“Can’t tell, eh? Well I’ll come as fast as I can,” and he hung up the receiver.
“Any trouble?” inquired Jerry.
“Looks like it,” the keeper said. “My sister is quite sick. Taken suddenly. They want me.”
“Where does she live?”
“It’s about six miles back in the country. I guess I can make it and get back here by nine or ten o’clock. I wish I knew whether it would be safe to leave the new man in charge.”
“Don’t the regulations provide for it?” asked Ned.
“Oh, yes, it’s my day and night off, and I have a right to go. But I sort of hate to leave the light with him. He knows all about it, however, and he’s got a government civil service certificate. He knows just what to do, for he’s been in lighthouses before. I wish I knew what to do.”
“Let us stay and help him,” suggested Ned.
“Will you?” asked Mr. Hardack eagerly.
“Sure,” chorused Jerry and Bob.