Chapter VIII

Fire!

NANCY reached the second-floor hallway and knocked on the first door. An angry grunt from inside told her this was not the room.

“Try the front, Ned, ” she urged. “I’ll look in the middle room.”

“Nobody in here, ” Ned reported. “Find anything? ”

“No. Let’s go up to the next floor.”

Nancy bounded up the steps. The woman who had let them in was slowly puffing her way up the first flight of stairs and shouting angrily. Nancy rapped on a door and listened impatiently for sounds within. She heard a groan.

“Ned, ” she called, “come here! ”

Nancy knocked again. There was a murmur inside, and the creak of an old bed.

“There’s somebody in there, all right, ” Ned whispered. He tried the door. It was locked.

“Get away from that room! ” screamed the woman, who was halfway up the second Bight of stairs. “He’s sick, I told you! ”

“Can you force the lock? ” Nancy asked Ned.

“I’ll give it a try.” Ned backed away, then came at the door with his shoulder. The lock was old and worn. With one more powerful shove he forced it, and they entered the room.

On an old iron bed lay Captain Easterly. His blue eyes were clouded and dull.

“Captain! ” Nancy cried, kneeling beside the bed. “You’re ill! How long have you been here? ”

He tried to answer her but succeeded only in making an unintelligible murmur.

“We’d better get him out of here right away, ” Nancy said, turning to Ned. “You stay with him while I go downstairs and call the police.”

“What do you think you’re doing, young lady? ” demanded the woman, who had finally reached the top of the stairs and stood panting in the doorway. “You’d better mind your own business if you know what’s healthy for you! ”

Nancy said nothing as she hurried down the stairs. She got Lieutenant Hennessy and told him where she was.

“A radio car will be there in three minutes, Miss Drew, ” he said. “Be careful. You’re not among friends.”

The police arrived in record time, secured what information they could from the boardinghouse keeper, and transferred Captain Easterly to a hospital. He seemed to improve rapidly, now that he knew he was safe.

He told Nancy, Ned, and the police that while sitting quietly in a waterfront restaurant, sipping a cup of coffee, he had felt very ill. A stranger had offered to help him. They got into a taxi and that was the last thing the captain remembered until Nancy’s arrival.

He had been too dizzy to notice what the man looked like. The doctor told them that Easterly’s coffee must have been drugged when the captain was not looking. The police set a watch on the boardinghouse to catch the man who had pretended to be the captain’s nephew.

It was long past the time Nancy and Ned had agreed to meet the others at the hotel, so after bidding the captain good night, they hurried away. Bess, George, and the boys were already halfway through dinner.

“We couldn’t wait any longer, ” Bess said. “What happened to you two? ”

“Plenty.” Ned grinned, pulling out a chair for Nancy. “We found Captain Easterly and took him to a hospital.”

“What! ” George looked amazed, but her eyes fairly popped when they told her where they had found him, and that he had been drugged. “I might have known we’d miss something exciting, ” she sighed.

Dave turned to Nancy. “If somebody went to all that trouble to get the captain out of the way, ” he said, “there must be something mighty valuable on the ship.”

She nodded. “I wish there were some way to get the clipper out of Boston, ” she said thoughtfully. “If we could only move it! ”

Burt, who was an excellent sailor, reminded her that it was no small trick to sail a clipper ship. “You need some pretty sharp hands aboard.”

George put down her fork. “There are six of us. Why couldn’t we sail the Bonny Scot, with directions from Captain Easterly? We’ve all practically grown up on sailboats.”

“A little pleasure boat is a picnic to sail, ” Burt spoke up, “compared to a craft like this one. I’ll bet, George, you don’t even know the names of the masts on the Bonny Scot.”

“Yes, I do. Fore, main, and mizzen. And besides, you have the foresail, the staysail, the jibs, the skysails, the—”

“Very salty.” Burt grinned. “I apologize.” Nancy said no more about moving the Bonny Scot, but she resolved to talk to Captain Easterly about it first thing in the morning. She awoke very early, slipped into her clothes, and left the room without rousing Bess and George. Nancy had a quick breakfast in the hotel coffee shop, and went to the hospital.

Captain Easterly was himself again—his blue eyes had regained their accustomed glint, and his voice as he greeted her was deep and hearty.

“Get me out of here, Nancy, ” he begged. “Nothing wrong with me.”

Nancy smiled. “We’ll see what your doctor says.” She sat down and faced him earnestly. “Captain, do you think we could move your ship out of reach of these criminals? ” She told him about the boys and their knowledge of sailing gained on the river and the lakes at home.

Captain Easterly looked skeptical. “Pretty big undertaking, Nancy, ” he said. “But I see your point about getting the clipper out of Boston Harbor. If we could move her at once, before anyone had time to spread the word she was going...”

Nancy could see the idea growing in his mind. “I’ll send the boys here to talk to you, ” she offered. “You could give them directions about preparing for the trip. The girls and I could buy the supplies.”

The captain’s eyes twinkled. “You’re a good persuader. Nancy. If we pulled out about dusk, with no fuss and confusion, I’ll wager those sneaking rats would be mighty surprised.”

The skipper said he would have to notify the Coast Guard, and get a tug to tow them out into the open water. When Nancy left him, he was calling for his clothes and a telephone.

Nancy returned at once to the hotel and found Ned, Burt, and Dave having breakfast with the girls. She told them that Captain Easterly was willing to sail the clipper to a secluded Cape Cod port. Dave said they would have to work like beavers to make the ship ready.

The three girls set out to purchase food and other supplies for the trip.

When they returned to the hotel, Mr. Drew was waiting for them. After greeting the group, he said to Nancy:

“Captain Easterly is going to be disappointed in my title search. I had no luck in New Bedford. Then I began to suspect that the original name of the clipper was not Bonny Scot —but whatever else it might have been, no one I’ve talked to seems to know. And no measurements matched those of the Bonny Scot.”

“You’re not giving up, Dad! ” Nancy exclaimed.

“You know me better than that.” He smiled. “I’m flying down to New York, where, I’ve been told, there are a great many old records. But what have you been up to, Nancy? ”

She told him what had happened to Captain Easterly, and about their plans to move the Bonny Scot. She promised to let her father know when they arrived at their destination. Mr. Drew said he would meet them in a few days, and hurried away to catch his plane.

Nancy telephoned Lieutenant Hennessy to ask if he had had any success in tracing Flip Fay, Grizzle Face Quint, or the man who had drugged Captain Easterly.

“No luck so far, ” the officer reported. “They’ve steered clear of that boardinghouse.”

The girls packed, and sent their bags separately to the ship, because Nancy thought a lot of lug gage arriving at the clipper at the same time might arouse suspicion.

When they reached the dock, the girls found Captain Easterly completely recovered and the boys hard at work. The captain gave Nancy and George the job of sewing up a rip in the main skysail. Bess, who planned to do the cooking, set off to fix up the galley.

To Captain Easterly’s delight a heavy fog rolled in at five o’clock. When the tug came alongside, the Bonny Scot slipped quietly away from her berth under cover of the mist.

“Wonderful luck! ” the captain said to Nancy, who was beside him at the wheel.

A short while later, when they were under full sail, the mist began to lift. Suddenly Nancy thought she saw smoke curling out of a hatch. Not wanting to alarm the captain, she hurried down the companionway, along the passage, and looked into the hold.

The Bonny Scot was on fire!