All were willing, and the four once more bent to their oars, sending the rowboat through the bluish-green smoke, which almost choked and blinded them.
“Hello there!” yelled Fred. “Where are you?”
“Help! Help!” came the cry from off to their left. “Help! Save me!”
The rowboat was turned in that direction, and a few seconds later the Rover boys caught sight through the smoke of a water-logged rowboat to which an elderly man, dressed in the garb of a workman, was clinging.
“Help me! Help me! I can’t hang on much longer!” gasped the man, as soon as he saw the boys.
“Sure, we’ll help you,” declared Jack. “Go slow now,” he cautioned his cousins. “We don’t want to knock him off into the water.”
With care the rowboat was brought around so that they came up alongside of the elderly man. He was glad enough to turn from his water-logged craft to the other boat. But he was well-nigh exhausted, and the Rovers had not a little trouble in getting him on board.
“Tell you what—I’m mighty glad you lads came along,” panted the old man, when he was safe. “I couldn’t have held out much longer. This is something terrible, ain’t it? Say, would you mind hooking that boat fast and pulling it to shore? It belongs to me, and I ain’t so wealthy that I can afford to lose it. Besides, it’s got some of my things in it.”
“We’ll take it along unless it keeps us back too much,” answered Jack. And then he bent down, got hold of the bowline of the craft, and tied it fast to their stern. Fortunately the other boat was a small one, so they had not much difficulty in towing it along.
“I’m a dockman over at the ammunition factory,” explained the old man. “And when things began to go off I thought it was high time to get out. I tried to save a few of my things and dumped ’em into my boat and began to pull for the shore. But then one of the big explosions went off, and I got caught in a lot of smoke and a rain of I don’t know what, and was nearly rendered senseless. When I came to, I had drifted along to near where you found me. Something must have hit the boat and gone through the bottom, for she was filling with water fast. Then she tipped, and I went overboard. I can’t swim very well, and that confounded smoke got in my lungs, and I thought sure I would be a goner. You boys certainly came in the nick of time.”