flossie went after a couple of chocolates which had rolled into a corner.

“Those aren’t any good now, little girl,” said the gray-haired man, as Flossie held out the candy on one of her chubby palms. “I can’t very well sell my customers something that has rolled over the floor and gathered a coat of dust.”

“Most of the candy wasn’t hurt at all,” said Nan soothingly. “The box landed right side up, you see.”

The store owner, whose name was Mr. Carr, was a good-natured man and loved children. When he saw how slight the damage to his property had been, and when he heard from Bert the full story of Danny Rugg’s meanness, he agreed with the twins that Bert had done exactly the right thing. He said he thought the unpleasant Danny Rugg had got off more easily than he deserved.

While the children were trying to make up their minds just what kind of candy they wanted, Mr. Carr turned on the small radio which he kept on a shelf behind the counter. A band played for a few minutes, then suddenly the music was interrupted by a sharp S.O.S. signal.

“That means trouble,” said Bert.

Several people who had come into the shop after the twins had and were waiting to be served leaned forward to catch the announcement. In a moment it came.

“We are sorry to have to interrupt our program,” said the man at the broadcasting station. “We have just received word that the freighter Larrison is on fire off the coast at Lighthouse Point.”

“Lighthouse Point!” repeated Nan, tightening her grip on Flossie’s hand.

“I wish I could be out on the ocean to put out the fire,” said Freddie, who loved fires almost more than anything. “Golly, I could use my new engine on that boat.”

“I bet they’ll call out the coast guard,” said Bert excitedly, as more of the S.O.S. could be heard.

“All along the coast rescue ships are going to the aid of the burning vessel,” came the exciting words over the air. “There is little hope of putting out the fire since it seems to have gained considerable headway before being discovered.”

“Golly, I wish I were there—” began Freddie, but was choked off when Bert put his hand over the little boy’s mouth.

“Listen!” commanded his brother.

As the announcer began to speak again Nan noticed that more people were entering the shop, drawn there by the crowd and the sound of the radio. Danny Rugg had come in with them though he was careful, Nan noticed, to stand as far as he could from Bert Bobbsey.

“Among those going to the help of the distressed ship are the coast guardsmen from the station at Lighthouse Point,” the voice continued. “We have just received word that Louis Bobbsey, the hero of a wonderful rescue several years ago, is to head this new attempt. Good luck to you, Louis Bobbsey.”

“Louis Bobbsey! My, I do hope he is a relative of ours,” said Flossie, clapping her hands.

Nan stole a look at Danny Rugg. There was surprise on the lad’s face as he regarded the group of Bobbsey children with new interest.