Reaching the pier, she was pulling herself out onto it, when Ma Harper and the two men came running out of the house to intercept her.
“Oh! Oh!” thought Penny. “It’s not going to be as easy as I assumed.”
Joe ran out on the pier, while Ma and the other man separated, one starting upstream and the other down. No matter which way she turned, Penny saw that her escape would be cut off.
The river was wide, the current swift. Although an excellent swimmer, she had no desire to attempt such a contest of endurance. But there seemed no other way.
Deliberately pushing off from the pier, she swam directly away from shore, After a dozen strokes she rolled over on her back for a moment to see what was happening. Ma Harper had shouted to Joe, and the words carried plainly over the water.
“Take after her in the boat! We don’t dare let her get away now! She knows too much!”
Penny had forgotten the motorboat tied up at the pier. Now as she saw Joe and Clark Clayton run toward it, her heart sank.
Though the race seemed hopeless, she flopped over onto her face again, and swam with all her strength. Going with the current, her feet churned the water behind her.
Several times, the men tried without success to start the motorboat engine. Penny grew hopeful. Then she heard the blast as the motor caught, and knew that in just a minute the men would overtake her.
Frantically, she glanced about for help. Already late afternoon, there were no fishing boats on the river. Save for Ma Harper, who stood ready to seize her should she try to swim in to the beach, no other persons were visible on either shore. The River Queen apparently was at the far end of her run, hidden beyond the bend.
A hundred yards away, in shallow water, lay a large patch of tall river grass and cat-tails. Seeing it, Penny took new hope. The area was large enough to offer a temporary refuge if she could reach it! Not only would the dense mat of high grass protect her from view, but a boat would not be able to follow.
Starting to swim again, she put everything she had into each stroke. It would be pinch and go to reach the grass patch! Aware of her intention, Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton had changed course, hoping to intercept her.
CHAPTER
19
FLIGHT
The high water grass loomed up and Penny’s feet struck a muddy bottom. With the boat almost upon her, she plunged into the morass. The water came to armpit level. Pushing aside the thick stalks which wrapped themselves about her arms and body, she waded far into the patch before she paused.
Hidden by the dense growth, she could not at first see the pursuing boat. She knew, however, that it had halted at the edge of the patch, for the motor had been cut off.
And after awhile she heard voices, low spoken, but nevertheless clear, for the slightest sound carried over water.
“She’s over there somewhere in the center of the patch!” one of the men muttered. “I could tell where she went by the way the grass moved. Shall we let her go?”
“No, we got to get her or she’ll tell everything she knows to old man Gandiss and the police!” the other answered.
With the motor shut off, the two men then took out paddles, and began to force the boat through the jungle of grass. Observing that they were coming straight toward her, Penny noiselessly waded on, taking every precaution not to move the stalks unnecessarily. Noting the direction of the wind, she went with it, hoping that any movement of the grass would appear to be caused by the stiff breeze.
But she hoped in vain. For suddenly Joe the Sweeper shouted hoarsely:
“There she is! Over there!” He pointed with his paddle blade.
The men pushed the boat on, smashing the grass ahead of them. In despair, Penny saw that wherever she went she was leaving a trail of trampled, broken grass behind her.
No longer trying to prevent splashes, she waded in a wide half-circle. Then quickly she back-tracked, this time making not a sound. Slipping into the dense growth just beside the trail she had made, she breathlessly waited.
The boat came into view. Taking a deep breath, Penny ducked under water. Opening her eyes, she could see the blurred, dark bottom of the craft moving slowly toward her, so close she could have reached out and touched it.
Her breath began to grow short. The boat barely seemed to move. Penny’s lungs felt as if they were ready to burst, but still she remained under water.
Then the men had passed, and she dared raise her head for an instant to gulp in air. The boat reached the end of the trail through the grass that Penny herself had made. There it halted, as Sweeper Joe and his companion, realizing they had lost their quarry, debated their next move.
“She was here a minute ago!” Sweeper Joe growled. “I caught a glimpse of her clothes, and saw the grass move. Where did she go?”
“She must have doubled back.”
With difficulty the men turned the boat around and rowed toward Penny again. When she dared wait no longer, she submerged again.
They passed her and she came up for air. A water snake slithered through the grass, almost touching her hand.
Startled, Penny leaped backwards, making an ugly, loud splash in the water. Slight as was the sound, it told the men where she hid. Turning in the boat, they saw her through the grass, and bore toward her again.
By this time, Penny actually enjoyed the desperate game of hide and seek, for so far, the advantage had been hers. She stood watching the boat until it came very close.
Then she dived, coming up directly underneath the craft. Getting her shoulder squarely under one side, she raised up, and with an ease that surprised her, upset the boat.
The two men went sprawling into the water. Unable to swim, they made animal noises and clutched desperately at the grass for support. But as their feet found solid footing, they started furiously toward Penny. Taking her time, and deliberately seeking deeper water, she waded away.
“That will hold them for a few minutes,” she thought gleefully. “I’ll get out of this jungle now, and swim ashore.”
One more the girl’s hopes were rudely dashed. As she reached the edge of the grass area, she was disconcerted to see another rowboat approaching from the direction of the Harper place. With shadows deepening on the water, she could not at first distinguish the man. Then she recognized Claude Harper.
“He must have come home, and Ma sent him here to help capture me!” she thought. “If I swim out now, I’ll certainly be caught.”
Crouching down so that her nose was just above the water, she waited. Claude Harper rowed on, resting upon his oars when perhaps ten yards away.
“Joe!” he called.
There was an answering shout from the center of the grass patch.
“That gal’s somewhere close by!” Sweeper Joe shouted in warning. “She upset our boat. Stay where you are, and see that she doesn’t slip past you!”
Thus warned, Claude Harper began to survey the grass patch intently. He looked hard at the place where Penny stood. She was certain he had seen her, but after a moment, he turned slightly, and his eyes roved on.
As she hesitated, not knowing what to do, Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton, who had bailed out their boat, came paddling out to meet Harper. Wet and plastered with mud, they had lost one of the paddles.
“If you ain’t sights!” Harper cackled upon seeing them. He slapped his thigh in glee. “You look like a couple o’ stupid mud turtles!”
“Fool!” rasped Sweeper Joe. “Don’t you have sense enough to figure what will happen if that girl gets away from us?”
“You ain’t goin’ back to no job at the Gandiss factory. Nor Clayton neither!”
“It’s a lot more serious than that!” Joe snapped. He guided the boat alongside Harper’s craft. “Why do you think I took that job in the first place, and spent better than two years studyin’ the Gandiss factory layout? I lined up the employes we could get to go along with us, got everything organized—and now this gal has to bust up the show just as the profits begin to roll in!”
“Better pipe down,” Harper warned curtly. “She can hear you, and so can everyone else on the river.”
“What’s the difference?” Joe argued in disgust. “We’re through. I’m gettin’ out of this town tonight!”
“Me with you,” added Clark Clayton. “Ever since Gandiss put detectives on the job, I figured the game was gettin’ too dangerous.”
Now it was Claude Harper who lost his temper. “Hold on,” he said warningly. “It’s all right for you guys to blow town, but what about me and the wife?”
“You can do what you please,” Joe retorted.
“We got your brass cached in our basement. If the cops should find it there, we’d take the rap.”
“Get rid of it.”
“That’s a lot easier said than done. Besides, that brass is worth a tidy sum o’ money.”
“Then why not sell it tonight?” Joe proposed suddenly. “If we can get it to the junkman who has a place across from the factory, he’ll pay us a good price. We can complete the deal, and still get out of town before midnight.”
“That’s okay for you,” Harper argued, “but Ma and I own property here, and we got a good business.”
“It was your stupid wife’s stocking business that got us into this jam!” Clark Clayton snarled.
“I ain’t talkin’ about that. I mean our dance hall. We clean up about a hundred bucks every Saturday night.”
“You should have thought about that before you went in with us,” Joe retorted. “You knew the risks you were taking. Anyway, this mess was your wife’s making.”
A silence fell, and then Clark Clayton said: “We ain’t gettin’ nowhere. We got to decide what we’re goin’ to do, and we got to make sure that gal don’t get out o’ this weed patch until we’ve arranged our escape.”
In whispers, the men conferred. Though Penny strained her ears, she could not catch a single word. However, a plan satisfactory to the three seemed to have been formulated, for presently, the two boats separated.
Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton paddled off, heading for the pier at the Harpers’. The other man remained in his rowboat, unquestionably detailed to keep watch of the grass patch and prevent the girl’s escape.
To amuse himself, he began to call out to her, though he could not see her or know where she was.
“You think you’re a clever one!” he taunted. “But you jest wait! We’ll get you out o’ there, and when we do, you ain’t goin’ to like it!”
Lest a movement of the grass or a splash betray her, Penny remained perfectly still. Shadows deepened on the river for night was fast coming on. Her muscles became stiff and cramped. The wind chilled her to the very bone, and the water which at first had not seemed unbearably cold, made her teeth chatter and dance. Each minute became an hour as the torture increased.
“I’ll have to do something,” she thought desperately. “I can’t endure this much longer.”
CHAPTER
20
A DESPERATE PLIGHT
In the rowboat, Claude Harper slowly patrolled the area, keeping an alert watch for the slightest movement amid the grass. Once as a crane arose from the dense growth into the darkening sky, he focused a flashlight beam on the spot.
“He’s prepared to stay here half the night if necessary,” Penny thought, shivering.
She could think of no means of escape. When it became completely dark, she might be able to swim away without being detected. But long exposure in cold water had weakened her, and she was none too certain of her ability to reach shore.
Her absence at the island surely must have been noticed by this time, she reasoned. Why was not a boat sent in search of her?
“I hope they don’t assume I am staying with Sally for the night,” she worried.
Penny’s thoughts were momentarily distracted as she heard indistinct voices from the direction of the Harper dock. Lights had been turned on in the house and basement.
“Those men are getting rid of the stolen brass,” she reasoned. “If they try to sell it to Heiney, they still may be caught.”
Presently the motorboat moved away from the Harper dock, its engine laboring. The craft was sunk low in the water as if from a heavy load.
The boat did not turn down stream as Penny expected. Instead, it crossed the river at right angles, stopping in mid-stream at the deepest part of the channel. There the engine was cut off.
“Now what?” thought Penny.
Claude Harper likewise seemed puzzled by the action, for he turned to stare, muttering to himself.
Though Penny could not see what the men were doing aboard the boat, she heard a loud splash as something heavy was dropped overboard.
“The fools!” Claude Harper exclaimed. “The fools!”
Another splash and still another followed. Then the boat turned and came toward the grass patch. Claude Harper hailed the men with an angry exclamation.
“You idiots! After all the risk we’ve taken, you dump our profits in the river!”
“Keep your shirt on!” Sweeper Joe retorted. “It was the only thing to do. Glowershick just phoned from town.”
“What’d he have to report?”
“Nothing good. You know that junk shop where we arranged to sell our stuff? Where the owner offered us a higher price than any other place in town?”
“Well?”
“He was a dick, planted there by old man Gandiss himself. They’ve already got wind of who’s in on the deal.”
“Then if we try to sell the brass anywhere else, we’ll be pinched.”
“You’re catching on, Harper.”
“Have you dumped all the stuff in the river?”
“It will take two more trips at least. And there’s the brass lantern to get rid of,” Joe added. “As soon as the job is done, Clark and me are gettin’ out of the city.”
“What are Ma and me gonna do?” Harper whined. “We’ve got property here.”
“That’s up to you,” Joe snapped. “If it wasn’t for the gal you’d be safe enough. Seen anything of her?”
“Nary a sign.”
“She may have slipped away under water. The gal swims like an eel.”
“I don’t think she got away. I been watchin’ like a hawk.”
“She’s sure to spill everything, and she’s seen plenty,” Joe muttered. “Even though the cops don’t find any evidence, they could make it plenty tough for you and the missus.”
“We got to leave town,” Harper admitted. “After takin’ all this risk and bein’ all set to cash in big, it’s a dirty break. It ain’t fair.”
“Squawkin’ won’t do no good,” Joe said shortly. “The question is, what are we goin’ to do about the gal?”
“We got to make sure she won’t carry no tales until we’re safely out of town.”
“Then we’ll have to flush her out of this bird nest,” Joe decided. “There’s a way we can do it.”
The manner in which she was to be caught, soon became apparent to Penny. Systematically, the men began to flatten all of the grass with their paddles and oars. Foot by foot, she retreated. Their strategy was discouragingly clear. The flattened grass no longer offered protection. Soon it all would be level with the water, and she would have no screen.
So cold that her limbs were nearly paralyzed, Penny considered giving herself up. In any case, the outcome would be the same. The only other recourse was to scream for help, and hope that someone along the shore would hear her and investigate.
With only the Harper house close by, the prospect that anyone would come to her aid was practically nil.
Angered at not finding the girl, Harper and his companions swung their paddles viciously. Penny retreated further, still reluctant to abandon freedom.
Then far downstream, she saw the River Queen, recognizing it by the pattern its lights made above the water. The ferry had finished its passenger run, and now apparently was coming upstream to anchor for the night.
As Penny watched the boat, she took new hope. If only she could signal Captain Barker or Sally! Unless the ferry changed course, it was almost certain to pass the grass patch. However, with the water shallow there, it would give the area a wide berth.
“Even if I shouted for help, no one aboard would hear me,” she reasoned. “But I’ll have to try something! I’m finished if I stay here.”
Straight up the river came the Queen. Penny could see a man in the lighted pilot house, but no one was visible on the decks. The ferry was traveling at a rapid speed.
Penny decided to wait no longer. Creeping to the very edge of the grass, she ducked under water, and started to swim. Her strength had gone even more than she realized. Arms and legs were so stiff they barely could press against the water as she stroked. A few feet and she was forced to come to the surface.
“There she is!” shouted Sweeper Joe. Bringing the boat around, he started directly for her.
Penny swam with all the power at her command, stroking deep and fast. Not daring to look back, she could hear the dip of Sweeper Joe’s oars.
Straight toward the deepest part of the channel, she propelled herself. Her crawl strokes were jerky, but they carried her along. And she had calculated well. Aided by the current, she would intercept the path of the oncoming River Queen.
From the water, the ferryboat looked like an immense monster as it steamed majestically up the river. Not wishing to attract attention to himself or his companions, Joe shipped his oars and temporarily gave up the chase. But he remained close by, watching alertly. Should the ferryboat fail to see or pick up Penny, he would be after her upon the instant.
Treading water, the girl shouted for help and waved an arm. Her voice was weak even to her own ears, and could not possibly carry to the pilot house of the Queen. Would her frantic signals be seen? The night was dark, and she was not yet in the arc of the vessel’s lights.
Penny swam a few more strokes, then treaded water again, and signaled frantically. The River Queen did not slacken speed.
“They haven’t seen me!” she thought desperately. “It’s useless.”
Now a new danger presented itself. The Queen had swerved slightly so that Penny was directly in its path. Still she had not been seen. Looming up in gigantic proportions above her, the ferry threatened to run her down.
CHAPTER
21
RESCUE
Fearful that she would be killed, Penny screamed and waved. Straight on steamed the River Queen, so close now that she could see Sally Barker on the starboard deck. But the girl was gazing away from her, toward Sweeper Joe and the other drifting boat.
“Help! Help!” screamed Penny in one last desperate attempt to save herself.
Her cry carried, for she saw Sally whirl around and stare intently at the dark water ahead. Then she shouted an order to her father. There came a clanging of bells, and the Queen swerved to port, missing Penny by a scant ten feet.
Great waves engulfed her, and she fought to keep above the surface. Her strength was practically gone. She rolled over on her back, gasping for breath.
Then she saw that the Queen had greatly reduced speed and was turning back on her course. A lifeboat also was being lowered.
“They’re going to pick me up!” Penny thought, nearly overcome by relief.
The next minute Sally and a sailor were pulling her into the boat.
“Why, it’s Penny! And she’s half drowned!” she heard her friend exclaim.
Then she knew no more.
When she opened her eyes, Penny found herself in a warm, comfortable bed. Sally stood beside her with a cup of steaming hot soup.
“You’re coming around fine,” she praised. “Drink this! Then you’ll feel better.”
Penny pulled herself up on an elbow and took a swallow of the soup. It was good and warmed her chilled body. She gulped the cupful down.
“Sally—”
“Better not try to talk too much now,” Sally advised kindly. “How did you get into the water?”
The question aroused Penny, bringing back a flood of memories. She suddenly realized that she was in Sally’s cabin on the River Queen and the ferry was moving.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“You’re safe,” Sally said soothingly. “You were swimming in the river. We nearly ran you down. Lucky I saw you just in time and we picked you up.”
“Yes, I know,” Penny agreed. “But where are we? Near the Harpers?”
“Oh, no, we passed their place long ago. We’re far upriver.”
Penny struggled up, swinging her feet out of the bunk. She saw then that she was wearing a pair of Sally’s pajamas, and that her own wet garments hung over a chair.
“We must turn back!” she cried. “Tell Captain Barker, please! Oh, it’s vitally important, Sally!”
Sally was maddeningly deliberate.
“Now don’t get excited, Penny,” she advised. “Everything will be all right.”
Penny resisted as Sally tried to push her back into bed. “You don’t understand!” she protested. “Sweeper Joe, Claude Harper, and Clark Clayton are expecting to make their get-away tonight. They’re the ones who have been stealing brass from the Gandiss factory. It’s all cached in the basement of the Harper house—or was unless they’ve dumped it.”
“Penny, are you straight in your head? You know what you’re saying?”
“I certainly do! I went there this afternoon. When I learned too much, they tried to hold me prisoner. I escaped by the river—hid in the grass patch. But they followed me there, and were about to get me, when the River Queen steamed by.”
“I did see two small boats there. Just before you shouted I wondered what they would be doing at this time of night.”
“Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton have been dumping the stolen brass! Unless police stop them before they dispose of it all, not a scrap of evidence will be left! All those men expect to leave town tonight!”
“Thank heavens, we have a ship-to-shore radio telephone!” Sally cried, thoroughly aroused. “I’ll have Pop call the police right away!”
She bolted out the cabin door.
Every muscle and joint in Penny’s body ached, but there was no time to think of her misery. Her own clothes could not be put on. Searching in Sally’s wardrobe, she found a sweater and a skirt, and undergarments she needed. By the time her friend returned, she was dressed.
“Penny, you shouldn’t have gotten up!” Sally protested quickly.
“I can’t afford to miss the excitement,” Penny grinned. “Hope you don’t mind lending me some of your clothes.”
“Of course not, and if you must stay up, you’ll need a pair of shoes.” 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 ashore.
“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 grass 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 grass 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 passenger docks.
An excursion boat, the Florence, passed 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 passengers.
Then it happened. Penny saw a sudden flash of flame which seemed to come from the hold of the excursion ship. The next instant fire shot from the portholes and began to spread.
Captain Barker gave a hoarse 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 mass of flames from stem to stern. Terrified passengers jammed the gangplank as they tried to crowd ashore. 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 passengers.
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 passengers 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 passengers, 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 shipment—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 passengers and went back for more. Motorboats had set out from shore, 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 passengers 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.
“We could ram her,” he muttered. “She might be nosed out into the channel again, and headed away from the freight docks.”
“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” Sally asked anxiously. “We have at least fifty passengers aboard. In this high wind, the Queen would be almost certain to catch fire.”
“There’s nothing else to do,” Captain Barker decided grimly, signaling the engine room. “The Florence is drifting fast, and before the fire boats can get here, half the waterfront will be ablaze. Have the passengers wet down the decks and stand by with buckets!”
Penny and Sally worked feverishly carrying out orders. The deck hose was attached, and buckets were brought from below and filled with water. All survivors who were able to help, cooperated to the fullest extent, helping wet down the decks and assisting women and children to the stern of the ferryboat.
Captain Barker had given an order for the Queen to move full speed ahead.
In a moment the two boats made jarring contact. Penny was thrown from her feet. Scrambling up, she saw that blazing timbers from the Florence had crashed directly onto the River Queen’s deck. Sparks were falling everywhere. The ferryboat had caught fire in a dozen places.
Seizing a bucket of water, she doused out the flames nearest her. Heat from the Florence was intense, and many of the men who had volunteered to help, began to retreat.
Penny and Sally stuck at their post, knowing that the lives of all depended upon extinguishing the flames quickly. Crew members of the Florence worked beside them with quiet, determined efficiency.
In the midst of the excitement, the final boatload of picked-up survivors had to be taken aboard. Captain Jamison, one of the last to leave the Florence, collapsed as he reached the deck. Severely burned, he was carried below to receive first-aid treatment.
Undaunted, Captain Barker shouted terse orders, goading the men to greater activity when the flames showed signs of getting beyond control. After the first contact with the Florence, only occasional sparks ignited the Queen’s decks, but the heat was terrific. Women and children became hysterical, fearful that the ferryboat would become a flaming torch.
“The worst is over now,” Sally sighed as she and Penny refilled water buckets. “Pop knows what he’s doing. He’s saved the waterfront.”
“But this ferryboat?”
“It still may go up in smoke, but I don’t think so,” Sally replied calmly. “Pop is heading so that the wind will carry the flames away from us. He’ll beach the Florence on Horseshoe Shoal and let the wreck burn to the water’s edge.”
For the next fifteen minutes, there was no lessening of worry aboard the River Queen. The ferryboat clung grimly to the blazing excursion boat, losing contact at times, then picking her up again, and pushing on toward the shoal.
Fire fighting activities aboard the ferryboat became better organized; the passengers, observing that Captain Barker knew what he was about, became calm and easily managed. By the time fire boats arrived to spray the Florence with streams of pressured water, the situation was well in hand.
Collapsing on the deck from sheer exhaustion, Penny and Sally gazed toward the warehouses and docks on the opposite shore. Only one fire of any size was visible there.
“The fire boats will quickly put it out,” Sally said confidently. “But I hate to think what would have happened if the wind and current had driven the Florence along those wharves.”
Penny wiped her cheek and saw that her hand was covered with black soot. Sally too was a sight. She had ripped the hem from her skirt, her hair was an untidy mess, everything about her was pungent with smoke.
“Where were we when all this excitement started?” Penny asked presently. “If my memory serves me correctly, we had sent out a police call for Claude Harper and his pals to be arrested. It all seems vague in my mind, as if it occurred a million years ago.”
“Why, I had forgotten too!” Sally gasped. “I hope the police went there and caught those men before they made a get-away.”
Scrambling to their feet, the girls moved to the starboard side of the Queen, which permitted a view of the Harper house far upriver. They were startled and dismayed to see tongues of flame shooting from a window.
“That place has caught on fire too!” Sally exclaimed, then corrected herself. “But sparks from the Florence never could have been carried so far!”
“The house has been set afire on purpose!” Penny cried. “Oh, Sally, don’t you see? It’s a trick to destroy all the evidence hidden there! The Harpers intend to skip town tonight, and they’re taking advantage of this fire to make it appear that destruction of the house is accidental!”
CHAPTER
23
FIRE!
Sick at heart, the two girls realized with the Harper house aflame, their last chance of proving the guilt of the brass thieves might be gone. As they stood at the railing of the Queen, gloomily watching the spreading, creeping line of fire, a motorboat chugged up.
“Ahoy!” shouted a familiar voice. “Can you take aboard three more survivors? They’re the very last we can find on the river.”
“It’s Jack!” Penny cried, recognizing his voice though unable to see his face in the dark. “After we get the passengers aboard, perhaps he’ll take us upriver to the Harpers!”
The girls ran to help with the new arrivals, but sailors already had lifted them from the boat and carried them aboard the Queen.
“This is my last load,” Jack called out. “Nearly everyone was saved. Coast Guard boats are patrolling now, and if there are other survivors, they’ll be taken ashore.”
“Jack!” Penny called down to him.
“That you, Penny?” he demanded in astonishment. “Why didn’t you come back to Shadow Island this afternoon? We’ve all been worried about you!”
“It’s a long story, and there’s no time to tell it now! Jack, will you take us to the Harpers’ in your motorboat?”
“Now?”
“Yes, the house is on fire.”
Helping the girls into the boat, Jack turned to gaze upstream. “That’s strange!” he exclaimed. “How could sparks from the Florence have carried so far?”
“The answer is, they didn’t,” Penny said grimly. “The house was set afire on purpose. Just get us to the pier as quickly as you can.”
Somewhere along the shore a big city clock struck the hour of midnight. The young people did not notice. As the boat raced over the water, bouncing as it struck each high wave, they discussed what had happened just prior to the outbreak of fire aboard the Florence.
“I know part of the stolen brass was dumped into the river by Sweeper Joe,” Penny revealed excitedly. “The remainder was locked in the basement of the Harper house the last I knew. And I’m satisfied the brass lantern taken from the Queen by Adam Glowershick is among the loot. All the thieves expect to skip town tonight. Probably they’re gone by this time.”