SINKING
At the wheel of the motorboat, Tom Tozzle had failed to realize the
danger until it was too late. Not until the bow of a large private
yacht suddenly loomed out of the darkness did he attempt to bring the
boat about.
As the two boats came together with a sickening crash, it seemed that
the smaller craft must split from end to end. Cries of alarm went up
from the yacht.
Bud braced himself for the impact, and though his arms were nearly torn
from their sockets, managed to hold to the side of the boat. Tom Tozzle
fared less fortunately. He was hurled overboard.
For an instant after his companion had been flung into the river, Bud
stared stupidly at the black, swirling water, as though unable to
comprehend what had happened.
"Tom can't swim a stroke," he muttered.
Nervously, his hands clenched and unclenched, but the current was
running swiftly and he lacked the courage to attempt a rescue. Rather
than risk his own life, he would see his friend drown before his eyes.
As he stood trembling at the rail, watching the spot where Tom Tozzle
had disappeared, a peculiar crackling noise caused him to wheel about.
For the first time he became aware that the boat was listing sharply,
and the crackling sound made him think that a fire had started from the
engine. In another moment, the flame might reach the gasoline supply!
He darted into the cabin.
"Come on, Mary!" he shouted. "We've got to get out of this! The
motorboat may blow up! Hurry!"
"Where's Tom?"
"Flung overboard!"
"Didn't you save him?"
"I couldn't--the current's too swift. Come on, or we'll both be blown
sky-high!"
Bud grasped his sister by the hand and dragged her toward the door, but
she held back.
"The jewels, Bud! We must get them!"
"There isn't time! There may be an explosion, and, anyhow, this boat is
listing more every minute!"
"But we can't go without them."
"I tell you we must! The boat that rammed us may belong to the
government patrol. They'd jail us in a minute if we were caught with
the loot. Come on!"
Against her will, Mary was dragged to the door. As she looked out and
saw that water was washing over the deck, she became panic stricken.
"We'll never make shore," she wailed. "I can't swim a stroke."
"The boat's almost up to the dock. We can jump for it."
Bud glanced back and saw Nancy lying on the floor where she had been
flung at the time of the collision. "How about it?" he demanded of his
sister. "Shall we cut her loose?"
He groped in his pocket for a knife, but Mary grasped his hand roughly.
"Don't be a fool!"
"But we can't let her drown!"
"Who's to know? The boat will sink before anyone can get to her."
"But----"
"If we set her free she'll tell everything she knows, and that will
mean our finish. Come along before it's too late!"
Bud closed the door of the cabin, and Nancy Drew was left to her fate.
In deserting their captive, Mary and Bud Mason assumed that they left
her securely bound and gagged; but such was not the case. When Nancy
had been flung to the floor by the crash, the gag across her mouth had
loosened. At first she was too stunned to realize what had happened,
and it was not until the cabin door closed behind Mary and Bud that she
found her voice.
"Help! Help!" she screamed.
There was no answering cry. Cold sweat broke out on Nancy's brow as
she realized that there was little hope of a rescue. She could feel
the boat listing. At any moment it might plunge beneath the waves. She
tugged desperately at the cords which held her a prisoner, and again
she raised her voice in the frantic call:
"Help!"
There was a long moment of silence, a moment which to Nancy Drew seemed
an eternity. Then, from far away, she heard an answering shout.
"Hello, there! What's the matter?"
"Save me! Save me!" Nancy screamed as loudly as she could. "I'm locked
up in the cabin!"
From the vicinity of the dock, she heard an excited murmur of voices.
Someone shouted:
"Don't let these two persons get away until we find out what's up!"
Though Nancy Drew was fearful lest the motorboat sink before help
reached her, she was calm enough to be pleased that Mary and Bud Mason
had been apprehended. When it seemed to her that she was surely doomed,
the door of the cabin was flung open.
"What's the matter?" a gruff voice demanded. "The door isn't locked and
the boat's touching the dock. Why don't you step out?"
"I'm bound!"
At the time of the accident, the cabin light had been extinguished.
Someone now lighted a match and there was a chorus of exclamations as
Nancy was disclosed on the floor.
"Get her out of here quickly!" one of the men shouted. "This boat will
go down any minute."
To Nancy's relief, someone darted over to her and cut the thongs. She
sprang to her feet, but her limbs were so numb that she would have
fallen had not one of the men grasped her by the arm.
As she was rushed to the door, she thought of the Crandall jewels, but
knew that there was no time to stop for them. She was half dragged and
half carried along the deck to the span of water which separated the
boat from the dock.
"Jump!" one of the men commanded sharply.
Blindly, Nancy jumped. As her feet struck the dock, willing hands
reached out to aid her. The three men who had saved her sprang after
her and likewise reached safety.
"Just in time!" someone murmured.
Nancy, still weak from the ordeal through which she had just gone,
wheeled about and gazed toward the motorboat. She saw that it was
rapidly sinking.
"The Crandall jewels!" she thought miserably. "They'll go to the bottom
of the river."
She dared not go back to the cabin, and yet there must be some way to
save Emily's inheritance! Frantically, she glanced up and down the dock
and then out across the water. As she saw that the yacht was standing
by close to the sinking motorboat, a sudden idea came to her.
Running along the dock until she stood opposite the yacht, she hailed
the captain who was at the rail.
"Don't let that motorboat sink!" she cried. "There's a valuable cargo
aboard. Can't you use grappling hooks and save it?"
"We'll try it, Miss," came the reassuring response.
Now that Nancy Drew had done all she could to save the Crandall jewels,
she recalled what Bud had told his sister about leaving Tom Tozzle
to drown. Horrified at such inhumanity, she glanced toward the inky
waters, willing, if need be, to attempt a rescue herself.
"I'm afraid it's too late," she told herself.
However, at that moment a cry went up from the crowd which had gathered
on the dock. Nancy turned just in time to see two bedraggled men
climbing out of the river. She recognized Tom Tozzle instantly and knew
that the other man had rescued him.
"I'm glad he was saved," she told herself.
The charitable thought was not of long duration, for the next instant
she saw Tom Tozzle tear himself away from the man who was holding him.
Heading for a group of old building and sheds near the dock, he ran
like one possessed.
"Stop him!" Nancy yelled. "Don't let him get away! He's a thief!"