Kids to the Rescue!

Part 7

Beth thought and thought and thought. "MHC" – what could that be? And the other words -- dock and so and low. It made no sense, unless…

"Uncle Will, could that MHC be Morehead City? I went with my class at school once to see the docks and the ships," she said.

Uncle Will broke into a big smile. "I think you're right. But what could 'so low' mean?"

"Maybe we can figure that out when we get there. C'mon Uncle Will. Let's go!"

* * * * *

The drive to Morehead City took about half an hour. They pulled up to the docks and jumped out of the Will's car.

"Now what do we do?" Beth asked.

"First we try and make sense of that message. Let's walk a little bit and see if anything strikes us," he said.

So they walked along the docks, looking at the boats that were tied up. There were big ones and small ones and boats with names and boats with numbers. Even though they were tired, the pair trudged up and down, not knowing what they were looking for and finding absolutely nothing.

"I'm afraid we're out of luck, Beth. Maybe we read the message wrong."

"But we have to find them, Uncle Will. We have to!" Beth leaned against her uncle, fighting back the tears. If only she could find Ben, she'd never ever fight with him again!

Will was looking off in the distance, staring at the name of a boat that was tied up a few dozen feet away from them. It was hard to read the boat's name in the dark, but there was something about it…

"Eureka!" Will said. "I've found it!" He bent down and held Beth's shoulders. "You run back to that pay phone we saw on the corner and dial 9-1-1. Tell the police they need to come to the docks. That your Uncle Will is on a boat called 'Napoleon Solo' and he's trying to rescue your brother and some other kids who've been kidnapped. Can you remember all that?"

Beth nodded.

"OK, kiddo. Go make that call. The boat I think they are on is right over there…" he pointed to a medium-sized pleasure fishing boat. On the side was the name 'Napoleon Solo.'

"OK. Uh, Uncle Will?"

"Yes, Pumpkin?"

"Please be careful."

"I will. Now go on." He patted her on the head and sent her to the corner.

Will turned and headed for the boat.

Will help get there in time to save the other kids?  Check it out here!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?

Trudged: To walk slowly and with effort.

Eureka: An expression that means, "I found it" was commonly used around the mining fields during the California gold rush.

Distance: Far away.

"Eureka!"

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT:

One of the most famous ships in the world was the Titanic. The huge passenger ship sank on its first voyage after hitting an iceberg. Efforts have been underway to bring the Titanic up from the bottom of the ocean floor, but some people say it should be left alone. What do you think?

DID YOU KNOW?

Most privately owned ships have names, as do many of the ships used in the U.S. military. Many military ships are named in honor of people or places. One battleship was named after my state – the U.S.S. North Carolina. It saw service in World War II. When the North Carolina was decommissioned (which means it was no longer used as a ship) it was brought to Wilmington, NC. The Battleship North Carolina is now a monument open to the public. You can walk on the same decks that held many sailors during the battles in the Pacific. You can also take a self-guided tour of the kitchen, crew's quarters, ship's store and mess hall. Do you know what a mess hall is?

No? Well, look up "mess" in the dictionary, and see if you can figure it out!

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