The Boys of the Wireless Part 10

It was agreed that Harry Ashley should remain with him, and Mrs. Barnes had put up a fine lunch. About five o'clock when the wind began to rise with low rumblings of thunder in the distance and fitful gusts of wind, Tom held eye and attention close on the apparatus, ready for what might come.

Within an hour, however, his thoughts, as well as those of his companion, were mainly concerned in their own immediate environment. The storm was not accompanied by very vivid lightning, but the wind had risen to hurricane force.

Just before dusk a particularly severe gust broke down a large elm tree in sight. A little later a boat shed near the beach toppled over, and the fragments were carried like kindling wood out into the hissing, boiling surf.

About half an hour after dark, Harry, at the window, had sounded a quick alarm.

"Tom!" he had shouted, "every light in the town has shut off in a second!"

This meant that the storm had carried down the electric supply line from Springville. Tom thought uneasily of the folks at home. Then the a.s.saults of the high breeze on their aerial perch caused him to center his attention on their own position, and be ready to save themselves if collapse came.

"Here, Harry, use this," ordered Tom, as his companion picked up a coat to stop up the hole in the broken sash.

Harry took the square piece of matting Tom tendered. He picked a hammer and nails to secure it across the sash. About to set it in place, however, he interrupted proceedings with a violent:

"Hark!"

"What's the matter, Harry?" questioned Tom.

Harry held up a hand, warningly. He bent his ear keenly towards the aperture. Then he turned to Tom.

"Did you hear it?" he demanded.

"Hear what?"

"That shout-a cry?"

"Wasn't it the wind?"

"No, I am sure not. Come here. There it is again!"

Tom ran to the window. Both held their breath in suspense. Both started with intelligence and certainty now.

A fearful echoing cry rose far above the whistling, shrieking storm-the echo of a human voice.

"Help! help! help!"

"That's no imagination," declared Harry.

"No, someone is in trouble," acquiesced Tom.

"It's right down on the road running to the beach," said Harry.

"Come on," urged Tom definitely, "we must investigate this."

He seized a lantern and threw open the trap door. Harry was at his heels promptly. A gust of wind and a forceful dash of rain nearly swept them off their feet as they reached the ground.

"Which way?" asked Harry quickly.

"Hark!" interrupted Tom.

Again the cry rang out. It was fainter, less emphatic than before, but nearer. Tom could trace the point of the compa.s.s from which it came. He ran in that direction, holding the lantern before him.

"There he is!" cried Harry suddenly. "Don't run over him, Tom."

Coming to an abrupt halt, both boys stared in startled excitement at a human being on hands and knees making his way from the side of the road.

Near to him was a tangled ma.s.s of wreckage which had been a bicycle. Its shattered skeleton covered a big flat rock, into which it had run to be completely demolished.

The recent rider was bareheaded, and from a wound in his temple the blood trickled down over his face and hands. One arm was helpless, and doubled up under him at every futile attempt at forward progress.

"Why," shouted Tom, swinging the lantern forward so that its rays covered the man, "it's Mr. Barton."

"Tom-Tom-" quavered the man, looking up through half blinded eyes, "quick-the doctor!"

"What's that?" Tom challenged, keenly alive to the fact that Mr.

Barton's presence and condition signified some important circ.u.mstance.

But the man with a groan fell flat, rolled over on his side, and lay like one dead in the road.

"Say, Tom, what shall we do?" inquired Harry in an awesome whisper.

"We mustn't let this man die here, exposed to the storm. He may be seriously injured."

"It looks that way. I suppose he ran or was blown into that big rock yonder."

"Yes," nodded Tom.

"What was he doing, though, out such a night as this on a bicycle?"

"He said something about a doctor. Help me, Harry, we must get him under shelter."

"We can't carry him up into the tower."

"There's the old tool shed. Ready?"

"Yes, Tom."

They managed to convey the insensible man to the dilapidated structure Tom had mentioned. Its roof was like a sieve, and several boards were missing from its sides, but it afforded some security from the tempest.

Tom placed a pile of old bags under the man's head and set the lantern near.

"Do you know him, Tom?" asked Harry.

"Oh, yes, he is almost a neighbor of ours. He runs a small truck farm and has quite a family. Wet this, Harry, soaking."

Tom gave his handkerchief to his companion, who went outside and saturated it in a deep puddle. Tom washed the dirt from the face of the injured man and tried to staunch the flow of blood.

He listened at his heart and to his breathing, and lifted the limb that seemed to have lost its natural power.