Guilt of the Brass Thieves Part 32

Sally found a pair of sandals, which although too large, would serve.

After Penny had put them on, she said: "Let's go to the pilot house, because I want you to tell Pop exactly what happened."

"Did you notify police?"

"Pop sent the message. It may take a little while, but police should be at the Harpers' almost anytime now."

"Those men saw me taken aboard this boat," Penny worried. "I'm afraid they'll get away before the police arrive."

The girls climbed to the pilot house where Captain Barker had just turned the wheel over to a helmsman. All members of the crew remained aboard, for with the _Queen_ late on her run, there had been no opportunity as yet to put the men ash.o.r.e.

"We may need all our hands tonight," Captain Barker predicted. "No telling what may develop. I have one of those feelings."

"Now Pop!" reproved Sally. "The last time you made a remark like that, we smashed a rudder. Remember?"

"Aye, I remember all too well," he rejoined grimly.

Urged by Sally, Penny related everything that had happened at the Harpers', and told of her endurance contest in the gra.s.s patch.

"We'll head back that direction and see what's doing," Captain Barker offered to satisfy her. "Maybe we'll catch sight of those rascals in their boats."

Although the _Queen_ cruised slowly near the shoal area where Penny had encountered adventure, there was no sign of any small boat. The ferry crept dangerously close to the gra.s.s patch.

"Watch 'er like a cat!" Captain Barker warned the helmsman. "Cramp her!

Cramp her!"

When the man did not react speedily enough, he seized the wheel and helped spin it hard down. The _Queen_ responded readily, moving into deeper waters.

Satisfied that there were no small boats in the vicinity, Captain Barker, headed upstream toward the Harpers'. Across the water, lights were to be seen on both floors of the two-story river house, but so far as could be discerned, no boats were tied up at the pier or docks.

"The place isn't deserted, that's certain," Penny declared, peering into the wall of darkness. "How long should it take the police to get there?"

"If the radio message we sent was properly transmitted, they should be on their way now," the captain replied.

Sally, impatient for action, was all for taking a crew and descending upon the house and its occupants. Puffing thoughtfully at his pipe, her father considered the proposal, but shook his head.

"We have no authority to make a search," he pointed out. "Any such action would make us liable for court action. Just be patient and you'll see fireworks."

Knowing that to stand by near the Harpers' pier would warn the house occupants they were being watched, Captain Barker ordered the _Queen_ to turn downriver toward the main freight and pa.s.senger docks.

An excursion boat, the _Florence_, pa.s.sed them, her railings lined with women and children who had enjoyed an all-day outing and were returning home. The steamer tied up at the Ninth Street dock and began to disgorge pa.s.sengers.

Then it happened. Penny saw a sudden flash of flame which seemed to come from the hold of the excursion s.h.i.+p. The next instant fire shot from the portholes and began to spread.

Captain Barker gave a hoa.r.s.e shout which sent a chill down her spine.

"The _Florence_!" he exclaimed huskily. "Her oil tanks must have exploded! She'll go up like matchwood, and with all those women and children aboard!"

CHAPTER 22 _CAPTAIN BARKER'S COURAGE_

Never did a fire seem to spread so rapidly. In less than three minutes, as those aboard the _River Queen_ watched in helpless horror, the _Florence_ became a ma.s.s of flames from stem to stern. Terrified pa.s.sengers jammed the gangplank as they tried to crowd ash.o.r.e. Some of them leaped from the excursion boat's high railings to the dock below.

"Her mooring lines are ablaze!" Captain Barker shouted a moment later.

"And the freight sheds are catching afire," Penny added, observing a telltale line of flame starting from the flimsy wooden buildings along the wharf, directly back of the dock where the _Florence_ had moored.

The blazing sheds worried Captain Barker far less than the fact that the mooring lines had caught fire. If the _Florence_ should be cut loose from the dock, helpless women and children would be carried out onto the river in a flaming inferno.

"Why don't the fire boats get here!" Sally murmured nervously. "Oh, this is going to be a dreadful disaster if something isn't done to save those helpless people!"

At the bridge leading to the pilot house, Captain Barker stood tensely watching, his hand on the signal ropes.

"There go the mooring lines!" he shouted. "The current should bring her this way!"

As the _Florence_ slowly drifted away from the blazing wharf, men and women began to leap over the railings into the dark waters.

"Man the lifeboats!" Captain Barker ordered his crew tersely. "I'm going to try to get a tow line on 'er!" He signaled the engine room, and the _River Queen_ began to back rapidly toward the flaming excursion boat.

Penny and Sally ran to help launch the lifeboats. With the _River Queen_ desperately short handed, they would be needed to handle oars. A fireman, an engineer, Captain Barker and a helmsman must remain at their posts, which left only three sailors to pick up pa.s.sengers.

Leaping into the first boat launched, the girls rowed into the path of the blazing vessel. In its bright glow against the sky, they could see panic-stricken pa.s.sengers running about the decks. An increasing number were leaping into the water, and many could not swim.

Ignoring the cries of those who had life belts or were swimming strongly, they rapidly picked up survivors. To pull children aboard was a comparatively easy task. But many of the women were heavy, and the combined strength of the girls barely was sufficient to get them into the boat without upsetting.

Finally the lifeboat was filled beyond capacity, and they turned to land their cargo aboard the _Queen_. Only then did they see what Captain Barker intended to do.

His men had succeeded in making a line fast to the _Florence's_ stern. By this time the excursion boat was a flaming inferno, with only a few pa.s.sengers, the captain, and crew remaining aboard.

"Pop's going to tow the _Florence_ downstream away from the freight sheds!" Sally cried. "Some of those buildings are filled with war materials awaiting s.h.i.+pment--coal, oil and I don't know what all! If a fire once gets going there, nothing will stop it!"

Working feverishly, the girls unloaded their pa.s.sengers and went back for more. Motorboats had set out from sh.o.r.e, and they too aided in the rescue work. Some of the survivors were taken to land, and others were put aboard the _Queen_.

Aided by a sailor they had picked up, the girls worked until they no longer could see bobbing heads in the swirling waters.

"We've done all we can," Sally gasped, as they helped the last of the pa.s.sengers aboard the _Queen_. "The captain and most of his men will stay on the _Florence_ as long as they are able."

Though exhausted by their work, the girls did what they could for those aboard. Sally distributed all the blankets she could find, and Penny helped a sailor revive two women who were unconscious from having swallowed too much water.

Suddenly there came a loud report like the crack of a pistol.

The tow line to the _Florence_ had parted! Once more the excursion boat, now a roaring furnace, was adrift in mid-stream.

In an instant it was apparent to Penny what would happen. The cross-current was strong, and in a minute or two would carry the burning vessel into the wharves and sheds. When the boat struck, flying sparks would ignite the dry wood for a considerable distance, and soon the entire waterfront would be ablaze.

Though outwardly calm, Captain Barker was beset as he appraised the situation. It would not be possible to get another tow line onto the _Florence_ for already her decks had become untenable for the crew. The blazing vessel was drifting rapidly.