Four Little Blossoms on Apple Tree Island Part 16

"I never saw this side of it, did you, Meg?" asked Bobby. "Look, this must have been the lean-to where Mrs. Harley did the was.h.i.+ng.

Yes, here's an old wooden tub all fallen to pieces."

The children poked about in the rubbish carelessly until Twaddles happened to spy one of the apple trees on the point.

"They're ripe!" he cried in great excitement, though he had had his breakfast less than an hour before. "The apples are ripe, Dot!

Mr. Harley said we could eat 'em!"

He and Dot raced for the tree, while Meg followed more slowly.

Bobby remained to turn more stones over with his foot.

Presently the others heard him shout.

"Meg! Oh, Meg! Hurry up and see what I've found!"

CHAPTER XV

BOBBY'S GREAT DISCOVERY

Meg ran back, and the twins tumbled pell-mell after her.

"What is it?" they all cried breathlessly. "What is it?"

Bobby held up two small silver mugs.

"Found them down between these two rocks," he explained. "They must belong to Mr. Harley's little boys. And that isn't all--look here!"

Bobby was so excited his hands shook. He spread three or four stained sheets of paper on the ground.

"It looks like a letter," said Meg, puzzled.

"It is," announced Bobby triumphantly. "I can't read it very well, 'cause the writing goes together, but see here's the beginning: 'My dearest Lou,'--that must be Mrs. Harley."

"Show us where you found 'em," demanded the twins. "Right down in those little rocks?"

"It's a kind of cave," said Bobby. "See, in between there's a hollow place and I was just going to see how far it went. It's lined with bricks in there."

"My d-e-a-r-e-s-t L-o-u," spelled Meg, who could not read as well as Bobby. "Oh, Bobby, hurry and let Mother read it. Maybe it will say where Mrs. Harley went."

No going through the woods this time. The four little Blossoms ran as hard as they could, making every possible short cut and paying no attention to inquisitive bushes that reached out brier fingers and tore their clothes. Meg carried the cups and Bobby the letter, and when they reached the bungalow they were all so breathless that at first they could not speak.

"Oh, Mother!" gasped Bobby, when he could speak, "we found a letter to Mrs. Harley. At least we think it is to Mrs. Harley.

Back of some rocks. You read it."

"Does it say where she went?" cried Dot, dancing up and down impatiently. "Does it say where she went, Mother?"

Mother Blossom had to laugh.

"Every one of you sit down and wait until I see what this is Bobby has found," she commanded. "You are all so excited, I can not half understand what you are trying to tell me. Did you find the cups, too?"

Bobby nodded.

Mother Blossom took the sheets of paper and the children waited as patiently as they could while she read them. When she put them down her eyes were s.h.i.+ning.

"This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Bobby, my precious, you don't know what you have done. This is not one letter, but three, and written by an uncle and aunt of Mrs. Harley's living in a town called Cordova. It is in Oklahoma. They ask Mrs. Harley to bring the children and come out there to live with them, and I shouldn't be surprised if she had gone there. We must get these letters to Mr. Harley right away."

"Captain Jenks won't be here till this afternoon and Daddy's coming with him," said Bobby. "Let me row you over, Mother?"

"I'm afraid you and I will have to go," answered Mother Blossom.

"Chicks, if Daddy were here, you all should go; but I know Meg and the twins will wait patiently for us and we will hurry back and tell you exactly what Mr. Harley says and what he thinks he had better do."

Meg and Twaddles and Dot wanted to go dreadfully, but they knew that five could not go in one boat and neither Meg nor Bobby could row well enough to manage a boat alone. So the three left behind waited with the best grace they could until Mother Blossom and Bobby came back. They brought Father Blossom and the fireworks with them.

"Did you see Mr. Harley?" was Meg's first question. "Was he glad?

Is he going to Oklahoma?"

"Let me fasten the boat," pleaded Father Blossom. "If our boats drift away some fine night we would be in a pretty fix. Yes, Daughter, we saw Mr. Harley and gave him the letters. He has telegraphed to Cordova, and as soon as he receives a reply he has promised to come over and let us know."

"How long does it take to telegraph to Cordova?" Twaddles wanted to know.

Father Blossom laughed as he gathered up his packages of fireworks.

"I knew that would be the next question," he said. "Why, Son, it takes several hours; it may be night, it may be to-morrow morning, before we hear from Mr. Harley."

"Did the mugs belong to his little boys?" asked Dot, skipping beside her father on the way to the bungalow. "Was he glad to get 'em, Daddy?"

"Very glad," answered Father Blossom. "The little silver mugs were given to the children by the Greenpier minister when they were christened."

Throughout the afternoon the children talked of little else than the Harley family. Mr. Harley had asked Father Blossom to search the brick-lined hole between the two rocks, thinking perhaps there might be something else hidden there. He himself was unwilling to leave Greenpier until an answer to his telegram had been received, even though he knew it could not come very soon.

Father Blossom searched carefully, but there was nothing else in the hole.

Mr. Harley did not come that afternoon, but the next morning the Blossoms had just finished breakfast when he knocked at the door.

But such a changed Mr. Harley!

His eyes were bright and clear, and his face was beaming with happiness. He wore a new suit of clothes and a new hat and was freshly shaved. The Blossoms knew instantly that he had had good news.

"Everything is all right," he announced in a ringing voice. "Had an answer from Cordova at nine o'clock last night. Lou and the boys are living with her Uncle Matthew, and they want me to come out there as quick as trains will carry me. I'm off this morning!"

"I'm so glad," Mother Blossom kept saying. "I'm so glad."

"Can't be half as glad as I am," answered the smiling Mr. Harley.

"And to think if it hadn't been for this boy here I never would have found them! I'll never forget the Blossoms if I live to be a hundred."