The Rover Boys Under Canvas; Or, The Mystery of the Wrecked Submarine. Stratemeyer EdwardЧитать онлайн книгу.
is he?”
“I think the cry came from over yonder,” said Jack, in answer to the latter question. “Let’s pull over there and see.”
All were willing, and the four once more bent to their oars, sending the rowboat through the bluish-green smoke, which almost choked and blinded them.
“Hello there!” yelled Fred. “Where are you?”
“Help! Help!” came the cry from off to their left. “Help! Save me!”
The rowboat was turned in that direction, and a few seconds later the Rover boys caught sight through the smoke of a water-logged rowboat to which an elderly man, dressed in the garb of a workman, was clinging.
“Help me! Help me! I can’t hang on much longer!” gasped the man, as soon as he saw the boys.
“Sure, we’ll help you,” declared Jack. “Go slow now,” he cautioned his cousins. “We don’t want to knock him off into the water.”
With care the rowboat was brought around so that they came up alongside of the elderly man. He was glad enough to turn from his water-logged craft to the other boat. But he was well-nigh exhausted, and the Rovers had not a little trouble in getting him on board.
“Tell you what—I’m mighty glad you lads came along,” panted the old man, when he was safe. “I couldn’t have held out much longer. This is something terrible, ain’t it? Say, would you mind hooking that boat fast and pulling it to shore? It belongs to me, and I ain’t so wealthy that I can afford to lose it. Besides, it’s got some of my things in it.”
“We’ll take it along unless it keeps us back too much,” answered Jack. And then he bent down, got hold of the bowline of the craft, and tied it fast to their stern. Fortunately the other boat was a small one, so they had not much difficulty in towing it along.
“I’m a dockman over at the ammunition factory,” explained the old man. “And when things began to go off I thought it was high time to get out. I tried to save a few of my things and dumped ’em into my boat and began to pull for the shore. But then one of the big explosions went off, and I got caught in a lot of smoke and a rain of I don’t know what, and was nearly rendered senseless. When I came to, I had drifted along to near where you found me. Something must have hit the boat and gone through the bottom, for she was filling with water fast. Then she tipped, and I went overboard. I can’t swim very well, and that confounded smoke got in my lungs, and I thought sure I would be a goner. You boys certainly came in the nick of time.”
“And we are glad of it,” declared Fred, and the others nodded in approval.
The elderly man said that his name was Jed Kessler, and that he lived on the outskirts of Haven Point. He knew very little about Colby Hall, however, for previous to being employed by the Hasley Shell Loading Company he had worked around the docks at Hixley, at one end of the lake. So much the boys learned from him when they had rowed out of the pall of smoke and the rain of fire and could breathe freely and in comfort.
“Have you any idea what started that fire?” questioned Jack, when they were headed for one of the docks at Haven Point.
“I’ve got my idea, yes. But I don’t know whether it’s correct or not,” replied Jed Kessler. “Of course, any kind of a slight accident in a place like that might set things to going. But I know one thing, and that is very important, I think.”
“What is that?” questioned Randy.
“The first explosion took place down the railroad track, in one of the cars loaded with shells, while the second explosion, which came less than half a minute later, occurred in one of the supply houses.”
“Was the supply house near the car where the first explosion happened?” queried Jack.
“No. The two places are at least five hundred feet apart.”
“In that case, it isn’t likely that the first explosion brought on the second, is it?” questioned Andy.
“It didn’t!” was the prompt answer. “Those two explosions had nothing to do with each other—except in one way—and that is that they were both started by the same person or persons,” declared Jed Kessler emphatically.
“Gee! do you suppose there were German spies around?” ejaculated Randy.
“I am sure there were,” went on the old dockman.
“But I supposed your guards kept all strangers away from the plant,” said Jack.
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