Читать книгу Miss Pickerell Goes Undersea - Ellen MacGregor - Страница 4
ОглавлениеThe Governor Has Bad News
"Hello, Miss Pickerell." It was the governor's voice. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, Governor," Miss Pickerell said.
"I'm afraid I have some rather disturbing news, Miss Pickerell. I hope you won't be too upset."
"You mean there's been a delay?" Miss Pickerell asked. "You mean it's going to take longer than we thought to get my rock collection back from Europe?"
"It isn't that," said the governor. "Not exactly."
"When will I get it?" Miss Pickerell asked. "When are they going to send it?"
"Well—" the governor said, and Miss Pickerell heard him clear his throat somewhat nervously. "As a matter of fact, Miss Pickerell, the collection has already left Europe."
"Did they put it on the wrong ship?" Miss Pickerell asked. "Did it go to the wrong place?"
"It was the right ship," the governor said. "It was the S.S. Liberty Bell. The only trouble is—"
"Governor," Miss Pickerell said, "if you're worried because you can't go to the seaport and take charge of my rock collection when it arrives, the way you said you would, I can go instead. My nieces and nephews are coming to visit me next week, but I'm sure they'd be willing to change their plans if I asked them. If that's all that's worrying you—"
"Miss Pickerell," the governor said, and his voice sounded so weak Miss Pickerell had to ask him to speak a little louder. "I might as well come right out and tell you. There was a severe storm at sea, and the S.S. Liberty Bell was badly crippled. Although she was driven far off her course, she managed to make her way to shore. She reached a place called Cliffside Bay. They were able to get all the lifeboats launched. Everybody on board was saved. But the ship herself—"
"Oh, Governor!" Miss Pickerell said. "How terrible! You mean the ship went down?"
"I hated to have to tell you this, Miss Pickerell. But I thought you'd want to know."
"Well, of course," Miss Pickerell said.
Then she thought of something.
She said, "I feel awfully sorry for people that had the kind of cargo that would be damaged by water. I don't suppose being under water hurt my rocks any. Did it take very long to salvage the cargo? And where is my rock collection now?"
"It's still there," the governor said.
"At that place you mentioned? That place where the ship went down?"
"The name of the place is Cliffside Bay," the governor said, "and I believe the Navy uses part of it. What I meant was, the cargo's still on the ship."
"Still on the ship!" Miss Pickerell exclaimed. "Why, what's the matter with the ship's owners? Why don't they get started?"
"It takes a little while to get salvage operations started after a shipwreck. Besides, maybe nobody would want to salvage the ship."
"Why wouldn't they want to?" Miss Pickerell asked. "What kind of owners are they!"
"The owners aren't exactly the owners any more," the governor said. "If an insurance company paid them for the cargo, then the cargo would belong to the insurance company when it was salvaged."
"What's insurance got to do with it?" Miss Pickerell said. "I think you must be mistaken, Governor."
"I checked the whole matter very carefully, Miss Pickerell. I was away when it happened, but as soon as I got back and found out about it, I checked. The ship and the cargo were both insured against just such a catastrophe. And I'm very happy to be able to tell you that your rock collection was very heavily insured."
"Insured!" Miss Pickerell said. "Why, that doesn't do any good! My collection of red rocks from Mars is priceless."
"I know how you feel, Miss Pickerell," the governor said. "And I'm extremely sorry. Besides that I feel responsible. So I'm going to do everything I can. It may be that some private salvage company will become interested in salvaging the ship, in order to receive the salvage award. In that case, we might be able to buy back your rock collection from the insurance company."
"Buy it back!" Miss Pickerell exclaimed. "Why, it's mine!"
"Not according to the laws of salvage, Miss Pickerell. And the insurance company might have to sell part of the cargo, in order to pay the salvage award."
"Do you mean to tell me," said Miss Pickerell, "that just any person could salvage the cargo, and that my rock collection might be sold in order to pay him?"
"If he were the first to take possession of the cargo," the governor said. "It isn't very likely though that anybody would bother, unless the rest of the cargo proved to be valuable."
"And the insurance company could sell my rock collection to anybody who wanted it?"
"That's true, Miss Pickerell. However, I'm sure they would be willing to let us have first chance at it, if they understood the situation. It seems to me that, for the time being, there isn't much we can do, though, except wait and see if someone does salv—"
"You don't need to think for one minute, Governor," Miss Pickerell said, "that I'm going to sit around and just wait while my beautiful red rock collection lies at the bottom of the ocean! I'm going to do something about it. I don't know what—but I'm going to do something!"
She said good-by, put the telephone back on the desk, and asked the photographer, "Do you know where there's a place called Cliffside Bay?"
