“Well, well!  Tommy must be getting to be quite a boy now.  And to think it was your children whom I found and who told me where I was, so none of us were lost.  It is very strange!  And can you tell me where my mother lives?”

“I can, and I’ll take you there.  It is not a very nice house, but we have a better one for her.  Only she did not want to move in this cold weather.”

“I can not thank you enough for being kind to my mother and my son,” said Mr. Todd.  “But now I shall be able to look after them.  I have plenty of money and they need want for nothing now.”

In the automobile, going back to Lakeport through the storm, Mr. Todd told Mr. Bobbsey and Flossie and Freddie his story.

He had sailed away, just as Tommy Todd had said, some years before.  The vessel of which he was captain was wrecked, and he and some other sailors got to an island where the natives were kind to them.

But for many years no other ship came that way.  So Mr. Todd could not get home nor could he send any word, though he very much wanted to do so.  In that time he found some pearls which were very valuable.  So, when finally a ship did pass the island and take off the wrecked sailors, Mr. Todd had more money than he had when he started out.  For the pearls were very valuable.

As soon as Mr. Todd reached a place where he could send word to his aged mother that he was alive and safe he did so.  But in some manner the message was never received.

As soon as he had sent the message Mr. Todd started out himself to get home.  Finally, he reached the United States and took a train for Lakeport.  But, as he had told Flossie and Freddie, he got off at the wrong station, and had come on in an automobile.  Then came the accident to the tire and the storm, and the rest you know—­how Mr. Todd and the Bobbsey twins met at the old shed on the meadows.

“Well, that is quite a wonderful story,” said Mr. Bobbsey.  “I’m sure your mother and son will be wild with joy to see you again.  They have long thought you dead.”

“I suppose so,” said Mr. Todd.  “The papers said my vessel was lost with all on board, and it did seem so when I could send no word.”

“Only Tommy and I thought maybe you might be like Robinson Crusoe,” said Freddie, “and we were going in a ship to look for you on the island, only I haven’t money enough saved up in my bank.”

“Bless your heart!” said Mr. Todd.

“I think this is what we will do,” said Mr. Bobbsey.  “We will stop at your mother’s house, get her and Tommy, and bring you all to my house.”

“Oh, that is too much trouble!” said Mr. Todd.

“No, not at all.  I want you to have a happy time, and we shall be happy with you.”

The automobile was stopped at the house by the dumps.

“I will go in first,” said Mr. Bobbsey, “and tell your mother and boy that I have good news for them.  If she were to see you too suddenly, your mother, who has not been well, might be taken ill again.  I will prepare her for the good news.”