Not until they were seated in the boat and on their way to Bayport did Kitty find time to ask about the fire.
“The old cannery was a regular firetrap anyhow,” said Sally.
“It’s a miracle the fire didn’t sweep on to the shipyards,” Mrs. Evans remarked. “There was a strong northeast wind blowing that carried burning brands right in that direction.”
“Sounds like sabotage,” put in Lana.
“I doubt it,” said Mrs. Evans, who had a way of thinking the best of everything and everybody. “A careless match or hot cigarette ashes could have started the fire in any of those dumps.”
The mention of cigarette ashes made Kitty think of the cigar ash falling on the sailor’s shoe in the bus. Then with a feeling of shock she recalled that the sailor had come aboard the bus in the oyster cannery district. Could there possibly be any connection between the two fires? She knew that gasoline or kerosene was often used by saboteurs in setting fires. Perhaps the main motive had not been the destruction of the cannery and shacks, but the shipyards and government docks beyond.
Resolutely she tried to dismiss the entire affair, thinking how unjust it was to be suspicious of people she didn’t know. At least she would say nothing about it to anyone else, but she decided to do some investigating on her own if opportunity came.
There was so much to be done on reaching the scene of the disaster, however, that for a time Kitty forgot all about the incident on the bus. The Bayport Canteen workers had already set up a kitchen in a small playground near the center of the oyster cannery district.
She was amazed at the devastation that had been wrought in a few short hours. Practically every home that had surrounded the oyster cannery and docks had been burned to charcoal. The firemen, seeing it was impossible to save the poorly built shacks in the strong gale, had concentrated on preventing the spread of the fire to the essential war industries near by.
“It may be the best thing that could have happened to these people,” said Miss Pearson, when the island group of workers arrived. “We’ll see that proper housing units surround the cannery if it is rebuilt.”