Stowaways

NANCY dashed back to Captain Easterly and told him about the fire. Grimly he signaled for the fireboat, then dropped anchor.

Nancy raced off to give the alarm to the boys. They gathered fire extinguishers and hurried below.

Ned was first into the hold. “If we can keep the fire from spreading, we’ll be all right! ” he shouted. “Dave, catch it over there near those oil drums! ”

Nancy dashed back to the deck to see if a fireboat was coming. Hearing its whistle, she started back to the hold. Nancy got as far as the lowest step of the main companionway when she saw the dark figure of a man disappear around a corner.

“Ned! ” Nancy screamed. He did not hear her in the excitement of fighting the fire.

Her heart pounding, she ran after the mysterious, retreating figure. The man ran up a companionway, Nancy not far behind him. When she reached the deck, he had disappeared. As she looked around, Nancy heard a splash.

He had jumped overboard!

She sped across the deck and leaned over the rail. A man was swimming away from the ship’s side with long, swift strokes. In the fog Nancy could not see him well enough to identify him.

Reluctantly she had to let the man escape to shore. Unhooking a fire extinguisher on the deck. house wall, she hurried to the hold. Red-eyed, with wet handkerchiefs tied over their noses, the three boys and George were playing streams of chemical on the smoldering timbers.

Suddenly they heard the churning of water, then shouting voices and heavy-booted footsteps. In a few moments Captain Easterly appeared, followed by a crew of rubber-coated firemen. With their added equipment, the stubborn blaze was soon extinguished.

“Never fought a fire aboard an old clipper before, ” one of the men told Captain Easterly. “This will be something to tell my grandchildren.”

“Your helpers had things pretty well under control when we got here, ” the fire captain told the ship’s master.

“They’re a good crew, ” Easterly admitted.

He and the fireman searched the entire clipper for other signs of fire but found none.

“No serious damage, ” the fire captain told Easterly. “It’ll be safe for you to proceed on your voyage. By the way, how’d the fire start? ”

As Captain Easterly shrugged, Nancy spoke up and told about the man who had jumped overboard.

She was very puzzled about him. If he had set the fire on purpose, then he could not be one of the gang looking for a hidden treasure on board. Was he a new enemy?

But if the man had been hiding aboard the Bonny Scot when it set sail, in order to continue his search, it was possible he had been smoking and caused the fire accidentally.

“A stowaway, eh? ” the fire captain said. “Well, he’s gone now. I guess there’s nothing more for us to do.”

As the firemen were leaving, one of them looked at Nancy and her friends with a twinkle in his eye. “Pretty young crew here, Captain Easterly. But the way they tackled that fire, I’m sure they’ll make good seamen.”

The men climbed over the side and the fireboat steamed off. The boys pulled up the anchor and set sail.

“Where’s Bess? ” Nancy asked suddenly. “I haven’t seen her since we came aboard.”

“I haven’t either, ” said George, beginning to worry about her cousin.

The last they remembered about Bess was that she was headed for the galley. The two girls hurried there.

Bess was not in sight, but her coat was lying over a low bench. On a hunch Nancy opened the large closet where provisions were kept. Bess lay in a faint on the floor!

Fresh air soon brought her back to consciousness. Groggily Bess explained she had been inside the closet, putting away canned goods, when the door had swung shut.

“I couldn’t open it, ” she said. “It was locked. Then I fainted.” Suddenly Bess noticed there was a key in the door. “Why, someone shut me in there! ” she cried out.

“It wasn’t locked now, ” Nancy said. “That’s odd.”

She and George learned that Bess knew nothing about the fire. When it dawned on her that the ship might have been abandoned and she trapped in the fire, Bess nearly fainted again.

“Chin up, ” George said. “It didn’t happen. Let’s get some food for the boys. I’ll bet they’re starved after all that work.”

“Dave’ll like the chocolate cake I brought, ” said Bess, forgetting her scare. “Why, where is it? ” She stared dumfounded at a built-in table in the galley. “The cake’s gone! ”

“Sure you didn’t eat it? ” George teased.

“Not even one piece! ” Bess declared.

It developed that not only the cake, but a loaf of bread, a pound of butter, some cooked ham, and two quarts of milk were missing. Both girls looked inquiringly at Nancy, who was deep in thought. Suddenly she said:

“I think we have another stowaway on board! ” Bess and George were astounded at Nancy’s statement. Finally George asked:

“How did you figure that one out, Nancy? ”

“I think there was someone in the galley stealing food about the time the fire started in the hold. When he heard me call ‘Fire! ’ he unlocked the closet door, Bess, so you wouldn’t be caught in a burning ship.”

“What about the man who went overboard? ” Bess asked.

“I think when I caught him down below deck he had just come up from the hold, ” Nancy continued. “He may have set the fire either on purpose or accidentally, and was escaping.”

George voiced the opinion that the other stowaway must still be on the ship.

“And I mean to find him! ” Nancy said.

“Not without me, ” a voice behind her advised. It was Captain Easterly. “While George and Bess get supper, you and I will make a thorough search, Nancy.”

They went about the hunt methodically, first in the cabins and crew’s quarters, then in the hold, and finally in the old sea chests and cupboards. There was no sign of a stowaway or of the food that had vanished.

“Our thief must have been the fellow who jumped overboard, ” the captain concluded.

Nancy was not satisfied with this explanation. He certainly had no food with him when he dived in. Aloud she said:

“I wonder if the fellow who jumped overboard got to shore safely.”

“Likely he helped himself to a ride on the fireboat, ” Captain Easterly suggested.

“Of course! ”

Nancy berated herself for not having thought of this. The man might have been caught! Now it was too late, because the fireboat would have long since docked.

Captain Easterly suddenly chuckled. “That snooper thought he was going to find out where we’re heading. But we fooled him. Now we can sail and enjoy ourselves. No more worries.”

Nancy wished she could agree with him—espe—cially since they had outridden the fog bank, and the cool evening with its freshening breeze was ideal for the voyage.

“But we must be watchful, ” Nancy determined. The boys took turns eating supper. While Ned was off watch, Nancy asked him to do a little further exploring with her.

The young detective had decided to take one more look in the hold where the fire had been. The person who caused the fire might have left a clue.

Descending the narrow wooden steps, she walked carefully through the dark space, swinging her flashlight here and there. The heavy smell of smoke and wet timber still hung in the air. Reaching the spot where the fire had been, Nancy leaned over to examine the charred timbers.

“Ned, see what’s here! ” she called excitedly. Near the burned area was a deep, newly cut hole in the wall. It had not been there when she and Captain Easterly were searching half an hour before!