Guilt of the Brass Thieves Part 33

"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 pa.s.sengers 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 pa.s.sengers 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 a.s.sisting 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 pa.s.sengers, 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 bra.s.s 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 pa.s.sengers 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 ash.o.r.e."

"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 sh.o.r.e 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 bra.s.s was dumped into the river by Sweeper Joe," Penny revealed excitedly. "The remainder was locked in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the Harper house the last I knew. And I'm satisfied the bra.s.s 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."

Beaching the boat some distance from the burning house, the three young people ran up the slope. Firemen had not yet reached the scene, and the few persons who had gathered, were watching the flames but making no effort to battle them.

"It's a hopeless proposition," Jack commented. "This far from the city, there's no water pressure. The house will burn to the ground."

"And all the evidence with it," Penny added gloomily. "What miserable luck!"

No boats were tied up at the dock, nor was there any sign of the Harpers or their friends in the crowd. Obviously, the entire party had fled.

"Isn't there some place where we can telephone the police?" Penny suggested impatiently. "If they act quickly, these men still may be caught. They can't be very far away."

"The nearest house is up the beach about an eighth of a mile," Jack informed. "Maybe we can telephone from there."

"You two go," Sally said casually. "I want to stay here."

At the moment, Jack and Penny, intent only upon their mission, thought nothing about the remark. Following the paved road which made walking easy, they hastened as fast as they could.