“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.”