The Radio Boys at Ocean Point: or, The Message that Saved the Ship

CHAPTER XXIV – A TERRIBLE PLIGHT

For a few moments both boys were so used up by the terrific mental and physical strain they had been through that they were unable to move. But the danger was still imminent, and how great it was they learned through a call that came from above.

“Hurry up, fellows,” came from Joe. “The bridge is giving way up here and the whole thing may go down any minute. I’m coming down to help you get Jimmy up.”

“No, don’t do that,” cried Bob, rousing himself to fresh exertions. “Your weight down here would only help to pull the bridge down the quicker. You and Herb stand by to give us a hand when we get near the top.”

“Now, Jimmy,” he continued, turning to his comrade, “we’ve got to brace and get up to the top somehow just as soon as we can. You crawl up alongside of me, grabbing anything you can find to give a hold to your fingers in the cracks of the planking, and I’ll boost you along just as much as I can.”

Jimmy summoned up the last remnants of his strength, and they commenced their arduous climb up the slippery planks of the bridge.

It was like a nightmare. They would advance a little and then slip back, losing sometimes as much as they had gained. But they kept on with an energy born of desperation. As often as Bob found a secure grip with his right hand, he would reach out with his left and give Jimmy a vigorous boost upward and forward. Every second now was precious, for they could tell from the grinding noise above and the increased swaying of the bridge that its last supports were rapidly giving way. Yet despite their utmost endeavor, they were only gaining inches when they should have been gaining feet.

“Buck up, Jimmy,” Bob encouraged his comrade, though his own strength was fast ebbing. “We’ve only got six feet more to go.”

“Not that much,” cried a voice that they recognized as Joe’s, and the next instant a pair of vigorous arms reached out and two strong hands gripped Jimmy’s wrists.

Joe had thrown himself flat, head downward, from the top of the bridge, while Herb at the top held on to his heels.

“Leave Jimmy to me,” commanded Joe.

“We’ll swing him up and then we’ll give you a hand. Pull away, Herb.”

Herb, with his feet braced in two deep holes he had dug in the sand, pulled with all his might until Joe’s knees were over the top, thus giving him a purchase. The next instant they had Jimmy up and lying on his back on the bank.

Bob in the meantime, relieved of his care for Jimmy, had got close to the top. Joe rushed to him, caught one of his arms with his two and pulled him off the bridge just as the last support gave way and the whole structure, with a hideous crash, went down into the boiling torrent.

For a little while not one of the boys could speak. They had been engaged in a fight with death and they had conquered only by the narrowest of margins. They were spent and breathless, but above all they were supremely grateful.

When at last they had recovered somewhat, they turned their attention to Jimmy, who had been the greatest sufferer in the events of that never to be forgotten night.

“How are you feeling now?” asked Bob, as he clapped the stout boy affectionately on the shoulder.

“About as though I had been drawn through a knothole,” replied Jimmy, trying to grin. “I’m as sore as an aching tooth all over, but I guess there are no bones broken. I’m bruised most in my feelings, I reckon. Don’t see any signs of my hair having turned white, do you?” he joked.

“No,” laughed Bob. “Though in this darkness I couldn’t tell whether it was white or black. But you went through enough to turn it white, I’ll vouch for that.”

“Not much more than you went through for me,” replied Jimmy gratefully. “I’ll never forget as long as I live, Bob, how you took your life in your hands to come to my help.”

“Oh, forget it,” returned Bob lightly. “It’s just exactly what any one of you fellows would have done for me if I’d been in the same fix. I tell you, Jimmy, our hearts stood still for a minute when we found you weren’t with us.”

“It all happened so quickly that I don’t know just yet how I came to be hanging on to that bit of railing,” said Jimmy. “I can just remember a fearful crash, and then I went tumbling down with the same feeling at the pit of my stomach that you feel when you drop down fast in an elevator. Then the water closed in over me, and I just reached out wildly and caught hold of something and held on for dear life. I called out two or three times before you heard me. The water was making such a fearful racket that it’s a wonder you heard me at all.”

“We’d have come down as soon as we missed you on a chance of finding you, even if we hadn’t heard you at all,” replied Bob. “But we sure had a close call. That was a dandy idea of Joe’s and Herb’s of forming a human chain. If they hadn’t done it, we would have gone down with the bridge.”

“Well, now that we’re safe and sound, let’s get after Cassey,” suggested Jimmy. “We’re losing time staying here.”

Bob laughed outright, and Joe and Herb joined in.

“You sure have kept your grit, Jimmy, old boy,” said Bob admiringly. “But you’ve done all the chasing after Cassey that you’re going to do to-night. It’s you for the bungalow and bed just as fast as we can get you there. Then the rest of us will keep up the hunt for that rascal.”

Jimmy protested strongly that he was as well as ever, but when he got on his feet he was so weak and trembling from his terrible experience that he could scarcely stand. So he had to give in, and with the other boys supporting him he made his way painfully and slowly to his parents’ bungalow.

Their arrival created a sensation with Mrs. Fennington and the girls, who were deeply concerned when they heard of the strenuous doings of the night. Jimmy was taken in charge at once and put to bed. There was grief and consternation also when they heard of the plight of theHorolusa and her precious freight, but the boys allayed this as much as possible by the reassuring news that other vessels had been signaled and were hurrying to her assistance.

“And now,” said Bob, after they had briefly recounted the news, “we still have a lot of work to do and we must be off. We’re going to head off that Cassey if possible, and then we’re going back to the wireless station. We’ll let you know all that happens just as soon as we can.”

With many adjurations to be careful ringing in their ears, they hurried out. Once again in the open, they hastily laid out the plan of their further campaign.

“Suppose, Herb, you go right on to the police station,” suggested Bob. “Tell them just what has happened and urge them to get busy in sending out messages to surrounding towns and try to have Cassey rounded up. In the meantime, Joe and I will go to the garages and try to find out whether Cassey has been to any of them trying to get a car. That would be the thing he’d most likely do, since there are no trains that he could get away on.”

They all made haste, and in a few minutes reached the town. Herb made a bee line for police headquarters, while Bob and Joe hurried to make inquiries in the three garages of which the town boasted.

At the first two they got no clue. But they were luckier at the third.

“Any one inquiring for a car?” repeated the owner of the garage. “Yes, there was one fellow not fifteen minutes ago. Wanted to get to Allendale, where he said he could catch a train.”

“Did the man stutter?” asked Bob eagerly.

“Should say he did!” replied the garage owner, grinning. “Got so tangled up that he had to whistle to go on.”

“Cassey!” cried the boys in one breath.

CHAPTER XXV – THE FIGHT IN THE DARK

The man looked at them curiously.

“Friend of yours?” he questioned.

“Friend!” exclaimed Bob. “He’s a thief, and it’s only luck that he isn’t a murderer. He blackjacked Mr. Harvey over at the radio station and got away with a pile of money. Which way did he go?”

“Over in the direction of Allendale,” replied the man, pointing out into the darkness. “So he’s a thief, is he? If I had known that I’d have nabbed him. That explains why he was so excited. He offered me any money for a car, but mine were all out at the time.”

“I tell you what!” said Bob. “We’ve got to get that man and we can’t waste a minute. Suppose you go to the police station and tell them what you know and have them call up the Allendale police and tell them to be on the watch for a man that stutters.”

“I’ll do that, sure,” replied the man, and immediately suited the action to the word.

“Come along, Joe,” cried Bob, and they both plunged into the darkness, following the direction that the man had pointed out.

Cassey had had a fifteen-minute start, but the distance to Allendale was nearly four miles, and the boys had no doubt that they would be able to overcome that handicap, provided Cassey kept to one of the two roads by which it was possible to reach the town. Those roads ran nearly parallel for quite a distance, separated at places by a quarter of a mile and at others by half a mile, but joining each other about half a mile before Allendale was reached.

“Of course, we don’t know just which road Cassey has taken, and if we stick to either one we may make the wrong guess,” said Bob. “So it will be good dope for us to separate and each take one of the roads. If either of us gets the skunk he can give our regular yodel call and the other one can come hurrying to him across the fields. We’ll never be more than half a mile from each other.”

Joe assented to this and took the road that ran almost parallel to but at the left of the one that Bob was following.

The rain by this time had diminished somewhat in violence, but the roads were muddy and progress for Bob was slow. It was so dark that it was impossible to choose one’s footing, and he had to splash along as best he could.

On a night like that no one was abroad that was not compelled to be, and the road was completely deserted. For the first mile there was nothing to indicate that Bob was anywhere near his quarry. And he had almost covered a second mile before he thought that he could hear footsteps splashing along in front of him.

He quickened his pace, and the sound of steps ahead grew louder. But that his own steps could also be heard by the fugitive was indicated by the sudden cessation of the noise in front.

Had Cassey, if he were indeed the man in front, stopped? Was he hiding until his pursuer had passed? Was he lying in wait to brain him as he came along?

All these reflections passed through Bob’s mind like a flash. And he too stopped for a moment while he pondered his course of action.

For less than a minute he hesitated. Then he moved forward. Anything was better than inaction. If his enemy was lying in wait for him and they came to handgrips – well, that was what he was looking for. All he asked was a chance to lay his hands on the villain who had assaulted and narrowly escaped killing his friend. Boy as he was, he was as tall and muscular as many a man, and he was willing to take his chance.

He had gone perhaps a hundred feet when nature came to his aid. There was a terrific clap of thunder, and the lightning flash that followed flooded all the landscape with light.

There at the side of the road, not ten feet from him, was Cassey, trying to climb a fence. His intent was obvious – to steal off through the fields while his pursuer was vainly hunting him along the road.

With a shout Bob leaped toward him. He covered the ground in two jumps, caught Cassey by the coat, and yanked him back to the ground

With a savage snarl the rascal drew a blackjack and aimed a blow at Bob’s head that would certainly have knocked him out had it landed. But with pantherlike swiftness Bob leaped aside, and as Cassey tried to regain his balance, Bob’s fist shot out with terrific force and caught Cassey right on the point of the jaw. Cassey went down in the mud, and in an instant Bob was on top of him and had wrenched the weapon from his hand.

“Now, Cassey,” Bob commanded, emphasizing his words by a tap with the blackjack, “keep quiet or I’ll give you a crack with this that will send you to the land of dreams. Understand?”

That Cassey understood was shown by the fact that he instantly ceased to struggle and lay limp beneath his captor, who sat astride of him.

Keeping the weapon ready for instant use and not taking his eyes from his captive, Bob lifted up his voice in the yodel call that had been agreed upon between him and Joe. The shrill call carried far, and Bob had no doubt that it would be heard.

Knowing that force was of no avail, Cassey resorted to pleading.

“L-l-let me g-go,” he begged. “I’ll g-g-give you a th-th-thousand dollars if you l-let me go.”

“Keep still, you skunk,” ordered Bob. “Do you think I’m a crook like yourself?”

“I’ll m-m-m-make it two th-th-thousand,” stuttered Cassey.

“Not if you made it a hundred thousand,” replied Bob. “I’ve got you, Cassey, and you won’t get off this time as easily as you did when you tried to rob an orphan girl. It’s you for jail, and you’ll stay a good long while where the dogs won’t bite you.”

At intervals Bob repeated his call in order to guide his friend, and in a few minutes there was a crashing of the bushes and Joe stood at his side, almost breathless with the haste he had made.

“What is it, Bob?” he asked, peering down on the prostrate form of Cassey, on which Bob was still sitting.

“I have met the enemy and he is ours,” answered Bob exultingly. “I’m afraid he’s a little out of breath from my sitting on him. So just slip off your belt, Joe, and fasten his feet together and then I can get up and stretch my legs.”

It took but a minute for Joe to pinion Cassey’s feet securely, and then Bob got up. He told Joe briefly what had taken place.

“There’s just one thing to do, Joe,” Bob concluded. “You streak it for town and bring a policeman and we’ll turn this fellow over to him. In the meantime I’ll stand guard – Hello, what’s that?”

There was a glare of light from the lamps of an automobile that was coming from the direction of Ocean Point. The car had just turned a curve in the road a hundred yards away and was bearing down upon them rapidly.

Both boys leaped into the center of the road and waved their hands. The driver of the car saw the boys and slowed down, and as the car came to a stop Herb jumped down and ran toward them.

“We’ve got Cassey,” shouted Bob.

“Glory hallelujah!” cried Herb. “I got this car and came after you, and I’ve got a couple of policemen with me. Where is the rascal?”

They dragged Cassey to his feet and delivered him into the care of the two officers, who had followed close on Herb’s heels. They bundled him into the car and the whole party drove rapidly back to town. There the rascal was searched, and the whole amount of the theft was found stowed away in his pockets. The money was taken in charge by the proper officials to be delivered to Brandon Harvey in the morning, and Cassey was dragged off to a cell. Then the boys left the station, with their cheeks burning from the praise that was heaped on them by the authorities for their quick-wittedness and bravery.

“Such a night!” exclaimed Bob, as the boys took their seats in the car which they had retained to carry them over to the radio station.

“We’ll never have such an exciting one again as long as we live,” declared Joe emphatically.

But he was mistaken, as will be seen in the next volume of this series, entitled: “The Radio Boys at the Sending Station; Or, Making Good in the Wireless Room.”

As the bridge was down they had to skirt the head of the inlet to reach the radio station. There they found Mr. Harvey, still badly shaken by the attack, but steadily getting better. His cousin, Frank Brandon, who had been notified of the trouble, was with him and was attending to the duties of the station.

Both men leaped to their feet as the boys entered. The sight of the three happy faces told its own story.

“We got him!” cried Bob. “Nailed him on the road between here and Allendale. And we’ve got back every cent of the money.”

Infinite relief dawned in Brandon Harvey’s eyes as he shook hands with the boys and thanked them again and again.

“You’ve given me a new lease of life,” he cried. “And now I’ve got some good news for you in return. The Horolusa is safe. The leak is patched up, the Falcon and Esperanto are standing by, and the storm is subsiding. In a day or two your folks will again be with you, safe and sound at Ocean Point.”

Then jubilee broke loose and the boys fairly danced about the room in their relief and delight.

“How can we ever thank you enough!” cried Bob.

“Don’t thank me,” returned Harvey. “I did a little, but you did more. For don’t forget that it was your message that saved the ship.”