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Bell pointed upstreaht sky “Coal barges adrift”

The entire tow that had been es lashed together — wheeled ponderously into the river and picked up speed as the powerful current dragged it downstream

“How in heck did they break loose?”

“First thing I’ll ask, co,” said Isaac Bell

Wish said, “A at once”

Isaac Bell’s eyes shot fro yacht to the bewildered scabson the dock to the steaine to let the current sweep him away from the wreck

“Too s And I have a bad hunch it isn’t over”

When the boat was a safe distance fro stern wheel churned, and she raced to capture the drifting coal barges Deckhands scrambled with lines and the stea the lead barges into the current to maste

r the tow

“He’s got her,” said Wish “Captain’s a man to ride the river with”

Just as he spoke, the big steamboat exploded with a colossal double roar that toppled her chimneys and wheelhouse into the river To Bell’s ear, the double roar echoed the one-two that destroyed the Monongahela

But unlike the yacht, which was still drifting and on fire, the big steae of her upper decks exposed The current sla their wooden hulls Within h

“My provocateur,” said Isaac Bell, “is getting the hang of his line, too”

17

A pipe organ dominated the front roo rooht, seated thirty-six colided in with silver trays from a distant kitchen But R Kenneth Bloom, the father of Isaac Bell’s school friend Kenny, did not look happy Nor, Bell observed, did his dinner guests, Bloonates, and steel tycoons, whose evening clothes glittered with diamond studs and cuff links