Daughter of the Coast Guard by Baxter Betty

Author:Baxter, Betty [Anderson, Betty Baxter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile
Publisher: Distributed Proofreaders Canada
Published: 1938-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XV

Attempt at Rescue

It was a restless, uneasy night. The piling surf on the beach made a continuous rolling thunder, and the howling wind threatened a night of terror to the men and ships on the lake. Win was unable to sleep, and pulled on a warm robe to join her mother at a lonely vigil at the fireplace in the living room.

The entire crew was alert, ready. Her father, she knew, had taken his station with the lookout. There’d been no word, yet, of a ship in distress, but the Coast Guard was ready.

Now an icy, sleety rain was falling, and Win’s sympathies went out to the new lads on the crew who were patroling the shoreline. Once she’d gone along, and her memory went back to that black night—The sleet and spray had frozen on her oilskin. It was necessary to fight for every step, into that driving wind. Then the surfman would stop, and look out to the water, superhumanly trying to break through that blackness of vision.

Instinctively, Win went now to the wide window.

Was that a ship out yonder, this side of the pier, or was it a nightmare of her imagination?

As she watched, a thin trail of light shot upward and broke into a bright red shower.

It was a ship! In distress! It had overshot the long pier, and gone aground.

The surfman had seen it, too. His answer was made with a Coston flare. Win had seen him, in imagination, jerk the tape which ignited the dazzling red glow. And sleet, wind nor spray could smother its courageous message. To the stranded ship, it sent the news that the Coast Guard was ready.

The message had been telephoned from the lookout tower to the rooms beneath the Travers’ quarters, and Win could hear the tremendous activity as the crew prepared to go to the rescue.

Then she turned to her mother. “It’s a ship aground, this side of the pier. I’m going to dress and go out——”

Mrs. Travers was ready for the emergency, too. “Wait, dear. While you’re dressing, I’ll get Mandy, and we’ll put some hot food on the stove. First, I’ll make a couple of quarts of hot coffee. You can take them with you, down on shore. . . .”

The telephone shrilled.

It was Cherry. “I couldn’t sleep, and I saw the flares from my window. What’s happened?”

“Don’t know yet, for sure,” Win answered. “A ship’s gone aground. Mother’s making coffee and I’ve got to hurry to get dressed and take it down to the beach.”

“I’m coming, too. Maybe I can help. . . .”

Cherry, in her warmest sweaters and heaviest raincoat, hurried to the back door, just as Winifred was leaving. Without a word, she seized the handle of the big thermos container, and helped Win carry it down the sleety steps to the beach.

Already, the men were launching the surfboat.

The cart, loaded with life-saving equipment, was drawn into place. Win noted the life-car, the Lyle gun, the axes, shovels, lights and flares with an experienced eye.

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