I’ll bet she’s scared stiff, thought Tom.
Then he heard loud voices in the fog.
“We’ve hit another tug!” cried Captain Brown from the pilot house.
“What in blazes is the matter with your lights?” shouted another voice. It was Captain Smith of the other tug, called the Lucy. “It’s against shipping laws not to have your lights on by sunset.”
“We have a short circuit,” answered Captain Brown.
“A short circuit, eh!” shouted Captain Smith. “Well, you’re in for it just the same. Any tug caught without lights at sunset is breaking the law. How bad is your damage?”
“Don’t know yet,” answered Captain Brown. “How bad is the Lucy damaged?”
“She’s still afloat,” shouted Captain Smith. “I guess she isn’t hurt too much. This old tug can certainly hold her own.”
Tom wanted to listen some more, but just then he heard someone on the upper deck of the Bessie. As he turned around, he saw a light blinking near the funnel in the center of the tugboat. That’s strange, he decided. Crawling forward on hands and knees he went to investigate. To his surprise he found that it was a man with a lighted kerosene lamp. He seemed to be looking for something, for his head was bent over as he walked around the smokestack.
Tom watched him closely. It wasn’t long before the man walked to the stern of the tugboat, and Tom followed, moving like a panther. He kept his distance, though, ready to drop to the deck in case the person should suddenly turn around. But the man went into the pilot house. A few minutes later Tom crouched under one of the windows, and strained his ears to hear what the man and Captain Brown were saying.
“Our hull is pretty badly damaged, Captain,” said the man. “And we have engine trouble.”
“That means we’ll be tied up here for a while,” answered Captain Brown. “But this business about the lights is serious. What in blazes caused the short circuit? You’re the engineer, Sam. You ought to know.”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about,” said Sam. “One of the electric wires on the upper deck has been cut in half. And I found Steve’s knife near the cut wire.”
“Steve’s knife!” cried Captain Brown in surprise.
“Yes. Here it is. It’s got his initials on it.”
Tom couldn’t believe his ears. It just couldn’t be true. Uncle Steve would never cut the wire. Then Tom hurried to the stern of the Bessie, for Captain Brown and the engineer were coming out of the pilot house.
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