by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XIV _The Queen's Last Trip_
When Helen left the close confines of the telephone booth aftercompleting her call to the Associated Press she suddenly felt very weakand tired.
"What's the matter?" Tom asked.
"I feel just a little faint," confessed Helen. "Guess the excitement ofgetting the story and sending it in was a little too much."
"Take my arm," her brother commanded. "We'll go back to the restaurantand get a glass of milk and a sandwich and you'll feel all right in a fewminutes."
The food restored Helen's strength and in less than half an hour she washer old self, ready to enjoy the Fourth of July celebration.
Every boat from Rolfe increased the size of the crowd at Sandy Point. Thespeedboats dashed down the lake carrying their capacity of passengers,turned and sped back to the town for another load. The _Queen_ sedatelychurned its way through the lake, its double decks jammed with humanity.As they stood on the beach Helen wondered if the old lake boat would comethrough the day without a mishap. Almost any small accident could throwthe passengers into a panic and the capsizing of the _Queen_ might followif they rushed to one side of the flat-bottomed old craft.
The _Queen_ sidled up to the big pier at Sandy Beach and Capt. BillyTucker stuck his white head out of a window in the pilot house andwatched his passengers rush for the beach.
"He's in his glory on a day like this," Tom said, "but it's probably thelast year for the _Queen_. The boat inspectors won't dare pass the oldtub next year no matter how much they like Captain Billy."
"What will he do if they don't license the _Queen_?" asked Margaret.
"Oh, he'll get along all right," said Tom. "Captain Billy has plentysalted away. It's just that he loves the lake and the _Queen_."
The planes of the air circus were wheeling overhead and they left thebeach and started for the air field. The attractions along the midwaywere gathering their share of the crowd and the mechanical band on themerry-go-round blared with great gusto. The ferris wheel was swingingcars loaded with celebrators into the tree-tops and the whip and otherthrill rides were crowded.
Beyond the midway was the large pasture which had been turned into alanding field. A sturdy wire fence had been thrown across the side towardthe summer resort and it was necessary to have a pass or ticket to getthrough the gate.
Two small stunt planes were taking off when the members of the _Herald_staff arrived and the three large cabin planes were being filled withpassengers. Two of the planes carried eight passengers apiece while thelargest, a tri-motor, could accommodate 12. They were sturdy, comfortablelooking craft and Helen noticed that they appeared to be in the bestpossible condition.
They presented their passes at the gate and were admitted to the field.
"Speed" Rand, hurrying along toward the largest plane, caught sight ofthem.
"Want to ride?" he called.
The answer was unanimous and affirmative.
A minute later they were seated in the 12-passenger plane in comfortablewicker chairs. The door was closed, the motors roared, they bumped overthe pasture and then floated away on magic wings.
The ground dropped away from them; the resort and the lake wereminiatures bordered by the rich, green lands of the valley and at the farend of the lake, Rolfe, a handful of houses, basked.
It was glorious, thrilling, and Helen enjoyed every minute. They swungover the lake where the speedboats were cutting white swaths through thewater. They did not cross to the east side and Helen guessed that thepilots were afraid some passenger with unusually keen eyes might detectthe remains of the plane Rand had damaged that morning.
Then the trip was over. They drifted down to the field, the motor idlingas they lost altitude. Helen sat absolutely rigid for a few seconds,wondering if the plane would land all right. The motors roared again, thenose came up and they settled to earth with little more than a bump.
Rand greeted them when they stepped out of the plane.
"Like it?" he inquired.
"You bet," said Tom enthusiastically. "Biggest thrill I ever had."
"How about you?" Rand asked Helen.
"I loved every minute until we started to come down," she smiled. "Then Iwondered where we were going to stop and how, but everything came out allright and I really did enjoy it."
"Get your story in to the A.P.?" asked the flyer.
"Just as soon as I could reach a telephone," Helen replied. "The bureauchief appeared pleased."
"He should be," chuckled Rand. "It seems like every place I've gone forthe last month there's been a reporter waiting to ask me questions aboutmy world flight. Honestly, it got so I used to look under the bed atnight for fear I might talk in my sleep and wake up in the morning tofind a reporter had been hidden in my room."
Another flyer called Rand and the famous aviator slipped away through thecrowd. It was the last they were to see of him and they turned and wentback to the attractions of the midway.
They tried every ride, the merry-go-round and the ferris wheel, rollerskated, went bathing, listened to the band concert, munched hot dogs atirregular intervals and wound up the afternoon almost exhausted and readyto start for home. So were some other hundreds of people and they foundit impossible to get a place in one of the speedboats.
The _Queen_ puffed majestically at her pier and Capt. Billy Tucker pulledtwice on the whistle cord. Two long, mellow blasts echoed over the lake.The _Queen_ would leave for Rolfe in five minutes.
"Looks like we'll have to take the _Queen_ if we want to get home in anyreasonable time," said Margaret.
Tom looked at the throngs waiting for the boats.
"You're right," he agreed. "We won't be able to get on one of the fastboats for at least two hours and I'm getting hungry. I saw mother puttingsome pie away in the ice box last night and there'll be plenty of coldmilk at home."
"Don't," protested Helen, "I'm so hungry now I'm hollow."
"Then let's take the _Queen_," urged Margaret.
They bought their tickets and hurried onto the main deck of the old lakeboat.
"It will be cooler on top," said Helen and they went up the broad stairsto the upper deck. Perched on this deck was the pilot house where CaptainBilly ruled.
He saw them and motioned them to join him.
"Have a big celebration?" he asked when they entered the pilot house.
"Finest ever," said Margaret, "but we're ready to call it a day and starthome."
"Better set down on those benches," said Captain Billy, motioning towardthe leather-cushioned lockers which lined the walls of the pilot house.
The veteran lake skipper leaned out of the pilot house, watching thecrowd on the beach. The electric lights flashed on as twilight draped itspurple mantle over the lake and the whole scene was subdued. The criesfrom the bathers were not as sharp, the music from the midway seemed tohave lost some of its sharpness and the whole crowd of holidaycelebrators relaxed with the coming of night.
Captain Billy glanced at his watch.
"Two minutes," he said, half to himself as he reached for the whistlecord. Again the mellow whistle of the _Queen_ rang out and belatedexcursionists hastened aboard.
The ticket seller at the pier head sounded his final warning bell, andthere was the last minute rush across the stubby gang plank. CaptainBilly signalled the engine room, bells rang in the depths of the boat andthe easy chouf-chouf of the twin stacks deepened as the engines took uptheir work and the _Queen_ backed slowly away from the pier.
Two men who had tarried at the midway too long ran down the pier andyelled at Captain Billy. The skipper picked up his megaphone.
"Sorry, too late," he shouted. "We'll be back in two hours."
"Gosh-dinged idiots," he grumbled to himself. "Here I wait as long as Ican and then they expect me to put back in shore. Not me, by Joe, whenI've got to make connections with one of them excursion trains."
"Have lots of business today?" asked Tom.
/> "Biggest day in the twenty odd years I've had the _Queen_ on the lake,"he chuckled. "The old girl is about on her last legs but this seasonlooks like the best of all. If the paved road goes through they'll allcome in cars and the railroad and the _Queen_ will be out of luck."
"But you're not objecting to the paved road, are you?" asked Helen.
"Course not," he replied. "It's progress and you can't stop it."
The _Queen_, ablaze with lights, churned steadily up the lake and theelectrics along the beach at Sandy Point faded into a string of dots.Speed boats, showing their red and green riding lights, raced past insmothers of foam but the _Queen_ rocked only slightly as they passed andcontinued steadily on her way.
The band on the after part of the top deck played slower, softer melodiesand the whole scene was one of calm and quiet, a fitting end for a greatcelebration.
Of all the people on the _Queen_, only Captain Billy in the pilot houseand the crew in the black depths of the engine room were alive to thedangers of the night. They knew how anything unusual and startling mightcause a panic which would capsize the _Queen_ or how careless navigationon the part of Captain Billy might shove the _Queen_ onto one of thejagged ledges of rock which were hazards to navigation in certain partsof the lake. But the _Queen_ passed safely through the rock-strewnsections of the lake and Captain Billy relaxed as the lights of Rolfecame into view.
The _Queen_ was less than half a mile from her pier when the unexpectedhappened. A speed boat, without lights, loomed out of the night.
Screams echoed from the lower deck. Before Captain Billy could twirl hiswheel and shift the blunt nose of the _Queen_, the speed boat knifed intothe bow of the old steamer.
There was the crash of splintering wood, and muffled cries from the menand women in the smaller boat.
Captain Billy knew the danger even before the boats met. The crash of thecollision was still in their ears when he called to Tom.
"Take the wheel," he cried, "and keep the _Queen_ headed for the beach.Don't change the course."
Then he leaned over the speaking tube to the engine room.
"Captain Billy speaking," he shouted. "A speed boat just hit us. Fullspeed ahead until we ground on the sandy beach."
They could feel the _Queen_ trembling as the crowd on the lower deckrushed forward toward the scene of the accident.
"The fools, the fools," muttered Captain Billy as he ran from the pilothouse.
The leader of the band ran forward.
"Get back and play," ordered the captain. "Play anything loud."
A deck hand, racing up from below, met Captain Billy at the head of thestairs.
"They knocked a hole clear through us," he gasped. "We're taking waterfast."
"Shut up," snapped the captain. "Stay here and don't let anyone off theupper deck."
The young people in the pilot house saw Captain Billy rush down thestairs and they looked at one another in open amazement.
"He's every inch a skipper," said Tom as he clung to the wheel of the_Queen_.
"I hope he pulls us through," said Margaret, staring at the lights ofRolfe. A minute ago they had seemed so close; now they were so far away,the longest half mile any of them would ever know.
"He'll get us there if it is humanly possible," Helen said hopefully.
The crowd on the upper deck milled excitedly but the deck hand forcedthem back from the stairway and the steady playing of the band andcontinued forward movement of the _Queen_ seemed to allay their worstfears.
Sparks rolled from the twin funnels as the engines labored to the utmostbut Tom, his hands on the sensitive wheel, knew that the speed wasdecreasing. The _Queen_ was harder to handle, the bow was settling lowerin the water but less than a quarter of a mile remained. He reached upand pulled the whistle cord. Three short, sharp blasts shattered thenight. Three more and then three more. It was the signal for help but hewondered how many would be in Rolfe to answer the call.
"How deep is the water from here in?" asked Helen.
"About twenty feet," replied her brother. "Better slip on those lifepreservers and get ready to jump. We're taking water fast."
"There are several hundred in the lockers here," said Helen. "I'm goingto pass them out to the people on deck."
"It will only alarm them," said Tom.
"But they've got to have a chance if we go under," replied Helen and withMargaret to help her, she hurled scores of life preservers out of thepilot house onto the deck.
The passengers had lost their first panic. They knew the _Queen_ wasmaking a valiant fight to reach shore but the tenseness, the grimness ofthe crew told them it was going to be close. In the emergency they usedtheir heads and put on the life preservers as fast as Helen and Margaretcould pull them from the lockers.
The lights of Rolfe were agonizingly close. Less than six hundred feetseparated them from the safety of the sandy shore. On the upper deck thepassengers were quiet, ready for the crisis.
Tom leaned close to the speaking tube. The chief engineer was talking.
"What's he saying?" Helen demanded.
"Water's in the engine room," replied her brother. "The fires under theboiler will be out in another minute or two. Then blewy!"
"Isn't there enough steam to make shore?" asked Margaret desperately, forafter her experience on the lake earlier in the summer she had a veryreal fear of Dubar at night.
"All we can do is hope," replied Tom. "They'll keep the engines turningover as long as there is any steam left."
The warning from the whistle was bringing people from town and they weregathering under the electrics along the beach. Helen wondered if theyknew that death was riding on the bow of the _Queen_, that tragedy waswaiting to swoop down on the old boat and its load of excursionists.
The _Queen_ staggered, wabbled dangerously, and the wheel jerked out ofTom's hands. He grabbed the spokes and held the bow steady as the _Queen_stumbled ahead. They could see the faces of the people on the beach now,saw the look of horror that spread over them as they saw the stove-in bowof the _Queen_. There were only two hundred feet to go but they werestill in deep water.
The voice from the speaking tube rolled into the pilot house.
"Steam's gone!"
On the echo of the words the steady beat of the engines slowed and it wasonly by clinging to the wheel with all of his strength that Tom held the_Queen_ in to shore.
The bow was almost even with the water now. They seemed to be plowingtheir way into the depths of the lake. Then the bow lifted and grated onthe sand. The momentum carried the _Queen_ forward, shivering andprotesting at every foot it was driven into the beach.
There was a wild scramble on the main deck, cries of relief and happinessas passengers by the score jumped into the knee deep water and ran forshore. The men, women and children on the upper deck hurried down thestairs while through it all the band kept up its steady blare, the crashof brass on brass and the constant thump, thump of the bass drum.
The danger past, Tom stepped back from the wheel. His arms felt as thoughthey had been almost pulled from their sockets, so great had been thestrain of holding the _Queen_ on its course.
Helen and Margaret stripped off their life preservers and went down tothe main deck with Tom. There they found Captain Billy and the crew ofthe _Queen_ gathered at the bow of the boat. A great hole had been tornin the old steamer's hull by the speed boat and Tom marveled that theyhad been able to make shore.
"Why didn't we sink out in the lake?" he asked Captain Billy.
"Guess we might have," smiled the captain, "but we managed to hold thespeed boat in the hole it had made until we were most to shore. Otherwisewe'd have filled and gone down inside a couple of minutes after they hitus."
A decidedly sheepish young man broke through the group and faced CaptainBilly.
"I'm the owner of the boat that hit you," he explained. "We were going tosee how close we could come and one of the girls in the boat tickled meand I swung the wheel the wrong way."
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bsp; "You almost swung about four hundred people into the lake," Captain Billyreminded him tartly.
"I'm terribly sorry," replied the owner of the speed boat, "and I'mdecidedly grateful to you for fishing us out of it after we hit you. I'mMaxfield Hooker of Cranston and I'll be glad to pay for all of the damageto your boat."
"We'll talk about that later," said Captain Billy. "I've got to see thatthose excursionists all make their trains."
"Did you get that?" said Tom as he nudged Helen. "Maxfield Hooker ofCranston, son of the multi-millionaire soap manufacturer. Captain Billycan have a new _Queen_ if he wants one."
"My guess is that he won't want one," said Helen. "After all, the _Queen_has had a long and useful career and she certainly proved herself in theemergency tonight."
Captain Billy made sure that all of the excursionists were safely off theboat and that done, he came back to where Tom, Helen and Margaret werestanding.
"I've a great deal to be thankful for," he told them. "It was onlythrough the nerve and calmness of the crew and such as you three that the_Queen_ pulled through. Tom, I'm eternally grateful to you for stickingin the pilot house and to you girls for having the presence of mind topass out the life preservers."
Before they could reply Captain Billy turned and hastened up to the pilothouse. Tom started to follow but Helen stopped him.
"Don't go," she said. "He wants to say good-bye to the _Queen_."