The Secret at the Seashore Page 10

  The six children started out after lunch. “Let’s go see Cindy first,” Flossie said as they went through the entrance gate.

  When the group reached Mrs. Weller’s booth they found it closed. “I wonder where Cindy is?” Flossie said in disappointment.

  Just then, Nan caught sight of the little girl and her mother coming from the outdoor restaurant. Their faces were beaming.

  Cindy ran up to the visitors. “Oh, the most wonderful thing has happened!” she bubbled.

  “Your father has been found?” Nan cried.

  Cindy nodded, her brown eyes shining with happiness. “You tell them about it, Mother,” she urged.

  Mrs. Weller told the children that she had just received another telephone call from Mr. White, of the airplane factory. “He told me that the helicopter from the Azores was able to rescue the man from the small island. And he is Captain Weller I”

  “How marvelous!” Nan cried. “When will he be home?”

  Cindy’s mother explained that Captain Weller had been taken to a hospital at the airfield in the Azores. “He is very weak from his ordeal,” she said, “but they expect him to be ready to fly home next week!”

  Flossie threw her arms around Cindy. “Oh, aren’t you ‘cited?” she cried. “I hope we can meet your daddy!”

  “Yes,” Mrs. Weller said. “I know Captain Weller will want to meet the children who are responsible for his rescue!”

  The visitors were so interested in the news of Captain Weller that they had almost forgotten why they had come to the amusement park. It was Nan who suddenly remembered.

  “Cindy,” she said, “the first day we were here you told us you had seen a thin, blond man car-tying a big paper shopping bag.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “We think he may be the man who stole a lot of money from an airplane,” Nan went on. “Can you tell us exactly where you saw him and where he went?”

  Cindy thought a moment. Then she said, “I was standing here by Mother’s booth when he ran by. I looked at him because he was running and because he had that big bag.”

  “Then where did he go?” Bert asked.

  “He ran down there toward the Underground City,” Cindy replied. “I didn’t really see where he stopped.”

  “I think he hid the money in the Underground City,” Freddie said. “I know I saw the man in there,” he insisted.

  Bert reminded his little brother that the police had made a thorough search of the Underground City without finding anything.

  “Then maybe the money is hidden outside the City,” Flossie suggested.

  “That could be it!” Bert exclaimed. “Let’s give it a try!”

  Cindy was as excited as the other children. “May I help them look, Mother?” she asked.

  When she received permission, the group of children ran to the Underground City. The ride was doing a brisk business, with the little boats leaving the entrance every few minutes.

  The low, green wooden building which housed the Underground City was surrounded by shrubbery. The children split into two groups with Nan, Dorothy, Harry, and Flossie going around one side while Bert, Freddie, and Cindy went the other way. Carefully, they looked under all the bushes. But when they met in front again no one had found the shopping bag.

  Suddenly Cindy had a thought. “There’s a little hollow back of the City,” she said. “Maybe the thief went down there.”

  “We’ll try that!” Bert cried, and they all ran to the rear of the building. There the land dropped sharply away into a small ravine. It was filled with low bushes.

  Freddie and Flossie were the first to scramble down the incline, followed by the others. A few minutes passed while everyone pushed aside the overgrown shrubbery. Suddenly Flossie gave a squeal. “Here’s something!” she cried.

  From far under a thick bush she pulled a white paper bag. It was covered with blue stars!

  CHAPTER XVIII

  HAPPY REUNION

  “OH BOY! Flossie, I think you’ve found the stolen money!” Bert exclaimed, taking the bag from his little sister.

  While the other children watched breathlessly, Bert put his hand in the bag and pulled out a neat pile of hundred-dollar bills! They were held together by a paper band.

  “Wow! There must be a fortune here!” Harry cried as Bert brought out package after package of the bills.

  “We’d better call the police!” Nan reminded him.

  Hurriedly Bert stuffed the money back into the bag, and the children made their way up to the Underground City. From there they ran to Mrs. Weller’s booth.

  Bert told her of their exciting find, then said, ‘Way we leave the money here while I call the police?“

  “We’ll guard it,” Freddie volunteered, and Mrs. Weller smilingly agreed.

  Nan went with Bert to make the telephone call from the restaurant. “Good work!” Officer Weaver exclaimed when Bert told him about finding the stolen money. “We’ll be out there right away to pick it up !”

  It was not long before a closed patrol car made its way through the park grounds and drew up at Mrs. Weller’s booth. Passersby gaped as the officer jumped out and walked to the counter.

  Proudly, Freddie handed over the dilapidated shopping bag. “Would you children like to come down to headquarters with me?” the kindly policeman asked as he tossed the money into the truck.

  “Oh, yes!” they chorused.

  “Okay,” he said. “Bert, you and Nan ride up in front with me. The others can get in back with Fred Palmer.”

  Their friend of the lake patrol smiled a welcome. “I see you’re following right through on this case!” he teased. “We’ll have to make you regular members of the force!”

  “We’re detectives!” Flossie giggled.

  In a short while the patrol car drew up in front of the Ocean Cliff Police Headquarters. “Maybe our friend Garry will talk a little when he sees this bag of groceries!” Officer Weaver said with a grin, putting the money on the chief’s desk.

  After he had met the Bobbsey twins and Dorothy and Harry, the chief ordered Albert Garry to be brought in. The prisoner stared sullenly at the children as he shuffled into the room. When he saw the white shopping bag on the chief’s desk, he turned pale.

  “Does this look familiar to you, Garry?” the chief asked sternly. “These children found it in Lakeside Amusement Park, and they tell me you were seen carrying it the day the money was stolen from the airline.”

  “Okay, so I took the money while we were unloading the plane,” Garry said in a surly tone. “When the cops got on my trail and followed me to Lakeside, I hid it.”

  “I saw you in the Underground City!” Fred die piped up.

  “Yes.” The man glared at Freddie. “I would have been able to get away if that mob of cops hadn’t swarmed over the park. I suppose you kids started that!”

  “No. But the Bobbseys and their friends have been a great help to us,” the police chief said.

  “You may as well tell us how you managed to get away from us,” Officer Weaver added. “Where had you been hiding before we picked you up yesterday?”

  The thief admitted that he had stolen Hal’s canoe from the lagoon while the boys were on shore registering for the water carnival. “The cops were watching all the exits, but they didn’t think I could leave by water!” he sneered.

  “Go on!” the police chief directed.

  “Well, I beached the canoe, thinking I could hop a bus and come back later for the money when the excitement had died down.”

  “But you didn’t do that,” Nan spoke up. “You stayed around Ocean Cliff.”

  “That’s right. I got to thinking I could hide out on the island. So I took a motorboat and set up a little camp.”

  “You’re the one who yelled at us from the island, the day we lost our toy sailboatl” Flossie said accusingly.

  Garry looked disgusted as he nodded. “These kids were always around upsetting my plans I” He pointed a grimy finger at Nan and Dorothy. “
The next day when I went back to the park to get the money, I saw those two girls follow the boy I sent to buy me a cap.

  “I decided to sit it out on the island and then a whole bunch of kids had a picnic there I” Garry shook his head in despair. “I got away in the boat and the motor conked out! I sure had bad luck all around!”

  “But it was these same children who reported you in trouble on the lake. If they hadn’t done that, you would have drowned!” Officer Weaver reminded him.

  “Yeah, I guess I owe them that!” Garry said grudgingly.

  The chief motioned to have the prisoner returned to his cell, and the man was taken away.

  “The Ocean Cliff police have a lot to thank you children for,” the chief said as he stood up to shake hands with the Bobbseys and Dorothy. “Without your sharp eyes and quick thinking that thief might not have been captured. I want you to meet Mr. Evans, president of Allied Cargo Airlines, and tell him how you solved his case.”

  The children were eager to tell their parents about the exciting events of the afternoon. That night at the supper table the full story of Garry and the hidden money was told.

  Mr. Bobbsey said, “I’m glad you solved all your mysteries, because it’s time for us to go home to Lakeport. The summer is almost over.”

  “But, Daddy,” Flossie spoke up, “we can’t go until Cindy’s daddy gets back. We want to meet him.”

  “Yes,” Freddie took up the plea. “And we’re going to meet Mr. Evans and tell him all about the man who took his money!”

  Mr. Bobbsey laughed. “Well, I can see that you children will be very busy here. Unfortunately, I must get home!”

  “Richard,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, “why don’t you and Dinah go back to Lakeport tomorrow? The twins and I can follow you next week.”

  When Mr. Bobbsey nodded, she turned to Harry. “Your mother called while you were out and wants us to put you on the train for Meadowbrook tomorrow.”

  “Oh dear,” Dorothy sighed. “Everyone’s leaving!”

  The following day, Dorothy and Hal drove Harry to the train in the cart while the twins went with Mrs. Bobbsey to see their father and Dinah off. Dinah carried Snoop in his basket, but it had been decided to leave Downy so he could make his home on the pond.

  After that, the children were so busy swimming in the ocean and taking boat rides on the lake that the next two days passed very quickly.

  Then, early on Monday morning, the tele. phone rang. Cindy was calling. “Daddy Pete came home yesterday!” she told Nan, who had answered. “We all want you to come to our house this afternoon to meet him.”

  Uncle William had gone to the city, but Aunt Emily drove Mrs. Bobbsey and the children to the Wellers’ small home near the airport. When Cindy ushered them into the living room a tall man with close-cut, brown curly hair rose to greet them.

  “So this is the young lady who found my bottle message,” he said to Nan with a warm smile. “You’ll never know how grateful I am to you!”

  “We were all excited about finding a real message,” Nan replied, “and especially when we learned it was from Cindy’s father!”

  “Didn’t you get awfully hungry on that island?” Freddie asked.

  “Well, Freddie,” the captain answered, “I didn’t exactly have the best food in the world, but it was enough to keep me alive.” He explained that each pilot flying for IAC carried an emergency “survival kit” which contained concentrated foods and first-aid supplies.

  “We’d like to hear what happened,” Bert said eagerly.

  The captain said that his plane had developed engine trouble and had crashed in the ocean. “Before the plane sank,” he told them, “I was able to inflate my rubber raft. But unfortunately the radio washed overboard when a particularly big wave hit me. I paddled for a long time and eventually came to a deserted island.”

  “Is that when you put the bottle in the water?” Nan asked.

  Captain Weller nodded. “I had read a good bit about bottle messages,” he said. “Since I didn’t have any other means of communication, I decided to try that as a last resort. And to think it worked!”

  “We’re so glad it did, Daddy Pete!” Cindy said happily.

  “So am I!” Captain Weller said gravely as he hugged his little daughter. “When I saw that search plane come over last week, I knew that by some miracle my message must have been found!”

  At that moment the doorbell rang. Mrs. Weller answered it and returned with a stocky, white-haired man. “Mr. Evans !” the captain cried, rising and shaking the man’s hand.

  “It was wonderful to learn from the police that you are back, Pete,” the newcomer said heartily.

  Mr. Evans turned to the Bobbseys and explained that his company had bought many planes from IAC and that he and Captain Weller were old friends.

  “I was told I would find you children here. I want to thank you, on behalf of Allied Cargo Airlines, for finding that thief Albert Garry and the money he stole from the plane shipment.”

  “The twins were happy that they could help,” Mrs. Bobbsey spoke up.

  “We had fun solving all the mysteries at the seashore,” Freddie added.

  “Well now, Bobbsey twins,” the company president said jovially, “what would you like as a reward?”

  There was silence for several seconds. Then Freddie spoke up. “I’d like another ride in a helicopter !”

  When his brother and sisters echoed the little boy’s wish, Mr. Evans smiled. “We’ll see what we can do,” he promised. He left shortly afterwards.

  The twins realized that if they were to have another helicopter ride it would have to be soon because they must be home in time for school When the term did begin, they were to have another exciting adventure, THE MYSTERY AT SCHOOL.

  The next morning Mrs. Minturn received a secret telephone call. She asked Dorothy and the Bobbseys to go for a drive with her. After a while she turned into the entrance to the airport.

  “Are we really going to have a helicopter ride?” Freddie asked, hardly daring to hope this was true.

  “That’s only part of the surprise,” Aunt Emily said with a smile.

  She parked the car and led the way onto the airfield where a large helicopter was waiting. Suddenly the children gasped. From the doorway came Captain and Mrs. Weller and Cindy.

  “All aboard for a whirlybird flight to a deserted island !” Captain Weller called, grinning.

  “You mean the island where you were rescued?” Bert asked unbelievingly.

  “No, that one’s too far away. We’re going to picnic on another deserted island.”

  “What fun!” Nan cried.

  They all piled in, and soon the helicopter rose into the sky and started up the coast. In about an hour the children could see a small wooded island below them. In the center was a cleared area. Slowly the whirlybird settled down on the grass.

  “Our own deserted island!” Flossie cried happily as she ran down the steps of the helicopter.

  Captain Weller and his co-pilot carried several large baskets of food from the aircraft. Soon a delicious-looking picnic was spread beneath a large tree, and they all sat down.

  “These are awf‘ly good ’mergency rations!” Freddie announced as he reached for a third piece of chicken. “I like deserted islands. I don’t ever want to be rescued!”

  “Not even by sending a message in a bottle?” Dorothy asked teasingly.