CHAPTER III

A QUEER OLD MAN

“Here, Dr. Bounce!” called Jerry, as he and his chums laid the aged man down on a pile of car cushions, “here’s a man who needs your attention,” and the physician, who was hurrying past, stopped.

“Where did you find him?” he asked.

“Got him out of the wreck,” replied Ned.

“Well, you boys are certainly doing good work,” Dr. Bounce remarked. He bent over the old man and felt of his head. “Skull fractured,” he murmured. “Not much chance.”

By this time the ambulance which had made several trips came back, and in it the man the boys had saved was taken to the hospital, being one of the last to go.

Never before had there been such excitement in Cresville. The whole town was aroused, and every one offered some aid to the wounded. There were a number taken to private houses, and cared for there, as the hospital was a small one.

Soon the wrecking crew came, the men working rapidly to get the tracks cleared. Because the smash had occurred in the cut there was no chance to build a temporary track around it, as is sometimes done.

Then came a swarm of reporters from Boston, which was not far from Cresville. They kept the telegraph wires fairly sizzling with dispatches, telling of the terrible wreck.

A big crowd remained at the scene long after the damaged cars and engine had been hauled away, and the line put in shape for use, which was late in the afternoon. The three boys, who, to tell the truth, were nervous and upset from the unaccustomed sights, left shortly after the old man had been taken away.

“Well,” remarked Bob, as they strolled back toward his house, “it would be hard to beat that for excitement.”

“What were we doing just before it happened?” asked Ned. “It seems like a week ago when we ran out to join the crowd.”

“We were talking about going to the shore with our motor boat,” Jerry put in.

“Oh, yes. Well, let’s see if we can’t work that scheme. Suppose you two come over to my house this afternoon,” spoke Ned.

His chums said they would, and then the three separated, their minds filled with a strange combination; the pleasures that might be in store for them mingling with the sad memories of the wreck.

Jerry spoke of the boys’ plan to his mother at dinner. She took a little time to think it over, and then announced she would try to get a large cottage if possible.

“Ned and Bob can come and stay with you,” she said, “that is if their folks will let them. I want to see you all have a good time, and I believe the motor boat will be just the thing at the shore. Only you must be very careful. When I think of some of the things you and your friends went through with, Jerry, it frightens me.”

“Well, I guess we can look after ourselves, mother. We’ve pulled out of some pretty tight places.”

Mrs. Hopkins wrote a letter to a real estate agent at Harmon Beach, and Jerry was so anxious to have the plan succeed that he did not forget to mail the epistle which his mother gave him to post as he was going out. It was the first time such a thing had occurred in quite a while, as Jerry had a bad habit of forgetting to drop letters in the post-office.

Happy in the anticipation that he and his chums would be able to spend the summer together, Jerry whistled a gleeful mixture of all the sea songs he had ever heard, as he hurried over to Ned’s house. He found both his chums there.

“How about it?” asked Ned.

“My part is all right,” announced Jerry, “though of course it depended on whether a large-enough cottage can be secured.” But he did not think that detail worth bothering about. If worst came to worst he knew he and his chums would sleep on the floor in one room.

“I can go,” Bob announced, and Ned chimed in to say his parents had no objections if he was to stay at Mrs. Hopkins’s house.

“Then it’s all arranged,” Jerry said, in boyish confidence. “Now we’ll have to overhaul the _Dartaway_, and get her in shape. A new awning would do no harm, and I think we’ll need a little heavier anchor.”

With boundless enthusiasm the boys began to discuss their plans. They jumped from one thing to another, from the possibility of cruising half way to Florida to doing deep-sea-fishing in their motor boat.

“We’ll have the time of our lives,” said Bob. “We’ll--”

At that instant the door of the sitting room where the chums were opened and Dr. Bounce entered.

“You boys were talking so loudly you didn’t hear me knock I guess,” he said.

“Is any one sick?” inquired Ned, thinking the medical man had called to attend some one.

“Not here,” replied Dr. Bounce, “but there are enough cases in town to keep ten doctors busy. No, I called about that old man you helped get out of the wreck.”

“Is he dead?” asked Jerry.

“I’m afraid he can’t last long. He regained consciousness a little while ago, and wanted the three boys who took him from under the seats to be sent for. Do any of you know him?”

“Why, no. Did he mention any of us by name?” inquired Bob.

“No, but he insisted he wanted to see the three boys, and I happened to remember it was you who saved him. He seems to have something on his mind. Perhaps it will make him rest more easily if you go to the hospital and see him. It may be only an odd fancy, but sometimes we have to humor our patients. Will you go?”

The boys said they would, and while they were getting their hats Dr. Bounce told them how he had first gone to Jerry’s house and then to Bob’s, before he arrived at Ned’s.

The hospital was so crowded with patients from the wreck that even the office of the superintendent and some of the doctors’ rooms were used. On cots in them were men and women; some badly injured.

The aged man had a small room to himself, as his case was regarded as critical. Dr. Bounce, preceding the three boys, entered. He paused for a few seconds regarding the patient, who seemed to be sleeping. Then the physician turned, and silently beckoned the boys to approach. As they came near the old man opened his eyes and regarded them curiously for a moment.

“Are these the boys you wanted to see?” inquired Dr. Bounce.

“Yes, yes,” was the eager reply. The man tried to raise himself in bed, but was so weak he fell back on the pillow.

“Calm yourself,” said Dr. Bounce soothingly. “You must not get excited. What did you want of the boys?”

“I want Jess,” murmured the man, looking first at one of the boys, and then at the other. “I was on my way to get her, after long years of separation, when there came a terrible blow on my head.”

“But what have the boys to do with it, and who is Jess?” asked Dr. Bounce.

“They will find her for me. They know where she is. Where the great light is. They can find her. They are smart boys. I can see that.” Then his mind wandered. “I must have my Jess. Maybe she was killed in the wreck! Oh, boys, please find her for me! Perhaps she is pinned down under the seat where you rescued me!”

The chums looked at each other curiously. Dr. Bounce placed his hand on the old man’s pulse.

“Tell us who you are,” the physician said. “Who is Jess, and how can the boys find her?”

“Jess--Jess--where the great light shines at night,--Bring her to me--I am--I am--Jess--the boys will find you--they will save you! Oh, the awful crash!”

The next instant the old man, who, in his excitement, had risen from the pillow fell backward, and his eyes closed. A terror seemed to grip the boys’ hearts. They thought they had seen death come. Dr. Bounce rang a bell to summon a nurse.

“He has become unconscious again after his raving,” the doctor said. “I’m afraid my experiment was a failure. Do you know who Jess is, or what he is referring to about the ‘great light,’ boys?”

“Not in the least,” replied Jerry, and his chums said the same.

“Was any one of that name killed or hurt in the wreck?” Dr. Bounce went on.

“No,” replied Bob. “I have looked over the list as published in one of the extras, and all the passengers are accounted for. No one was named Jess.”

“Do you suppose he could have meant a dog called Jess?” came from Ned. “He seemed to think some one might be pinned down under the seats where he was.”

“But he spoke of going to claim her after a long separation,” Dr. Bounce went on, while the nurse was administering medicine to the unconscious patient. “That would apply only to a person. No, I believe Jess is a girl or a woman. There seems to be some mystery connected with her.”

“Maybe we will happen to solve it some day,” remarked Jerry. “I wonder what he meant by the ‘great light?’”