We followed the voices and pretty soon came to the observation station. It was just a little shanty with a trestle-work wooden tower close to it.
“Did you get ’phone connection yet?” Harry called as we came up.
“Guess the poles are burned down,” a fellow’s voice answered. “We can’t even get Central. Have you got water?” he fairly wailed. “We’re going to be burned alive! Have you got water?”
Inside were two girls and two young fellows.
One of the girls was wringing her hands and just sobbing, and the other girl was trying to calm her down. She just kept crying, “It’s coming nearer and nearer! What shall we do? Oh, what shall we do?” One of the fellows was all gone to pieces, too, and he just clutched Harry’s arm and said, “Save us; can’t you save us?”
Harry just kind of threw him off. He said, “We’re here to save you if we can, and die with you if we can’t. The first thing is, not to be a coward. Remember, when the Titanic went down, the band was playing. There have been a couple of million people killed in the last two years. Who are you, to be standing here crying like a baby?”
Oh boy, that hit the girl if it didn’t hit the fellow. She just got up and grabbed Harry by the hand and said, “I’m not a coward. I can be brave.”
“All right,” he said; “we’ve got about eight minutes. Sit down and be calm. These boys are scouts. Take a lesson from them.”
Oh, didn’t I admire that fellow! I bet the girl did, too. Gee, you couldn’t blame her.
“There ought to be some axes here,” he said; “hustle and turn things over.”