Surprise Island Read online

  “I can’t wait an hour,” said Benny. “I have to go to bed in an hour because Mrs. McGregor says so.”

  “Not tonight, Mr. Benny,” said Henry, laughing.

  Captain Daniel put the boxes into the boat and started the motor. In a very short time they came to the island, and Captain Daniel helped the children carry the boxes to the barn.

  “Good luck!” said Captain Daniel, as he set down the last box. “I hope you will like your new home.”

  “Oh, we shall!” Jessie called after him. “And thank you. You have been so kind to us.”

  “Now!” said Henry. “Let’s get to work.”

  “Oh, isn’t this exciting!” cried Jessie. “You open the boxes and Benny and I will set up the table.”

  What a noise they made! Henry took off the cover of the box. The others pulled out the barrels and laid the wide board across them. Then the whole family unpacked the blue-and-white dishes.

  “We’ll wash four bowls and four spoons,” said Jessie. “We won’t heat water to wash all the dishes tonight. It is lucky that Captain Daniel brought us a little water.”

  “No,” said Violet, “we can’t put things away until we have a dish cupboard.”

  “Tomorrow,” laughed Henry, “I will make that dish cupboard the very first thing.”

  Violet piled the bread on a plate, while Jessie put two bottles of milk on the table. So with packing boxes for chairs, the four children sat down. They put the bread into the bowls and poured the cold milk over it. With their new spoons, they began to eat their first delicious supper in their new home.

  “We must get something for Watch to eat,” said Henry, as the dog ate two big slices of their bread.

  “How many pieces of bread may I have, Jessie?” asked Benny.

  “All you want!” cried both Jessie and Henry.

  When supper was over, Jessie got up so suddenly that her chair went over. “Let’s wash these dishes right away,” she said, “and then make our beds.”

  So the children started for the spring, each with a bowl and spoon. They soon saw that the water from the spring came up into a barrel and ran over the top. The stream ran into the woods.

  “We had better wash dishes in the stream because we may want to drink the water in the barrel,” said Henry.

  As he waited for the others, he thought he saw a vegetable garden on the other side of the house. He could not see very well because it was getting dark. “A funny thing to find on an island,” he thought to himself.

  “I’m going to bring down my own bed myself,” said Benny, starting back to the barn. “I want the stall right next to Jessie’s for my bedroom.”

  “He’s sleepy,” said Jessie, looking at her little watch. “It’s eight o’clock, and I’m sleepy, too.”

  After all the children were in bed, Jessie sat up suddenly and listened. She heard a sleepy little voice saying over and over, “Jessie, I want my bear. I want my bear.”

  She got up at once. With the flashlight, she soon found the funny-looking animal in the packing box and took it to Benny.

  When Jessie woke again, it was morning.

  CHAPTER 3

  The Garden

  Jessie was not the first one to wake up the next day. At six o’clock, Henry went very quietly to her “room” and opened the swinging door to let Watch out. The dog came very quietly and followed Henry as he walked out of the barn to the spring. Henry stood still and looked around. He was right. It was just as he thought last night. There was a garden, with rows and rows of vegetables in it.

  “I wonder if this garden belongs to Captain Daniel,” thought Henry.

  Then he heard a little noise, and turned around. A young man was coming toward him. His head was down as he walked. Henry looked at him carefully. Henry thought the man looked very sad, but he forgot that when the stranger looked up and smiled.

  “I’m Joe,” he said. “I’m the handy man. How do you like your garden?”

  “Mine? Is it mine?” asked Henry.

  “Yes. There are two gardens on this island. One belongs to Captain Daniel and this one is yours.”

  “How did that happen?” asked Henry. “I just got here.”

  “Well, your grandfather knew that you would rather plant it yourself. If you did, it would be too late to start planting when you got out of school. So he told Captain Daniel to plant it, and he said you would weed and look after the garden when you came.”

  “I will,” said Henry, opening one of the peas. “These are big enough to eat now.”

  “Yes,” said Joe. “The peas are just right, but nothing else will be ready until later.”

  “Haven’t you ever eaten tiny vegetables? We did once,” said Henry. “We pulled them because there were too many of them in the garden. It makes me hungry when I remember how good they were. The girls make such good things to eat out of almost nothing.”

  The other children appeared at just that minute. But it was Benny who spoke first. “Hello, Joe,” he said. “You look just like Joe. Is this your garden?”

  “No,” said Joe, laughing. “It’s yours.”

  “Oh, no, it isn’t,” said Benny.

  “It is ours, Benny,” said Henry. “Joe and Captain Daniel started it for us, and you may help me weed it.”

  “Not now,” said Benny. “I want my breakfast.”

  “We’ll eat soon,” said Jessie, smiling at Joe. “This is Violet, and I’m Jessie.”

  Joe said, “Yes, Captain Daniel told me all your names. I feel as if I knew you all.”

  “Oh, look,” cried Benny. “Peas! I’d like peas for dinner!”

  “Our dinner is all planned then,” said Jessie. “We’ll have peas, and everyone will help pick and shell them.”

  They walked slowly back to the barn, leaving Joe at the woodpile.

  “He’s nice, isn’t he?” said Violet, as they walked along. They all agreed that he was.

  After the four bowls and the bread and milk were set on the table, the children sat down carefully on the packing boxes. Then Jessie said, “I think that after breakfast we’d better make a plan for the summer. Every day we must go swimming, and every day we must cook something at noon. After dinner we must either make something or go exploring.”

  “Make something, such as a dish cupboard, I suppose,” said Henry, looking at Violet.

  “That’s not a bad idea, Henry!” cried Violet.

  “I will make you a cupboard this very day,” said Henry.

  “Let’s wash the dishes and pick the peas now,” said Jessie. “Henry can make the dish cupboard while we shell the peas. We’ll take the dishpan to hold them.”

  On the way to the spring with their bowls and the dishpan, they passed Joe at the woodpile.

  “Henry,” called Joe, stopping his work, “did you know that Captain Daniel goes over to the mainland every morning for groceries? If you need any groceries, you may leave your order on a piece of paper in the box on the dock. Captain Daniel will bring your order back to the island before dinner.”

  “Oh, how nice,” said Jessie. “I was wondering what to do about milk. Ours is almost gone.”

  “Just write what you want and I will take it down now,” said Joe. “Here is my pen.”

  Jessie and Henry sat down facing each other on rocks to think.

  “We must have butter for the peas,” said Jessie, writing it down on a piece of paper from Joe’s pocket.

  “We want bread and four bottles of milk every day all summer,” said Henry.

  “Sugar,” called Benny. “And some dog bread for Watch.”

  “Good!” said Henry. “I almost forgot Watch.”

  “I want to go with Joe and see the little box,” said Benny, taking Joe’s hand.

  “Let him go,” said Violet. “I’ll wash his bowl for him, and we can pick peas without him.”

  Then the older children set to work. They picked enough for dinner, but lots of peas were left

  “Enough for two more dinners,” said Henry, ve
ry pleased, “and more will grow. Now I will start that cupboard while you girls shell the peas.

  “How many places will you need to put things, Jessie?”

  “One shelf for spoons and things,” said Jessie.

  “And one shelf for dishes,” said Violet.

  “And one shelf for pans and kettles,” said Jessie, “and an extra shelf for groceries.”

  The two girls sat in the open door of the barn shelling peas. Henry began to build the cupboard.

  “What time shall we go swimming?” asked Jessie.

  “We could go in right before lunch,” said Henry. “Or if you were too busy cooking, we could swim before breakfast, and maybe again at four o’clock.”

  “Fine,” said Jessie. “Before breakfast when we feel like it—four o’clock when we don’t. Maybe both and go to bed at eight o’clock, or as soon as it gets dark.”

  “Oh, dear! Do we all have to go to bed so early?” asked Violet.

  “You’ll want to, believe me,” said Henry. “You wait and see.”

  When the peas were shelled, Benny came running back. “It’s a big box, Violet,” he said, “and it has a little door, and it will hold lots of bottles of milk and everything. I like to open the door and take out the things.”

  “What did you take out?” asked Violet.

  “Oh, Captain Daniel let me take out some letters and packages,” answered Benny.

  “Maybe you’d like to do that every day, Benny,” said Henry. “You may take the order down to the box. Then you may get the groceries and letters when they come.”

  “I’d like to do that,” said Benny. “Captain Daniel was there and he said he’s bringing our groceries soon. Then I can open the little door and get them.”

  “That’s fine,” said Henry. He was glad to please Benny and get a little work done at the same time. “Come and hold this door for me, will you?”

  “Oh, our cupboard has doors!” said Violet. She watched Henry put two pieces of heavy cloth on the doors so that they would open and shut.

  The morning passed very quickly. Jessie lighted the little stove, boiled some water in the kettle, and put in the peas. When they were done, she added some salt, and filled four dishes with peas. On the top of each dish she put a piece of butter. There was no need to call anyone, for the whole family and the dog stood watching her.

  “Oh, boy!” cried Henry, as he began to eat.

  “Oh, boy!” cried Benny.

  Violet said nothing, but when her first dish was empty she passed it for more.

  “This is what I like,” said Jessie. “Everything seems better when we have to work to get it.”

  It was fun to put white paper in the new dish cupboard and find the best places for each cup and bowl. And at one o’clock the barn was once more in order, the cupboard was shut, and the four children and their dog were ready to explore the island.

  CHAPTER 4

  Clamming

  The children walked through the beach grass and sat on the sand.

  “Jessie, look at that!” cried Benny, pointing. As he spoke, a stream of water shot out of the sand. But Henry did not stop to say how pretty it was. “Clams!” he shouted. He jumped up and took a stick from the beach. The rest of the children and the dog ran to watch Henry as he began to dig. Sure enough, he took a real clam from the wet hole.

  “Oh, I wish I had a shovel!” cried Henry. “There are lots of clams here. See that hole, and that!”

  “Let’s run up and get two big spoons and the dishpan,” cried Jessie. They raced for the tools, leaving Benny and Violet with the stick. When they came running back, they found that Benny had dug out another clam.

  “I am going to keep mine,” said Benny, very pleased with himself. “It is such a pretty purple color.”

  “You can put all yours together into this pan, Benny,” said Jessie, giving him a saucepan. “You won’t want to keep them when you find out how good they are to eat.”

  The children took off their shoes and set to work.

  “There’s another!” cried Benny. “I can’t dig fast enough.”

  Watch seemed to know what was going on. He stood still a minute watching Benny dig with the stick. Then he began to dig too, with his paws.

  “Good old Watch!” cried Benny. “You can do all my digging if you want, and I will take the clams out for you.” As if he really did understand, the dog waited for Benny to show him where the clam was. Then he began to dig again. The older children laughed to see the sand fly under his paws, but they were very glad to see the pan fill up.

  “I suppose these are for dinner tomorrow,” said Henry, as he threw a clam on the pile.

  “Yes,” said Jessie. “These will keep all right here. We can cover them all over with seaweed.”

  “I think we have enough,” said Henry, looking at the pan. He went to the water and pulled out a lot of wet seaweed. He spread this carefully over the clams.

  “I wish we knew what was around that next point,” he said. “Let’s find out.”

  “We’re exploring now, Benny,” said Violet. “You must keep your eyes open.”

  Benny’s eyes were certainly open when he went around the point. In the water near the beach was a little raft.

  “Oh, I know that Grandfather fixed this place for us to swim in!” said Benny.

  “Of course he did,” said Henry. “The water here can’t be over my head, but it is deep enough for swimming.”

  The children explored until three o’clock. Then they all agreed to go swimming, and went to their rooms to put on their suits. When they came back to the beach, they all walked together into the water.

  “Cold!” said Benny, walking out again. “I like warm water.”

  “That’s because you’re not in all over,” said Jessie, laughing. “You just watch Henry, and you’ll soon like it.”

  They all watched Henry as he went quickly into the water and began swimming hand over hand to the raft. Watch swam along beside him.

  “It’s great!” Henry shouted, as he sat on the raft “Come on out, Jessie.”

  “I will, just as soon as I get Benny in,” she called back. “You’ll never be warm unless you go in all over, Benny.” But Benny would not go in. He sat in his swimming suit, throwing stones into the water. Violet was down the beach, looking for seaweed. She said she would stay with Benny while Jessie swam out to the raft. As Jessie and Henry sat with their feet in the water, they saw a man coming.

  “It’s Joe!” said Henry. It was Joe, and he was wearing a swimming suit.

  Henry watched as Joe came along the beach and sat down beside Benny.

  “How is the water today?” asked Joe.

  “It’s awfully cold,” replied Benny. “It’s ice melted.”

  “I guess that’s because you haven’t been in all over,” said Joe, smiling.

  “Yes, that’s what Jessie says,” said Benny.

  “That is called rockweed,” said Joe suddenly, as Violet picked up a long piece of brown seaweed. “There are beautiful seaweeds around here. See this dark green one on the sand? And here’s another red one. Look! There is a piece of it in that wave!” Joe went into the water, and Violet followed him.

  “Oh, there it goes!” she cried. “We’ve lost it.”

  Benny was standing up by this time, looking into the waves. He did not even feel the water washing over his feet. The seaweed came up on a wave and went down again. This time Benny went after it.

  “I’ve got it!” he shouted. He was right. He had caught the red seaweed, and he was wet all over.

  “Good for you, Benny!” said Joe with a smile. “Let me take it a minute.”

  “Here,” said Benny, handing the seaweed to Joe. He did not know that he was standing in melted ice.

  “Say, I have an idea,” said Joe. “Float the seaweed like this in water. Then pick it up by putting a piece of writing paper under it and spread out the feathery branches with a pin.”

  “Will the seaweed stay on the paper?” aske
d Violet.

  “Yes,” said Joe. “There is something in the seaweed that makes it stick to the paper when it is dry. Then you can use the paper for writing letters.”

  “Oh, I’d like that,” cried Violet, “but I’d also like to make a seaweed collection!”

  “Fine!” said Henry, for he and Jessie had come back from the raft to see what was going on. “You can write down the names of the seaweed and make a little book.”

  “That will be hard to do. There aren’t many everyday names for seaweed,” said Joe.

  “You know lots of things, don’t you, Joe?” said Benny.

  The three older children agreed, for they had seen how clever Joe had been in getting Benny into the cold water without his knowing it.

  After they had dressed and were sitting down to supper, Henry was thinking about Joe. Later, when he was in bed, he thought, “Joe is a very strange handy man, to know the names of the different kinds of seaweed.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Summer Plan

  We must go on exploring the island,” said Henry, the morning after the clam digging. “It may rain any day and the days are just flying by.”

  “We can go this morning,” said Jessie, coming to the doorway of the barn. “The clams will not take very long to cook, and that’s all we are going to have for dinner except, of course, bread, butter, and milk. If we get back by eleven o’clock, we shall have plenty of time.”

  “It’s settled, then,” said Henry. “Let’s take the big kettle. We might find something we want to bring home. Now where is Benny?”

  “There he is,” said Jessie, pointing.

  Benny was coming from the dock. He had a basket of groceries with him.

  “Hurry up, Benny. We are going to explore,” said Henry, taking the kettle.

  “Aren’t we going to cook my clams?” asked Benny.

  “Oh, yes. We’ll be back in plenty of time to cook your clams, Benny.”

  They started down the beach.

  “See this funny shell,” said Jessie. She dug it out with her foot. “It is just like a little boat. Let’s save it.” She dropped it into the kettle.