For a moment Jerry and Ned stared almost uncomprehendingly at the boy who brought such startling news. Then Jerry exclaimed:
“It can’t be possible, Bob! There must be some mistake!”
“I only wish there was,” went on the stout lad. “Not that I want any other vessel to be wrecked, either. But the dispatch says plainly that the Hassen has gone down. It’s a peculiar name, and there’s hardly any likelihood of an error. No, I’m afraid it’s all up with Uncle Nelson and Cousin Grace!”
“Too bad!” sympathized Ned. “Now you won’t know what it was he was bringing over with him.”
“Oh, I fancy my folks know,” said Bob. “But I don’t care so much about that.”
“I should say not,” agreed Jerry. “Think of being out in the ocean in such weather as this! Poor girl!”
“They might have escaped—have taken to the small boats or the life rafts,” suggested Ned. “I wouldn’t give up all hope, Bob, old man.”
“Well, of course there’s a small chance,” admitted the stout youth in a despondent tone; “but not much in such a storm as this. A small boat couldn’t live an hour in such a sea as there must be off this coast. It’s awful!”
“Well, hope for the best,” came from Jerry. “Things are bad enough here. Look at the ruin!” and he gazed about him. The others saw the destruction on every side, caused by the high wind. Scarcely a street but what was littered with debris, and many houses were uninhabitable by reason of being unroofed or through the breaking of water and drain pipes.
“We’ve got to get busy and help!” exclaimed Ned. “See! there’s another volunteer corps being organized. Let’s join it. We can’t get any wetter; and it will help to take Bob’s mind off his trouble,” Ned added in lower tones to Jerry.
“You’re right, old man. Work is the best thing for that. Come on, Bob, let’s get busy. You, too, Andy Rush!”
“That’s what I want to do—help!” cried the excitable lad. “Save lives—put out fire—pump a cellar dry—build up a chimney—here we go—come on, everybody—let her go—whoop!”
“If he keeps on that way he won’t get much done,” commented Bob with a smile.
“Let him go,” advised Jerry. “Talk is his safety valve. I’d hate to think what would happen to him if he couldn’t work off his energy that way.”
Just then Ned saw his father talking to the mayor of the town, and hurried over to them.
“Ah, Ned!” exclaimed Mr. Slade, “we were just beginning to worry about you. This is awful—terrible. I have thrown open my department store to the use of the relief corps. We will house and feed as many there as we can. Other merchants are doing the same. You boys may bring any unfortunates you meet. The salespeople, and everyone there, has orders to spare nothing.”
“That’s bully, Dad!” exclaimed Ned. “We were just going to start in and help. We had to go off after our boat that got adrift.”
“So I understand. Well, I’ll tell your mother you’re all right.”
“And if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you let my mother know I’m safe?” asked Jerry. “Then I won’t have to go home.”
“Yes, I’ll do that, and for you and Andy, too, Bob. Now boys, show what sort of stuff you’re made of. This is quite a calamity for Cresville, but other places have suffered worse, and it’s up to us to meet it bravely. Now, Mr. Mayor, don’t fail to call on me for any aid in my power to give.”
“Thank you, Mr. Slade, I’ll remember. You’re a citizen to be proud of. Mr. Baker has offered me all the funds I need.”
“That’s good,” murmured Bob, glad that his father, too, had taken a hand in helping the unfortunates.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” said Mr. Slade. “Mrs. Hopkins telephoned me a little while ago, Mr. Mayor, to the effect that she and some ladies were organizing a nursing corps, so that any injured persons will receive all the medical attention they need.”
“Good!” cried the town executive. “It’s a comfort to have such citizens in Cresville. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go see how our relief work is coming on.”
“Yes, and I guess it’s up to us to get on the job, too!” added Jerry. “Come on, fellows.”
While Mr. Slade hurried off to send word of the safety of the lads, Jerry and his chums placed themselves at the service of one of the several chairmen of the relief corps that had hastily been organized. The boys found much to do, and it was not easy work, as the storm continued to rage.
“I think it’s slacking up a bit, though,” remarked Bob when there came a chance for him and his chums to take a breathing spell. They had worked hard and faithfully, even the excitable Andy Rush proving a real hero.
“Yes, the wind isn’t quite so strong,” agreed Jerry. “I’ll be glad, though, when we can get on something dry.”
“I wouldn’t mind the wet so much if we could get a hot cup of coffee,” spoke Bob, and his chums were so much of his opinion that they made no reference to his allusion to food.
“Speak of coffee and——” began Ned, not finishing the sentence, for with a wave of his hand he indicated a group of women, attired in men’s rubber coats, who were going about with a small cart, in which stood a steaming wash boiler full of it.
“Say, there’s my mother!” cried Jerry, and, sure enough, the wealthy widow, with some of her friends, was going about giving hot coffee to the drenched and weary workers. “That’s the stuff, Mother!” cried Jerry, heartily. “Got any left?”
“Indeed we have, boys!” answered Mrs. Rutledge, a neighbor of the Hopkinses.
A number of the volunteers surrounded the little cart, and soon the coffee was being enjoyed. Jerry hastily told his mother of saving the boat, and then, as there was still much to be done, the boys resumed their rescue labors.
Fortunately no fires had broken out to add to the horror, or the history of Cresville might have been different. As it was, damage was done that took years to repair.
But the storm was really too fierce to last a great while, and the wind gradually died down, though the rain continued to fall for some time.
But now most of the homeless had been given temporary shelter, and the injured sent to hospitals, or were taken care of in private houses. There was no more for the boys to do, and, at Jerry’s suggestion, they adjourned to his house, which was the nearest. There they put on some of his spare clothes, though Bob looked so funny in them that Ned and Jerry laughed.
“I don’t care,” said Bob. “I’m too worried to mind what you fellows say—or do.”
“You mean about your cousin and uncle?” asked Ned, sympathetically.
“Sure. The news will break mother and dad all up, I’m afraid. My uncle was mother’s brother, you know.”
“Well, maybe there’ll be better news in the morning,” said Jerry. “Even if the Hassen sank, some other steamship may have picked up the passengers.”
“Well, we’ll have to wait and see,” said Bob. “What’s that?” he exclaimed, as the sound of a fall came from the next room.
Jerry rushed out, to return a moment later smiling, and remarked:
“You might have known. It was Professor Snodgrass. He was after some sort of a bug on the library wall, and stumbled over a chair. Mother says he started out with her on the rescue work, but every once in a while he’d see something he wanted as a specimen, and he’d stop to get it. Finally she went on without him.”
“Well, I’m glad this day is over,” said Ned. “It’s been a hard one!”
“That’s right,” agreed Bob. “Say,” he went on, “have you fellows thought any more about that submarine trip the professor wants to take?”
“I haven’t,” confessed Jerry. “There hasn’t been time.”
“I don’t see how we’re going to do it,” spoke Ned. “A submarine boat is quite a big proposition. It isn’t like building an aeroplane.”
“Well, we can think about it later,” suggested Jerry. “Just now I want to lie down and rest,” and he stretched out on a couch near the hearth, where a fire had been built.
Gradually something like order came out of the chaos in Cresville. Many willing hands worked hard to repair the damage, and the next day most of the streets were cleared. Then came the slower process of repairing the damaged buildings and the recovery of the injured. But with that this story has nothing to do.
Eagerly the boys looked for further reports of the steamship Hassen. The bad news was only too soon confirmed. The next day’s papers contained an account of the wreck of several vessels.
Among the dispatches was a story of the foundering of the ship on which Mr. Sheldon and his daughter Grace had sailed from Germany.
“Well, that ends it,” said Bob, mournfully, when, with his two chums, he had read the account. “Poor Uncle Nelson! That’s the last of him. And he was such a jolly man, too. Poor Grace!”
Jerry seemed to be in a brown study. He seemed to neither hear nor see his friends.
“No!” he suddenly exclaimed.
“What do you mean?” asked Ned curiously.
“It isn’t the end, fellows!” vigorously went on Jerry, springing to his feet, and beginning to pace the room. “There may be a chance yet!”
“For whom?” demanded Bob.
“Your uncle!” was the answer. “Even if the vessel did sink he and his daughter may have taken to a boat. And some of those lifeboats can live through a bad storm. Boys, I’ve got a plan. Let’s take the Comet and sail around the place where the Hassen is supposed to have gone down. It’s a bare chance, but it’s worth taking. Are you with me?”
“Of course!” cried Ned. “We’ll start at once. Maybe we can pick them up—and some other castaways, too. Of course we’re with you, Jerry, old man!”
Bob said nothing, but there was more than words in the manner in which he clasped Jerry’s hand.