“We are already loading the station wagon, but that won’t hold all we need. Miss Pearson phoned from Bayport for us to bring dishes, equipment and all the help we can get.”

“I’ll be down as soon as I can put on my clothes,” Kitty promised.

How thankful she was that they had arranged for Jane to have the small room behind the kitchen. Kitty roused her and gave careful instructions about the house and Billy, in case she would have to be gone all day. Then she told her father about the call, and in ten minutes was on her way down to the Canteen.

She helped Vera finish loading the station wagon and they drove over to the dock where her boat was housed. With the aid of Sally and Lana they filled the boat with pots, pans, all sorts of utensils and dishes, and what canned goods they had in stock. So many willing hands made quick work of the packing. They left only room enough for Mrs. Evans, the two Bright girls and Kitty. Judy Conner was going to help Vera pack the rest of their things in the station wagon and drive around over the causeway.

Not until they were seated in the boat and on their way to Bayport did Kitty find time to ask about the fire.

“The old cannery was a regular firetrap anyhow,” said Sally.

“It’s a miracle the fire didn’t sweep on to the shipyards,” Mrs. Evans remarked. “There was a strong northeast wind blowing that carried burning brands right in that direction.”

“Sounds like sabotage,” put in Lana.

“I doubt it,” said Mrs. Evans, who had a way of thinking the best of everything and everybody. “A careless match or hot cigarette ashes could have started the fire in any of those dumps.”

The mention of cigarette ashes made Kitty think of the cigar ash falling on the sailor’s shoe in the bus. Then with a feeling of shock she recalled that the sailor had come aboard the bus in the oyster cannery district. Could there possibly be any connection between the two fires? She knew that gasoline or kerosene was often used by saboteurs in setting fires. Perhaps the main motive had not been the destruction of the cannery and shacks, but the shipyards and government docks beyond.

Resolutely she tried to dismiss the entire affair, thinking how unjust it was to be suspicious of people she didn’t know. At least she would say nothing about it to anyone else, but she decided to do some investigating on her own if opportunity came.

There was so much to be done on reaching the scene of the disaster, however, that for a time Kitty forgot all about the incident on the bus. The Bayport Canteen workers had already set up a kitchen in a small playground near the center of the oyster cannery district.

She was amazed at the devastation that had been wrought in a few short hours. Practically every home that had surrounded the oyster cannery and docks had been burned to charcoal. The firemen, seeing it was impossible to save the poorly built shacks in the strong gale, had concentrated on preventing the spread of the fire to the essential war industries near by.

“It may be the best thing that could have happened to these people,” said Miss Pearson, when the island group of workers arrived. “We’ll see that proper housing units surround the cannery if it is rebuilt.”

Kitty had her initiation that day in the wonderful work which the Red Cross does in emergencies. As there was no adequate kitchen within easy reach of the homeless people, cooking racks had been set up in the open.

“If this were night and there was danger of air raids,” Miss Pearson explained to a group of Canteen apprentices who stood around the cook fire, “we’d have to cover our cook fire completely to keep it from being seen overhead.”

“My brother in the Coast Guard says even a match struck in the marshes can be seen by a passing plane,” Sally told them.

Soon pots were steaming with coffee, while huge saucepans held bubbling cereal. Kitty, with three other girls, improvised a table and benches where the children could sit to eat. In her group was Mrs. Janice, a member of the nutrition class, whom Vera had pointed out as a resident of the cannery district. She was an uneducated woman with an eager willingness to do everything in her power to help. Three of her sons were in the service. Though she and her other two children were now left homeless, she was doing her bit to help her fellow sufferers.

“There’s talk that the cannery was set afire,” she told Kitty when they went off together to tear some loose planks from a small section of the cannery that had not burned.

“Really! What have you heard about it?” Kitty said, encouraging Mrs. Janice to talk.

“The night watchman said he saw a stranger in dark clothes hurrying past the factory not ten minutes before he discovered the fire.” Then she added in a lower tone, “A sailor, too, he claims.”

Could it be possible that the boy she had seen on the bus had done this awful thing? But Kitty tried not to show her suspicions as she said, “But people must constantly pass by the cannery.”

“That’s so, of course, but you know how it is. You hear all sorts o’ talk. People round here were mighty careful ’bout fire, knowing how shoddy our houses were.”

“Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. You’ll certainly have better homes to live in after this.”

With the aid of Mrs. Janice’s fourteen-year-old son, Jerry, they found a half dozen boards from which they managed to make a table. The Canteen workers were soon helping the hungry children to bowls of hot cereal and milk as they lined up at the table. Some of them were upset at being separated from their parents, but Kitty had a way of stilling their fears as she satisfied their hunger.

When their breakfast was over, Kitty gave each of them an apple and herded them over near the swings. She solicited the aid of some older boys and girls to keep the younger children amused while their parents ate. Then for two hours she helped wash the mountain-like pile of dishes.

“How long will we have to feed them?” she asked Mrs. Evans, when she was finally drying her hands.

“Tired already?”

“Oh, no—that is, of course I’m tired, but I didn’t mean it that way. I was just wondering what’s to be done about all these people. Where will they sleep tonight? What will they do till more homes can be built?”

“And well you may, my dear,” said Mrs. Evans kindly. “The town is packed to capacity with war workers. In spite of that many homes have already made room for some of these people. The Red Cross will provide tents for others until permanent shelter can be found. In the meantime they are dependent on the Canteen Corps for food.”

Kitty’s eyes were starry as she looked at her leader. “It’s wonderful work, isn’t it, Mrs. Evans?”

“Indeed it is!”

“If this fire was the work of saboteurs, it only makes us dedicate ourselves all the more devotedly to bringing peace and harmony in the end.”

“Sometimes the most loyal person can let carelessness make him the worst sort of saboteur,” said Mrs. Evans significantly.

Kitty thought she had more reason than anyone else for doubting that that fire had been started by a careless patriot. She had thought at first that she would keep quiet about the little incident on the bus last night, but now she made up her mind to take Brad Mason into her confidence. Brad might be in a position to make some investigations that she could not about the sailor.