  Once again the following night the trio, Norma, Rosa, and Marie, were on duty in the upper room of the Sea Tower, Rosa at the switchboard, Norma before her charts, and Marie at attention for any emergency. For more than an hour, save for the clock on the wall that ticked loudly, there was silence in the room. Then came a buzz at the switchboard. “That’s Beth calling from the Granite Head spotter tower.” Norma knew the number. “What does she want?” “She’s relaying a report from Betty at Black Knob,” Rosa explained. “They have discovered a light against the sky well out to sea.” “Tell her to ask Betty if it’s an airplane light,” Norma suggested. Rosa relayed the message. For a time after that there was silence, and then came a second buzz. Rosa pressed the headphone to her ear and listened intently. “She says that Betty does not think it is a plane light. It does not move across the sky and doesn’t “Light on the mast of some ship,” Norma suggested. “Beth says she suggested that,” Rosa explained. “Betty told her it seemed too high.” “Oh! Sublime sweet evening star,” Norma sang softly. “How I wonder what you are.” Then came a third buzz. “She says Bess has heard a large plane, a long way off the shore, heading south.” “Might be an enemy bomber,” Norma said, and sat straight up. Marie got the men below on the phone. Before they could report, the WAC watcher on the water tower roof popped her head through a hole to report the same plane. Ten seconds later Beth relayed one more message for Black Knob. They, too, had heard the powerful motors of a large plane. It was some distance north of the mysterious light and apparently flying straight toward it. Here surely was a mix-up. Then the report from the men below came up. No large plane was due anywhere in this region except some new transport planes being flown overland. “But what would one of these planes be doing fifteen miles out to sea?” was the question that came from the puzzled representatives of the Army. “That big plane certainly is going straight for that strange light,” Betty insisted. “There’s no denying that,” Grandfather Norton agreed, moving his listening horn first this way, then that, to get its exact location. It was strange, standing there, watching that light and at the same time hearing but not seeing the big plane. Just then someone stepped out on the platform. It was Lena. Having a day off, she had, strangely enough, chosen to spend it on the island. A fisherman would take her ashore next morning. “Lena!” Betty exclaimed. “I thought you were fast asleep!” “I was.” Lena shuddered from the chill of the night. “But something woke me up—so I came out here.” “It doesn’t take much to waken you,” said Betty. “The motor of a distant plane.” “What’s up? Why are you so excited?” Lena studied their faces. “See that light over there against the sky?” “Yes, I see it.” “What is it?” “Why that—” Lena broke off suddenly. She seemed greatly disturbed. “I—hear a plane!” she exclaimed “Yes, we’ve been hearing it for some time,” said Grandfather Norton. “What’s it doing out there?” Lena asked. There was a strange quality in her voice. “As if she herself knew the answer,” Betty told herself. “Well,” Grandfather Norton spoke slowly, “if I wasn’t dead sure that there was nothing but water out there, miles and miles of water, I should say that the light was a beacon to a landing field and that the plane was heading toward it for a landing.” “Oh! But that’s impossible!” Betty exclaimed. “Certainly it is,” Norton agreed. Like a caged animal Lena began pacing the narrow platform. Once Betty thought she heard her murmur tensely, “It’s terrible. Just terrible.” What was terrible and how did this big girl know it was terrible? In the meantime the big plane was coming closer, ever closer to the swaying light. Those on shore, Beth, Bess, Norma, Rosa, and the rest, could hear the plane but could find no answer to the question, “Why is it there?” Lena continued to pace the platform. Watching her, Betty realized that within the big girl’s mind a terrific battle was raging. “What battle?” she asked herself. “And why?” For a time she found no answer. Then suddenly the answer came. Or was it the answer? “Unless what?” Betty’s throat was dry. “Unless we go to the rescue!” Lena pulled at her arm. “There’s not a moment to lose.” “But we have no plane.” Betty stared first at Lena, then at Norton. It was a tense moment of indecision. “There’s a motorboat, a pretty fast one. I can run it, you know that!” Lena’s voice was tense with emotion. “Yes, I know. Norma told me how you saved them.” “Then come on. Come on, now! We—” Lena’s voice broke; she did not finish. Betty looked at Grandfather. He did not speak, merely nodded his head. “All—” Betty gulped, “all right, I’ll go!” Instantly the two girls were down from the tower and racing like mad for the dock. Once at the dock Lena unscrewed the gas tank cap, flashed a light down into the tank, then, after a few twists at the cap said, with astonishing calmness: “Get in. We are off.” “There’s Not a Moment to Lose!” Lena Exclaimed “Has this girl lost her mind?” she asked herself. “Or does she know some terrible secret? Will the plane really come down?” For the moment she found no answer. But the answer must come soon. Even as she thought this Lena exclaimed: “There! What did I tell you? The plane is beginning to circle. It will come down. It is flying high, but it will come down.” This Betty knew was true. The sounds that came from the plane told the whole story. As she watched, frightened, yet fascinated, she tried to measure the time it would take for the plane to come down. Now it must, she thought, be a quarter of the way down, now a half, and now three-quarters of the way. Her heart skipped a beat. What plane was this? Would it really crash? Was it friend or foe? Should she hope for a crash or an upward swing just in time? Her brain was in a whirl. “The light has vanished!” Lena exclaimed suddenly. It was true. The light had blinked out. Still the plane came down, rapidly. There seemed no stopping it now. After breathing a prayer, Betty began to count. One, two, three, four—she had reached twelve when there came the sound of a muffled crash. “Now, if only we can save them,” she thought While Lena kept the boat at its utmost speed, Betty stood in the prow and strained her eyes for some sign of the wreck. At last her vigil was rewarded. “There’s a tiny light. But perhaps that’s the one that disappeared.” “It is not that one!” Lena headed straight for it. The light grew brighter. A dark bulk loomed ahead. Betty heard a voice calling. A woman’s voice. That, she thought, was strange. They came closer. “Are you hurt?” she called. “No, we’re not hurt,” a woman’s voice answered. “But please hurry,” came in a different voice. “The plane may sink.” “We’ve been hurrying, quite a while,” Betty called. “How did you know we’d crash?” came back. “I didn’t. We—we just came,” said Betty. “That light was a decoy,” came from the plane. “You thought there was a field here?” Betty suggested. “We were off our course and our gas was low,” one voice explained. “We came down to see.” “And I took the plane too far,” the other explained. “Well, now you’re safe enough,” Betty said a minute later as Lena eased the boat in close to the “But what about our plane?” one of the girls on the plane asked. “We are of the Ferry Command. It’s worth a lot of money.” “And it’s hardly damaged at all,” said the other. “It’s equipped with sort of water-wings that can be filled with gas in just no time,” said the first one. “Why don’t you fill them?” Betty asked. “We’ll stand by.” “We will!” They both sprang up. “We’ll be right back. Right back.” A moment later there came a hissing sound and the plane began to lift slowly. “The water is smooth. I’m sure we can save the plane,” said Lena. “Listen!” Betty said. “There’s a boat coming.” Before the two girls returned, their arms loaded with personal belongings, two fishing boats pulled alongside. One was quite long, the other small. “What happened?” Joe Tratt asked. “They crashed,” Betty explained. No mention of the decoy light. That would come later. “We’re going to try towing it in,” said Lena. “I’ll help you,” said Joe. “My boat draws a lot So it was agreed. Betty and the two strange girls piled into Bill’s boat. Betty called, “So long and good luck!” Then they were away. “Lena is the strangest girl I ever knew,” Betty told herself as she settled in her place. She wanted terribly to talk, but if she did, she might say the wrong thing. So she said never a word—not, at least, until she sat across a table from Grandfather Norton in his secret den. Then she really opened up. They talked for an hour. The old man’s voice was mellow. His words came slowly, thoughtfully, from a well-stored mind. Betty was not a child and still at times she sprang to her feet to exclaim, “Lena knew it was going to happen. She really knew!” “Perhaps,” was the slow reply. “Then again, perhaps not. Some people are gifted with intuition, particularly women.” “Yes, I know, but—” “Even I suggested first that the plane might try to make a landing,” he added. “There was the whole set-up, night, a plane seeking a landing place, and a light that seemed a beacon. “And at the most, we must admit,” he added thoughtfully, “that this big friend of yours, Lena, might well have been the means of saving lives. It was a mere chance that saved the plane.” For a time after that there was silence. Then he “It would seem that, after all, we are discussing a minor problem. The real problem is, who put out that decoy light, if it was a decoy, and how did they take it down?” “Decoy?” Betty exploded. “Of course it was a decoy to lure our airplanes into the sea.” “Perhaps. Let’s pass that up for the moment and ask ourselves how the light got there. Did you see or hear any surface craft leave the spot?” Betty shook her head. “Not a sign, nor an airplane either.” “Then, only a sub could have put up that light. With a long telescoped steel pole, like a giant fishing rod, guyed by wires, they could hang out a very high light.” “It might have been an electric light on a wire,” Betty suggested. “Then they could have blinked it out on the instant.” “Certainly. And when the plane came close, that’s what they did. Has it not occurred to you that they might have been afraid of the plane?” “I think they were afraid of us.” “With the plane thundering overhead, they could not have heard your motor. I fancy they thought the plane was out to bomb them. More than likely they crash-dived.” “Then why the light?” Betty was more puzzled than ever. “That,” Betty laughed, “is good enough for a night cap. I’m going to retire. Goodnight!” She was gone. When, at dawn, Lena and Joe Tratt arrived at the harbor the big girl appeared ready to drop. And yet, as soon as the plane was safely grounded on the sandy beach, she hired a fisherman to take her ashore. Once there, she drank three cups of black coffee and then, still teetering on her toes, she climbed the stairs, entered her room, threw off her coat and shoes, and crept under the blankets to fall fast asleep. |
|
