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diff --git a/34831.txt b/34831.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e7d8cc --- /dev/null +++ b/34831.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6417 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Guilt of the Brass Thieves, by Mildred A. Wirt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Guilt of the Brass Thieves + +Author: Mildred A. Wirt + +Release Date: January 3, 2011 [EBook #34831] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUILT OF THE BRASS THIEVES *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Charlie Howard, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Guilt of the + Brass Thieves + + + _By_ + MILDRED A. WIRT + + _Author of_ + MILDRED A. WIRT MYSTERY STORIES + TRAILER STORIES FOR GIRLS + + _Illustrated_ + + CUPPLES AND LEON COMPANY + _Publishers_ + NEW YORK + + + + + _PENNY PARKER_ + MYSTERY STORIES + + _Large 12 mo. Cloth Illustrated_ + + + TALE OF THE WITCH DOLL + THE VANISHING HOUSEBOAT + DANGER AT THE DRAWBRIDGE + BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR + CLUE OF THE SILKEN LADDER + THE SECRET PACT + THE CLOCK STRIKES THIRTEEN + THE WISHING WELL + SABOTEURS ON THE RIVER + GHOST BEYOND THE GATE + HOOFBEATS ON THE TURNPIKE + VOICE FROM THE CAVE + GUILT OF THE BRASS THIEVES + SIGNAL IN THE DARK + WHISPERING WALLS + SWAMP ISLAND + THE CRY AT MIDNIGHT + + + COPYRIGHT, 1945, BY CUPPLES AND LEON CO. + + Guilt of the Brass Thieves + + PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + Dedicated + to + ASA WIRT + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + 1 ADRIFT _1_ + 2 THE BRASS LANTERN _10_ + 3 A "PROBLEM" BOY _18_ + 4 THROUGH THE WINDOW _28_ + 5 UNWANTED ADVICE _36_ + 6 SWEEPER JOE INFORMS _43_ + 7 NIGHT SHIFT WORKER _52_ + 8 OVERHEARD IN THE GATEHOUSE _62_ + 9 SALLY'S HELPER _70_ + 10 OVERTURNED _79_ + 11 A QUESTION OF RULES _88_ + 12 NIGHT PROWLER _95_ + 13 THE STOLEN TROPHY _108_ + 14 TRAPPED _117_ + 15 UNDER THE SAIL _124_ + 16 SILK STOCKINGS _131_ + 17 BASEMENT LOOT _141_ + 18 OVER THE BALCONY _150_ + 19 FLIGHT _157_ + 20 A DESPERATE PLIGHT _165_ + 21 RESCUE _172_ + 22 CAPTAIN BARKER'S COURAGE _179_ + 23 FIRE! _187_ + 24 DREDGING THE RIVER _195_ + 25 THE RACE _204_ + + + + + CHAPTER + 1 + _ADRIFT_ + + +"This is the limit! The very limit!" Giving his leather suitcase an +impatient kick, Anthony Parker began to pace up and down the creaking old +dock. + +His daughter Penny, who stood in the shadow of a shed out of the hot +afternoon sun, grinned at him with good humor and understanding. + +"Oh, take it easy, Dad," she advised. "After all, this is a vacation and +we have two weeks before us. Isn't the river beautiful?" + +"What's beautiful about it?" her father growled. + +However, he turned to gaze at a zigzag group of sailboats tacking +gracefully along the far rippled shore. Not a quarter of a mile away, a +ferryboat churned the blue water to whip cream foam as it steamed +upstream. + +"Are you certain this is the dock where we were to meet Mr. Gandiss?" +Penny asked after a moment. "It seems queer he would fail us, for it's +nearly five o'clock now. We've waited almost an hour." + +Ceasing the restless pacing, Mr. Parker, publisher of the _Riverview +Star_, a daily newspaper, searched his pockets and found a crumpled +letter. + +Reviewing it at a glance, he said: "Four o'clock was the hour Mr. Gandiss +promised to meet us at dock fourteen." + +"This is number fourteen," Penny confirmed, pointing to the numbers +plainly visible on the shed. "Obviously something happened to Mr. +Gandiss. Perhaps he forgot." + +"A nice thing!" muttered the publisher. "Here he invites us to spend two +weeks at his island home and then fails to meet us! Does he expect us to +swim to the island?" + +Penny, a slim, blue-eyed girl with shoulder length bob which the wind +tossed about at will, wandered to the edge of the dock. + +"That must be Shadow Island over there," she observed, indicating a dot +of green land which arched from the water like the curving back of a +turtle. "It must be nearly a mile away." + +"The question is, how much longer are we to wait?" Mr. Parker glanced +again at his watch. "It's starting to cloud up, and may rain in another +half hour. Why not taxi into town? What's the name of this one-horse +dump, anyhow?" + +"Our tickets read 'Tate's Beach.'" + +"Well, Tate's Beach must do without us this summer," Mr. Parker snapped, +picking up his suitcase. "I've had my fill of this! We'll spend the night +in a hotel, then start for Riverview on the early morning train." + +"Do you know Mr. Gandiss well?" Penny inquired, stalling for time. + +"He advertises in the _Star_, and we played golf together occasionally +when he came to Riverview. I must have been crazy to accept an invitation +to come here!" + +"Oh, we'll have a good time if only we can get to the island, Dad." + +"I can't figure out exactly why Gandiss invited us," Mr. Parker added +thoughtfully. "He has something in mind besides entertainment, but what +it is, I haven't been able to guess." + +"How about hiring a boat?" Penny suggested. + +Her father debated, then shook his head. "No, if Gandiss doesn't think +enough of his guests to meet them, then he can do without us. Come on, +we're leaving!" + +Never noted for an even temper or patience, the publisher strode down the +dock. + +"Wait, Dad!" Penny called excitedly. "I think someone may be coming for +us now!" + +A mahogany motorboat with glittering brasswork, approached at high speed +from the direction of Shadow Island. As Penny and her father hopefully +watched, it swerved toward their dock, and the motor was throttled. + +"That's not Mr. Gandiss," the publisher said, observing a sandy-haired, +freckled youth at the steering wheel. + +Nevertheless, suitcase in hand, he waited for the boat. + +The craft came in smoothly, and the young man at the wheel leaped out and +made fast to a dock post. + +"You're Anthony Parker!" he exclaimed, greeting Penny's father, and +bestowing an apologetic smile upon them both. "I'm Jack--Jack Gandiss." + +"Harvey Gandiss' son?" Mr. Parker inquired, his annoyance melting. + +"A chip off the old block," the boy grinned. "Hope I haven't kept you +waiting long." + +"Well, we had just about given up," Mr. Parker admitted truthfully. + +"I'm sure sorry, sir. I promised my father I would meet you sharp at +four. Fact is, I was out on the river with some friends, and didn't +realize how late it was. We were practicing for the trophy sailboat +race." + +Penny's blue eyes sparkled with interest. An excellent swimmer, she too +enjoyed sailing and all water sports. However, she had never competed in +a race. + +"Suppose we get along to the island," Mr. Parker interposed, glancing at +the sky. "I don't like the look of those clouds." + +"Oh, it won't rain for hours," Jack said carelessly. "Those clouds are +moving slowly and we'll reach the island within ten minutes." + +Helping Penny and Mr. Parker into the motorboat, he stowed the luggage +under the seat and then cast off. In a sweeping circle, the craft sped +past a canbuoy which marked a shoal, and out into the swift current. + +Penny held tightly to her straw hat to keep it from being blown +downstream. A stiff breeze churned the waves which spanked hard against +the bow of the boat. + +"My father was sorry he couldn't meet you himself!" Jack hurled at them +above the whistle of the wind. "He was held up at the airplane +factory--labor trouble or something of the sort." + +Mr. Parker nodded, his good humor entirely restored. Settling comfortably +in the leather seat, he focused his gaze on distant Shadow Island. + +"Good fishing around here?" he inquired. + +"The best ever. You'll like it, sir." + +Jack was nearly seventeen, with light hair and steel blue eyes. His white +trousers were none too well pressed and the sleeves of an old sweater +bore smears of grease. Steering the boat with finger-tip control, he +deliberately cut through the highest of the waves, treating his +passengers to a series of jolts. + +Some distance away, a ferryboat, the _River Queen_, glided smoothly +along, its railings thronged with people. In the pilot house, a girl who +might have been sixteen, stood at the wheel. + +"Look, Dad!" Penny exclaimed. "A girl is handling that big boat!" + +"Sally Barker," Jack informed disparagingly. "She's the daughter of +Captain Barker who owns the _River Queen_. A brat if ever there was one!" + +"She certainly has that ferryboat eating out of her hand," Mr. Parker +commented admiringly. + +"Oh, she handles a boat well enough. Why shouldn't she? The captain +started teaching her about the river when she was only three years old. +He taught her all she knows about sailboat racing, too." + +Jack's tone of voice left no doubt that he considered Sally Barker +completely beneath his notice. As the two boats drew fairly close +together, the girl in the pilot house waved, but he pretended not to see. + +"You said something about a sailboat race when we were at the dock," +Penny reminded him eagerly. "Is it an annual affair?" + +Jack nodded, swerving to avoid a floating log. "Sally won the trophy last +year. Before that I held it. This year I am planning on winning it back." + +"Oh, I see," Penny commented dryly. + +"That's not why I dislike Sally," Jack said to correct any +misapprehension she might have gained. "It's just--well, she's so sure of +herself--so blamed stubborn. And it's an insult to Tate's Beach the way +she flaunts the trophy aboard that cheap old ferryboat!" + +"How do you mean?" Mr. Parker inquired, his curiosity aroused. + +Jack did not reply, for just then the engine coughed. The boat plowed on +a few feet, and the motor cut off again. + +"Now what?" Jack exclaimed, alarmed. + +Even as he spoke, the engine died completely. + +"Sounds to me as if we're out of gas," observed Mr. Parker. "How is your +supply?" + +A stricken look came upon Jack's wind-tanned face. "I forgot to fill the +tank before I left the island," he confessed ruefully. "My father told me +to be sure to do it, but I started off in such a hurry." + +"Haven't you an extra can of fuel aboard?" Mr. Parker asked, trying to +hide his annoyance. + +Jack shook his head, gazing gloomily toward the distant island. The +current had caught the boat and was carrying it downstream, away from the +Gandiss estate. + +"Nothing to do then, but get out the oars. And it will be a long, hard +row." + +"Oars?" Jack echoed weakly. "We haven't any aboard and no anchor either." + +Mr. Parker was too disgusted to speak. A man who demanded efficiency and +responsibility in his own newspaper plant, he had no patience with those +negligent of their duties. Because he and Penny were to be guests of the +Gandiss family, he made an effort not to blame Jack for the mishap. + +"I--I'm terribly sorry," the boy stammered. "But we shouldn't be stranded +here long. We'll soon be picked up." + +Hopefully, Jack gazed toward the nearest shore. No small boats were +visible. The ferry, plying her regular passenger route, now was far +upstream. + +Although the sun still shone brightly, clouds frequently blocked it from +view. Waves slapped higher against the drifting boat and the river took +on a dark cast. + +Neither Penny nor her father spoke of the increasing certainty of rain. +However, they watched the shifting clouds uneasily. Soon there was no +more sun, and the river waters became inky black. + +Presently the wind died completely and a dead calm held the boat. But not +for many minutes. Soon a ripple of breeze ruffled the water, and far +upstream a haze of rain blotted out the shoreline. + +"Here it comes!" Mr. Parker said tersely, buttoning up his coat. + +The next instant, wind and rain struck the little boat in full force. +Penny's hat was swept from her head and went sailing gaily down river. +Waves which broke higher and higher, spanked the boat, threatening to +overturn it when they struck broadside. + +"If we just had an anchor--" Jack murmured but did not finish. + +Above the fury of the storm could be heard the faint clatter of a +motorboat engine. Straining their eyes, they pierced the wall of rain to +see a small speedboat fighting its way upstream. + +"A boat!" Penny cried. "Now we'll be picked up!" + +Jack sprang to his feet, waving and shouting. Closer and closer +approached the boat, but there was no answering shout from those aboard. + +Mr. Parker, Penny and Jack yelled in unison. They thought for a moment +that the occupants must have heard their cries and would come to the +rescue. But the craft did not change course. + +Keeping steadily on, it passed the drifting motorboat well to starboard, +and disappeared into the curtain of rain. + + + + + CHAPTER + 2 + _THE BRASS LANTERN_ + + +The rain dashed into Penny's face and ran in rivulets down her neck. With +a change in the wind direction, the air had become suddenly cold. +Shivering, she huddled close to her father for warmth. + +Veiled by rain, the shore no longer was visible. Far to the right, the +chug of a laboring motorboat was heard for an instant, then died away. It +was apparent to Penny that they were drifting downstream quite rapidly. + +"Listen!" she cried a moment later. + +From upriver had come three sharp blasts of a whistle. + +"That's the _River Queen_," muttered Jack, tossing a lock of wet hair out +of his eyes. "We must be right in her path." + +"Then maybe we'll be picked up!" Penny exclaimed hopefully. + +Jack gave a snort of disgust. "I'd rather drown than accept help from +Sally Barker! Wouldn't she gloat!" + +"Young man," interposed Mr. Parker with emphasis, "this is no time for +false pride. We're in a predicament and will welcome help from any +source." + +"Yes, sir, I guess you're right," murmured Jack, completely squelched. "I +sure am sorry about getting you into this mess." + +Gazing through the curtain of driving rain, Penny tried to glimpse the +_River Queen_. Suddenly she distinguished its high decks and was dismayed +to see that the ferry was bearing at full speed directly toward the +drifting motorboat. + +Jack leaped to his feet, frantically waving his arms. Realizing the +danger of being run down, Mr. Parker likewise sprang up, shouting. + +Straight on came the _River Queen_, her pilot seemingly unaware of the +little boat low in the water and directly in the path. + +"They don't see us!" Jack shouted hoarsely. "We'll be run down!" + +The ferryboat now was very close. Its dark hull loomed up. Expecting a +splintering crash, Penny struggled to her feet, preparing to jump +overboard. But instead, she heard a series of sharp whistle toots, and +the ferryboat swerved, missing them by a scant three yards. + +"Wow! Was that close!" Jack muttered, collapsing weakly on the seat. Then +he straightened up again into alert attention, for the ferry had reduced +speed. + +"Maybe we're going to be picked up!" he exclaimed. + +The ferryboat indeed had maneuvered so that the current would swing the +drifting craft directly toward it. + +Five minutes later, wet and bedraggled, the three stranded sailors +scrambled up a lowered ladder onto the _River Queen's_ slippery deck. A +few curious passengers who braved the rain, stared curiously at them as +they sought shelter. + +"Well, if it isn't Jack Gandiss, and in trouble again!" boomed Captain +Barker, owner of the ferry. He was a short, stubby, red-faced man, with +twinkling blue eyes. "What happened this time? Engine conk out?" + +"We ran out of gas," the boy admitted briefly. "Thanks for picking us +up." + +"Better thank Sally here," replied the captain, giving orders for the +motorboat to be taken in tow. "It was her sharp eyes that picked you up +out o' the storm." + +Penny turned to see a dark-haired girl of her own age standing in the +doorway of the pilot house. In oilskin hat and coat, one easily might +have mistaken her for a boy. Impatiently she brushed aside a strand of +wet hair which straggled from beneath the ugly headgear, and came out on +the rain-swept deck. + +"Well, well, if it isn't Jack!" she chortled, enjoying the boy's +discomfiture. "Imagine an old tar like you running out of gas!" + +"Never mind the cracks!" he retorted grimly. "Just go back to your +knitting!" + +Turning her back upon Jack, Sally studied Penny with curious interest. + +"Do I know you?" she inquired. + +"My father and I are to be guests at the Gandiss home," Penny explained, +volunteering their names. "We were on our way to Shadow Island when we +ran out of gas." + +"Let's not go into all the gory details here," Jack broke in. "We're +getting wet." + +"You mean you _are_ all wet," corrected Sally, grinning. + +"Sally, take our guests to the cabin," Captain Barker instructed with +high good humor. "I'll handle the wheel. We're late on our run now." + +"How about dropping us off at the island?" Jack inquired. "If we had some +gasoline--" + +"We'll take care of you on the return trip," the captain promised. "No +time now. We have a hundred passengers to unload at Osage." + +Penny followed Sally along the wet deck to a companionway and down the +stairs to the private quarters of the captain and his daughter. + +"Osage is a town across the river," Sally explained briefly. "Pop and I +make the run every hour. This is our last trip today, thank Jupiter!" + +The cabin was warm and cozy, though cramped in space. Sally gave Mr. +Parker one of her father's warm sweaters to put on over his sodden +garments, offered Penny a complete change of outer clothing, and +deliberately ignored Jack's needs. + +"You may return the duds later," she said, leading Penny to an adjoining +cabin where she could change her clothes. "How long do you folks expect +to stay at Shadow Island?" + +"Two weeks probably." Penny wriggled out of the limp dress. + +"Then we'll have time to get better acquainted. You'll be here for the +trophy race too!" Sally's dark eyes danced and she added in a very loud +voice: "You'll be around to see Jack get licked!" + +"In a pig's eye!" called Jack through the thin partition of the cabin. +"Why, that old sailboat of yours is just a mess of wormwood!" + +"It was fast enough to win the brass lantern trophy!" Sally challenged, +winking at Penny. In a whisper she explained: "I always get a kick out of +tormenting Jack! He's so cocky and sure of himself! It does him good to +be taken down a peg." + +"Tell me about the race," urged Penny. "It sounds interesting--especially +your feud with Jack." + +"Later," promised Sally carelessly. "Right now I want to get you +something warm to drink before we dock at Osage. Here, give me those wet +clothes. I'll dry them for you, and send them to Shadow Island tomorrow." + +Rejoining Jack and Mr. Parker, the captain's daughter conducted the party +to a food bar in the passenger lounge. + +"Hot Java," she instructed the counter man. "And what will you have to go +with it? Hamburgers or dogs? This is on the house." + +"Make mine a dog with plenty of mustard," laughed Penny, enjoying the +girl's breezy slang. + +"Nothing for me except coffee," said Jack stiffly. "I'll pay for it too." + +Mr. Parker decided upon a hamburger. Food, especially the steaming hot +coffee, revived the drooping spirits of the trio. Even Jack thawed +slightly in his attitude toward Sally. + +Sipping the brew from a thick China mug, Penny's gaze roved curiously +about the lounge. The room was poorly furnished, with an ancient red +carpet and wicker chairs. Passengers were absorbed with newspapers, their +fretful children, or the _River Queen's_ supply of ancient magazines. + +The lounge however, was scrupulously clean, and every fixture had been +polished until it shone like gold. Sam Barker, whose father before him +had sailed a river boat, was an able, efficient captain, one of the best +and most respected on the waterfront. + +Attached to an overhead beam near the food bar, swung an ancient brass +lantern. The body was hexagonal in shape, its panes of glass protected by +bars of metal. A two-part ornamental turret was covered with a hood from +which was attached the suspending ring. + +"That lantern came from an old whaling boat nearly a century ago," Sally +explained. "For many years it was kept in the Country Club as a curio. +Then two seasons ago, it was offered as a trophy in the annual Hat Island +sailboat race held here." + +"I won the lantern the first year," Jack contributed. He pointed to his +name and the date engraved on the trophy's base. + +"The second year, I upset the apple cart by winning," Sally added with a +grin. "The race next week will decide who keeps the lantern permanently." + +"Providing it isn't stolen first!" Jack cut in pointedly. "Sally, why +must you be so stubborn about hanging it here on the _River Queen?_ Every +Tom, Dick, and Harry rides this old tub." + +"Don't call the _River Queen_ a tub," drawled Sally, her tone warning him +he had gone far enough. "And as for our passengers--" + +"What I mean," Jack corrected hastily, "is that you can't vouch for the +honesty of every person who rides this ferry." + +"I'm not in the least worried about the lantern being stolen," Sally +retorted. "I won it fairly enough, didn't I?" + +"Yes." + +"Then it's mine to display as I choose. The racing committee agreed to +that. The lantern is chained to a beam and is safe enough." + +"I hope so," Jack said grimly. "I aim to win it back, and I don't want to +see it do a disappearing act before the day of the race." + +"You won't," Sally returned shortly. "I accept full responsibility, so +let me do the worrying." + +A signal bell tapped several times, a warning to the passengers that the +ferry was approaching shore. As those aboard began to gather up their +belongings, Sally buttoned her oilskin coat tightly about her. + +"Excuse me for a minute," she said to Penny and Mr. Parker. "I've got to +help Pop. See you later." + + + + + CHAPTER + 3 + _A "PROBLEM" BOY_ + + +Penny, Jack and Mr. Parker reached the deck of the _River Queen_ in time +to see Sally leap nimbly across a wide space to the dock. There she +looped a great coil of rope expertly over the post and helped get the +gangplank down. + +"Step lively!" she urged the passengers pleasantly, but in a voice crisp +with authority. + +In a space of five minutes, she had helped an old man on crutches, found +a child who had become separated from his mother, and refused passage to +three young men who sought to make a return trip on the ferry. + +"Sorry, this is the end of the line," she told them firmly. "Our last +trip today." + +"Then how about a date?" one of the men teased. + +Sally paid not the slightest heed. Raising the gangplank, she signalled +for the ferry to pull away. + +"Sally always likes to put on a show!" Jack muttered disapprovingly. "To +watch her perform, one would think she were the captain!" + +"Well, she impresses me as a most capable young lady," commented Mr. +Parker. "After all, we owe our rescue to her and Captain Barker." + +Taking the hint, Jack offered no further disparaging remarks. Rain had +ceased to fall, but deep shadows blotted out the river shores. Watching +from the railing, Penny saw the island loom up, a dark, compact mass of +black. + +"The ferry can't land there?" she inquired in surprise. + +Jack shook his head. "Shoals," he explained briefly. "In the spring +during the flood season, the channel is fairly safe. Now--" + +He broke off, and turned to stare toward the pilot house. The engines had +been stilled and the ferry was drifting in toward the island. Captain +Barker stood by his wheel, silent, watchful as a cat. + +"By George!" Jack exclaimed admiringly. "The old boy intends to take her +in through the shoals. But it's a risky thing to do." + +"It is necessary?" asked Mr. Parker, deeply concerned. "After all, we've +already caused the Barkers great inconvenience. Surely there is no need +for them to risk going aground just to put us off at the Island." + +"Captain Barker could give us a little gasoline, but he gets a big kick +out of doing it this way," Jack muttered. "He and Sally both like to show +off. It wouldn't surprise me if the old boy oversteps himself this time. +We're running into shoal water." + +Sally, evidently worried, stationed herself at the bow of the _River +Queen_, dropping a leadline over the side. + +"Eight and a half feet!" she called. "Seven and three-quarters--" + +"We'll never make it," Jack murmured. "We're going aground now!" + +Even as he spoke, the ferryboat grated on the sandy river bottom. + +Captain Barker seemed not in the least disturbed. "Let 'er have it!" he +shouted through the speaking tube. "Every ounce we've got!" + +Rasping and groaning in its timbers, the stout little ferryboat ground +her way through the sand. For one terrifying moment it seemed that she +had wedged herself fast. But she shuddered and went over the bar into +deeper water. + +Sally drew a long sigh of relief, and grinned at Jack. "I knew Pop could +make it," she chuckled, "but he sure had me scared for a minute." + +"That was a remarkable demonstration of piloting," Mr. Parker declared. +"Are we in safe waters now?" + +"Yes, the channel is deep all the way to our dock," Jack replied. "I +guess Captain Barker aims to dump us off at our front door." + +Bells jingled again, the engines were cut, and the ferry drifted up to +Shadow Island wharf. While Mr. Parker and Penny were thanking Captain +Barker, Sally helped Jack and one of the sailors set loose the towed +motorboat. Their loud, argumentative voices could be heard from the +stern. + +"Those kids scrap like a dog and a cat when they're together," chuckled +Captain Barker. "But I calculate they'll outgrow it when they're a little +older. At least, I hope so." + +Saying a reluctant goodbye, Mr. Parker and Penny tramped ashore, and with +Jack, watched until the _River Queen_ had safely passed the shoal and was +well out in the main channel again. + +Before they could pick up the luggage, an elderly, gray-haired man came +hurriedly down a flagstone walk from the brightly lighted house on the +knoll. + +"Mr. Gandiss!" exclaimed Anthony Parker, grasping his outstretched hand. +"This is my daughter, Penelope. Or Penny, everyone calls her." + +The owner of Shadow Island greeted the girl with more than casual +interest. But as he spoke, his puzzled gaze followed the _River Queen_ +whose lights now could be seen far upstream. + +"I may as well make a clean breast of it, Dad," Jack said before his +father could request an explanation. "We ran out of gas, and the _Queen_ +picked us up." + +"You ran out of gas? I distinctly recall warning you this afternoon that +the tank would need to be refilled." + +"I forgot," Jack said, edging away. Before his father could reprimand him +further, he disappeared in the direction of the boathouse. + +Mr. Gandiss, a stout, pleasant man, was distressed by his son's behavior. +As he led the way to the house, he apologized so profusely that Penny and +her father began to feel uncomfortable. + +"Oh, boys will be boys," Mr. Parker declared, trying to put an end to the +discussion. "No harm was done." + +"We enjoyed the adventure," added Penny sincerely. "It was a pleasure to +meet Captain Barker and his daughter." + +Mr. Gandiss refused to abandon the subject. + +"Jack worries me," he confessed ruefully. "He's sixteen now--almost +seventeen, but in some respects he has no responsibility. He's an only +child, and I am afraid my wife and I have spoiled him." + +"Jack doesn't seem to get along with Sally Barker very well," Penny +remarked, smiling at the recollection. + +"That's another thing," nodded the island owner. "Sally is a fine girl +and smart as a whip. Jack has the idea that because she isn't the product +of a finishing school, she is beneath notice. Sally likes to prick holes +in Jack's inflated ego, and then the war is on!" + +"You have a fine son," Mr. Parker said warmly. "He'll outgrow all these +ideas." + +"I hope so," sighed Mr. Gandiss. "I certainly do." His expression +conveyed the impression that he was not too confident. + +The Gandiss home, surrounded by shrubs, was large and pretentious. At the +front there was a long, narrow terrace which caught the breeze and +commanded a view of the river for half a mile in either direction. There +were tennis courts at the rear, and a garden. + +"I'm glad you folks will be here for the annual sailboat race," Mr. +Gandiss remarked, pausing to indicate the twinkling shore lights across +the water. "If it were daytime, you could see the entire course from +here. Jack is to race a new boat built especially for him." + +"Sally Barker is his chief competitor?" inquired Penny. + +"Yes, in skill they are about equally matched, I should say. They take +their feud very seriously." + +In the open doorway stood Mrs. Gandiss, a silver-haired woman not yet in +her fifties. Cordially, she bade the newcomers welcome. + +"What a dreadful time you must have had out on the river!" she said +sympathetically. "The storm came up so quickly. My husband would have met +you himself, but he was delayed at the factory." + +A servant was sent for the luggage, and Effie, a maid, conducted Penny to +her room. The chamber was luxuriously furnished with a green tiled bath +adjoining. Pulling a silken cord to open the Venetian blinds, Penny saw +that the window overlooked the river. She breathed deeply of the damp, +rain-freshened air. + +"Where do the Barkers live?" she asked Effie who was laying out +embroidered towels. + +"Wherever it suits their fancy to drop anchor, Miss. Since I came here to +work, the only home they ever have had was aboard their ferryboat." + +The luggage soon was brought up, and Effie unpacked, carefully hanging up +each garment. Penny inquired if she would have time for a hot bath. + +"Oh, yes, Miss. The Gandiss' never dine until eight. I will draw your +tub. Pine scent or violet?" + +Penny swallowed hard and nearly lost her composure. "Make it pine," she +managed, "and omit the needles!" + +Exposure to rain and cold had stiffened her muscles and made her feel +thoroughly miserable. However, after fifteen minutes in a steaming bath, +she felt as fresh as ever. Her golden hair curled in ringlets tight to +her head, and when she came from the bathroom, she found a blue dinner +dress neatly pressed and laid on the bed. + +"Two weeks of this life and I won't even be able to brush my own teeth," +she thought. "No wonder Jack is such a spoiled darling." + +Penny wondered what Mrs. Maud Weems would say if she were there. The +Parkers lived nearly a hundred miles away in a city called Riverview, and +Mrs. Weems, the housekeeper, had looked after Penny since the death of +her mother many years before. + +Mr. Parker, known throughout the state, published a daily newspaper, the +_Star_, and his daughter frequently helped him by writing news or +offering unrequested advice. + +In truth, neither she nor her father had been eager to spend a vacation +with members of the Gandiss family, feeling that they were practically +strangers. Jack, Penny feared, might prove a particular trial. + +In the living room, a cheerful fire had been started in the grate. Mr. +and Mrs. Gandiss were chatting with Mr. Parker, trying their best to make +him feel at home. + +An awkward break in the conversation was covered by announcement that +dinner was served. Jack's chair at the end of the table remained +conspicuously empty. + +"Where is the boy?" Mr. Gandiss asked his wife in a disapproving tone. + +"I'm sure I don't know," she sighed. "The last I saw him, he was down at +the dock." + +A servant was sent to find Jack. After a long absence, he returned to say +that the boy was nowhere on the island, and that the motorboat was +missing. + +"He's off somewhere again, and without permission," Mr. Gandiss said +irritably. "Probably to the Harpers'. You see what I mean, Mr. Parker? A +growing boy is a fearful problem." + +Penny and her father avoided a discussion of such a personal subject. An +excellent dinner of six courses was served in perfect style, but while +the food was well cooked, no one really enjoyed the meal. + +Coffee in tiny China cups was offered in Mr. Gandiss' study. His wife +excused herself to go to the kitchen for a moment and the two men were +left alone with Penny. + +Unexpectedly, Mr. Gandiss said: + +"Anthony, I suppose you wonder why I really invited you here." + +"I am curious," Mr. Parker admitted, lighting a cigar. "Does your son +Jack have anything to do with it?" + +"I need advice in dealing with the boy," Mr. Gandiss acknowledged. "It +occurred to me that association with a sensible girl like your daughter +might help to straighten him out." + +"I wouldn't count on that," Penny interposed hastily. "As Dad can tell +you, I have a lot of most unsensible ideas of my own." + +"Jack is a problem," Mr. Gandiss resumed, "but I have even more serious +ones. How are you two at solving a mystery?" + +Mr. Parker winked at his daughter and paid her tribute. "Penny has built +up quite a reputation for herself as an amateur Sherlock Holmes. Running +down gangsters is her specialty." + +"Dad, you egg!" Penny said indignantly. + +Both men laughed. But Mr. Gandiss immediately became serious again. + +"My problem is difficult," he declared, "and I believe you may be able to +help me, because I've heard a great deal about the manner in which you +have solved other mysteries." + +"Only in the interests of gaining good stories for our newspaper, _The +Star_," Mr. Parker supplied. + +"This probably would not net a story for your paper," the island owner +said. "In fact, we are particularly anxious to keep the facts from +getting into print. The truth is, strange things have occurred at my +airplane factory in Osage--" + +Mr. Gandiss did not finish, for at that moment someone rapped loudly on +an outside screen door. + + + + + CHAPTER + 4 + THROUGH THE WINDOW + + +"Now who can that be?" Mr. Gandiss remarked, startled by the knock on the +door. "I heard no motorboat approach the island." + +He waited, and a moment later a servant entered to say that two +detectives, Jason Fellows and Stanley Williams, had arrived from the +factory and wished to report to him. + +Penny and her father politely arose to withdraw, but Mr. Gandiss waved +them back into chairs. + +"No, don't go," he said. "I want you to meet these men." + +The two detectives, who had reached the island in a rented motorboat, +appeared in the doorway. Mr. Gandiss introduced them to Penny and her +father, and then inquired what had brought them to the house at so late +an hour. + +"It's the same old story only more of it," Detective Williams said +tersely. "Another large supply of brass disappeared from the factory +yesterday." + +"Any clues?" + +"Not a one. Obviously the brass is being stolen by employes, but so far +the guilty persons have eluded all our traps." + +"Have you calculated how much I am losing a year?" Mr. Gandiss asked +bitterly. + +"At the present resale value of brass and copper, not less than $60,000 a +year," Mr. Fellows reported. "However, the thieves are becoming bolder +day by day, so your loss may run much higher." + +"See here," Mr. Gandiss said, showing irritation. "I'm paying you fellows +a salary to catch those thieves, and I expect action! You say you have no +clues?" + +"Several employes are under suspicion," Mr. Williams disclosed. "But we +haven't enough evidence to make any accusations or arrests." + +"Then get some evidence!" Mr. Gandiss snapped. "This ring of petty +thieves must be broken up! If you can't produce results, I'll turn the +case over to another agency." + +After the two detectives had gone, the island owner began to pace the +floor nervously. + +"Now you know why I wanted you to come here, Mr. Parker," he said, +slumping down into a chair again. "My plant, which is making war +materials, is being systematically looted of valuable copper and brass. +The pieces smuggled out are small in size, but they count up to a +staggering total." + +"Sabotage?" Mr. Parker inquired. + +"I doubt it," the island owner replied, frowning. "While the thefts slow +up our war work, the delay is not serious. Materials disappear from the +stock rooms and from the floors where the girls work. I hold a theory +that the metal is being taken by employes who resell it for personal +gain." + +"It looks like a simple case of theft," Mr. Parker declared. "I should +think your detectives would have no trouble running down the guilty +persons." + +"That's what I thought at first," Mr. Gandiss answered grimly. "It +appeared as easy as A B C. But all ordinary methods of catching the +thieves have failed. Obviously, the thefts are well organized by someone +thoroughly familiar with the plant. It's getting on my nerves." + +"Have you called in the police?" + +"No, and I don't intend to. The matter must be handled quietly. That's +why I need your advice." + +"But I'm no detective," Mr. Parker protested. "Why call on me?" + +"Because you and your daughter have solved some pretty tangled cases." + +"Only for the newspaper," Mr. Parker replied. "How many employes do you +have at the plant?" + +"About 5000. And not a scrap of real evidence against any individual. +There seems to be a perfect system in accounting for all the stock, yet +somehow it gets away from the factory." + +"Have you had employes searched as they leave the building?" + +"No, we haven't dared resort to that," Mr. Gandiss answered. "You can't +search such a large number of workers. If we tried it, half the force +would quit." + +"I'd be glad to help you, if I could," Mr. Parker offered. +"Unfortunately, I don't see how I can if professional detectives have +failed." + +"Let me be the judge of that," said the island owner quickly. "Will you +and your daughter visit the factory with me in the morning?" + +"We'd welcome the opportunity." + +"Then we'll go into the records and all the details tomorrow," Mr. +Gandiss declared, well satisfied. "I know you'll be able to help me." + +Penny and her father were tired, and shortly after ten o'clock went to +their rooms. Mr. Gandiss' problem interested them, though they felt that +he had greatly overrated their ability in believing they could contribute +to a solution of the mystery. + +"I'm not certain I care to become involved," Mr. Parker confessed to +Penny, who in robe and slippers had tiptoed into his room to say +goodnight. + +"But Dad, we can't decently refuse," Penny returned eagerly. "I think it +would be fun to try to catch those thieves!" + +"Well, we'll see," yawned Mr. Parker. "Skip back to bed now." + +Penny read a magazine for an hour, and then switched off the light on the +night table. Snuggling down under the silk coverlet, she slept soundly. + +Sometime later, she found herself suddenly awake, though what had aroused +her she could not guess. The room remained dark, but the first glimmer of +dawn slanted through the Venetian blinds. + +Penny rolled over and settled down for another snooze. Then she heard a +disturbing sound. The wooden blinds were rattling ever so slightly, yet +there was no breeze. Next her startled gaze focused upon a hand which had +been thrust through the window to stealthily push the blinds aside. + +A leg appeared over the sill, and a dark figure stepped boldly into the +bedroom. + +Terrified, Penny sat up so quickly that the bed springs creaked a loud +protest. Instantly the intruder turned his face toward her. + +"Keep quiet!" he hissed. + +With mingled relief and indignation, Penny recognized Jack. He tiptoed to +the bed. + +"Now don't let out a yip," he cautioned. "I don't want Mom or my father +to hear." + +"Well, of all the nerve!" Penny exclaimed indignantly. "Is this my room +or is it your private runway?" + +"Don't go off the deep end. All the doors are locked and the servants +have orders not to let me in if I am late." + +"It's nearly morning," said Penny, hiding a yawn. "Where in the world did +you go?" + +"Town," Jack answered briefly. + +Penny began to understand the cause of Mr. Gandiss' worry about his son. + +"Now don't give me that 'holier than Thou' line," Jack said, anticipating +a lecture. "I'm not going to the dogs nearly as fast as the old man +believes. He's an old fossil." + +"You shouldn't speak of your father that way," Penny replied. "After all, +hasn't he given you everything?" + +"He tries to keep me tied to his apron strings." Jack sat down on the +bed, stretching luxuriously. "Mom isn't quite so unreasonable." + +"Both of your parents seem like wonderful people to me." + +"Maybe I know 'em better than you do," Jack grinned. "Oh, they're okay, +in their way. Don't get me wrong. But my father always is trying to shove +me around. If it hadn't been for your open window, I'd have had to sleep +out in the cold." + +"And it would have served you right too! You went off without saying a +word to your parents, and worried them half to death. Now kindly remove +your carcass from this bed!" + +"Oh, cut the lecture," Jack pleaded, getting up and yawning again. "Gosh, +I'm hungry. Let's find something to eat in the kitchen." + +"Let's not," retorted Penny, giving him a shove. "Clear out of here, or +I'll heave the lamp at you!" + +"Oh, all right, kitten," he said soothingly. "I'm going. Remember your +promise not to go wagging your tongue about what time I got in." + +"I didn't promise a thing!" + +"But you will," chuckled Jack confidently. "See you in the morning." + +He tiptoed from the room, and Penny heard him stirring about in the +kitchen. The refrigerator door opened and closed several times. Then at +last all became quiet again. + +"The conceited egg!" she thought irritably. "Now I'm so thoroughly +awakened, I can't possibly go back to sleep." + +Tossing about for a few minutes, she finally arose and dressed. Deciding +to take an early morning walk about the island, she moved noiselessly +through the house to the kitchen. + +There she paused to note the wreckage Jack had left in his wake. The +refrigerator door was wide open. As she closed it, she saw dishes of +salad, chicken, pickles and tomatoes in a depleted state. Jack had topped +off his feast with a quart of milk, and the bottle, together with, a pile +of chicken bones, cluttered the sink. + +A step was heard in the dining room. Startled, Penny turned quickly +around, but it was too late to retreat. + +The Gandiss' cook stood in the kitchen doorway, eyeing her with obvious +disapproval. + + + + + CHAPTER + 5 + UNWANTED ADVICE + + +"Just having an early morning snack?" Mrs. Bevens, the cook, inquired. + +"Why, no," stammered Penny. "That is--." Confronted with the empty milk +bottle, a chicken skeleton, and two empty food dishes, it seemed futile +to deny such incriminating evidence. Though tempted to speak of Jack, she +decided it would not be sporting of her. + +"Young people have such healthy appetites," the cook sighed. "I had +counted on that chicken for luncheon. But never mind. I can send to the +mainland for something else." + +Feeling like a criminal, Penny fled to her room. + +"I could tar and feather Jack!" she thought furiously. "If he ever gets +up, I'll make him explain to the cook." + +The breakfast bell rang at eight o'clock. When Penny joined the group +downstairs, she was surprised to see Jack in a fresh suit, looking little +the worse for having been out all night. + +"What time did you get in, Jack?" his father inquired pointedly. + +"Well, now I just don't remember," the boy answered, winking at Penny. + +"_How_ did you get in, might be a better question. If I recollect +correctly, all of the doors were locked last night at midnight." + +Penny, decidedly uncomfortable, would have confessed her part, had not +Jack sent her a warning glance. As everyone went in to breakfast, the +matter was allowed to rest. + +Ravenously hungry, Penny ate two waffles and several pieces of bacon. +Observing the butler's amazed gaze upon her, she guessed that the cook +had told him of the chicken episode. + +Breakfast over, she managed to get Jack into a corner. + +"Listen," she said indignantly, "why don't you tell your parents exactly +what happened. Mrs. Bevens thinks I ate up all the chicken." + +"Does she?" Jack chuckled. "That's rich! Don't you dare give me away!" + +"You give me a pain!" Penny retorted, losing all patience. "If I weren't +a guest in your house, I think I might slug you!" + +"Go ahead," Jack invited, unruffled. "You're a little spitfire just like +Sally! Oh, by the way, how about a trial run in the _Spindrift_?" + +"Not the new sailboat?" + +Jack nodded, his face animated. "She was delivered yesterday and is +smooth as silk. The mast may need to be stepped back a notch or so, but +otherwise she's perfect for the race. Want to sail with me?" + +"I'd love to," Penny said, forgetting her resentment. + +Hand in hand they ran down the path to the docks. _The Spindrift_, built +to Mr. Gandiss' specifications, at a cost of nearly two thousand dollars, +was a magnificent boat. Sixteen feet from bow to stern, its new coat of +white was satin smooth, and its metalwork gleamed in the morning sun. + +"She's fast," Jack declared proudly. "Sally Barker hasn't a chance to win +that race!" + +"Will she have a new boat?" + +"No, the captain can't afford it. She'll have to sail _Cat's Paw_ again." +In all honesty, Jack added: "It's a good boat though. Captain Barker +built it himself." + +Together they put up the snowy white mainsail, and Jack shoved off from +the dock. Heading upstream, the boy demonstrated how close to the wind +the _Spindrift_ would sail. + +"She's good in a light breeze too," he declared. "No matter what sort of +weather we get for the race, I figure I'll win." + +"There's an old saying that pride goeth before a fall," Penny reminded +him. "Also one about not counting your chickens." + +"Poultry never interested me," Jack grinned, his eyes on the peak of the +mainsail. "I'll win that brass lantern trophy from Sally if it's the last +act of my life." + +Penny, who had sailed a boat for several seasons in Riverview, hoped that +Jack would offer her the tiller. Oblivious to her hints, he kept the +_Spindrift_ heeling along so fast that water fairly boiled behind the +rudder. Jack was a good sailor and knew it. + +Observing the _River Queen_ plying her usual course, the boy deliberately +steered to cross her path. As Penny well knew, by rules of navigation the +ferryboat was compelled to watch out for the smaller boat. With apparent +unconcern, Jack forced the _Queen_ to change courses. + +As the boats passed fairly close to each other, Sally appeared at the +railing. A bandana handkerchief covered her hair and she wore slacks and +a white sweater. Watching the _Spindrift_ with concentration, she cupped +her hands and shouted: + +"If you sail near Hat Island, better be careful, Jack! The river level is +dropping fast this morning. There's a shoal--" + +"When I need advice from you, I'll ask for it!" Jack replied furiously, +turning his back to the ferry. + +Sally waved derisively and disappeared into the pilot house. + +"Why aren't you two nicer to each other?" Penny demanded suddenly. "It +seems to me you deliberately try to wave a red flag at her. For instance, +sailing across the _River Queen's_ bow--" + +"Oh, I just intend to show Sally she can't push me around! Let's go +home." + +Suddenly tiring of the sport, Jack let out the mainsail, and the boat +glided swiftly before the wind. Approaching a small island tangled with +bushes and vines, Penny noted that the water was growing shallow. She +called Jack's attention to the muddy bottom beneath them. + +"Oh, it's deep enough through here," the boy responded carelessly. "I +make the passage every day." + +"What island are we passing?" + +"Hat. The water always is shoal here. Just sit tight and quit scowling at +me." + +"I didn't know I was," Penny said, sinking back into the cushions. + +The _Spindrift_ gently grazed bottom. Dismayed, Penny straightened up, +peering over the side. The boat was running hard into a mud bank. + +"About! Bring her about, Jack!" she cried before she considered how he +might take the uninvited advice. + +"The water is deep enough here," Jack answered stubbornly. "It's only a +tiny shoal. We'll sail through it easily." + +Penny said nothing more, though her lips drew into a tight line. + +Jack held to his course. For a moment it appeared that the boat would +glide over the shoal into deeper water. Then the next instant they were +hard aground. The sail began to flap. + +"We're stuck like a turtle in a puddle," commented Penny, not without +satisfaction. + +"We'll get off!" Jack cried, seizing a paddle from the bottom of the +boat. + +He tried to shove away from the shoal, but the wind against the big sail +resisted his strength. + +"You'll never get off that way," Penny said calmly. "Why not take down +the sail? We're hard aground now." + +Jack glared, and looked as if he would like to heave the paddle at her. + +"Okay," he growled. + +Winds which came from the head of Hat Island were tricky. Before Jack +could lower the sail, the breeze, shifting slightly, struck the expanse +of canvas from directly aft. + +"Look out, Jack!" Penny screamed a warning. "We're going to jibe!" + +Jack ducked but not quickly enough. With great violence, the wind swung +the sail over to the opposite side of the boat, the boom striking him a +stunning blow on the back of the head. + +Moaning with pain, he slumped into the bottom of the _Spindrift_. + + + + + CHAPTER + 6 + SWEEPER JOE INFORMS + + +Alarmed for Jack, Penny scrambled over a seat to his side. He had been +struck a hard blow by the swinging boom and there was a tiny jagged cut +just behind his ear. A glance satisfied the girl that he was not +seriously injured and that she could do nothing for him at the moment. + +Turning her attention to the sail which was showing an inclination to +slam over again, she quickly pulled it in and lowered it to the deck. + +By then Jack had opened his eyes. His bewildered gaze rested upon her, +and he rubbed his head. + +"You--" he mumbled, raising on an elbow. + +Penny firmly pushed him back. "Lie still!" she commanded. + +Seizing the paddle, she tried to shove the boat backwards off the mud +bank. Her best efforts would not move it an inch. + +Slowly Jack raised himself to a sitting position. He rubbed his head. +Bewilderment changed to a look of comprehension. + +"I'm okay now," he said huskily. "We're hard aground, aren't we?" + +"Solid as a rock," agreed Penny, wiping perspiration from her forehead. +"Any ideas?" + +"I'll get out and push." + +"You're not strong enough. You took a nasty blow on the head." + +Had not Jack looked so thoroughly miserable, Penny might have been +tempted to adopt an "I told you so" attitude. There had been no excuse +for running aground. Sally Barker had warned them about the shoal, and +Jack deliberately had disregarded her advice. + +"I guess it was my fault," Jack mumbled, the words coming with +difficulty. "The water was deep enough here yesterday. I was so sure--" + +His eyes, like those of an abused puppy, appealed to her for sympathy. +Suddenly, Penny's resentment vanished and she felt sorry for Jack. + +"Never mind," she said kindly. "We'll get off somehow. If necessary, I +can swim to Shadow Island for help." + +"It won't be necessary." Jack pulled off shoes and socks, and rolled up +his slacks above his knees. "I got us into this, and I'll get us out. +Just sit tight." + +Despite Penny's protests, he swung over the side, into the shallow water. +Applying his shoulder to the _Spindrift's_ bow, he pushed with all his +strength. Penny dug into the mud with the paddle. + +The boat groaned and clung fast to the shoal. Then inch by inch it began +to move backwards. + +"We're off!" Penny cried jubilantly. + +Jack pushed until the _Spindrift_ was safely away from the shoal. Wet and +plastered with mud, he scrambled aboard. + +"No use putting up the sail," he said gloomily. "The centerboard is +damaged. When we went aground I should have pulled it up, but things +happened so fast I didn't think of it." + +"Can't it be repaired?" + +"Oh, sure, but it means hauling the boat out of water for several days. +And the race will be held in a week. I'll have no chance to practice." + +"It's a bad break," Penny said sympathetically. "Perhaps the centerboard +isn't much damaged." + +They paddled to the Shadow Island dock. There with the help of the +Gandiss chauffeur, Jack tied ropes under the bottom of the _Spindrift_ +and by means of a hoist and crane, lifted the boat a few feet out of +water. A piece had been broken from the centerboard and the bottom was so +badly scratched that it would have to be repainted before the race. + +"I call this wretched luck!" Jack fumed. "It will take days to repair and +repaint the _Spindrift_." + +The accident had a subduing effect upon the boy, and the remainder of the +day he tried to make amends to Penny. They swam together and played three +sets of tennis. In each contest Penny won with ease. + +"You're about the first girl who ever beat me at anything," Jack said +ruefully. "Guess that rap on the head did me no good." + +"How about the sailboat race?" Penny tripped him. "Didn't Sally win the +lantern trophy?" + +Grudgingly, Jack admitted that she had. "But the race was a fluke," he +added. "The wind was tricky and favored Sally's old tub. It won't happen +twice." + +Annoyed by the youth's alibis, Penny turned and walked away. + +At dinner that night, Mr. Gandiss suggested that Mr. Parker and his +daughter might like to visit his steel plant and airplane factory on the +mainland. Despite vigorous protests, Jack was taken along. + +The buildings owned by Mr. Gandiss were situated across the river in the +town of Osage. Occupying many city blocks, the property included an +airplane testing ground, and was protected by a high guard fence +electrically charged. + +"Every employee must pass inspection at the gate," Mr. Gandiss explained +as the taxi cab approached the entrance to the main factory. "We operate +on a twenty-four hour basis now, and even so can't keep abreast of +orders." + +Lights blazed in the low rows of windows, and from the chimneys of the +steel plant, fire leaped high into the dark sky. + +"Will we be able to see steel poured from the furnaces?" Penny asked +eagerly. "I've always wanted to watch it done." + +"You may tour every building if your feet hold out," Mr. Gandiss +chuckled. + +A squat, red-faced man with pouchy eyes, halted the taxi cab at the gate. + +"No visitors allowed here at night," he began in a surly voice, and then +recognized the plant owner. His manner changed instantly. "Oh, it's you, +Mr. Gandiss! How are you this evening?" + +"Very well, thank you, Clayton. I have some friends with me who wish to +see the plant." + +"Drive right in," the gateman invited, swinging open the barrier. + +The taxi rolled through the gate, and drew up in front of one of the +buildings. Inside, fluorescent lights gave the effect of daylight. +Overhead carriers were lifting newly blanked and formed airplane parts +from power presses, carrying them to sub-assembly lines. + +"Raw materials, brought up-river by boats, enter one end of the +building," Mr. Gandiss explained proudly. "Miraculously they come out the +other end as finished airplanes ready for testing." + +The plant had four main assembly lines along which the wings, fuselages, +engines, tail surfaces, pilot and bombardier floors were assembled, he +explained. In one room the party paused to watch row upon row of +fuselages being put together ready for transfer to the main assembly +line. + +"You have a wonderful factory here, Mr. Gandiss," Penny's father praised, +much impressed. "It must be a job to keep tab on the personnel." + +"Oh, everything has been reduced to a system. One department meshes into +another. But if production falls down in any one department, results +could be serious." Mr. Gandiss frowned and added: "Now take those petty +brass thefts. In a way it is a trivial matter, but the practice is +spreading." + +"The disappearance of parts hasn't curtailed production to any extent?" + +"Not as yet, but it has caused our stockrooms serious annoyance. Then the +loss on a yearly basis will become considerable. The guilty persons must +be caught, and the organizers broken up before it gets more serious." + +Mr. Gandiss escorted the visitors into another large room where hundreds +of girls in slacks, their hair bound by nets, worked over machines with +concentrated attention. + +"Our beginners start here," he explained. "Strangely, we lose more brass +and copper from this shift than anywhere else in the plant." + +"How do you explain it?" Penny asked. + +"The girls are new and we are convinced they are being misled by someone. +The entire situation has us baffled." + +Few of the workers paid the visitors heed as they wandered along the rows +of machines. However, a slovenly, sharp-eyed man with a push broom, +watched them with deep interest. Known as Joe the Sweeper, though his +real name was Joseph Jakaboloski, he once had been a skilled mechanic. +Two of his fingers were missing, and he no longer did any useful work. + +"See that man?" Mr. Gandiss said in an undertone. "Shortly after he +started working for us, two years ago, he had an accident that was +entirely his own fault. We immediately put him in an easy job and still +pay him his former salary. But he doesn't even sweep a room properly." + +"Why not let him go?" Mr. Parker questioned. + +Mr. Gandiss smiled and shook his head. "He was injured while working for +us, so we are responsible for looking after him. We would like to pension +him off. You see, he constantly stirs up trouble among the new employes." + +Joe the Sweeper had been watching Mr. Gandiss with concentrated +attention, though too far away to hear what was said. With amusing haste, +he swept his way closer to the group. Finally he smirked and sidled up to +the factory owner. + +"Can I see you alone fer a minute, Mr. Gandiss?" he asked, his voice a +whine. + +"I am very busy," the factory owner discouraged him. "What is it you +want?" + +Joe edged even closer, dropping his voice so that it was barely audible +above the clatter of the machinery. + +"You been losin' copper and brass from your factory, ain't you?" + +The direct approach startled Mr. Gandiss. He gazed at Joe keenly, then +nodded. + +"Well, maybe I kin help you. What's it worth?" + +Mr. Gandiss was careful not to show his dislike for the man. "If you are +able to provide information which will lead to the apprehension of the +thieves, I'll see that you get a substantial salary increase." + +Joe blinked and grinned. "Last night I seen a girl in this room stick a +piece of brass into her shirt front. She carried it off with her." + +"Who was the girl?" + +"Dunno her name. A blond piece in blue slacks." + +"I'm afraid your information is of no value," Mr. Gandiss said +impatiently. "Unless you know who she is--" + +"She's a new gal that's only been workin' here a few nights," Joe +supplied hastily. "You'll give me that salary raise if I turn her in?" + +"If your information proves correct." + +Joe's eyes brightened with a crafty light and he jerked his head toward +the left. + +"You can't see her from here," he muttered, "but you can get her name +easy enough. She's the gal that operates machine No. 567." + + + + + CHAPTER + 7 + _NIGHT SHIFT WORKER_ + + +"I detest a stool pigeon," said Mr. Gandiss after Joe the Sweeper had +slouched away. "However, his information may be valuable. I can't afford +not to investigate it." + +Not wishing to attract comment from the other employes, the factory owner +made no attempt to see the girl under suspicion. Instead, he escorted the +party to his private office. Ringing a buzzer, he asked one of the +foremen to bring the operator of Machine 567 to him. + +Presently she came in, a thin, wiry girl in ill-fitting blue slacks and +sweater. Her hair was bound beneath a dark net and she wore goggles. As +she faced Mr. Gandiss, she removed the latter. Everyone stared. + +For the girl was Sally Barker. + +"You sent for me, Mr. Gandiss?" Subdued and embarrassed, her eyes roved +from one person to another. + +"Why, Sally," said the factory owner in astonishment. "I had no idea you +were working here on the night shift. When were you employed?" + +"A week ago." + +Perplexed, Mr. Gandiss stared at the girl's factory badge. There could be +no mistake. Plainly it bore the number 567. + +"You like the work?" he asked after an awkward silence. + +"Not very well," she confessed truthfully. "However, I can use the pay I +receive." + +"During the daytime I believe you help your father aboard the _River +Queen_," Mr. Gandiss resumed, trying to be friendly. "Rather a strenuous +program. When do you sleep?" + +"Oh, I get enough rest." Sally spoke indifferently, though her eyes were +red and she looked tired. "Pop didn't want me to take the job, but I have +a special use for the money." + +"Pretty clothes, I suppose--or perhaps a new sailboat?" + +"A college education." + +Mr. Gandiss nodded approvingly, and then, recalling the serious charge +against the girl, became formal again. "You wonder why I sent for you?" + +"I know my work hasn't been very good. I've tried, but I keep ruining +materials." + +This gave Mr. Gandiss the opening he sought. "What do you do with the +discarded pieces?" he inquired. + +"Why, I just throw them aside." The question plainly puzzled Sally. + +"You may have heard that we are having a little trouble here at the +factory." + +"What sort of trouble, Mr. Gandiss?" + +"Small but valuable pieces of copper and brass seem to disappear with +alarming regularity. Most of the thefts have been attributed to workers +on the night shift." + +Sally's blue eyes opened wide, but she returned Mr. Gandiss' steady gaze. +Her chin raised. "I've heard talk about it among the girls," she replied +briefly. "That's all I know." + +"You have no idea who may be taking the materials?" + +"Not the slightest, sir." + +An awkward silence fell. Mr. Gandiss started to speak again, then changed +his mind. + +"Was there anything else?" Sally asked stiffly. + +"Nothing." + +"Then may I return to my work?" + +"Why, yes." It was Mr. Gandiss' turn to appear awkward and ill at ease. +"We hope you will enjoy your work here, Sally," he said, feeling that a +friendly word was necessary to end the interview. "If you should learn +anything that will lead to the arrest of the thieves, I hope you will +give us the information." + +Sally inclined her head slightly in assent. With dignity, she walked from +the office. + +No one spoke for several minutes after the girl had gone. Then Mr. +Gandiss drew a deep sigh. + +"I had no idea Sally was working here," he said, frowning. + +"Father, you shouldn't have accused her of stealing!" Jack burst out. + +"My dear boy, I accused her of nothing." + +"Well, Sally is proud. She took it that way. You don't really believe she +would stoop to such a thing?" + +"I confess I don't know what to think. Joe the Sweeper may not be a +reliable informer." + +"If he saw her hide brass in her clothing as he claims, why didn't he +report her last night?" Jack demanded. "Sally is no thief. I've known her +since she was a kid. I get mighty sore at her sometimes, she's so cocky. +But she never did a dishonest act in her life." + +"I'm glad to hear you defend her, Jack," Mr. Gandiss said quietly. +"Certainly no action will be taken without far more conclusive evidence. +Now suppose you and Penny amuse yourselves for a few minutes. Mr. Parker +and I have a few business matters to discuss." + +Thus dismissed, Penny and Jack wandered outside. + +"Want to see the steel plant?" Jack asked indifferently. "They should be +pouring about this time." + +At Penny's eager assent, he led her to another building, up a steep +flight of iron stairs to an inner balcony which overlooked the huge blast +furnaces. In the noisy, hot room, conversation was practically +impossible. + +Gazing below, Penny saw a crew of men in front of one of the furnaces, +cleaning the tapping hole with a long rod. + +In a moment a signal was given and the molten steel was poured into a +ladle capable of holding a hundred and fifty tons. An overhead crane, +operated by a skilled worker, lifted the huge container to the pouring +platform. + +Next the molten mass was turned into rectangular ingots or molds. + +"The steel will cool for about an hour before it is ready to be taken +from the mold," Jack shouted in Penny's ear. + +Moving on, they saw other ingots already cooled, and in a stripping shed +observed cranes with huge tongs engage the lugs of the molds and lift +them from the ingots. + +"Each one of those ingots weighs twenty thousand pounds," Jack said, +surprising Penny with his knowledge. "After stripping, they are placed in +gas-heated pit furnaces and brought to rolling temperature." + +To see fiery ribbons of steel rolled from cherry red ingots was to Penny +the most fascinating process of all. She could have watched for hours, +but Jack, bored by the familiar sight, kept urging her on. + +Leaving the steel plant, they returned to the main factory buildings, and +without thinking, sauntered toward the room where Sally worked. A +portable lunch cart had just supplied hot soup and sandwiches to the +employes. Sally sat eating at her machine. Seeing Jack, she quickly +looked away. + +"Now she's really sore at me, and I can't blame her," Jack commented. +"Who is Joe the Sweeper anyhow? Riff-raff, I'll warrant." + +Though somewhat amused by the boy's staunch defense of Sally, Penny was +inclined to agree in his second observation. Although she knew nothing of +the man who had turned informer, she had not liked the sly look of his +face. + +Before the pair could approach Sally, the brief lunch period came to an +end. A whistle blew, sending the girls back to their machines. + +"You'll have to step on it," a foreman told Sally. "You're behind in your +quota." + +Her reply was inaudible, but as she adjusted her machine and started it +up, she began to work with nervous haste. + +"This is no place for Sally," Jack said, obviously bothered. "She never +was cut out for factory work. And that foreman, Rogers, who is over her! +He's a regular slave driver!" + +"I thought you didn't like Sally," Penny teased. + +"I want to see her get a square deal, that's all," Jack replied, his face +flushing. + +Joe the Sweeper sidled over to the couple. "What's the verdict?" he asked +in a confidential tone. + +Jack pretended not to understand. + +"Is the gal going to get fired?" + +"I'm sure I don't know," Jack answered coldly. "Why does it mean so much +to you?" + +"Why, it don't," the sweeper muttered. "She ain't no skin off my elbow." + +Penny and Jack walked on through the workroom, aware that many pairs of +eyes followed them. Sally, bending over a grinding machine, looked up +self-consciously. She was grinding pieces of metal, measuring each with a +micrometer. There was a streak of grease across her cheek and she looked +very tired. + +Suddenly as Sally threw the wheel in, there was a loud clattering noise. +The foreman came running. He threw the wheel back. + +"What did I do?" Sally gasped, shaking from nervousness. + +"You forgot to pull this lever." The foreman said curtly. "Ruined a piece +of work too! Now try to think what you're doing and get down to +business." + +Penny and Jack moved away, not wishing to add to the girl's +embarrassment. But a few minutes later, in leaving the workroom, they +again passed close to Sally's machine. This time she did not see them +until they were almost beside her. + +"How is it going, Sally?" Jack asked in a friendly way. + +Sally raised her eyes, and in so doing forgot her work. As she +automatically placed the metal in line with the wheel, she held her +fingers there without thinking. Another instant and they would have been +mangled. + +Horrified, Penny saw what was about to happen. + +"Sally!" she cried. Acting instinctively, she reached and jerked the +girl's hand away from the swift turning machinery. The wheel had missed +Sally's fingers by a mere fraction of an inch. + +The foreman came running again, obviously annoyed. Shutting off the +machine, he demanded to know what was wrong. + +Sally leaned her head weakly on the table, trying to regain composure. +Her face was drained of color and she trembled as from a chill. "Thanks," +she said brokenly to Penny. "I--I don't know what's the matter with me +tonight. I'm not coordinated right." + +"Go take a walk," the foreman advised, not unkindly. "A nice long walk. +Get a drink or something. You'll be okay." + +"I'll never learn," Sally said in a choked voice. + +"Sure, you will. Everyone has to go through a beginner's stage. Get +yourself a drink. Then you'll feel better." + +"Let me go with you," Penny said, taking Sally by the arm. + +Without conversation, they made their way between the long rows of +machines to the locker room. There Sally sank down on a bench, burying +her face in her hands. + +"I'm nervous and upset tonight," she excused herself. "I can't seem to +get the hang of machine work." + +"Why not give it up? Do you really need the money so badly?" + +"No," Sally admitted truthfully. "I've set my heart on a college +education, but Pop could raise the money somehow. It's just that he's had +financial troubles the past year, and I wanted to help out." + +"Some persons aren't cut out to be factory workers," Penny resumed. "Do +you realize that you nearly lost several of your fingers tonight?" + +"Yes," Sally agreed, her freckled face becoming deadly sober. "I'll +always be grateful to you. What Mr. Gandiss said in his office upset me. +I wasn't thinking of my work." + +"I thought that might be it. Well, forget the entire matter if you can." + +Sally nodded and getting up, drank at the fountain. "I'll have to go back +to work now," she said with an effort. "First, I'll get myself a clean +hanky." + +With a key which she wore on a string about her neck, the girl opened her +locker. On the floor lay a leather jacket that had fallen from its hook. + +As Sally picked it up, a heavy object slipped from one of the pockets, +thudding against the tin of the locker floor. + +She stooped quickly to retrieve it, and then, embarrassed, tried to +shield the article from view. But she could not hide it from Penny who +stood directly behind. The object that had fallen from the jacket was a +small coupling of brass! + + + + + CHAPTER + 8 + _OVERHEARD IN THE GATEHOUSE_ + + +"Why, where did that come from?" Sally murmured as she fingered the piece +of metal. "I never put it in my locker." + +Confused, she raised bewildered eyes to Penny. Just then the locker room +door opened and a forelady came in. Miss Grimley's keen gaze fastened +upon the brass coupling in Sally's hand. Awkwardly, the girl tried to +hide it in a fold of her slacks. + +"What do you have?" the forelady asked, moving like a hawk toward the +girls. + +"Why, nothing," Sally stammered. + +"Isn't that a piece of brass?" Miss Grimley demanded. "Where did you get +it?" + +"I found it in my locker." + +"In your locker!" + +"I don't know how it got there," Sally said quickly, reading suspicion in +the other's face. "I'm sure I never put it there." + +Miss Grimley took the brass from her, inspecting it briefly. + +"This looks very much like one of the parts that has been disappearing +from the stockroom," she said, her voice icy. + +"But I've never been near the stockroom!" Sally cried. "In the few days +that I've been employed here, I've barely left my machine." + +Penny tried to intercede in the girl's behalf. + +"I'm sure Sally knew nothing about the article being in her locker," she +assured the forelady. "When she opened it a moment ago and lifted her +jacket, the piece of brass fell from a pocket." + +"Someone must have put it there!" Sally added indignantly. "I'm certain I +never did." + +"Have you given your locker key to anyone?" + +"No." + +"And have you always kept it locked?" + +"Why, I think so." + +"I am sorry," said Miss Grimley in a tone which implied exactly the +opposite, "but I will have to report this. You understand my position." + +"Please--" + +"I have no choice," Miss Grimley cut her short. "Come with me, please." + +Penny started to accompany Sally, but the forelady by a gesture indicated +that she was not to come. The door closed behind them. + +For ten minutes Penny waited, hoping that Sally would return. Finally she +wandered outside. Sally was not on the floor and another girl had taken +her place at the machine. + +Seeing Joe the Sweeper cleaning a corridor, Penny asked him about Sally. + +"No. 567?" the man inquired with a grin which showed a gap between his +front upper teeth. "You won't see her no more! She's in the employment +office now, and they're giving her the can!" + +"You mean she's being discharged?" + +"Sure. We don't want no thieves around here!" + +"Sally Barker isn't a thief," Penny retorted loyally. "By the way, how +did you know why the girl was taken to the office?" + +The question momentarily confused Joe. But his reply was glib enough. + +"Oh, I have a way o' knowin' what goes on around here," he smirked. "I +figured that gal was light-fingered the day they hired her. It didn't +surprise me none that they found the stuff in her locker." + +"And who told you that?" Penny pursued the subject. + +"Why, you said so yourself--" + +"Oh, no I didn't." + +"It was the forelady," Joe corrected himself. "I seen the brass in her +hand when she came out of the locker room with that gal." + +Disgusted, Penny turned her back and walked away in search of Jack. It +was none of her affair, she knew, but it seemed to her that Joe the +Sweeper had taken more than ordinary interest in Sally's downfall. His +statements, too, had been confused. + +"I don't trust that fellow," she thought. "He's sly and mean." + +Penny could not find Jack, and when she returned to Mr. Gandiss' office, +a secretary told her that the factory owner and her father expected to +meet her at the main gate. + +Hastening there, Penny saw no sign of them. Nor was the gateman on duty. +However, hearing low voices inside the gatehouse, she stepped to the +doorway. No one was in view, but two men were talking in the inner +office. + +"It worked slick as a whistle," she heard one of them say. "The girl was +caught with the stuff on her, and they fired her." + +"Who was she?" + +"A new employee named Sally Barker." + +"Good enough, Joe. That ought to take the heat off the others for awhile +at least." + +The name startled Penny who instantly wondered if one of the speakers +might be Sweeper Joe. Confirming her suspicion, the man came out of the +inner room a moment later. Seeing her, he stopped short and his jaw +dropped. + +"What you doin' here?" he demanded gruffly. + +"Waiting for Mr. Gandiss," Penny replied. "And you?" + +Joe did not answer. Mumbling something, he pushed past her and went off +toward the main factory building. + +"He's certainly acting as if he deliberately planned to get Sally into +trouble," she thought resentfully. + +Clayton, the gateman, showed his face a moment later, and he too acted +self-conscious. As he checked a car through into the factory grounds, he +glanced sideways at Penny, obviously uneasy as to how much she might have +overheard. + +"Been here long?" he inquired carelessly. + +"No, I just came," Penny answered with pretended unconcern. "I'm waiting +for my father." + +The men did not come immediately. However, as Penny loitered near the +gatehouse, she saw Sally Barker hurriedly leaving the factory building. + +"Ain't you off early tonight?" the gateman asked as she approached. + +"I'm off for good," Sally answered shortly. Her face was tear-stained and +she did not try to hide the fact that she had been crying. + +"Fired?" + +"That's right," Sally replied. "Unjustly too!" + +"Shoo, you don't say!" the gateman exclaimed, sympathetically. "What did +they give you the can for?" + +Sally, in no mood to provide details, went on without answering. Penny +ran to overtake her. + +"I'll walk with you to the boundaries of the grounds," she said quickly. +"Tell me what happened." + +"Just what you would expect," Sally shrugged. "They asked me a lot of +questions in the personnel office. I told the truth--that I knew nothing +about that putrid piece of brass that turned up in my locker! Then they +gave me a nice little lecture, and said they were sorry but my services +no longer were required. Branded as a thief!" + +"Don't take it so hard, Sally," Penny said kindly. "Someone probably +planted the brass in your locker." + +"Of course! But I can't prove it." + +"Why not appeal to Mr. Gandiss? He likes you and--" + +"No," Sally said firmly, kicking at a piece of gravel on the driveway, +"I'll ask no favors of Mr. Gandiss. He would have me reinstated, no +doubt, but it would be too humiliating." + +"Do you know of anyone in the factory who dislikes you?" + +Sally shook her head. "That's the funny part of it. I'm not acquainted +with anyone. I just started in." + +"How about Joe the Sweeper?" + +"Oh, him!" Sally was scornful. "He caught me in the hall the other day +and tried to get fresh. I slapped his face!" + +"Then perhaps he was the one that got you into trouble." + +"He's too stupid," Sally dismissed the subject. + +"I'm not so sure of that," returned Penny thoughtfully. + +The girls had reached the street and Sally's bus was in sight. + +"What will you do now?" Penny asked hurriedly. "Get a job at another +factory?" + +"I doubt it," Sally replied, fishing in her pocketbook for a bus token. +"I'll help Pop on the _River Queen_. If I do take another job it won't be +until after the sailboat races." + +"I'd forgotten about that. When is the race?" + +"The preliminary is in a few days--next Friday. The finals are a week +later." + +"I hope you win," said Penny sincerely. "I'll certainly be on hand to +watch." + +The bus pulled up at the curb. Swing-shift employes, arriving at the +factory for work, crowded past the two girls. Impulsively Sally turned +and squeezed Penny's hand. + +"I like you," she said with deep feeling. "You've been kind. Will you +come to see me sometime while you're here?" + +"Of course! I've not brought back those clothes I borrowed yet!" + +"I'll look for you," Sally declared warmly. "I feel that you're a real +friend." + +Squeezing Penny's hand again, she sprang aboard the bus and was lost in +the throng of passengers. + + + + + CHAPTER + 9 + _SALLY'S HELPER_ + + +Several days of inactivity followed for Penny at Shadow Island. For the +most part, Jack was friendly and tried to provide entertainment. However, +he was away much of the time, supervising the work of repairing and +getting the _Spindrift_ into condition for the coming trophy race. + +Sally Barker's name seldom was mentioned in the Gandiss household, though +it was known that the girl intended to enter the competition regardless +of her disgrace at the factory. Once Penny asked Jack point-blank what he +thought of the entire matter. + +"Just what I always did," he answered briefly. "Sally never took anything +from the factory. It wouldn't be in keeping with her character." + +"Then why isn't she cleared?" + +"Father did take the matter up with the personnel department, but he +doesn't want to go over the manager's head. The brass was found in her +locker and quite a few employes learned about it." + +"The brass was planted!" + +"Probably," agreed Jack. "But it's none of my affair. Sally wasn't a very +good factory worker and the personnel director thought he had to make an +example of someone--" + +"So Sally became the goat! I call it unfair. Did the thefts cease after +she left?" + +"They're worse than ever." + +"Then obviously Sally had nothing to do with it!" + +"Not just one person is involved. The brass is being taken by an +organized ring of employes." + +"I suppose it's none of my affair, but in justice I think Sally should be +cleared. I don't know the girl well, but I like her." + +"You may as well hear the whole story," Jack said uncomfortably. "Father +wrote her a letter, inviting her to come in for an interview. She paid no +attention." + +"Perhaps she didn't get the letter." + +"She got it all right. I met her on the street yesterday, and when I +tried to talk to her, she threatened to heave a can of varnish in my +face! Furthermore, she gave me to understand she intends to defeat me +soundly in the race tomorrow." + +"I'll be there to watch," grinned Penny. "The contest should be +interesting." + +While Jack was out on the river practicing for the approaching +competition, Penny accompanied her father to the mainland to mail letters +and make a few purchases Mrs. Gandiss had requested. In returning to the +waterfront, they wandered down a street within view of the Gandiss +factory. + +Penny's attention was drawn to a man who came out of an alley at the rear +of the plant and stood staring at a tiny junk shop which was situated +directly opposite the Gandiss factory. + +"There's Joe the Sweeper," she observed aloud. And then an instant later +added: "That's queer!" + +"What is?" inquired her father. + +"Why, that junk shop! I've been down this street several times, but I +never noticed it there before. I would have sworn that the building was +empty." + +Mr. Parker gave her a quick, amused look. "It was until yesterday," he +informed. + +"You seem to know all about it!" Penny suddenly became suspicious. "What +are you keeping from me?" + +Mr. Parker did not reply, for he was watching the man who had emerged +from the alley. Joe seemed to debate for awhile, then crossed the street +and entered the junk shop. + +"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Parker. "Our bait seems to be working." + +"What are you talking about?" Penny demanded in exasperation. "Will you +kindly explain?" + +"You recall Mr. Gandiss asked me to help him solve the mystery of those +brass thefts at the plant." + +"Why, yes, but I didn't know you had begun to do anything about it." + +"Our plan may not succeed. However, we're trying out a little idea of +mine." + +"Does it have anything to do with that junk shop?" + +"Yes, the place was opened yesterday by Heiney Growski." + +Penny's blue eyes opened wide for she knew the man well. A prominent +detective in Riverview, he had won distinction by solving a number of +difficult cases. + +"Heiney is an expert at make-up and impersonation," Mr. Parker added. "We +brought him here and installed him as the owner of the junk store across +the street. His instructions are to buy brass and copper at above the +prevailing market prices." + +"You expect employes who may be pilfering metals to seek the highest +price obtainable!" + +"That's our idea. It may not work." + +"It should," Penny cried jubilantly. "Sweeper Joe went in there not three +minutes ago! I've suspected him from the first!" + +"Aren't you jumping to pretty fast conclusions?" + +"From what I heard him say to the gatekeeper Clayton, I'm sure he's mixed +up in some underhanded scheme." + +"You're not certain of it, Penny. Joe has been carefully investigated. He +seems too stupid a fellow to have engineered such a clever, organized +method of pilfering." + +"He never appeared stupid to me. Dad, let's drift over to the junk shop, +and learn what is happening." + +"And give everything away? No, Heiney will report if anything of +consequence develops. In the meantime, we must show no interest in the +shop." + +To Penny's disappointment, her father refused to remain longer in the +vicinity of the factory. Without glancing toward the junk shop, they +walked on to the riverfront. The motorboat they had expected to meet them +had not yet arrived. While Mr. Parker purchased a newspaper and sat down +on the dock to read, Penny sauntered along the shore. + +A short distance away on a stretch of beach, a boat had been overturned. +Sally Barker, in blue overalls rolled to the knees, was painting it with +deft, sure strokes. Penny walked over to watch the work. + +Glancing up, Sally smiled, but did not speak. A smudge of blue paint +stained her cheek. She had sanded the bottom of the _Cat's Paw_, and now +was slapping on a final coat of paint. + +"Will it dry in time for the race tomorrow?" Penny inquired, making +conversation. + +"The finish won't be hard, but that's the way I want it," Sally said, +dipping her brush. "It makes a faster racing bottom." + +"Then you're all ready for competition?" + +"The boat is ready." Sally hesitated, then added. "But I may not enter +the race after all." + +"Not enter? Why?" + +Having finished painting, Sally carefully cleaned her brush, and tightly +closed the paint and varnish cans. She wiped her hands on her faded +overalls. + +"The boy who was racing with me served notice this morning that he had +changed his mind. I haven't asked anyone else, because I didn't want to +be turned down." + +"But I should think anyone who likes to sail would be crazy for the +chance--" Penny began. Then as she met Sally's gaze, her voice trailed +off. + +"You know what I mean," said Sally quietly. + +"Not the factory episode?" + +"Yes, word traveled around." + +"Jack didn't tell?" + +"I don't think so, but I don't know," Sally replied honestly. "Anyway, +everyone learned why I was discharged. Pop is furious." + +"Your mother too, I suppose?" + +"I have no mother. She died when I was ten. Since then, Pop and I have +lived aboard the _Queen_. Pop always taught me to speak my mind, never to +be afraid, and above all to be honest. To be accused of something one +didn't do and to be branded as a thief is the limit!" + +Penny nodded sympathetically. "About the race," she said, reverting to +the previous subject, "you aren't really serious about not entering?" + +"It means everything to me," Sally admitted soberly. "But I can't race +alone. The rules call for two persons in each boat." + +"You need an expert sailor?" + +"Not necessarily. Of course, the person would have to know how to handle +ropes and carry out orders. Also, not lose his head in an emergency. To +balance the _Cat's Paw_ right I need someone about my own weight." + +"It has to be a boy?" + +"Mercy, no! I would prefer a girl if I knew whom to ask." Sally suddenly +caught the drift of Penny's conversation, and a look of amazed delight +came upon her face. "Not you!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean you would +be willing--" + +"If you want or could use me. I'm a long way from an expert, but I do +know a little about sailboats. We have one in Riverview. However, I never +competed in a race." + +"I'd be tickled pink to have you!" + +"Then it's settled." + +"But what about the Gandiss family? You are their guest." + +"That part is a bit awkward," Penny admitted. "But they are all good +sports. I'm sure no one will hold it against me." + +"After I was discharged from the factory?" + +"That really wasn't Mr. Gandiss' doing, Sally. The plant is so large he +scarcely knows what goes on in some departments. You were discharged by +the personnel manager." + +"I realize that." + +"Didn't Mr. Gandiss write you a letter asking you to come in for a +personal interview?" + +"Yes, he did," Sally acknowledged reluctantly. "I was angry and I tore it +up." + +"Then you shouldn't blame Mr. Gandiss." + +"I'm not blaming him, Penny. I like Mr. Gandiss very much. In fact, I +like him so well I never could bear to accept favors from him." + +"Not even to clear your name?" + +Sally washed her hands at the river's edge, and rolled down the legs of +her overalls. "The person who put that brass in my locker hasn't been +caught?" she inquired softly. + +"Not to my knowledge." + +"Then all Mr. Gandiss could do would be to offer me another chance," +Sally said bitterly. "I'll never work in the factory on that basis. If I +am cleared completely, then I am willing to go back." + +"Mr. Gandiss is trying to solve the mystery of those thefts," Penny +declared. "I know that to be a fact. Have you any idea who the guilty +parties might be?" + +Sally straightened up, digging at paint which had lodged beneath her +fingernails. She did not answer. + +"You do have a clue!" Penny cried. + +"Maybe." Sally smiled mysteriously. + +"Tell me what it is." + +"No, I intend to work by myself until I'm sure that I'm on the right +track. I've not even told Pop." + +"Does it have anything to do with Sweeper Joe?" + +Sally's expression became blank. "I don't know much about him," she +dismissed the subject. "My information concerns a certain house upriver. +But don't ask me to tell you more." + +Hastily she gathered up paint cans and brush, turning to leave. "Are you +really serious about racing with me tomorrow?" she demanded. + +"Of course!" + +"Then you're elected first mate of the _Cat's Paw_! Meet me at the yacht +club dock at six in the morning for a trial workout. The preliminary race +is at two." + +"I'll be there without fail." + +"And bring a little luck with you," Sally added with a grin. "We may need +it to defeat the _Spindrift_." + + + + + CHAPTER + 10 + _OVERTURNED_ + + +When Penny reached the dock next morning she found that Sally had +preceded her by many hours. The varnished wood of the _Cat's Paw_ shone +in the sunlight. Below the waterline, the boat was as smooth and slippery +as glass. + +"Isn't she beautiful?" Sally asked proudly, squeezing water from a sponge +she had been using. "The rigging has been overhauled, and Pop came +through at the last minute with a new jib sail. Every rope has been +changed too." + +"It looks grand," Penny praised. "You must have worked like a galley +slave getting everything ready for the race." + +"I have, but I want to win. This race means everything to me." + +"Are you sure you want me to sail with you?" Penny asked dubiously. +"After all, I am not an expert. I might handicap you." + +"Nonsense! There's no one I would rather have--that is, if you still want +to do it. Was Jack angry when you told him?" + +Penny confessed that she had not spoken to any of the Gandiss family of +her intention to take part in the race. "But it will be all right," she +added. "Jack really isn't such a bad sport when you get to know him. I +only hope we win!" + +"Oh, we'll come in among the leading five--that's certain," Sally said +carelessly. "This is only a preliminary race today. The five winning +boats will compete next week in the finals." + +"If you lose today must you give up the trophy?" + +"Not until after the final race." Sally laughed goodnaturedly. "But don't +put such ideas in my head. We can't lose! I'm grimly determined that Jack +mustn't beat me!" + +"I do believe the race is a personal feud between you two! Why does it +mean so much to defeat him?" + +Sally stepped nimbly aboard the scrubbed deck, stowing away the sponge +under one of the seats. "Jack and I always have been rivals," she +admitted. "We went to grade school together. He used to make fun of me +because I lived on a ferryboat." + +"Jack was only a kid then." + +"I know. But we always were in each other's hair. We competed in +everything--debates, literary competitions, sports. Jack usually defeated +me too. In sailing, due to Pop's coaching, I may have a slight edge over +him." + +"Do you really dislike Jack?" + +"Why, no." Sally's tone indicated she never had given the matter previous +thought. "If he weren't around to fight with, I suppose I'd miss him +terribly." + +Penny sat down on the dock to lace up a pair of soft-soled tennis shoes. +By the time she had them on, Sally was ready to shove off for the trial +run. + +"Suppose we take about an hour's work-out, and then rest until time for +the race," she suggested. "You'll quickly learn the tricks of this little +boat. She's a sweet sailer." + +The _Cat's Paw_ had been tied to the dock with a stiff wind blowing +across it, and larger boats were berthed on either side. To get away +smoothly without endangering the other craft would be no easy task. As +the girls ran up the mainsail, a few loiterers gathered to watch the +departure. + +"All set, mate?" grinned Sally. "Let's go." + +With a speed that amazed Penny, she trimmed the main and jib sheets flat +amidships, placing the tiller a little to starboard. + +"Haul up the centerboard!" she instructed. + +Penny pulled up the board, feeling a trifle awkward and inadept. + +Sally leaped out onto the dock, and casting off, held the boat's head +steady into the eye of the wind. With a tremendous shove which delighted +the spectators, she sent the _Cat's Paw_ straight aft, and made a flying +leap aboard. + +With sails flat amidships, the boat shot straight backwards. As they +started to clear the stern of the boat that was to starboard, Sally let +the tiller move over to that side. The bow of the _Cat's Paw_ began to +swing to starboard. + +Not until then, did Penny observe that the _Spindrift_ was tied up only a +few boat-lengths away. Jack, armed with several bottles of pop, came +hurriedly from the clubhouse. Noting Sally's spectacular departure, he +joined the throng at the railing. + +"We'll give the crowd a real thrill," Sally muttered, keeping her voice +low so that it would not carry over the water. "If this trick works, it +should be good." + +Even Penny was worried. The bow of the _Cat's Paw_ had swung rapidly to +starboard. But Sally, calm and cool, still hung on to the sheets. + +"Put your tiller the other way!" Jack shouted from the dock. "Let your +sheet run!" + +Enjoying the boy's excitement, Sally pretended to be deaf. Wind had +struck the sails, but the _Cat's Paw_ continued to sail backwards. A +crash seemed impossible to avert. Then at the last instant, the bow swung +clear of the neighboring boats. + +Grinning triumphantly, Sally put the tiller to port and started the +sheets. They sailed briskly away. + +"Beautifully done!" praised Penny. "Not one sailor in a hundred could +pull that off. It took nerve!" + +"Pop taught me that trick. It's risky, of course. If the sails should +decide to take charge, or the tiller should fail to go to starboard, one +probably would collide with the other boats." + +"You surprised Jack. He expected you to crash." + +"We'll surprise him this afternoon too," Sally declared confidently, +steering out into mid-stream. "If this breeze holds, it's just what the +doctor ordered!" + +For an hour the girls practiced maneuvers until Penny was thoroughly +adept at handling the ropes and carrying out orders. Although the rules +of the race did not allow them to sail the actual course, Sally pointed +it out. + +"We start near the clubhouse," she explained. "Then, taking a triangular +route we sail past Hat Island to the first marker. After rounding it, we +keep on to the marker near the eastern river shore, and sail back to our +starting point." + +Sally was in high spirits, for she declared that if the breeze held, +_Cat's Paw_ would perform at her best. Though no one knew exactly what +Jack's new boat, _Spindrift_ could do, observation had convinced most +sailing enthusiasts that it would be favored in a light breeze. + +"I hope it blows a gale this afternoon!" Sally chuckled as they moored at +the dock. "Get some rest now, Penny, and meet me at the clubhouse about +one o'clock. The race starts sharp at two." + +Penny did not see Jack when she returned to Shadow Island, so had no +chance to tell him of her plan to sail with Sally in the competition. Her +father, whom she took into her confidence, was not entirely in favor of +the decision. + +"We are guests of Mr. and Mrs. Gandiss," he reproved mildly. "To sail +against Jack is a tactless thing to do. Though actually you may do him a +favor, for you'll likely be more of a handicap than a help in the race." + +"That's what I figured," laughed Penny. + +By chance, Mr. Gandiss overheard the conversation. Entering the living +room, he declared that Penny must not hesitate to enter the competition. + +"After all, the race is supposed to be for fun," he said emphatically. +"Lately Jack and Sally have made it into a feud. I really think it would +do the boy good to be defeated soundly." + +Long before the hour of the race, Penny was at the yacht club docks, +dressed in blue slacks, white polo shirt, and an added jacket for +protection from wind and blistering sun rays. + +Rowboats, canoes and small sailing craft plied lazily up and down the +river, while motor yachts with flags flying, cruised past the clubhouse. +Out in the main channel where the race was to be held, the judges' boat +had been anchored. The shores were thronged with spectators, many of whom +had enjoyed picnic lunches on the grassy banks. + +Penny walked along the dock searching for the _Cat's Paw_. She came first +to the _Spindrift_ which was just preparing to get underway. Jack and a +youth Penny did not know, were busy coiling ropes. + +"Hi, Penny!" Jack greeted her, glancing up from his work. "You're going +to see a real race today! Will I take Sally Barker for a breeze!" + +Just at that moment, Sally herself appeared from inside the clubhouse. +Seeing Penny, she waved and called: "Come on, mate, it's time we shove +off!" + +Jack's jaw dropped and he gazed at the two girls accusingly. + +"What is this?" he demanded. "Penny, you're not racing in Sally's boat?" + +"Yes, I am." + +"Well, if that isn't something!" Jack said no more, but his tone had made +it clear he considered Penny nothing short of a traitor. + +The two boats presently sailed out from the protecting shores to join the +other fifteen-footers which had entered the race. With the breeze blowing +strong, the contestants tacked rapidly back and forth, jockeying for the +best positions at the start of the contest. + +Tensely Sally glanced at her wristwatch. "Five minutes until two," she +observed. "The gun will go off any minute now." + +Nineteen boats comprised the racing fleet, but in comparison to Jack and +Sally, many of the youthful captains were mere novices. Experts were +divided in opinion as to the winner, but nearly everyone agreed it would +be either Jack or Sally, with the odds slightly in favor of the latter. + +"There goes the signal!" cried Sally. + +The boats made a bunched start with _Cat's Paw_ and _Spindrift_ in the +best positions. In the sharp breeze, one of the craft carried away a +stay, and with a broken mast, dropped out of the race. The others headed +for the first marker. + +At first Sally and Jack raced almost bow to bow, then gradually the +_Cat's Paw_ forged steadily ahead. Except for three or four boats, the +others began to fall farther and farther behind. + +"We'll win!" Penny cried jubilantly. + +"It's too soon to crow yet," Sally warned. "While it looks as if this +breeze will hold for the entire race, no one can tell. Anything might +happen." + +Penny glanced back at Jack's boat a good six to eight lengths behind. The +boy deliberately turned his head, acting as if he did not see her. + +The _Cat's Paw_ hugged the marker as it made the turn at Hat Island. +Rounding the body of land, the girls were annoyed to see a canoe with +three children paddling directly across their course. + +"Now how did they get out here?" Sally murmured with a worried frown. +"They should know better!" + +At first the children did not seem to realize that they were directly in +the path of the racing boats. But as they saw the fleet rounding Hat +Island in the wake of the _Cat's Paw_ and the _Spindrift_, they suddenly +became panic-stricken. + +With frantic haste, they tried to get out of the way. In her confusion, +one of the girls dropped a paddle, and as it floated away, she made a +desperate lunge to recover it. Another of the occupants, heavy-set and +awkward, leaned far over the same side in an attempt to help her. + +"They'll upset if they aren't careful!" Penny groaned. "Yes, there they +go!" + +Even as she spoke, the canoe flipped over, tossing the three girls into +the water. Two of them grasped the overturned craft and held on. The +third, unable to swim, was too far away to reach the extended hand of her +terrified companions. + +Making inarticulate, strangled sounds in her throat, she frantically +thrashed the water, trying desperately to save herself. + + + + + CHAPTER + 11 + _A QUESTION OF RULES_ + + +"Quick!" Sally cried, remaining at the tiller of the _Cat's Paw_. "The +life preserver!" + +Finding one under the seat, Penny took careful aim and hurled it in a +high arc over the span of water. The throw was nearly perfect and the +life preserver plopped heavily on the surface not two feet from the +struggling girl. But she was too panic-stricken to reach out and grasp +it. + +The river current carried the preserver downstream. Sally knew then that +to save the girl she must turn aside and abandon the race. + +"Coming about!" she called sharply to warn Penny of the swinging boom. + +Already beyond the girl, whose struggles were becoming weaker, they +turned and sailed directly toward her. Penny kicked off her shoes, and +before Sally could protest, dived over the gunwale. + +A half dozen long strokes carried her directly behind the struggling +girl. Hooking a hand beneath her chin, she pulled her into a firm, safe +hold, then towed her to the _Cat's Paw_ where Sally helped them both +aboard. + +Throughout the rescue, the other two children had clung to the overturned +canoe. Sally saw that they were in no danger, for a motorboat from shore +was plowing swiftly to the rescue. Standing by until the two were taken +safely aboard, she then glanced toward the fleet of racing boats. + +Nearly all of them had passed the _Cat's Paw_ and were well on their way +toward the second marker. The _Spindrift_ led the field. + +"We're out of the race," she said dismally. + +"No! Don't give up!" Penny pleaded. "You still may have a chance. This +girl is all right. I'll look after her while you sail." + +Sally remained unconvinced. "We couldn't possibly overtake Jack now." + +"But we do have a chance to come in among the five leaders! Then you +would be able to race in the finals. You wouldn't lose the lantern +trophy." + +Sparkle came into Sally's eyes again. Her lips drew into a tight, +determined line. + +"All right, we'll keep on!" she decided. "But it will be nip and tuck to +win even fifth place. See what you can do for our passenger." + +The girl who had been hauled aboard was not more than thirteen years old. +Although conscious, she had swallowed considerable water and was dazed +from the experience. As she began to stir, Penny knelt beside her. + +"Lie still," she said soothingly. "We'll have you at the dock soon." + +Stripping off her own jacket, Penny tucked it about the shivering child. + +"We're balanced badly," Sally commented, her eyes on the line of boats +far ahead, "and overloaded too. It's foolish to try--" + +"No, it isn't!" Penny said firmly. "We're sailing great guns, Sally! Look +at the water boiling behind our rudder." + +Almost as if it were driven by a motor, the _Cat's Paw_ plowed through +the waves, leaving a trail of foam and bubbles in her wake. Despite the +handicap of an extra passenger, the boat was gaining on the contestants +ahead. + +"If only the course were longer!" Sally murmured, straining against the +pull of the main sheet. + +They rounded the second marker only a few feet behind a group of bunched +boats. One by one they passed them until only seven remained ahead. But +with the finish line close by, they could not seem to gain another inch. + +"We can't make it," Sally said, turning to gaze at the shore with its +crowd of excited spectators. "We're bound to finish seventh or eighth, +out of the race." + +"We're still footing faster than the other boats," Penny observed. "Don't +give up yet." + +A moment later, the crack of a revolver sounding over the water, told the +girls that the _Spindrift_ had crossed the finish line in first place. + +To add to Sally's difficulties, the rescued girl began to stir and rock +the boat. Each time she moved, the _Cat's Paw_ lost pace. Though they +passed the next two boats, they could not gain to any extent on the one +which seemed destined to finish in fifth place. + +Sally had been right, Penny realized. Barring a miracle, the _Cat's Paw_ +could not be among the winners. Although they were slowly gaining, the +finish line was too close for them to overcome the lead of the remaining +boats. + +And then the miracle occurred. The _Elf_, directly ahead, seemed to +falter and to turn slightly aside. The _Cat's Paw_ seized the chance and +forged even. + +"Go to it, Sally!" her skipper, Tom Evans, a freckled youth, called. "You +belong in the finals!" + +Then the girls understood and were grateful. Deliberately, the boy had +slowed his boat so that Sally might be among the winners. + +"It was a fine thing to do!" Sally whispered. "But how I hate to win in +such fashion!" + +"Tom Evans knew he had no chance in the finals," Penny said. "As he said, +you belong there for you are one of the best sailors in the fleet." + +Sally crossed the finish line in fifth place, then sailed on to the dock +by the clubhouse. As Penny leaped out to make the boat fast, willing +hands assisted with the bedraggled passenger. The child was taken to the +clubhouse for a change of clothes. Officials gathered about Penny and +Sally, congratulating them upon the race. + +"I didn't really win," the latter said, paying tribute to Tom Evans. "The +_Elf_ deliberately turned aside to give me a chance to pass." + +Nearby, Jack Gandiss who had won the race, stood unnoticed. After awhile +he walked over to the dock where Sally and Penny were collecting their +belongings. + +"That was a nice rescue," he said diffidently. "Of course it cost you +second place, which was a pity." + +Sally cocked an eyebrow. "_Second_ place?" she repeated. "Well, I like +that!" + +"You never could have defeated the _Spindrift_." + +"No? Well, if my memory serves me right, the _Cat's Paw_ was leading when +I had to turn aside. Not that I wasn't glad to do it." + +"You may have been ahead, but I was coming up fast. I would have +overtaken you at the second marker or sooner." + +"Children! Children!" interposed Penny as she neatly folded a sail and +slipped it into a snowy white cover. "Must you always claw at each +other?" + +"Why, we aren't fighting," Sally denied with a grin. + +"Heck, no!" Jack agreed. He started away, then turned and came back. "By +the way, Sally. How about the trophy?" + +Sally did not understand what he meant. + +"I won the race, so doesn't the brass lantern belong to me?" Jack pursued +the subject. + +"Well, it will if you win the final next week." + +"That's in the bag." + +"Like fun it is!" Sally said indignantly. "Jack, I hate to crush those +delicate feelings of yours, but you're due for the worst defeat of your +life!" + +The argument might have started anew, but Jack reverted to the matter of +the lantern trophy. + +"I'm the winner now, and it should be turned over to me," he insisted. + +Sally became annoyed. "That's not according to the rules of the +competition," she returned. "The regulations governing the race say that +the _final_ winner is entitled to keep the trophy. I was last year's +winner. The one this season hasn't yet been determined." + +"It's not safe to keep the lantern aboard the _River Queen_." + +"Don't be silly! There couldn't be a safer place! Pop and I chained the +trophy to a beam. It can't be removed without cutting the chain." + +"Someone could take the trophy by unlocking the padlock." + +"Oh, no, they couldn't," Sally grinned provokingly. "You see, I've +already lost the key. The only way that lantern can be removed is by +cutting the chain." + +Jack was enraged. "You've lost the key?" he demanded. "If that isn't the +last straw!" + +Hanson Brown, chairman of the racing committee, chanced to be passing, +and Jack impulsively hailed him. To the chagrin of the girls, he asked +for a ruling on the matter of the trophy's possession. + +"Why, I don't recall that such a question ever came up before," the +official replied. "My judgment is that Miss Barker has a right to retain +the trophy until the final race." + +"Ha!" chuckled Sally, enjoying Jack's discomfiture. "How do you like +that?" + +Jack turned to leave. But he could not refrain from one parting shot. +"All right," he said, "you get to keep the trophy, but mind--if anything +should happen to it--you alone will be responsible!" + + + + + CHAPTER + 12 + _NIGHT PROWLER_ + + +When Penny, her father, and the Gandiss family returned late that +afternoon to Shadow Island, a strange motorboat was tied up at the dock. +On the veranda a man sat waiting. Although his face appeared familiar, +Penny did not recognize him. + +Her father, however, spoke his name instantly. "Heiney Growski! Anything +to report?" + +Penny remembered then that he was the detective who had been placed in +charge of the junk shop near the Gandiss factory. + +The man arose, laying aside a newspaper he had been reading to pass the +time. "I've learned a little," he replied to Mr. Parker's question. +"Shall we talk here?" + +"Go ahead," encouraged Mr. Gandiss carelessly. "This is my son, Jack, and +our guest, Penny Parker. They know of the situation at the factory, and +can be trusted not to talk." + +Though seemingly reluctant to make a report in the presence of the two +youngsters, the detective nevertheless obeyed instructions. + +"Since opening up the shop, I've been approached twice by a man from the +factory," he began. + +"That sweeper, called Joe?" interposed Mr. Parker. + +"Yes, the first time he merely came into the place, looked around a bit, +and finally asked me what I paid for brass." + +"You didn't appear too interested?" Mr. Parker inquired. + +"No, I gave him a price just a little above the market." + +"How did it strike him?" + +"He didn't have much to say, but I could tell he was interested." + +"Did he offer you any brass?" + +"No, he hinted he might be able to get me a considerable quantity of it +later on." + +"Feeling you out." + +"Yes, I figure he'll be back. That's why I came here for instructions. If +he shows up with the brass, shall I have him arrested?" + +Mr. Parker waited for the factory owner to answer the question. + +"Make a record of every transaction," Mr. Gandiss said. "Encourage the +man to talk, and he may reveal the names of others mixed up in the +thefts. But make no arrests until we have more information." + +"Very good, sir," the detective returned. "Unless the man is very crafty, +I believe we may be able to trap him within a few weeks." + +After Heiney had gone, Jack and Penny went down to the dock together to +retie the _Spindrift_. The wind had shifted, and with the water level +rising, the boat was bumping against its mooring post. + +"By the way, Jack," said Penny as she unfastened one of the ropes to make +it shorter, "I forgot to congratulate you upon winning the race this +afternoon." + +"Skip it," he replied grimly. + +Penny glanced at him, wondering if her ears had deceived her. + +"Why, I thought you were crazy-wild to win," she commented. + +"Not that way." Jack kept his face averted as he tied a neat clove hitch. +"I guess I made myself look like a heel, didn't I?" + +For the first time Penny really felt sorry for the boy. Resisting a +temptation to rub salt in his wounds, she said kindly: + +"Well, I suppose you felt justified in asking for the trophy." + +"I wish I hadn't done that, Penny. It's just that Sally gets me +sometimes. She's so blamed cocky!" + +"And she feels the same way about you. On the whole, though, I wonder if +Sally has had a square deal?" + +Jack straightened, staring at the _Spindrift_ which tugged impatiently at +her shortened ropes. Waves were beginning to lap over the dock boards. + +"You mean about the factory?" he asked in a subdued voice. + +Penny nodded. + +"I never did think Sally was a thief," Jack said slowly. "Judging from +Heiney Growski's report, someone may have planted the brass in her +locker. Probably that fellow Joe, the Sweeper." + +"Don't you feel she should be cleared?" + +"How can we do anything without proof? This fellow Joe isn't convicted +yet. Besides, he's only one of a gang. Sally could be involved, though I +doubt it." + +"You're not really convinced then?" Penny gazed at him curiously. + +"Yes, I am," Jack answered after a slight hesitation. "Sally's innocent. +I know that." + +"Then why don't we do something about it?" + +"What? My father has employed the best detectives already." + +"At least you could tell Sally how you feel about it." + +Jack kicked at the dock post with the toe of his tennis shoe. "And have +her tear into me like a wild cat?" he countered. "You don't know Sally." + +"Are you so sure that you do?" Penny asked. Turning she walked swiftly +away. + +Jack came padding up the gravel path after her. + +"Wait!" he commanded, grasping her by the arm. "So you think I've given +Sally a raw deal?" + +"I have no opinion in the matter," Penny returned, deliberately aloof. + +"If I could do anything to prove Sally innocent you know I'd jump at the +chance," Jack argued, trying to regain Penny's good graces. + +"You really mean that?" + +"Yes, I do." + +"Then why don't you try to get a little evidence against this man Joe, +the Sweeper?" Penny proposed eagerly. "You visit the factory nearly every +day. Keep your eyes and ears open and see what you can learn." + +"Everyone knows who I am," Jack argued. "There wouldn't be a chance--" +Meeting Penny's steady, appraising gaze, he broke off and finished: "Oh, +okay, I'll do what I can, but it's useless." + +"Not if you have a plan." + +Jack stared at Penny with sudden suspicion. "Say, what are you leading up +to anyhow?" he demanded. "Do _you_ have one?" + +"Not exactly. It just occurred to me that by watching at the gate of the +factory when the employes leave, one might spot some of the men who are +carrying off brass in their clothing." + +Jack gave an amused snort. "Oh, that's been done. Company detectives made +any number of checks." + +"That's just the point," Penny argued. "They were factory employes, +probably known to some of the workers." + +"I'm even more widely recognized," Jack said. "Besides, Clayton, our +gateman, has instructions to be on the watch for anyone who might try to +carry anything away. He's reported several persons. When they were +searched, nothing was found." + +"Your gateman is entirely trustworthy?" + +"Why not? He's an old employee." + +Penny said no more, though she was thinking of the conversation overheard +while at the factory gatehouse. Even if Jack took no interest, she +decided she would try to do what she could herself. But there really +seemed no place to begin. + +"If you get any good ideas, I'll be glad to help," Jack said as if +reading her thoughts. "Just to barge ahead without any plan, doesn't make +sense to me." + +Penny knew that he was right. Much as she desired to help clear Sally, +she had no definite scheme in mind. + +As the pair turned to leave the docks, they heard a shout from across the +water. The _Cat's Paw_, with canvas spread wide, was sailing before the +wind, directly toward the island. Sally, at the tiller, signaled that she +wanted to talk to them. + +The boat came in like a house afire, but though the landing was fast, it +was skillful. Sally looped a rope around the dock post, but did not +bother to tie up. + +"Penny," she said breathlessly. "I didn't get half a chance to thank you +this afternoon for helping me in the race." + +"I didn't do anything," Penny laughed. "I merely went along for the +ride." + +"That may be your story, but everyone who saw the race knows better. What +I really came here for is to ask you to spend the night with me aboard +the _River Queen_. We'll have a chance to get better acquainted." + +The invitation caught Penny by surprise. Sally mistook her hesitation for +reluctance. + +"Probably you don't feel you want to leave here," she said quickly. "It +was just one of those sudden ideas of mine." + +"I want to come," Penny answered eagerly. "If Mr. and Mrs. Gandiss +wouldn't mind. Wait and I'll ask." + +Darting to the house, she talked over the matter with her father and then +with her hostess. "By all means go," the latter urged. "I imagine you +will enjoy the experience. Jack can pick you up in the motorboat in the +morning." + +Packing her pajamas and a few toilet articles into a tight roll, Penny +ran back to the dock. Jack and Sally were arguing about details of the +afternoon race, but they abandoned the battle as she hurried up. + +"Jack, you're to pick me up tomorrow morning," she advised him as she +climbed aboard the _Cat's Paw_, "Don't forget." + +The _River Queen_ already had been anchored for the night in a quiet cove +half a mile down river. With darkness approaching, lights were winking +all along the shore. Across the river, the Gandiss factory was a blaze of +white illumination. Farther downstream, the colored lights of an +amusement park with a high roller coaster, cut a bright pattern in the +sky. + +Sally glanced for a moment toward the factory but made no mention of her +unpleasant experience there. "Pop and I stay alone at night on the +_Queen_," she explained as they approached the ferry. "Our crew is made +up of men who live in town, so usually they go home after the six o'clock +run." + +Skillfully bringing the _Cat's Paw_ alongside the anchored _Queen_, she +shouted for her father to help Penny up the ladder. Making the smaller +craft secure for the night, she followed her to the deck. + +"What's cooking, Pop?" she asked, sniffing the air. + +"Catfish," the captain answered as he went aft. "Better get to the galley +and tend to it, or we may not have any supper." + +The catfish, sizzling in butter, was on the verge of scorching. Sally +jerked the pan from the stove, and then with Penny's help, set a little +built-in table which swung down from the cabin wall, and prepared the +remainder of the meal. + +Supper was not elaborate but Penny thought she had never tasted better +food. The catfish was crisp and brown, and there were French fried +potatoes and a salad to go with it. For dessert, Captain Barker brought a +huge watermelon from the refrigerator, and they split it three ways. + +"It's fun living on a ferryboat!" Penny declared enthusiastically as she +and Sally washed the dishes. "I can't see why you ever would want to work +in a factory when you can live such a carefree life here." + +The remark was carelessly made. Penny regretted it instantly for she saw +the smile leave Sally's face. + +"I worked at the factory because I wanted to help make airplanes, and +because Pop can't afford to give me much money," she explained quietly. +"It was all a mistake. I realize that now." + +"I'm sorry," Penny apologized, squeezing her hand. "I didn't mean to be +so stupid. As far as your discharge is concerned, you'll be cleared." + +"How?" + +"Mr. Gandiss has detectives working on the case." + +"Detectives!" Sally gave a snort of disgust. "Why, everyone in the plant +knows who they are!" + +After dishes were done, the girls went on deck. Protected from the night +breezes by warm lap rugs, they sat listening to the lallup of the waves +against the _River Queen_. Captain Barker's pipe kept the mosquitoes away +and he talked reminiscently of his days as a boy on the waterfront. + +Presently, the blast of a motorboat engine cut the stillness of the +night. Sally, straightening in her chair, listened intently. + +"There goes Jack again!" she observed, glancing at her father. "To the +Harpers', no doubt." + +The light of the boat became visible and Sally followed it with her eyes +as it slowly chugged upstream. + +"I was right!" she exclaimed a moment later. + +Penny's curiosity was aroused, for she knew that Jack absented himself +from home nearly every night, and that his actions were a cause of worry +to his parents. "Who are the Harpers?" she inquired. + +"Oh! they live across the river where you see those red and blue lights," +Sally said, pointing beyond the railing. "The house stands on stilts over +the water, and is a meeting place for the scum of the city!" + +"Sally!" her father reproved. + +"Well, it's the truth! Ma Harper and her no-account husband, Claude, run +an outdoor dance pavilion, but their income is derived from other sources +too. Black market sales, for instance." + +"Sally, your tongue is rattling like a chain!" + +"Pop, you know very well the Harpers are trash." + +"Nevertheless, don't make statements you can't prove." + +Sally's outspoken remarks worried Penny because of their bearing upon Mr. +Gandiss' son. "You don't think Jack is mixed up with the Harpers in black +market dealings?" she asked. + +"Oh, no!" Sally got up from the deck chair. "He goes there to have a good +time. And if you ask me, Jack ought to stop being a playboy grasshopper!" + +Captain Barker knocked ashes from his pipe and put it deep in his jacket +pocket. "The shoe pinches," he told Penny with a wink. "Sally never +learned to dance. I hear tell there's a girl who goes to the Harper +shindigs that's an expert at jitter-bugging!" + +"That has nothing to do with me!" Sally said furiously. "I'm going to +bed!" + +Captain Barker arose heavily from his chair. "How about the day's +passenger receipts?" he asked. "Locked in the cabin safe?" + +"Yes, we took in more than two hundred dollars today." + +"That makes over five hundred in the safe," the captain said, frowning. +"You'll have to take it to the bank first thing in the morning, I don't +like to have so much cash aboard." + +Going to the cabin they were to share, Sally and Penny undressed and +tumbled into the double-deck beds. The gentle motion of the boat and the +slap of waves on the _Queen's_ hull quickly lulled them to sleep. + +How long Penny slumbered she did not know. But toward morning she awoke +in darkness to find Sally shaking her arm. + +"What is it?" Penny mumbled drowsily. "Time to get up?" + +"Sh!" Sally warned. "Don't make a sound!" + +Penny sat up in the bunk. Her friend, she saw, had started to dress. + +"I think someone is trying to get aboard!" Sally whispered. "Listen!" + +Penny could hear no unusual sound, only the wash of the waves. + +"I distinctly heard a boat grate against the _Queen_ only a moment ago," +Sally pulled on her slacks and thrust her feet into soft-soled slippers +which would make no sound. "I'm going on deck to investigate!" + +Penny was out of bed in a flash. "Wait!" she commanded. "I'm going with +you!" + +Dressing with nervous haste, she tiptoed to the cabin door with Sally. +Stealing through the dark corridors to the companionway, they could hear +no unusual sound. But midway up the steps, Sally's keen ears heard +movement. + +"Someone is in the lounge!" she whispered. "It may be Pop but I don't +think so! Come on, and we'll see." + + + + + CHAPTER + 13 + _THE STOLEN TROPHY_ + + +Hand in hand the two girls tiptoed to the entranceway of the lounge. +Distinctly they could hear someone moving about in the darkness, and the +sound came from the direction of a small cabin which the Barkers used as +an office room. + +"Pop!" Sally called sharply. "Is that you?" + +She was answered only by complete silence. Then a plank creaked. The +prowler was stealing stealthily toward the girls! + +"Pop!" shouted Sally at the top of her lungs, groping to find a light +switch. + +Before she could illuminate the room, a man brushed past the two girls. +Penny seized him by the coat. A sharp object pierced her finger. She was +thrust back against the wall so hard that it knocked the breath from her. +The man twisted, and jerking his coat free, dashed up the stairs. + +"Pop!" Sally called again. + +Captain Barker, armed with revolver and flashlight, came out of his +cabin. By this time, Sally had found and turned on the light switch. + +"A prowler!" she cried. "He ran up on deck." + +"Stay below!" ordered the captain. "I'll get him!" + +Penny and Sally had no intention of missing any of the excitement. Close +at Captain Barker's heels, they darted up the companionway to the deck. +To the starboard, the trio heard a slight splash, then the sound of +steady dipping oars. + +"Someone's getting away in a rowboat!" Sally cried. + +Captain Barker ran to the railing. "Halt!" he shouted. "Halt or I'll +fire!" + +The man, a mere shadow in the mist arising from the river, rowed faster. +Captain Barker fired two shots, purposely high. The man ducked down into +the boat, and a moment later switched on an outboard motor, which rapidly +carried him beyond view. + +"Did you see who the fellow was, Sally?" the captain demanded wrathfully. + +"No, it was too dark. Do you think he got away with the money in the +safe?" + +Fearing the worst, the trio descended to an office room adjoining the +passenger lounge. A chair had been overturned there, but the door of the +safe remained locked. + +"You girls must have surprised him before he had time to steal the +money," Captain Barker declared in relief. "No harm done, but this is the +first time in six years that anyone tried to sneak aboard the _Queen_. +We'll have to keep a better watch from now on." + +As the girls turned to leave the cabin, Sally saw that Penny was looking +at the third finger of her right hand. + +"Why, you're hurt!" she cried. + +Penny's hand was smeared with blood which came from a tiny pin-prick +wound on the finger. + +"It's nothing," she insisted. + +Sally ran to a cabinet for gauze, iodine and cotton. "How did it happen?" +she asked. + +"I tried to stop the prowler. As I grabbed his coat, something stuck my +finger. It must have been a pin." + +The wound was superficial and did not pain Penny. Sally wrapped the +finger for her, and then after Captain Barker had said he would remain up +for awhile, they returned to bed. + +Throughout the night there were no further disturbances. At dawn the +girls arose, feeling only a little tired as the result of their night's +adventure. They had time for a quick swim in the river before breakfast +and disgraced themselves by eating six pancakes each. + +"The crew will be coming aboard soon," Sally said, glancing at her watch. +"I usually sweep out the lounge and straighten up a bit before we make +our first passenger run." + +Penny, who had nothing to do until Jack could come to take her back to +the island, eagerly offered to help. Armed with brooms and dust rags, the +girls went below. + +In the doorway, Penny paused, staring at the overhead beam. + +"Why, Sally," she commented in astonishment. "What did you do with the +lantern trophy? Take it down?" + +"No, it's still there." + +Alarmed by Penny's question, Sally moved past her, gazing at the beam. +Where the brass lantern had hung, there now was only a neatly severed +chain. + +"Why, it's gone!" she exclaimed in disbelief. + +"Wasn't it here last night when we went to bed?" + +"Of course." + +"Then it was stolen last night!" + +Dropping broom and dustpan, Sally brought a chair and inspected the +chain. Obviously it had been cut by sharp metal scissors. + +"That prowler who came aboard last night must have done it!" she +exclaimed angrily. "Oh, what a mean, low trick!" + +As the full realization of what the loss would mean came to her, Sally +sank down on the chair, a picture of dejection. + +"I'm responsible for the trophy, Penny! I'll be expected to produce it +before the final race. Oh, what can we do?" + +"Why do you suppose the thief took the lantern and nothing else?" + +"Someone may have done it for pure spite. But I'm more inclined to think +the person came aboard to steal our money in the office safe. The lantern +hung here in a conspicuous place and he may have taken it on impulse." + +Intending to notify Captain Barker of the loss, the girls started up the +companionway. Abruptly, Penny paused, her attention drawn to an object +lying on one of the steps. It was a circular badge with a picture and a +number on it. No name. Such identifications, she knew, were used by many +industrial plants. + +"Where did this come from?" she murmured, picking it up. + +The face on the badge was unfamiliar to her. The man had dark, bushy +hair, sunken eyes and prominent cheekbones. + +Sally turned to examine the identification pin. "Why, this badge came +from the Gandiss factory!" she exclaimed, and studied the picture +intently. + +"Did you ever see the man before?" + +"I can't place him, Penny. Yet I know I have seen him somewhere." + +"The man should be easy to trace from this picture and number. When I +caught hold of his clothing last night, I must have pulled off the pin. +That was how my finger was pricked." + +As the girls examined the pin, they heard a commotion on deck and the +sound of voices. Before they could go up the steps to investigate, Jack +Gandiss came clattering down to the lounge. + +"I came to take you back to the island, Penny," he informed. "Ready?" + +Then his gaze fastened upon the beam where the brass lantern had hung. + +"Say, what became of the trophy?" he demanded sharply. "You decided to +take it down after all?" + +"It's gone," Sally said, misery in her voice. "Stolen!" + +The two girls waited for the explosion, but strangely, Jack said nothing +for a moment. + +"You warned me," Sally hastened on. "Oh, it's all my fault. It was +conceited and selfish of me to display the trophy here. I deserve +everything you're going to say." + +Still Jack remained mute, staring at the beam. + +"Go on--tell me what you're thinking," Sally challenged miserably. + +"It's a tough break," Jack said without rancor. + +"This will practically ruin the race," Sally accused herself. "I can't +replace the trophy for there's no other like it. An ordinary cup never +would seem the same." + +"That's so," Jack gloomily agreed. "Well, if it's gone, it's gone, and +there's nothing more to be done." + +The boy's calm acceptance of the calamity he had predicted, astonished +Penny and Sally. Was this the Jack they knew? With a perfect opportunity +to say, "I told you so," he had withheld blame. + +Sally sank down on the lower step. "How will I face the racing +committee?" she murmured. "What will the other contestants say? They'll +feel like running me out of town." + +"Maybe it won't be necessary to tell," Jack said slowly. "One of us is +almost certain to win the race next Friday." + +"Yes, that's true, but--" + +"If you win, the lantern would be yours for keeps. Should I win, no one +would need to know that you hadn't turned it over to me. You could make +some excuse at the time of the presentation." + +Sally gazed at Jack with a new light in her eyes. "I'm truly sorry for +all the hateful things I've said to you in the past," she declared +earnestly. "You're a true blue friend." + +"Maybe I'm sorry about some of the cracks I made too," he grinned, +extending his hand. "Shake?" + +Sally sprang up and grasped the hand firmly, but her eyes were misty. She +hastened to correct any wrong impression Jack might have gained. + +"I'm glad you made the offer you did," she said, "but I never would dream +of keeping the truth from the committee. I'll notify them today." + +"Why be in such a hurry?" Penny asked. "The race is a week away. In that +time we may be able to find the trophy. After all, we have a good clue." + +"What clue?" asked Jack. + +Penny showed him the pin. As he gazed at the picture on the face of the +badge, a strange expression came into his eyes. + +"You know the man?" Penny asked instantly. + +"He works at our factory. But that's not where I've seen him." + +"At the Harpers?" Sally asked. + +"Yes," Jack admitted unwillingly. "I don't know his name, but he is a +friend of Ma Harper and her husband." + +"And of that no-account Joe, the Sweeper?" + +"I don't know about that." The questioning had made Jack uncomfortable. + +"The man should be arrested!" + +"We have no proof, Sally," Penny pointed out. "While we're satisfied in +our own minds that the man who took the lantern is the person who lost +the badge, we can't be certain." + +"The badge may have been dropped by a passenger yesterday," Jack added. +"Let me find out this fellow's name first, and a few facts about him." + +"I don't believe your friends, the Harpers, will tell you much," Sally +said stiffly. "They're the scum of the waterfront. How you can go +there--" + +Penny, who saw that another storm was brewing, quickly intervened, saying +it was time she and Jack started for the island. Sally, taking the hint, +allowed the subject to drop. + +But as she went on deck to see the pair off in Jack's motorboat, she +whispered to Penny: + +"See me this afternoon, if you can. I have an idea I don't want Jack to +know about. If we work together, we may be able to trace the trophy." + + + + + CHAPTER + 14 + _TRAPPED_ + + +Jack had little to say about the theft as he and Penny returned to the +Gandiss home. However, after lunch he offered to go to his father's +factory to learn the identity of the employee who had lost the badge +aboard the _River Queen_. + +"Want to come along?" he invited. + +Ordinarily, Penny would have welcomed the opportunity, but remembering +that Sally had wished to see her, she regretfully turned down the +invitation. + +"I'll ride across the river if you don't mind," she said. "I have an +errand in town." + +By this time Penny was familiar with the daily route of the _River Queen_ +and knew where it would dock to pick up and unload passengers. Sally, she +felt certain, would be aboard, expecting her. + +They crossed the river in the motorboat, making an appointment to meet +again at four o'clock. After Jack had gone, Penny set off for the _River +Queen's_ dock where a sizable group of passengers awaited the ferry. + +Soon the _Queen_ steamed in, her bell signaling a landing. Passengers +crowded the railing, eager to be the first off. A crewman stood at the +wheel, and Sally was nowhere to be seen. + +As the boat brushed the dock, sailors leaped off to make fast to the dock +posts. Captain Barker, annoyed because the passengers were pushing, +bellowed impatient orders to his men: "All right, start that gangplank +forward! Lively! Are you going to sleep over it all day?" + +Then, seeing Penny, he raised his hand in friendly greeting. + +"Is Sally aboard?" she called to him. + +"No, she went up the shore a ways--didn't say where," the captain +replied, waving his hand upriver. "Ought to be back here any minute." + +Sally, however, did not appear, and the _Queen_ pulled away without her. +Penny loitered on the dock for twenty minutes. The sun was hot and with +nothing to do, time lay heavy upon her. It lacked a half hour before the +_River Queen_ would return, and fully two hours before she was due to +meet Jack. For lack of occupation, she walked upriver along the docks. + +Buildings were few and far between. There were several fish houses, a +boat rental place and the half-deserted amusement park. The beach beyond +made easy walking, so Penny kept on. With quickening interest she saw +that she was approaching a two-story building which appeared to stand on +stilts over the water. Close by was a large, smoothly cemented area with +overhead lights. + +"That's the Harper place!" Penny recognized it. "With the dance area +adjoining." + +She moved on along the beach. Drawing closer to the building, she passed +a clump of bushes fringing the sand. The leaves stirred slightly though +there was no breeze. Penny failed to notice the movement. + +But as she passed the bushes, a hand reached out and grasped her ankle. + +Startled, Penny uttered a nervous cry. + +"Be quiet, you goon!" a familiar voice bade. + +It was Sally Barker crouched amid the foliage. Quickly she pulled Penny +with her behind the bushes. + +"Sally, what are you doing here?" Penny demanded. + +"Watching that house. I saw you a long way down the beach." + +"Anything doing?" + +"A boat is coming in now. That's why I didn't want you to be seen." + +A rowboat with an outboard, rapidly approached the Harper pier. Already +it was making a wide sweep preparatory to a landing. + +"Why, it's that fellow, Joe the Sweeper!" Penny exclaimed, peering out +from the hiding place. "Who is steering the boat?" + +"Claude Harper," Sally revealed. "Ma Harper's husband." + +"Wonder what Joe would be doing here?" + +"That's what I'd like to know myself," Sally returned grimly. "Joe isn't +as stupid as he's given credit for being. He's crafty and mean, and being +mixed up with the Harpers is no recommendation." + +While the girls watched, the boat landed. The two men tied up the craft, +and removing a burlap sack which apparently was filled with something +heavy, carried it into the two-story house. + +"I wish we knew what they brought here," Penny said. "Why not try to find +out?" + +"How?" + +"Couldn't we sneak up to the house and peek in one of the windows?" + +"We might be caught." + +"True, but we'll learn nothing more here." + +Debating a moment, the girls emerged from their hiding place. To reach +the house they were compelled to cross an open stretch of beach. However, +no one was to be seen outside the dwelling and their arrival appeared to +attract no notice of anyone inside. + +"How about that window at the east side?" Penny suggested. + +The one she pointed out was half screened by bushes and at a level which +would permit them to peer inside. + +"Okay," agreed Sally, "but I'd hate to be caught at this business. The +Harpers hate me and they would be mighty unpleasant if they came upon us +snooping." + +"What a harsh word!" chuckled Penny. "All this comes under the heading of +investigation! The only difference is that Mr. Gandiss' detectives are +paid and we aren't." + +"If I could get the brass lantern back that would be pay enough for me," +Sally returned. + +Creeping to the window, the girls cautiously peeped into the house. The +panes were so dirty it was hard to see inside. But they were able to +distinguish three persons sitting at a living room table. Papers were +spread out before them, and they were adding figures. There was no sign +of the sack which had been carried into the house. + +"Who are they?" Penny asked her companion. + +"Joe the Sweeper, Ma Harper and her husband. Another woman is coming into +the room now. But she's only a stupid houseworker Ma hires by the week." + +Sally moved backwards, intending to give Penny her place at the window. +Inadvertently, she stepped on a stick which broke in two with a snap. +Though the sound was not loud, it apparently was heard by those inside +the house. + +For immediately Claude Harper shoved back his chair and started toward +the window. + +"What was that?" the girls heard him mutter. "I thought I heard someone +outside." + +"Quick! Crouch down or he'll see us!" Penny warned, pulling Sally to the +ground. + +Claude Harper, a sallow-faced man in dirty leather jacket, appeared at +the window. To the alarm of the girls, he thrust up the sash. In plain +view, should he peer down over the ledge, they held their breath. + +The man, however, gazed toward the boat docks. "I don't see anyone," he +reported to his companions. "I was sure I heard something--" he broke +off, ending sharply: "And I did too!" + +"What is it, Claude?" his wife called. + +"Anyone been here this afternoon?" he demanded. + +"Nary a soul until you came." + +"Take a look at those shoetracks in the sand!" + +Hearing the words, Penny and Sally gazed behind them. From the bush on +the beach to the wall where they crouched, led a telltale trail. + +"I'll go outside and look around!" Harper said to his wife. He slammed +down the window. + +"We're sunk!" Sally moaned. "We can't run across the beach without being +seen, and we're certain to be caught here." + +Keeping close to the wall, treading in firm earth which left no visible +shoemarks, the girls crept around the building corner. The slamming of a +door warned them that Claude Harper already was on their trail. + +"Someone's been here by the window!" they heard him shout. + +Frantically, the girls looked about for a place to hide. There was no +shrubbery nearby, only the waterfront. Penny's desperate gaze fastened +upon the rowboat tied up at the pier nearby. In the bottom lay an old +canvas sail. + +"Quick! The boat!" she whispered to Sally. + +"We'll be caught there sure!" + +"It's even more certain if we stay here. Come on, it's our only chance." + +Choosing the lesser of two evils, they tiptoed across the pier. Though +many of the boards were rotten and loose, their shoes fortunately made no +sound. + +Scrambling down into the boat, the girls jerked the canvas sail over +them. Barely had they hidden themselves, than their hearts sank, for they +heard heavy footsteps approaching on the pier. + + + + + CHAPTER + 15 + _UNDER THE SAIL_ + + +That Claude Harper was searching for them, the girls did not doubt. But +though he knew someone had been peering in the window, they were hopeful +he had not actually seen them. Huddling beneath the sail in the bottom of +the boat, they nervously waited. + +The man came farther out on the pier, the boards creaking beneath his +weight. At any instant the girls expected to have the sailcloth jerked +from their heads. However, Harper's attention was diverted as Sweeper Joe +came out of the house. + +"Find anyone?" the factory worker asked. + +"No, but tracks lead to the window. Someone's been spying." + +"Kids probably." + +"I don't know about that," Claude Harper returned gruffly. "I'd feel a +lot safer if we didn't have all that stuff in the basement. What's our +chances of getting rid of it tonight?" + +"We can't do it. Tomorrow or next night maybe. Arrangements have got to +be made, and if we try to push things, we'll end up in a jam." + +The voices faded away, though not entirely. Presently daring to peep from +beneath the canvas, Penny saw that the two men had seated themselves on +the rear steps of the house at the edge of the river and within plain +view of the tied-up boat. + +"We're in a nice position now!" she whispered to Sally. "Suppose they sit +there until they decide to leave in this boat?" + +"We'll be caught. We're the same as trapped now unless they go back into +the house." + +The two men showed no inclination to leave. They talked earnestly +together, evidently making plans of some sort. Though the girls tried +hard to overhear, they could catch only an occasional word. After awhile, +Ma Harper, a wiry, ugly woman with stringy black hair, came outdoors to +join the men on the steps. + +"It's getting late," she warned. "If you're goin' to tend to that job +today, you'll have to be gettin' across the river. Ain't you due to show +up for work at four o'clock, Joe?" + +"That's right," the man yawned, getting up. "I'll be glad when I can +chuck the whole business and live without workin'." + +Though Penny and Sally did not hear much of the conversation, it was +evident to them that the men were about ready to make use of the boat. + +"We're sunk," Sally whispered fearfully. "Maybe we ought to climb out of +here and make a dash for it." + +Penny offered a better idea. "Why not untie the rope, and let the boat +drift off?" she proposed. "The current is swift and should carry us +downstream fairly fast." + +"Any other boat around that they can use to follow us in?" + +"I don't see any." Penny raised the sail a little higher as she gazed +along the pier and nearby beach. + +"All right, then do your stuff," Sally urged. + +While she held the sail slightly above Penny's head so that no movement +would be discernible to those on the house steps, the latter reached her +hands from beneath the cloth and swiftly untied the rope. The boat began +to drift away. Covered by the sail, the girls lay motionless and flat on +the craft's bottom. + +At first nothing happened. But as they began to hope that the men would +not notice the drifting boat, they heard an explosive shout. + +"Look!" Claude Harper exclaimed. "Our boat!" + +"Jumpin' fish hooks!" Sweeper Joe muttered. "How did that happen? I tied +'er secure." + +"It looks like it," the other retorted sarcastically. "I can't afford to +lose that boat." + +The girls could hear running footsteps on the pier and boardwalk near the +dance pavilion. Sally dared to peep from beneath the canvas again. + +"They're after a motorboat!" she reported tensely. "Harper has one he +keeps locked in a boathouse." + +"How close are we to the bend in the river?" + +"About twenty yards." + +The swift current was doing its best for the girls, swinging their boat +toward the bend. Once beyond it, they would be temporarily hidden from +the pier. But the current also was tending to carry them farther and +farther from shore. + +"Do we dare row?" Penny asked nervously. + +"Not yet. Harper is having trouble getting the engine of his boat +started," Sally reported. "We'll be safe for a minute or two. We're +getting closer to the bend." + +To the nervous girls, the boat scarcely seemed to move. Then at last it +passed the bend and they were screened by willow trees and bushes. + +"Now!" Sally signalled in a tense whisper. + +Throwing off the sail, they seized oars and paddled with all their +strength. + +"Quiet!" Sally warned as Penny's oar made a splash. "Sounds carry plainly +over the water." + +The blast of a motorboat engine told them that Harper and his companion +had started in pursuit. Only a minute or two would be required for them +to round the bend. + +Throwing caution to the winds, Sally and Penny dug in with their oars, +shooting their craft toward shore. The boat grated softly on the sand. +Instantly, the girls leaped out, splashing through ankle-deep water. + +As Sally was about to start across the beach, Penny seized her hand. + +"We mustn't leave a trail of footprints this time!" she warned. + +Treading a log at the water's edge, Penny walked its length to firm +ground which took no visible shoe print. Sally followed her to a clump of +bushes where they crouched and waited. + +Barely had they taken cover when the motorboat came into view, heading +for the little cove. There Claude Harper recaptured the runaway rowboat, +tying it to the stern of the other craft. + +Suddenly Penny was dismayed as she realized that in their flight, a most +important detail had been overlooked. + +"The oars!" she whispered. "They're wet!" + +"Maybe the men won't see," Sally said hopefully. "We left them half +covered by the canvas." + +Intent only upon returning to the pier, Claude Harper and his companion +failed to notice anything amiss. Apparently assuming the boat had been +carelessly tied and had drifted away under its own power, they were not +suspicious. + +"That was a narrow squeak," Penny sighed in relief as the motorboat with +the other craft in tow finally disappeared around the bend. "The oars +will quickly dry in the sun, so I guess we're safe." + +Now that they were well out of trouble, the adventure seemed fun. Penny +glanced at her wristwatch, observing that it was past four o'clock. + +"Jack will be waiting for me," she said to Sally. "I'll have to hurry." + +"We'll have plenty of time," Sally returned carelessly. "You usually can +count on Jack being half an hour late for appointments." + +Walking swiftly along the deserted shore, the girls discussed what they +had overheard at the Harpers. + +"We stirred up a big fuss and didn't learn too much," Penny said +regretfully. "All the same, it looks as if the Harpers and Sweeper Joe +are mixed up in this brass business together." + +"They spoke of having something stored in the basement. That is what +interests me. Oh, Penny, if only we could go back there sometime when the +Harpers are gone and really investigate!" + +"Maybe we can." + +Sally shook her head. "Ma Harper almost never goes away from home. But +sometimes she has streams of visitors from Osage--mostly women. I've +often wondered why." + +"Factory girls?" + +"No, they're housewives and every type of person. I think Mrs. Harper +must be selling something to them, but I never could figure it out." + +The _River Queen_ was at the far side of the river, so Sally, for lack of +occupation, walked on with Penny to the dock where she was to meet Jack. +Greatly to their surprise, he was there ahead of them, and evidently had +been waiting for some length of time. + +Seeing the girls, he slowly arose to his feet. + +"Well, Jack, what did you learn at the factory?" Penny asked eagerly. + +"Why, not much of anything." + +"You mean you weren't able to find out the name of the man who dropped +his badge aboard the _Queen_?" Penny asked incredulously. + +"Of course you learned the name if you really tried," Sally added. "Every +single badge used at your factory would be recorded!" + +Thus trapped, Jack said lamely: "Oh, I learned his name all right. Take +it easy, and I'll tell you." + + + + + CHAPTER + 16 + _SILK STOCKINGS_ + + +Puzzled by Jack's behavior and his evident reluctance to reveal what he +had learned, Penny and Sally sat down beside him on the dock. At their +urging he said: + +"Well, I traced the number through our employment office. The badge was +issued to a worker named Adam Glowershick." + +Neither of the girls ever had heard of the name, but Sally, upon studying +the picture again, was sure she recalled having seen him as a passenger +aboard the _River Queen_. + +"He's a punch press operator," Jack added. + +"And he's the man you thought you knew?" Penny asked curiously. + +"Yes. As I told you, I've seen him at the Harpers." Jack acted ill at +ease. + +The girls exchanged a quick glance. But they did not tell Jack of their +recent adventure. + +"Well, why don't we have the fellow arrested?" Sally demanded after a +moment of silence. "I'm satisfied he stole the brass lantern. He probably +came aboard for money, and unable to get into the safe, took the trophy +for meanness." + +"Or he may be mixed up with the gang of factory brass thieves," Penny +supplied. + +"You can't prove a case against a man, because he might have dropped the +badge anytime he happened to be a passenger aboard the ferry," Jack said. +"It would do no good to have him booked on suspicion." + +"Is he a friend of yours?" Sally asked significantly. + +"Of course not!" + +"Jack is right about it," Penny interposed hastily. "We need more +information before we ask police to make an arrest. Any other news, +Jack?" + +"Nothing startling. But you know that detective your father brought here +from Riverview?" + +"Heiney?" + +"Yes, he reported today that Sweeper Joe contacted him again, offering to +sell a large quantity of brass. An appointment has been made for the +delivery Friday night. If it proves to be stolen brass, then he's trapped +himself." + +"Can they prove it's the same brass?" + +"Heiney numbers and records every piece he buys. He should be able to +establish a case." + +Knowing that her father had intended to keep the junkman's activities a +secret, Penny was disturbed by Jack's talking in public. Evidently he had +gleaned this latest information from his father. She was even more +troubled by his attitude toward Adam Glowershick. + +Presently saying goodbye to Sally, she and Jack returned to Shadow +Island. A strange boat was tied up in the berth usually occupied by the +_Spindrift_. Since the sailboat was nowhere along the dock, it was +evident that Mr. Gandiss, his wife, and Mr. Parker had gone for an outing +on the river. + +"We seem to have a visitor," Penny remarked. + +Jack said nothing, but intently studied the man who slouched near the +boathouse, hat pulled low to shade his eyes from the sun glare. + +"Why, isn't that the same fellow whose picture was on the factory badge!" +Penny exclaimed. "Adam Glowershick!" + +"Careful or he'll hear you," Jack warned, scowling. "I know this man. +He's here to see me." + +Penny gazed again at the stranger who had dark bushy hair and prominent +cheekbones. "If that isn't Glowershick, it's his twin!" she thought, and +asked Jack if he had the factory badge with him. + +"No, I haven't," he answered irritably. "Furthermore, I wish you would +cut out such wild speculation. He'll hear you." + +Jack brought the boat in. Leaping ashore, he asked Penny to fasten the +ropes. "I'll be back in a minute," he flung at her as he strode off. + +It took time to make the craft secure. When Penny glanced up from her +work, Jack and the stranger had disappeared behind the boathouse. + +"Queer how fast Jack ducked out of here," she thought. + +More than a little annoyed by the boy's behavior, Penny started up the +gravel path to the house. Midway there she heard footsteps, and turning, +saw Jack hastening after her. + +"Penny--" he began diffidently. + +She waited for him to go on. + +"I hate to ask this," he said uncomfortably, "but how are you fixed for +money?" + +"I have a little. Dad gave me a fairly large sum to spend when we came +here." + +"Could you let me have twenty dollars? It would only be a loan for a few +days. I--I wouldn't ask it, only I need it badly." + +"Dad only gave me twenty-five, Jack." + +"I'll pay you back in just a few days, Penny. Honest I will." + +"I'll help you out of your jam," Penny agreed unwillingly, "but something +tells me I shouldn't do it. Your parents--" + +"Don't say anything to them about it," Jack pleaded. "My father gives me +a good allowance, and if he knew I had spent all of it ahead, he'd have a +fit." + +Penny went to her room for the money, returning with four crisp five +dollar bills. She had planned to buy a new dress but now it must wait. + +"Thanks," Jack said gratefully, fairly snatching the money from her hand. +"Oh, yes, another favor--please don't mention to my folks that anyone was +here today." + +"Who is the man, Jack?" + +"Oh, just a fellow I met." The boy started moving away. Penny, however, +pursued him down the path. + +"Not so fast, Jack. Since I have a financial interest in your affairs +now, it's only fair that I ask a few questions. Did you meet this man at +the Harpers?" + +"What if I did?" + +"Now you're in debt to him and he's pressing you for money. You don't +want your parents to know." + +"Something like that," Jack muttered, avoiding her steady gaze. + +"I don't like being a party to anything I fail to understand. Jack, if +you expect me to keep quiet about this, you'll have to make a promise." + +"What is it?" + +"That you'll not go to the Harpers' again." + +"Okay, I'll promise," Jack agreed promptly. "The truth is, I've had +enough of the place. Now, is the lecture concluded?" + +"Quite finished," Penny replied. + +With troubled eyes she watched Jack return to the boathouse and hand her +money to the bushy-haired stranger. + +"Maybe that fellow isn't Glowershick," she thought, "but he certainly +looks like the picture. If Jack should be mixed up with those brass +thieves--" + +Penny deliberately dismissed the idea from her mind. A guest of the +Gandiss' family, she could not permit herself to distrust Jack. He was +inclined to be wild, irresponsible and at times arrogant, yet she had +never questioned his basic character. Even though it disturbed her to +know that he had given money to the stranger, she refused to believe that +he was dishonest or that he would betray his father's trust. + +If Penny hoped that Jack would offer a complete explanation for his +actions, she was disappointed. After the stranger had gone, he +deliberately avoided her. And that night at dinner, he had very little to +say. + +When the meal was finished, Jack roved restlessly about the house, not +knowing what to do with himself. "I hope you're planning on staying home +tonight," his mother commented. "Lately, you've scarcely spent an evening +here." + +"There's nothing to do on an island," Jack complained. "I thought I might +run in to town for an hour or so." + +He met Penny's gaze and amended hastily: "On second thought, I guess I +won't. How about an exciting game of chess?" + +The evening was dull, heightened only by Mr. Gandiss' discussion of the +latest difficulties at the factory. Another large quantity of brass had +disappeared, he revealed to Mr. Parker. + +"Perhaps our detectives will solve the mystery eventually," he declared, +"but I'm beginning to lose heart. The firm has lost $60,000 already, and +the thieves become bolder each day. At the start, only a small ring +operated. Now I am convinced at least ten or fifteen employes may be in +on the scheme to defraud me." + +"The brass must be smuggled past the gateman," Mr. Parker commented +thoughtfully. + +"We have three of them," Mr. Gandiss replied. "Several persons have been +turned in, but nothing ever could be proved against any individual who +was searched." + +Deeply interested in her father's remark, Penny kept thinking about Clark +Clayton, the night-shift gateman, and his apparent friendship with +Sweeper Joe. Late the next afternoon when she knew he would be on duty, +she purposely arrived at the factory just as a large group of employes +was leaving. + +Though at his usual post, Clark Clayton did not appear especially alert. +As employes filed past him, he paid them no special heed. Several persons +who carried bulky packages were not even stopped for inspection. + +"Why, a person could carry a ton of brass through that gate and he +wouldn't know the difference!" she thought. + +Making no attempt to enter the grounds, Penny watched for a while. Then +she hailed a taxi cab, and told the driver to take her to the river. + +They were nearing the docks when the man, glancing back over his +shoulder, said carelessly: "How would you like to buy some genuine silk +stockings?" + +"How would I like to stake out a claim to part of the moon!" Penny +countered, scarcely knowing how to take the question. + +"No, I'm serious," the cab driver went on, slowing the taxi to idling +pace. "I know a woman along the river who has a pretty fair stock of +genuine silk stockings. Beauties." + +"Black market?" Penny asked with disapproval. + +"Well, no, I wouldn't call it that," the man argued. "She had a supply of +these stockings and wants to get rid of them. Nothing wrong in that. Five +dollars a pair." + +"Five dollars a pair!" Penny echoed, barely keeping her temper. + +"If I took you there, she might let you have them for a dollar less." + +Penny opened her lips to tell the black market "runner" what she thought +of a person who would engage in such illegal business. Then she closed +them again and did a little quick thinking. After all, it might be wise +to learn where the place was and then report to the police. + +"Well, I don't know," she said, pretending to hesitate. "I'd like to have +a pair of silk stockings, but I haven't much money with me. Where is the +place?" + +"Not far from here along the river. I'll drive you there, and if you make +a purchase, you needn't pay me any fare." + +"All right, that's fair enough. Let's go," Penny agreed. + +As they rattled along the street, she carefully memorized the cab's +number, and took mental notes on the driver's appearance, intending to +report him to police. No doubt he received a generous commission for +bringing customers to the establishment, she reasoned. + +The cab had not gone far when it began to slacken pace. Peering out, +Penny was astonished to see that they were stopping in front of the +Harper house, overlooking the river. + +"Is this the place?" she gasped, as the driver swung open the door. "I--I +don't believe I want to go in after all. I thought you were taking me to +a shop." + +"You can't get silk stockings anywhere else in the county," the driver +said. "Not like the kind Ma Harper sells. Just go on in and tell her I +brought you. She'll treat you right." + +Taking Penny by the elbow, he half pulled her from the cab and started +her toward the shabby, unpainted dwelling. + + + + + CHAPTER + 17 + _BASEMENT LOOT_ + + +While the cab driver waited, Penny crossed the sagging porch and rapped +on the door. Evidently the taxi's approach had been noted, for almost at +once Ma Harper appeared. + +She was a tall, thin woman, sallow of face, and with a hard glint to her +eyes. Penny was not in the least deceived by the smile that was bestowed +upon her. + +"Hello, deary," the woman greeted her, stepping aside for her to enter. +"Did Ernst bring you to buy something?" + +"He spoke of silk stockings," Penny returned cautiously. "I'm not sure +that I'll care to purchase them." + +"Oh, you will when you see them, deary," Ma Harper declared in a chirpy +tone. "Just come in and I'll show them to you." + +"Aren't genuine silk stockings hard to get now?" + +"I don't know of any place they can be bought except here. I was lucky to +lay in a good supply before the start of the war. Only one or two pairs +are left now, but I'll let you have them, deary." + +"That's very kind of you," returned Penny with dry humor. + +"The stockings cost me plenty," went on the woman, motioning for the girl +to seat herself on a sagging davenport. "I'll have to ask five dollars a +pair." + +She eyed Penny speculatively to note how the figure struck her. Penny had +no intention of making a purchase at any price, but to keep the +conversation rolling, she pretended to be interested. + +"Five dollars ain't much when you consider you can't get stockings like +these anywhere else," the woman added. "Just wait here, deary, and I'll +bring 'em out." She went quickly from the room. + +Left alone, Penny gazed with curiosity at the crude furnishings. Curtains +hung at the windows, but they had not been washed in many months. The rug +also was soiled and threadbare. The main piece of furniture, a table, +stood in the center of the room. + +Double doors opened out upon a balcony above the river. Wandering +outside, Penny could see the _River Queen_ plying its way far downstream. +Closer by, a small boat with an outboard approached. + +Due to the glare of a late afternoon sun on the water, she could not at +first distinguish its two occupants. The boat, however, looked familiar. + +"That's the same boat Sally and I escaped in yesterday!" she thought. +"And it's coming here!" + +Nearer and nearer the craft approached, until Penny could see the men's +faces plainly. One was Sweeper Joe and the other, Clark Clayton, gateman +at the Gandiss factory. + +"If they see me here, they're certain to be suspicious!" Penny thought in +panic. "They'll remember having seen me with Mr. Gandiss at the factory. +I'll skip while the skipping is good!" + +She turned to find Ma Harper standing in the doorway. "Anything wrong, +deary?" the woman asked in a soft purr. + +"Why, no," Penny stammered. "I--I was just admiring the river view." + +"You were lookin' at that boat so funny-like I thought maybe you knew the +men. Sure there ain't nothing wrong?" + +"Of course not!" Penny was growing decidedly uncomfortable. She tried to +slip through the doorway, but Ma Harper did not move aside. + +"It's getting late," Penny said, glancing at her wrist watch. "Perhaps I +should come some other time to look at the stockings. Shall we say +tomorrow?" + +"I have the hosiery right here, deary. Beauties, ain't they?" + +Ma Harper spread one of the filmy stockings over her rough, callous hand. +The silk was fine and beautiful, unquestionably pre-war and of black +market origin. + +"Yes, they are lovely," Penny said nervously. "But the truth is, I +haven't five dollars with me. I'll have to come back later." + +Ma Harper's dark eyes snapped angrily. + +"Then what you been takin' my time for?" she demanded. "Say--" she +accused with sudden suspicion, her gaze roving to the boat which now was +close to the pier, "--you seem in a mighty big hurry to get away from +here all at once!" + +"Why, no, it's just that the taxi man is waiting, and it's getting late." + +"What's your name anyhow?" + +"Penny Parker." + +"Where do you live?" + +"I am a summer vacationist." + +The answers only partially satisfied Ma Harper. Evidently she was afraid +that Penny might be an investigator, for she debated a moment. Then she +said: "You wait here until I talk to someone." + +"But I really must be leaving." + +"You wait here, I said!" Ma Harper snapped. "Maybe you're okay, but I +ain't takin' no chances on you getting me into trouble about these +stockings. Wait until I talk to Joe." + +Leaving Penny on the balcony, she went out by way of the front living +room door. After it had closed, there was a sharp little click which made +the girl fear she had been locked in. + +The truth was quickly ascertained. The door was locked. For an instant, +Penny was frightened, but she told herself she was not really a prisoner. +There were windows she could unfasten, and another door at the rear of +the house. + +Intending to test it, she went quickly through the kitchen. Voices +reached her ears. Evidently Ma Harper and the two men were standing close +to the door, and although speaking in low tones she could hear most of +the conversation. + +"The girl may be all right, but I think she was sent here to spy!" Ma +reported. "If we let her go, she may bring the police down on us!" + +"And if you try to hold her here, you'll soon be in trouble!" one of the +men answered. Penny thought the voice was that of Clark Clayton. "You and +this petty stocking business of yours! We warned you to lay off it." + +"Sure, blame me!" Ma's voice rose angrily. "The truth is, you're getting +scared of your own racket. I was sellin' stockings and makin' a good, +safe income until you come along and talked my husband into lettin' you +store your loot in our basement. Well, I've made up my mind! You're +gettin' the stuff out of here tonight, and you're not bringing any more +in!" + +"Okay, okay," growled Sweeper Joe. "Just take it easy, and quit your +yippin'. We'll move the stuff as soon as it gets dark. Fact is, we've +made a deal with a guy that runs a junk shop near the factory. He's +offered us a good price. We had to play along slow and easy to be sure he +wasn't tied up with the cops." + +"What about the girl?" Ma demanded. "If I let her go, she's apt to get me +into hot water about those stockings." + +"That's your funeral," Joe the Sweeper retorted. "If you'd handled her +right, she wouldn't have become suspicious." + +The discussion went on, in lower tones. Then Penny heard Ma say: + +"Okay, that's the way we'll do it. I'll think up some story to convince +the girl. But that brass must be out of here tonight! Another thing, you +can't sell the lantern that simpleton, Adam Glowershick, stole from the +_River Queen_." + +"Why not?" Sweeper Joe demanded. "There's good brass in it." + +"You stupid lout!" Ma exclaimed, losing patience. "That lantern is known +to practically every person along the waterfront. Let it show up in a +pawnshop or second hand store, and the police would trace it straight to +us. You'll have to heave it into the river." + +"Okay, maybe you're right," the factory worker admitted. + +Penny had learned enough to feel certain that brass, stolen piecemeal +from the Gandiss factory, had been stored in the Harper basement. Even +more astonishing was the information that the trophy taken from the +_River Queen_ also was somewhere in the house. + +"If the lantern is thrown into the river, no one ever be able to recover +it," she thought. "If only I could get it now and sneak away through a +window!" + +Penny's pulse stepped up a pace, for she knew that to venture into the +basement was foolhardy. She listened again at the door. Ma and the men +still were talking, but how long they would continue to do so, she could +not guess. + +"I'll risk it," she decided. + +The basement door opened from an inside wall of the kitchen. Penny groped +her way down the steep, dark stairs but could find no light switch. + +The cellar room was damp and dirty. As her eyes became accustomed to the +dim light which filtered in through two small windows, she saw a furnace +surrounded by buckets of ashes and boxes of papers and trash. A clothes +line was hung with stockings and silk underwear. + +Penny poked into several of the boxes and barrels. All were empty. Then +her gaze focused upon another door, which apparently led into a fruit or +storage room. It was padlocked. + +"The brass is locked in there!" she thought, her heart sinking. "The +lantern too! How stupid of me not to expect it." + +Without tools, Penny could not hope to break into the locked room. There +was only one thing to do. She must get away from the house, and bring the +police! + +Starting up the stairs, she stopped short. An outside door had slammed. +In the room above she heard footsteps, but no voices. + +Frightened, Penny remained motionless on the basement stairs. She could +hear Ma Harper tramping about, evidently in search of her, for the woman +muttered angrily to herself. + +"I don't dare stay here," the girl thought. "I'll have to make a dash for +it." + +Penny reasoned that in reentering the house, Ma Harper probably had left +the front door unlocked. What had become of the two men she did not know, +but she would have to take a chance on their whereabouts. + +Noiselessly, she crept up the stairs to the kitchen door, opening it a +tiny crack. Though she could not see Ma, footsteps told her that the +woman had stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the river. + +"This will be as good a chance as I may get," she reasoned. + +The door squeaked as she opened it wide enough to slip through. Unnerved +by the sound, Penny moved swiftly across the kitchen to the living room. + +"So there you are!" cried Ma Harper from the balcony. + +Penny threw caution to the winds. Darting across the room, she jerked at +the outside door. It opened, but on the porch, facing her, stood Sweeper +Joe and Clark Clayton! + + + + + CHAPTER + 18 + _OVER THE BALCONY_ + + +Panic-stricken, Penny's first thought was to try to dart past the men. +But she realized that to do so would be impossible. Warned by Ma Harper's +excited cries, they had moved into position to completely block her path. + +"Stop that girl!" shouted Ma Harper, bearing down, upon her from the +direction of the river balcony. "She's from the police and sent here to +get evidence!" + +Whirling around, Penny ran back toward the kitchen, with the woman in +pursuit. She did not waste time testing the rear door, for she already +knew it to be locked. + +However, opening from the kitchen was another closed door which appeared +to give exit. With no time to debate, Penny jerked it open and darted +inside. + +Instantly, she saw that she had made a serious mistake. She had entered a +small washroom and had trapped herself. And Ma Harper was practically +upon her. + +Penny did the only possible thing. She slammed the door and turned the +key in the lock. For a moment at least, she was beyond reach. + +"I've really trapped myself now!" she thought, recapturing her breath. +"What a mess! If I had used my head this wouldn't have happened." + +Penny sat down on the edge of the bathtub to think. Already Ma Harper was +pounding and thumping on the flimsy wooden door panel. The door rattled +on its hinges. + +"You open up or I'll break down the door!" the woman shouted furiously. +"You hear me?" + +Penny did not answer. There was no escape from the washroom for it had no +window. The tub upon which she sat was ringed with dirt, evidently having +seen no use in many weeks. Above her head stretched a short clothesline +upon which hung a row of Ma Harper's stockings. + +"You let me in!" Ma Harper shouted again. "If I ever lay hands on you, +you'll pay for this!" + +The threat left Penny entirely unmoved. She had no intention of opening +the door, no matter what the woman might say or do. + +Realizing that her tactics were gaining nothing, Ma tried another +approach. + +"Please let me in," she coaxed in a falsely sweet voice. "We won't hurt +you. If you come out now, we'll let you go home just as you want to do." + +Penny was not to be so easily taken in. She remained silent. + +Ma Harper lost her temper completely then. She kicked at the door and +shouted for the two men. + +"Joe! Clark! Come and help me get this brat out of here!" + +Penny, certain that her moments of freedom were limited, heard the two +men approach. A heavy body heaved itself against the door, but still the +lock held. + +"I don't want my door smashed," she heard Ma Harper whine. "Can't you get +a screwdriver and take off the hinges? There ain't no other key in the +house." + +The reply of the men was inaudible, but Penny heard their retreating +footsteps. The door knob kept rattling, so she decided Ma Harper had been +left there to keep watch. + +"This probably is my only chance to escape!" Penny reasoned. "I might +unlock the door and take a chance on overpowering Ma Harper. But she's a +strong woman!" + +Her roving gaze fastened upon the line of drying stockings, and suddenly +she had an idea! Jerking one of the stockings down, she seized a thick +bar of soap from the dish above the bathtub, and crammed it deep into the +toe of the stocking. + +"This will make a superb weapon!" she thought gleefully. "Almost as good +as a blackjack!" + +Taking a firm grip on the stocking, Penny swung it several times to be +certain of its possibilities. Then she was ready. + +Quickly she unlocked the door and stepped back. + +For a moment nothing happened. Then Ma Harper pushed it open, just as she +had expected. + +"Now I'll get you!" she screamed, springing at Penny. + +Penny kept the stocking behind her back. "I hate to do this," she +thought, "but she's asking for it!" + +As Ma reached out to seize her, she swung the stocking. The encased cake +of soap cut a neat arc through the air and clipped the woman sharply on +the head. + +More startled than hurt, she stumbled backwards and collapsed into the +bathtub. + +Pausing only long enough to see that Ma was not really injured, Penny +made a dash for safety. But her escape was cut off. + +Sweeper Joe and Clayton the gateman were just entering the front door of +the living room, armed with tools to use in taking down the washroom +door. + +Seeing Penny, they again blocked the exit. Desperate, she ran in the only +possible direction--to the balcony overlooking the river. + +The docks were directly beneath the house, and waves lapped the posts of +the two-story porch. It was at least a fifteen-foot drop and the water +was shallow. But Penny had no time to calculate the risk. + +Leaping to the railing of the balcony, she poised there an instant, +staring down at the rocks plainly visible in the still water. + +Then, as Sweeper Joe reached out to grasp her by the shoulder, she +jumped. + +She struck the water head foremost in a shallow dive which wrenched her +back but kept her from striking the river bottom. Brushing wet hair from +her eyes, she began to stroke. Her shoes were heavy as lead and impeded +her. + +The force of Penny's dive had carried her many feet from shore into deep +water, and the river current swept her farther away from the docks. +Weighted down by the shoes, she knew she did not have sufficient strength +to swim to shore with them on. + +Burying her face in the water, she doubled up, and groping down, untied +them, one at a time. + +"Those were good shoes," she thought with regret as she kicked them off +and saw them settle into the river. + +Penny struck out with smooth crawl strokes for the nearby pier. Her skirt +kept wrapping itself about her legs. Unwilling to discard it, she tucked +it high about her waist which made swimming much easier. + +Reaching the pier, she was pulling herself out onto it, when Ma Harper +and the two men came running out of the house to intercept her. + +"Oh! Oh!" thought Penny. "It's not going to be as easy as I assumed." + +Joe ran out on the pier, while Ma and the other man separated, one +starting upstream and the other down. No matter which way she turned, +Penny saw that her escape would be cut off. + +The river was wide, the current swift. Although an excellent swimmer, she +had no desire to attempt such a contest of endurance. But there seemed no +other way. + +Deliberately pushing off from the pier, she swam directly away from +shore, After a dozen strokes she rolled over on her back for a moment to +see what was happening. Ma Harper had shouted to Joe, and the words +carried plainly over the water. + +"Take after her in the boat! We don't dare let her get away now! She +knows too much!" + +Penny had forgotten the motorboat tied up at the pier. Now as she saw Joe +and Clark Clayton run toward it, her heart sank. + +Though the race seemed hopeless, she flopped over onto her face again, +and swam with all her strength. Going with the current, her feet churned +the water behind her. + +Several times, the men tried without success to start the motorboat +engine. Penny grew hopeful. Then she heard the blast as the motor caught, +and knew that in just a minute the men would overtake her. + +Frantically, she glanced about for help. Already late afternoon, there +were no fishing boats on the river. Save for Ma Harper, who stood ready +to seize her should she try to swim in to the beach, no other persons +were visible on either shore. The _River Queen_ apparently was at the far +end of her run, hidden beyond the bend. + +A hundred yards away, in shallow water, lay a large patch of tall river +grass and cat-tails. Seeing it, Penny took new hope. The area was large +enough to offer a temporary refuge if she could reach it! Not only would +the dense mat of high grass protect her from view, but a boat would not +be able to follow. + +Starting to swim again, she put everything she had into each stroke. It +would be pinch and go to reach the grass patch! Aware of her intention, +Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton had changed course, hoping to intercept +her. + + + + + CHAPTER + 19 + _FLIGHT_ + + +The high water grass loomed up and Penny's feet struck a muddy bottom. +With the boat almost upon her, she plunged into the morass. The water +came to armpit level. Pushing aside the thick stalks which wrapped +themselves about her arms and body, she waded far into the patch before +she paused. + +Hidden by the dense growth, she could not at first see the pursuing boat. +She knew, however, that it had halted at the edge of the patch, for the +motor had been cut off. + +And after awhile she heard voices, low spoken, but nevertheless clear, +for the slightest sound carried over water. + +"She's over there somewhere in the center of the patch!" one of the men +muttered. "I could tell where she went by the way the grass moved. Shall +we let her go?" + +"No, we got to get her or she'll tell everything she knows to old man +Gandiss and the police!" the other answered. + +With the motor shut off, the two men then took out paddles, and began to +force the boat through the jungle of grass. Observing that they were +coming straight toward her, Penny noiselessly waded on, taking every +precaution not to move the stalks unnecessarily. Noting the direction of +the wind, she went with it, hoping that any movement of the grass would +appear to be caused by the stiff breeze. + +But she hoped in vain. For suddenly Joe the Sweeper shouted hoarsely: + +"There she is! Over there!" He pointed with his paddle blade. + +The men pushed the boat on, smashing the grass ahead of them. In despair, +Penny saw that wherever she went she was leaving a trail of trampled, +broken grass behind her. + +No longer trying to prevent splashes, she waded in a wide half-circle. +Then quickly she back-tracked, this time making not a sound. Slipping +into the dense growth just beside the trail she had made, she +breathlessly waited. + +The boat came into view. Taking a deep breath, Penny ducked under water. +Opening her eyes, she could see the blurred, dark bottom of the craft +moving slowly toward her, so close she could have reached out and touched +it. + +Her breath began to grow short. The boat barely seemed to move. Penny's +lungs felt as if they were ready to burst, but still she remained under +water. + +Then the men had passed, and she dared raise her head for an instant to +gulp in air. The boat reached the end of the trail through the grass that +Penny herself had made. There it halted, as Sweeper Joe and his +companion, realizing they had lost their quarry, debated their next move. + +"She was here a minute ago!" Sweeper Joe growled. "I caught a glimpse of +her clothes, and saw the grass move. Where did she go?" + +"She must have doubled back." + +With difficulty the men turned the boat around and rowed toward Penny +again. When she dared wait no longer, she submerged again. + +They passed her and she came up for air. A water snake slithered through +the grass, almost touching her hand. + +Startled, Penny leaped backwards, making an ugly, loud splash in the +water. Slight as was the sound, it told the men where she hid. Turning in +the boat, they saw her through the grass, and bore toward her again. + +By this time, Penny actually enjoyed the desperate game of hide and seek, +for so far, the advantage had been hers. She stood watching the boat +until it came very close. + +Then she dived, coming up directly underneath the craft. Getting her +shoulder squarely under one side, she raised up, and with an ease that +surprised her, upset the boat. + +The two men went sprawling into the water. Unable to swim, they made +animal noises and clutched desperately at the grass for support. But as +their feet found solid footing, they started furiously toward Penny. +Taking her time, and deliberately seeking deeper water, she waded away. + +"That will hold them for a few minutes," she thought gleefully. "I'll get +out of this jungle now, and swim ashore." + +One more the girl's hopes were rudely dashed. As she reached the edge of +the grass area, she was disconcerted to see another rowboat approaching +from the direction of the Harper place. With shadows deepening on the +water, she could not at first distinguish the man. Then she recognized +Claude Harper. + +"He must have come home, and Ma sent him here to help capture me!" she +thought. "If I swim out now, I'll certainly be caught." + +Crouching down so that her nose was just above the water, she waited. +Claude Harper rowed on, resting upon his oars when perhaps ten yards +away. + +"Joe!" he called. + +There was an answering shout from the center of the grass patch. + +"That gal's somewhere close by!" Sweeper Joe shouted in warning. "She +upset our boat. Stay where you are, and see that she doesn't slip past +you!" + +Thus warned, Claude Harper began to survey the grass patch intently. He +looked hard at the place where Penny stood. She was certain he had seen +her, but after a moment, he turned slightly, and his eyes roved on. + +As she hesitated, not knowing what to do, Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton, +who had bailed out their boat, came paddling out to meet Harper. Wet and +plastered with mud, they had lost one of the paddles. + +"If you ain't sights!" Harper cackled upon seeing them. He slapped his +thigh in glee. "You look like a couple o' stupid mud turtles!" + +"Fool!" rasped Sweeper Joe. "Don't you have sense enough to figure what +will happen if that girl gets away from us?" + +"You ain't goin' back to no job at the Gandiss factory. Nor Clayton +neither!" + +"It's a lot more serious than that!" Joe snapped. He guided the boat +alongside Harper's craft. "Why do you think I took that job in the first +place, and spent better than two years studyin' the Gandiss factory +layout? I lined up the employes we could get to go along with us, got +everything organized--and now this gal has to bust up the show just as +the profits begin to roll in!" + +"Better pipe down," Harper warned curtly. "She can hear you, and so can +everyone else on the river." + +"What's the difference?" Joe argued in disgust. "We're through. I'm +gettin' out of this town tonight!" + +"Me with you," added Clark Clayton. "Ever since Gandiss put detectives on +the job, I figured the game was gettin' too dangerous." + +Now it was Claude Harper who lost his temper. "Hold on," he said +warningly. "It's all right for you guys to blow town, but what about me +and the wife?" + +"You can do what you please," Joe retorted. + +"We got your brass cached in our basement. If the cops should find it +there, we'd take the rap." + +"Get rid of it." + +"That's a lot easier said than done. Besides, that brass is worth a tidy +sum o' money." + +"Then why not sell it tonight?" Joe proposed suddenly. "If we can get it +to the junkman who has a place across from the factory, he'll pay us a +good price. We can complete the deal, and still get out of town before +midnight." + +"That's okay for you," Harper argued, "but Ma and I own property here, +and we got a good business." + +"It was your stupid wife's stocking business that got us into this jam!" +Clark Clayton snarled. + +"I ain't talkin' about that. I mean our dance hall. We clean up about a +hundred bucks every Saturday night." + +"You should have thought about that before you went in with us," Joe +retorted. "You knew the risks you were taking. Anyway, this mess was your +wife's making." + +A silence fell, and then Clark Clayton said: "We ain't gettin' nowhere. +We got to decide what we're goin' to do, and we got to make sure that gal +don't get out o' this weed patch until we've arranged our escape." + +In whispers, the men conferred. Though Penny strained her ears, she could +not catch a single word. However, a plan satisfactory to the three seemed +to have been formulated, for presently, the two boats separated. + +Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton paddled off, heading for the pier at the +Harpers'. The other man remained in his rowboat, unquestionably detailed +to keep watch of the grass patch and prevent the girl's escape. + +To amuse himself, he began to call out to her, though he could not see +her or know where she was. + +"You think you're a clever one!" he taunted. "But you jest wait! We'll +get you out o' there, and when we do, you ain't goin' to like it!" + +Lest a movement of the grass or a splash betray her, Penny remained +perfectly still. Shadows deepened on the river for night was fast coming +on. Her muscles became stiff and cramped. The wind chilled her to the +very bone, and the water which at first had not seemed unbearably cold, +made her teeth chatter and dance. Each minute became an hour as the +torture increased. + +"I'll have to do something," she thought desperately. "I can't endure +this much longer." + + + + + CHAPTER + 20 + _A DESPERATE PLIGHT_ + + +In the rowboat, Claude Harper slowly patrolled the area, keeping an alert +watch for the slightest movement amid the grass. Once as a crane arose +from the dense growth into the darkening sky, he focused a flashlight +beam on the spot. + +"He's prepared to stay here half the night if necessary," Penny thought, +shivering. + +She could think of no means of escape. When it became completely dark, +she might be able to swim away without being detected. But long exposure +in cold water had weakened her, and she was none too certain of her +ability to reach shore. + +Her absence at the island surely must have been noticed by this time, she +reasoned. Why was not a boat sent in search of her? + +"I hope they don't assume I am staying with Sally for the night," she +worried. + +Penny's thoughts were momentarily distracted as she heard indistinct +voices from the direction of the Harper dock. Lights had been turned on +in the house and basement. + +"Those men are getting rid of the stolen brass," she reasoned. "If they +try to sell it to Heiney, they still may be caught." + +Presently the motorboat moved away from the Harper dock, its engine +laboring. The craft was sunk low in the water as if from a heavy load. + +The boat did not turn down stream as Penny expected. Instead, it crossed +the river at right angles, stopping in mid-stream at the deepest part of +the channel. There the engine was cut off. + +"Now what?" thought Penny. + +Claude Harper likewise seemed puzzled by the action, for he turned to +stare, muttering to himself. + +Though Penny could not see what the men were doing aboard the boat, she +heard a loud splash as something heavy was dropped overboard. + +"The fools!" Claude Harper exclaimed. "The fools!" + +Another splash and still another followed. Then the boat turned and came +toward the grass patch. Claude Harper hailed the men with an angry +exclamation. + +"You idiots! After all the risk we've taken, you dump our profits in the +river!" + +"Keep your shirt on!" Sweeper Joe retorted. "It was the only thing to do. +Glowershick just phoned from town." + +"What'd he have to report?" + +"Nothing good. You know that junk shop where we arranged to sell our +stuff? Where the owner offered us a higher price than any other place in +town?" + +"Well?" + +"He was a dick, planted there by old man Gandiss himself. They've already +got wind of who's in on the deal." + +"Then if we try to sell the brass anywhere else, we'll be pinched." + +"You're catching on, Harper." + +"Have you dumped all the stuff in the river?" + +"It will take two more trips at least. And there's the brass lantern to +get rid of," Joe added. "As soon as the job is done, Clark and me are +gettin' out of the city." + +"What are Ma and me gonna do?" Harper whined. "We've got property here." + +"That's up to you," Joe snapped. "If it wasn't for the gal you'd be safe +enough. Seen anything of her?" + +"Nary a sign." + +"She may have slipped away under water. The gal swims like an eel." + +"I don't think she got away. I been watchin' like a hawk." + +"She's sure to spill everything, and she's seen plenty," Joe muttered. +"Even though the cops don't find any evidence, they could make it plenty +tough for you and the missus." + +"We got to leave town," Harper admitted. "After takin' all this risk and +bein' all set to cash in big, it's a dirty break. It ain't fair." + +"Squawkin' won't do no good," Joe said shortly. "The question is, what +are we goin' to do about the gal?" + +"We got to make sure she won't carry no tales until we're safely out of +town." + +"Then we'll have to flush her out of this bird nest," Joe decided. +"There's a way we can do it." + +The manner in which she was to be caught, soon became apparent to Penny. +Systematically, the men began to flatten all of the grass with their +paddles and oars. Foot by foot, she retreated. Their strategy was +discouragingly clear. The flattened grass no longer offered protection. +Soon it all would be level with the water, and she would have no screen. + +So cold that her limbs were nearly paralyzed, Penny considered giving +herself up. In any case, the outcome would be the same. The only other +recourse was to scream for help, and hope that someone along the shore +would hear her and investigate. + +With only the Harper house close by, the prospect that anyone would come +to her aid was practically nil. + +Angered at not finding the girl, Harper and his companions swung their +paddles viciously. Penny retreated further, still reluctant to abandon +freedom. + +Then far downstream, she saw the _River Queen_, recognizing it by the +pattern its lights made above the water. The ferry had finished its +passenger run, and now apparently was coming upstream to anchor for the +night. + +As Penny watched the boat, she took new hope. If only she could signal +Captain Barker or Sally! Unless the ferry changed course, it was almost +certain to pass the grass patch. However, with the water shallow there, +it would give the area a wide berth. + +"Even if I shouted for help, no one aboard would hear me," she reasoned. +"But I'll have to try something! I'm finished if I stay here." + +Straight up the river came the _Queen_. Penny could see a man in the +lighted pilot house, but no one was visible on the decks. The ferry was +traveling at a rapid speed. + +Penny decided to wait no longer. Creeping to the very edge of the grass, +she ducked under water, and started to swim. Her strength had gone even +more than she realized. Arms and legs were so stiff they barely could +press against the water as she stroked. A few feet and she was forced to +come to the surface. + +"There she is!" shouted Sweeper Joe. Bringing the boat around, he started +directly for her. + +Penny swam with all the power at her command, stroking deep and fast. Not +daring to look back, she could hear the dip of Sweeper Joe's oars. + +Straight toward the deepest part of the channel, she propelled herself. +Her crawl strokes were jerky, but they carried her along. And she had +calculated well. Aided by the current, she would intercept the path of +the oncoming _River Queen_. + +From the water, the ferryboat looked like an immense monster as it +steamed majestically up the river. Not wishing to attract attention to +himself or his companions, Joe shipped his oars and temporarily gave up +the chase. But he remained close by, watching alertly. Should the +ferryboat fail to see or pick up Penny, he would be after her upon the +instant. + +Treading water, the girl shouted for help and waved an arm. Her voice was +weak even to her own ears, and could not possibly carry to the pilot +house of the _Queen_. Would her frantic signals be seen? The night was +dark, and she was not yet in the arc of the vessel's lights. + +Penny swam a few more strokes, then treaded water again, and signaled +frantically. The _River Queen_ did not slacken speed. + +"They haven't seen me!" she thought desperately. "It's useless." + +Now a new danger presented itself. The _Queen_ had swerved slightly so +that Penny was directly in its path. Still she had not been seen. Looming +up in gigantic proportions above her, the ferry threatened to run her +down. + + + + + CHAPTER + 21 + _RESCUE_ + + +Fearful that she would be killed, Penny screamed and waved. Straight on +steamed the _River Queen_, so close now that she could see Sally Barker +on the starboard deck. But the girl was gazing away from her, toward +Sweeper Joe and the other drifting boat. + +"Help! Help!" screamed Penny in one last desperate attempt to save +herself. + +Her cry carried, for she saw Sally whirl around and stare intently at the +dark water ahead. Then she shouted an order to her father. There came a +clanging of bells, and the _Queen_ swerved to port, missing Penny by a +scant ten feet. + +Great waves engulfed her, and she fought to keep above the surface. Her +strength was practically gone. She rolled over on her back, gasping for +breath. + +Then she saw that the _Queen_ had greatly reduced speed and was turning +back on her course. A lifeboat also was being lowered. + +"They're going to pick me up!" Penny thought, nearly overcome by relief. + +The next minute Sally and a sailor were pulling her into the boat. + +"Why, it's Penny! And she's half drowned!" she heard her friend exclaim. + +Then she knew no more. + +When she opened her eyes, Penny found herself in a warm, comfortable bed. +Sally stood beside her with a cup of steaming hot soup. + +"You're coming around fine," she praised. "Drink this! Then you'll feel +better." + +Penny pulled herself up on an elbow and took a swallow of the soup. It +was good and warmed her chilled body. She gulped the cupful down. + +"Sally--" + +"Better not try to talk too much now," Sally advised kindly. "How did you +get into the water?" + +The question aroused Penny, bringing back a flood of memories. She +suddenly realized that she was in Sally's cabin on the _River Queen_ and +the ferry was moving. + +"Where are we?" she asked. + +"You're safe," Sally said soothingly. "You were swimming in the river. We +nearly ran you down. Lucky I saw you just in time and we picked you up." + +"Yes, I know," Penny agreed. "But _where_ are we? Near the Harpers?" + +"Oh, no, we passed their place long ago. We're far upriver." + +Penny struggled up, swinging her feet out of the bunk. She saw then that +she was wearing a pair of Sally's pajamas, and that her own wet garments +hung over a chair. + +"We must turn back!" she cried. "Tell Captain Barker, please! Oh, it's +vitally important, Sally!" + +Sally was maddeningly deliberate. + +"Now don't get excited, Penny," she advised. "Everything will be all +right." + +Penny resisted as Sally tried to push her back into bed. "You don't +understand!" she protested. "Sweeper Joe, Claude Harper, and Clark +Clayton are expecting to make their get-away tonight. They're the ones +who have been stealing brass from the Gandiss factory. It's all cached in +the basement of the Harper house--or was unless they've dumped it." + +"Penny, are you straight in your head? You know what you're saying?" + +"I certainly do! I went there this afternoon. When I learned too much, +they tried to hold me prisoner. I escaped by the river--hid in the grass +patch. But they followed me there, and were about to get me, when the +_River Queen_ steamed by." + +"I did see two small boats there. Just before you shouted I wondered what +they would be doing at this time of night." + +"Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton have been dumping the stolen brass! Unless +police stop them before they dispose of it all, not a scrap of evidence +will be left! All those men expect to leave town tonight!" + +"Thank heavens, we have a ship-to-shore radio telephone!" Sally cried, +thoroughly aroused. "I'll have Pop call the police right away!" + +She bolted out the cabin door. + +Every muscle and joint in Penny's body ached, but there was no time to +think of her misery. Her own clothes could not be put on. Searching in +Sally's wardrobe, she found a sweater and a skirt, and undergarments she +needed. By the time her friend returned, she was dressed. + +"Penny, you shouldn't have gotten up!" Sally protested quickly. + +"I can't afford to miss the excitement," Penny grinned. "Hope you don't +mind lending me some of your clothes." + +"Of course not, and if you must stay up, you'll need a pair of shoes." +Sally found a pair of sandals, which although too large, would serve. +After Penny had put them on, she said: "Let's go to the pilot house, +because I want you to tell Pop exactly what happened." + +"Did you notify police?" + +"Pop sent the message. It may take a little while, but police should be +at the Harpers' almost anytime now." + +"Those men saw me taken aboard this boat," Penny worried. "I'm afraid +they'll get away before the police arrive." + +The girls climbed to the pilot house where Captain Barker had just turned +the wheel over to a helmsman. All members of the crew remained aboard, +for with the _Queen_ late on her run, there had been no opportunity as +yet to put the men ashore. + +"We may need all our hands tonight," Captain Barker predicted. "No +telling what may develop. I have one of those feelings." + +"Now Pop!" reproved Sally. "The last time you made a remark like that, we +smashed a rudder. Remember?" + +"Aye, I remember all too well," he rejoined grimly. + +Urged by Sally, Penny related everything that had happened at the +Harpers', and told of her endurance contest in the grass patch. + +"We'll head back that direction and see what's doing," Captain Barker +offered to satisfy her. "Maybe we'll catch sight of those rascals in +their boats." + +Although the _Queen_ cruised slowly near the shoal area where Penny had +encountered adventure, there was no sign of any small boat. The ferry +crept dangerously close to the grass patch. + +"Watch 'er like a cat!" Captain Barker warned the helmsman. "Cramp her! +Cramp her!" + +When the man did not react speedily enough, he seized the wheel and +helped spin it hard down. The _Queen_ responded readily, moving into +deeper waters. + +Satisfied that there were no small boats in the vicinity, Captain Barker, +headed upstream toward the Harpers'. Across the water, lights were to be +seen on both floors of the two-story river house, but so far as could be +discerned, no boats were tied up at the pier or docks. + +"The place isn't deserted, that's certain," Penny declared, peering into +the wall of darkness. "How long should it take the police to get there?" + +"If the radio message we sent was properly transmitted, they should be on +their way now," the captain replied. + +Sally, impatient for action, was all for taking a crew and descending +upon the house and its occupants. Puffing thoughtfully at his pipe, her +father considered the proposal, but shook his head. + +"We have no authority to make a search," he pointed out. "Any such action +would make us liable for court action. Just be patient and you'll see +fireworks." + +Knowing that to stand by near the Harpers' pier would warn the house +occupants they were being watched, Captain Barker ordered the _Queen_ to +turn downriver toward the main freight and passenger docks. + +An excursion boat, the _Florence_, passed them, her railings lined with +women and children who had enjoyed an all-day outing and were returning +home. The steamer tied up at the Ninth Street dock and began to disgorge +passengers. + +Then it happened. Penny saw a sudden flash of flame which seemed to come +from the hold of the excursion ship. The next instant fire shot from the +portholes and began to spread. + +Captain Barker gave a hoarse shout which sent a chill down her spine. + +"The _Florence_!" he exclaimed huskily. "Her oil tanks must have +exploded! She'll go up like matchwood, and with all those women and +children aboard!" + + + + + CHAPTER + 22 + _CAPTAIN BARKER'S COURAGE_ + + +Never did a fire seem to spread so rapidly. In less than three minutes, +as those aboard the _River Queen_ watched in helpless horror, the +_Florence_ became a mass of flames from stem to stern. Terrified +passengers jammed the gangplank as they tried to crowd ashore. Some of +them leaped from the excursion boat's high railings to the dock below. + +"Her mooring lines are ablaze!" Captain Barker shouted a moment later. + +"And the freight sheds are catching afire," Penny added, observing a +telltale line of flame starting from the flimsy wooden buildings along +the wharf, directly back of the dock where the _Florence_ had moored. + +The blazing sheds worried Captain Barker far less than the fact that the +mooring lines had caught fire. If the _Florence_ should be cut loose from +the dock, helpless women and children would be carried out onto the river +in a flaming inferno. + +"Why don't the fire boats get here!" Sally murmured nervously. "Oh, this +is going to be a dreadful disaster if something isn't done to save those +helpless people!" + +At the bridge leading to the pilot house, Captain Barker stood tensely +watching, his hand on the signal ropes. + +"There go the mooring lines!" he shouted. "The current should bring her +this way!" + +As the _Florence_ slowly drifted away from the blazing wharf, men and +women began to leap over the railings into the dark waters. + +"Man the lifeboats!" Captain Barker ordered his crew tersely. "I'm going +to try to get a tow line on 'er!" He signaled the engine room, and the +_River Queen_ began to back rapidly toward the flaming excursion boat. + +Penny and Sally ran to help launch the lifeboats. With the _River Queen_ +desperately short handed, they would be needed to handle oars. A fireman, +an engineer, Captain Barker and a helmsman must remain at their posts, +which left only three sailors to pick up passengers. + +Leaping into the first boat launched, the girls rowed into the path of +the blazing vessel. In its bright glow against the sky, they could see +panic-stricken passengers running about the decks. An increasing number +were leaping into the water, and many could not swim. + +Ignoring the cries of those who had life belts or were swimming strongly, +they rapidly picked up survivors. To pull children aboard was a +comparatively easy task. But many of the women were heavy, and the +combined strength of the girls barely was sufficient to get them into the +boat without upsetting. + +Finally the lifeboat was filled beyond capacity, and they turned to land +their cargo aboard the _Queen_. Only then did they see what Captain +Barker intended to do. + +His men had succeeded in making a line fast to the _Florence's_ stern. By +this time the excursion boat was a flaming inferno, with only a few +passengers, the captain, and crew remaining aboard. + +"Pop's going to tow the _Florence_ downstream away from the freight +sheds!" Sally cried. "Some of those buildings are filled with war +materials awaiting shipment--coal, oil and I don't know what all! If a +fire once gets going there, nothing will stop it!" + +Working feverishly, the girls unloaded their passengers and went back for +more. Motorboats had set out from shore, and they too aided in the rescue +work. Some of the survivors were taken to land, and others were put +aboard the _Queen_. + +Aided by a sailor they had picked up, the girls worked until they no +longer could see bobbing heads in the swirling waters. + +"We've done all we can," Sally gasped, as they helped the last of the +passengers aboard the _Queen_. "The captain and most of his men will stay +on the _Florence_ as long as they are able." + +Though exhausted by their work, the girls did what they could for those +aboard. Sally distributed all the blankets she could find, and Penny +helped a sailor revive two women who were unconscious from having +swallowed too much water. + +Suddenly there came a loud report like the crack of a pistol. + +The tow line to the _Florence_ had parted! Once more the excursion boat, +now a roaring furnace, was adrift in mid-stream. + +In an instant it was apparent to Penny what would happen. The +cross-current was strong, and in a minute or two would carry the burning +vessel into the wharves and sheds. When the boat struck, flying sparks +would ignite the dry wood for a considerable distance, and soon the +entire waterfront would be ablaze. + +Though outwardly calm, Captain Barker was beset as he appraised the +situation. It would not be possible to get another tow line onto the +_Florence_ for already her decks had become untenable for the crew. The +blazing vessel was drifting rapidly. + +"We could ram her," he muttered. "She might be nosed out into the channel +again, and headed away from the freight docks." + +"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Sally asked anxiously. "We have at least +fifty passengers aboard. In this high wind, the _Queen_ would be almost +certain to catch fire." + +"There's nothing else to do," Captain Barker decided grimly, signaling +the engine room. "The _Florence_ is drifting fast, and before the fire +boats can get here, half the waterfront will be ablaze. Have the +passengers wet down the decks and stand by with buckets!" + +Penny and Sally worked feverishly carrying out orders. The deck hose was +attached, and buckets were brought from below and filled with water. All +survivors who were able to help, cooperated to the fullest extent, +helping wet down the decks and assisting women and children to the stern +of the ferryboat. + +Captain Barker had given an order for the _Queen_ to move full speed +ahead. + +In a moment the two boats made jarring contact. Penny was thrown from her +feet. Scrambling up, she saw that blazing timbers from the _Florence_ had +crashed directly onto the _River Queen's_ deck. Sparks were falling +everywhere. The ferryboat had caught fire in a dozen places. + +Seizing a bucket of water, she doused out the flames nearest her. Heat +from the _Florence_ was intense, and many of the men who had volunteered +to help, began to retreat. + +Penny and Sally stuck at their post, knowing that the lives of all +depended upon extinguishing the flames quickly. Crew members of the +_Florence_ worked beside them with quiet, determined efficiency. + +In the midst of the excitement, the final boatload of picked-up survivors +had to be taken aboard. Captain Jamison, one of the last to leave the +_Florence_, collapsed as he reached the deck. Severely burned, he was +carried below to receive first-aid treatment. + +Undaunted, Captain Barker shouted terse orders, goading the men to +greater activity when the flames showed signs of getting beyond control. +After the first contact with the Florence, only occasional sparks ignited +the _Queen's_ decks, but the heat was terrific. Women and children became +hysterical, fearful that the ferryboat would become a flaming torch. + +"The worst is over now," Sally sighed as she and Penny refilled water +buckets. "Pop knows what he's doing. He's saved the waterfront." + +"But this ferryboat?" + +"It still may go up in smoke, but I don't think so," Sally replied +calmly. "Pop is heading so that the wind will carry the flames away from +us. He'll beach the _Florence_ on Horseshoe Shoal and let the wreck burn +to the water's edge." + +For the next fifteen minutes, there was no lessening of worry aboard the +_River Queen_. The ferryboat clung grimly to the blazing excursion boat, +losing contact at times, then picking her up again, and pushing on toward +the shoal. + +Fire fighting activities aboard the ferryboat became better organized; +the passengers, observing that Captain Barker knew what he was about, +became calm and easily managed. By the time fire boats arrived to spray +the _Florence_ with streams of pressured water, the situation was well in +hand. + +Collapsing on the deck from sheer exhaustion, Penny and Sally gazed +toward the warehouses and docks on the opposite shore. Only one fire of +any size was visible there. + +"The fire boats will quickly put it out," Sally said confidently. "But I +hate to think what would have happened if the wind and current had driven +the _Florence_ along those wharves." + +Penny wiped her cheek and saw that her hand was covered with black soot. +Sally too was a sight. She had ripped the hem from her skirt, her hair +was an untidy mess, everything about her was pungent with smoke. + +"Where were we when all this excitement started?" Penny asked presently. +"If my memory serves me correctly, we had sent out a police call for +Claude Harper and his pals to be arrested. It all seems vague in my mind, +as if it occurred a million years ago." + +"Why, I had forgotten too!" Sally gasped. "I hope the police went there +and caught those men before they made a get-away." + +Scrambling to their feet, the girls moved to the starboard side of the +_Queen_, which permitted a view of the Harper house far upriver. They +were startled and dismayed to see tongues of flame shooting from a +window. + +"That place has caught on fire too!" Sally exclaimed, then corrected +herself. "But sparks from the _Florence_ never could have been carried so +far!" + +"The house has been set afire on purpose!" Penny cried. "Oh, Sally, don't +you see? It's a trick to destroy all the evidence hidden there! The +Harpers intend to skip town tonight, and they're taking advantage of this +fire to make it appear that destruction of the house is accidental!" + + + + + CHAPTER + 23 + _FIRE!_ + + +Sick at heart, the two girls realized with the Harper house aflame, their +last chance of proving the guilt of the brass thieves might be gone. As +they stood at the railing of the _Queen_, gloomily watching the +spreading, creeping line of fire, a motorboat chugged up. + +"Ahoy!" shouted a familiar voice. "Can you take aboard three more +survivors? They're the very last we can find on the river." + +"It's Jack!" Penny cried, recognizing his voice though unable to see his +face in the dark. "After we get the passengers aboard, perhaps he'll take +us upriver to the Harpers!" + +The girls ran to help with the new arrivals, but sailors already had +lifted them from the boat and carried them aboard the _Queen_. + +"This is my last load," Jack called out. "Nearly everyone was saved. +Coast Guard boats are patrolling now, and if there are other survivors, +they'll be taken ashore." + +"Jack!" Penny called down to him. + +"That you, Penny?" he demanded in astonishment. "Why didn't you come back +to Shadow Island this afternoon? We've all been worried about you!" + +"It's a long story, and there's no time to tell it now! Jack, will you +take us to the Harpers' in your motorboat?" + +"Now?" + +"Yes, the house is on fire." + +Helping the girls into the boat, Jack turned to gaze upstream. "That's +strange!" he exclaimed. "How could sparks from the _Florence_ have +carried so far?" + +"The answer is, they didn't," Penny said grimly. "The house was set afire +on purpose. Just get us to the pier as quickly as you can." + +Somewhere along the shore a big city clock struck the hour of midnight. +The young people did not notice. As the boat raced over the water, +bouncing as it struck each high wave, they discussed what had happened +just prior to the outbreak of fire aboard the _Florence_. + +"I know part of the stolen brass was dumped into the river by Sweeper +Joe," Penny revealed excitedly. "The remainder was locked in the basement +of the Harper house the last I knew. And I'm satisfied the brass lantern +taken from the _Queen_ by Adam Glowershick is among the loot. All the +thieves expect to skip town tonight. Probably they're gone by this time." + +Beaching the boat some distance from the burning house, the three young +people ran up the slope. Firemen had not yet reached the scene, and the +few persons who had gathered, were watching the flames but making no +effort to battle them. + +"It's a hopeless proposition," Jack commented. "This far from the city, +there's no water pressure. The house will burn to the ground." + +"And all the evidence with it," Penny added gloomily. "What miserable +luck!" + +No boats were tied up at the dock, nor was there any sign of the Harpers +or their friends in the crowd. Obviously, the entire party had fled. + +"Isn't there some place where we can telephone the police?" Penny +suggested impatiently. "If they act quickly, these men still may be +caught. They can't be very far away." + +"The nearest house is up the beach about an eighth of a mile," Jack +informed. "Maybe we can telephone from there." + +"You two go," Sally said casually. "I want to stay here." + +At the moment, Jack and Penny, intent only upon their mission, thought +nothing about the remark. Following the paved road which made walking +easy, they hastened as fast as they could. + +"Jack," Penny said, puffing to keep pace with him. "There's something I +want to ask you." + +"Shoot!" + +"Why have you felt so friendly toward that crook, Glowershick?" + +Jack's eyebrows jerked upward and he gave a snort of disgust. "Whatever +gave you that crazy idea?" + +"Well, he came to the island, and you borrowed money from me to give +him--" + +"So you recognized him that day?" + +"Yes," Penny answered quietly. "You tried to hide his identity, so I said +nothing more. I kept thinking you would explain." + +"I'm prepared to pay you what I owe, Penny." + +"Oh, Jack, it's not the money. Don't you understand--" + +"You think I've had a finger in lifting the brass lantern from the +_Queen_," Jack said stiffly. + +"Gracious, no! But shouldn't you explain?" + +Jack was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Thanks, Penny, for having a +little faith in me. I know I've been an awful sap." + +"Suppose you tell me all about it." + +"There's nothing to tell. I went to the Harpers a number of +times--attended their dances, and spent a lot of money. I got into debt +to that fellow Glowershick and he pressed me for it." + +"There was nothing more to it?" + +"Not a thing, except that I didn't want my folks to hear about it. That's +why I pretended I didn't know Glowershick. I was afraid you would tell +them. Don't you believe me?" + +"Oh, I do, Jack. I'm so relieved. And the jitterbug girl at Harpers'--" + +"Oh, _her_!" Jack said scornfully. "She was a stupid thing, and I don't +see how I stood her silly chatter. Most of the money I borrowed from +Glowershick was spent on her. As I've said, I was a complete chump." + +Reaching a house some distance back from the river, they found the owner +at home, and were given permission to telephone the police. Jack was +promised by an inspector that all police cruisers would be ordered to +watch for the escaped brass thieves. Railroad terminals, bus depots and +all roads leading from the city would be guarded. + +"Watch the riverfront too," Jack urged. "The men may have gone by boat to +Tate's Beach, intending to catch a train from there." + +Satisfied they had done everything possible, Penny and Jack hastened back +to the Harpers'. The sky was tinted pink and flames now shot from the +roof of the house. A large crowd had gathered, and there was excited talk +and gesturing. + +"Something's wrong!" Penny observed anxiously. + +Pushing through the crowd, they sought vainly to find Sally. + +A woman was talking excitedly, pointed toward the flaming building. + +"I tell you, I saw a girl run in there only a few minutes ago!" she +insisted. "And she didn't come out! She must be in there now!" + +The words shocked Penny and Jack as the same thought came to them. Could +it be that reckless Sally had ventured into the basement of the house, +hoping to recover the brass lantern or other evidence which would +incriminate the thieves? + +"She acted funny when we left her here," Penny whispered in horror. "Oh, +Jack! If she's inside the building--" + +Pushing through the crowd, she grasped the arm of the woman who was +talking. "Who was the girl? What was she wearing?" she demanded tensely. + +"A blue sweater," the woman recalled. "Her hair was flying wild and her +face was streaked with dirt as if she'd already been in the fire. I +thought maybe she lived here." + +"It was Sally," Penny murmured, her heart sinking to her shoe tops. "Why +hasn't someone brought her out?" + +"No human being could get into that house now," declared a man who stood +close by. "The firemen aren't here yet. Anyway, we ain't sure there's +anyone inside." + +"I saw the girl run in, I tell you!" the woman insisted. + +To debate over such a vital matter infuriated Penny and Jack. Sally was +nowhere in the crowd and they were convinced she had entered the blazing +building. Flames were blowing from some of the lower windows and smoke +was dense. It was obvious that no man present was willing to risk his +life to ascertain if the girl were inside. + +"She must have tried to reach the basement!" Penny cried. "Oh, Jack, +we've got to bring her out!" + +Nodding grimly, Jack stripped off his coat. Throwing it over his head as +a shield, he darted into the burning building. Penny, close at his heels, +had no protection. + +Inside the house, smoke was so black they could not see three feet ahead. +Choking, gasping for breath, they groped their way through the living +room to the kitchen. Penny jerked open the door leading into the cellar. + +Flames roared into her face. The entire basement was an inferno of heat. +No human being could descend the stairs and return. If Sally were below, +she was beyond help. + +Closing the door, Penny staggered backwards. Her head was spinning and +she could not get her breath. + +"It's no use!" Jack shouted in her ear. "We've got to get out of here! +The walls or floor may collapse." + +Clutching Penny's arm, he pulled her along. In the black smoke swirling +about them, they missed the kitchen door. + +Frantically, they crept along a scorching hot wall, seeking to find an +exit. + +Then Penny stumbled over an object on the floor and fell. As she tried to +get up, her hand touched something soft and yielding. A body lay sprawled +in a heap beside her on the floor. + +"It's Sally!" she cried. "Oh, Jack, help me get her up!" + + + + + CHAPTER + 24 + _DREDGING THE RIVER_ + + +Sally moaned softly but did not stir as Penny tried to pull her to a +sitting position. The heat now was almost unbearably intense, with flying +brands dropping everywhere. But near the floor, the air was better, and +Penny drew it in by deep gulps. + +Jack's groping hand encountered the sink. Soaking his coat with water +from one of the taps, he gave it to Penny to protect her head and +shoulders. + +"Help me get Sally onto my back in a Fireman's carry," he gasped. "We can +make it." + +The confidence in Jack's voice gave Penny new courage and strength. As he +knelt down on the floor, she dragged Sally onto his back. Holding the +inert body high on his shoulders, he staggered across the kitchen. + +Penny guided him to the door. Flames had eaten into the living room, and +a small portion of the floor had fallen through. To reach the exit was +impossible. + +"A window!" Jack directed. + +Penny could see none, so dense was the smoke, but she remembered how the +room had been laid out, and pulled Jack to an outer wall. Her exploring +hand encountered a window sill, but she could not get the sash up. + +In desperation, she kicked out the glass. A rush of cool, sweet air +struck her face. Filling her lungs, she turned to help Jack with his +burden. Before she could grasp him, he sagged slowly to the floor. + +Thrusting her head through the broken window, Penny shouted for help. + +Willing hands lifted her to safety, and two men climbed through the +window to bring out Jack and Sally. Both were carried some distance from +the blazing building to an automobile where they were revived. + +However, Sally was in need of medical attention. Hair and eyebrows had +been singed half away, and more serious, her hands and arms were severely +burned. Jack and Penny rode with her to the hospital when the ambulance +finally came. + +Not until hours later, after Captain Barker had been summoned, did Sally +know anyone. Heavily bandaged, with her father, Jack, and Penny at her +bedside, she opened her eyes and gave them a half-hearted grin. + +"The _Florence_?" she whispered. + +"Safely beached on a shoal," Captain Barker assured her tenderly. +"There's nothing to worry about. All the passengers have been taken to +hospitals or to their homes. A preliminary check has shown only one man +lost, an engineer who was trapped at his post when the explosion occurred +aboard the _Florence_." + +"Pop, you were marvelous," Sally whispered. "You saved the waterfront." + +"And nearly lost a daughter. Sally, why did you try to get into that +burning building?" + +Sally drew a deep, tired sigh. + +"Never mind," said Penny kindly. "We know why you went in--it was to find +the brass lantern." + +Sally nodded. "When I got to the basement, flames were shooting up +everywhere," she recalled with a shudder. "I realized then that I +couldn't possibly find the lantern or anything else. I tried to get back, +but smoke was everywhere. That was the last I remembered." + +"It was Jack who saved you," Penny said, but he cut in to insist that the +credit belonged to her rather than to him. + +In the midst of a good-natured argument over the subject, a nurse came to +say that Penny and Jack both were wanted on the telephone. + +"The police department calling," she explained. + +They were down the hall in a flash to take the call. Captain Brown of the +city police force informed them they were wanted immediately at police +headquarters to identify Sweeper Joe, the Harpers, and Clark Clayton who +had been arrested at the railroad station. Adam Glowershick also had been +taken into custody. + +At headquarters fifteen minutes later, the young people found Mr. +Gandiss, Penny's father, and Heiney Growski already there. Questioned by +police, the young people revealed everything they knew about the case. + +"We can hold these men for a while," Chief Bailey promised Mr. Gandiss, +"but to make charges stick, we'll have to have more evidence." + +Penny had told of the cache of brass in the Harper basement, and also of +seeing Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton dump much of the loot in the river. +She was assured that the ruins of the house would be searched in the +morning and that a dredge would be assigned to try to locate the brass +which had been thrown overboard into the deepest part of the channel. + +Heiney Growski produced records he had kept, showing a list of Gandiss +factory employes known to be implicated in the plot. + +"Most of the persons involved are new employes who smuggled small pieces +of brass out of the factory and turned them over to Sweeper Joe for pin +money," he revealed. "The leaders are Joe, Clayton, and Glowershick. With +them behind bars, the ring will dissolve." + +"There's one thing I want to know," Penny declared feelingly. "Who +planted the brass in Sally's locker while she was working at the +factory?" + +No one could answer the question at the moment, but the following day, +after police had repeatedly questioned the prisoners, the entire story +became known. Sweeper Joe, the real instigator of the plot, had slipped +into the locker room himself, and had placed the incriminating piece of +evidence in Sally's locker, using a master key. He had disliked her +because several times she had resented his attempts to become friendly. + +Although police had obtained signed confessions, tangible evidence also +was needed, for as Chief Bailey pointed out to Mr. Gandiss, the men might +repudiate their statements when they appeared in court. Accordingly, +police squads were sent to the Harpers' to search the ashes for evidence, +and also to the river to supervise dredging operations. + +Throughout the day, between trips to the hospital to see Sally, Jack and +Penny watched the dredge boat make its trips back and forth over the area +where the loot had been dropped. + +"I hope I wasn't mistaken in the location," Penny remarked anxiously as +the vessel made repeated excursions without success. "After all, the +night was dark, and I had no way of taking accurate bearings." + +Across the river and barely visible, the blackened, smoking skeleton of +the _Florence_ lay stranded on a sandbar. Throughout the night, a +fireboat had steadily pumped water into the burning vessel, but even so, +fires had not been entirely extinguished. + +Morning papers had carried the encouraging information that there was +only one known casualty as a result of the disaster. That many lives had +not been lost was credited entirely to the courageous action of Captain +Barker. + +Becoming weary of watching the monotonous dredging operations, Jack and +Penny joined a throng of curious bystanders at the Harper property. +Police had taken complete charge and were raking the smoldering ruins. + +"Find anything?" Jack asked a policeman he knew. + +The man pointed to a small heap of charred metal which had been taken +from the basement. There were many pieces of brass, but the missing +lantern was not to be found in the pile. + +However, from a member of the arson squad, they learned that enough +evidence had been found to prove conclusively that the fire had been +started with gasoline. + +"Ma Harper spilled the whole story," one of the policemen related. "She +and her husband were fairly straight until they became mixed up with +Sweeper Joe, who has a police record of long standing. Ma had a black +market business in silk stockings that didn't amount to much. So far as +we've been able to learn, she and a taxi driver whom we've caught, were +the only ones involved. Her husband and the other men considered the +stocking racket small potatoes for them." + +After talking with the policemen for awhile, the young people wandered +down to the river's edge to see how dredging operations progressed. + +"They're hauling something out of the water now!" Jack exclaimed. "By +George! It looks like brass to me!" + +Finding a boat tied up at the dock, they borrowed it and rowed rapidly +out to the dredge. There they saw that some of the metal which Sweeper +Joe had dumped, had indeed been recovered. + +Prodding in the muddy pile in the bottom of the dredge net, Penny uttered +a little scream of joy. "The brass lantern is here, Jack! What wonderful +luck!" + +Seizing the slime-covered object, she washed it in the river. "Let's take +it straight to Sally at the hospital!" she urged. + +Because the lantern would be important evidence in the case against +Glowershick, police aboard the dredge were unwilling for it to be +removed. However, the young people carried the news to Sally. + +"Oh, I'm so glad the lantern has been recovered!" she cried happily. +"Jack, you'll win it in the race Friday." + +Jack and Penny exchanged a quick, stricken glance. Temporarily, they had +forgotten the race and all it meant to Sally. With her hands bandaged +from painful burns, she never would be able to compete. + +"We'll postpone the race," Jack said gruffly. "It would be no competition +if we held it without you." + +"Nonsense," replied Sally. "It will be weeks before I can use my hands +well, so it would be stupid to postpone the race that long. Fortunately, +the doctor says I may leave the hospital tomorrow, and I'll not be +scarred." + +"If you can't race, I won't either," declared Jack stubbornly. + +"Jack, you must!" Agitated, Sally raised herself on an elbow. "I'd feel +dreadful if you didn't compete. The race has meant everything to you." + +"Not any more. Winning doesn't seem important now. I'll not sail in the +race unless the _Cat's Paw_ is entered, and that's final!" + +"Oh, Jack, you're such an old mule!" Sally tossed her head impatiently on +the pillow. Then she grinned. "If my _Cat_ is in the race, you'll sail?" + +"Sure," he agreed, suspecting no trick. + +Sally laughed gleefully. "Then it's settled! Penny will represent me in +the race!" + +"I'll do what?" demanded Penny. + +"You'll skipper the boat in my stead!" + +"But I lack experience." + +"You'll win the trophy easily," chuckled Sally. "Why, the _Cat's Paw_ is +by far the fastest boat on the river." + +"Says who?" demanded Jack, but without his old fire. + +"But I couldn't race alone," said Penny, decidedly worried. "Sally, would +you be able to ride along as adviser and captain bold?" + +"I certainly would jump at the chance if the doctor would give +permission. Oh, Penny, if only he would!" + +"The race isn't until Friday," Jack said encouragingly. "You can make it, +Sally." + +The girl pulled herself to a sitting posture, staring at her bandaged +hands. + +"Yes, I can," she agreed with quiet finality. "Why, I feel better +already. Even if I have to be carried to the dock in a wheel chair, I'll +be in that race!" + + + + + CHAPTER + 25 + _THE RACE_ + + +A mid-afternoon sun beat down upon the wharves as a group of sailboats +tacked slowly toward the starting line for the annual Hat Island trophy +race. The shores were lined with spectators, and from the clubhouse where +a band played, music carried over the water. + +At the tiller of the _Cat's Paw_, Penny, in white blouse and slacks, hair +bound tightly to keep it from blowing, sat nervous and tense. Sally, +lounging on a cushion in the bow, seemed thoroughly relaxed. Though her +arms remained in bandages, otherwise she had completely recovered from +her unpleasant experience. + +"Isn't the wind dying?" Penny asked anxiously. "Oh, Sally, I was hoping +we'd have a good stiff breeze for the race! Handicapped as we are--" + +"We're not handicapped," Sally corrected. "Of course, I can't handle the +ropes or do much to help, but we have a wonderful boat that will prove +more than a match for Jack's _Spindrift_." + +"You're only saying that to give me confidence." + +"No, I'm not," Sally denied, turning to study the group of racing boats. +"We'll win the trophy! Just wait and see." + +"If we do, it will be because of your brain and my brawn," Penny +chuckled. "I'll admit I'm scared silly. I never was in an important race +before." + +Conversation ceased, for the boats now were bunching close to the +starting line, maneuvering for position. Jack drifted by in the +_Spindrift_, raising his hand in friendly greeting. As he passed, he +actually glanced anxiously toward Sally, as if worried lest the girl +overtax herself. + +"I hope he doesn't try to throw the race just to be gallant," Penny +thought. "But I don't believe he will, for then the victory would be a +hollow one." + +The change apparent in Jack so amazed Penny that she had to pinch herself +to realize it was true. Since the night of the fire, he had visited Sally +every day. In a brief span of hours, he had grown from a selfish, +arrogant youth into a steady, dependable man. And it now was evident to +everyone that he liked Sally in more than a friendly way. + +"Better come about now, Penny," Sally broke in upon her thoughts. "Head +for the starting line. The signal should be given any minute now." + +The boats started in a close, tight group. Jack was over the line first, +but with _Cat's Paw_ directly behind. + +In the first leg of the race, the two boats kept fairly even, with the +others lagging. As the initial marker was rounded, there was a noticeable +fall-off in the wind. + +"It's going to be a drifting race," Sally confirmed, raising troubled +eyes to the wrinkled sail. "We're barely drawing now and Jack's boat has +the edge in a calm." + +The _Spindrift_ skimmed merrily along, now in the lead by many yards. +Though Penny held the tiller delicately, taking advantage of every breath +of wind, the distance between the two boats rapidly increased. + +"We're out of it," she sighed. "We can't hope to overtake Jack now." + +Sally nodded gloomily. Shading her eyes against the glare of the sun, she +gazed across the river, studying the triangular course. Far off-shore, +well beyond the line the _Spindrift_ and their own boat was taking, the +surface of the water appeared rippled. Ahead of them there was only a +smooth surface. + +"Penny," she said quietly. "I believe there's more breeze out there." + +Penny nodded and headed the _Cat's Paw_ on the longer course out into the +river. To many spectators ashore it appeared that the girls deliberately +had abandoned the race, but aboard the _River Queen_, Captain Barker +grinned proudly at his guests, Mr. Parker, and Mr. and Mrs. Gandiss. + +"Those gals are using their heads!" he praised. "Well, Mr. Gandiss, it +looks as if the Barkers will keep the trophy another year!" + +"The race isn't over yet," Mr. Gandiss rumbled goodnaturedly. + +Aboard the _Cat's Paw_, Penny and Sally were none too jubilant. Although +sails curved with wind and they were footing much faster than the other +boats, the course they had chosen would force them to sail a much longer +distance. Could they cross the finish line ahead of the _Spindrift_? + +"Shouldn't we turn now?" Penny asked impatiently. "Jack's so much closer +than we." + +"Not yet," Sally said calmly. "We must make it in one long tack. He will +be forced to make several. That's our only chance. If we misjudge the +distance, we're sunk." + +Tensely, they watched the moving line of boats close along shore. The +_Spindrift_ seemed almost at the finish line, though her sails barely +were drawing and she moved through the water at a snail's pace. + +Again Penny glanced anxiously at her companion. + +"Now!" Sally gave the signal. + +Instantly Penny swung the _Cat's Paw_ onto the homeward tack. Every inch +of her sails drawing, she swept toward the finish line. + +"We're so much farther away than the _Spindrift_," Penny groaned, +crouching low so that her body would not deflect the wind. "Oh, Sally, +will we make it?" + +"Can't tell yet. It will be nip and tuck. But if we can keep this +breeze--" + +The wind held, and the _Cat's Paw_, sailing to windward of the finish +line, moved along faster and faster. On the other hand, the _Spindrift_ +was forced to make several short tacks, losing distance each time. The +boats drew even. + +Suddenly Sally relaxed, and slumped down on the cushions. + +"Just hold the old girl steady on her course," she grinned. "That brass +lantern is the same as ours!" + +"Then we'll win?" + +"We can't lose now unless some disaster should overtake us." + +Even as Sally spoke, boat whistles began to toot. Sailing experts nodded +their heads in a pleased way, for it was a race to their liking. + +A minute later, sweeping in like a house afire, the _Cat's Paw_ crossed +the finish line well in advance of the _Spindrift_. Jack's boat placed +second with other craft far behind. + +Friendly hands assisted the girls ashore where they were spirited away to +the clubhouse for rest and refreshments. As everyone crowded about to +congratulate them upon victory, Jack joined the throng. + +"It was a dandy race," he said with sincerity. "I tried hard to win, but +you outsmarted me." + +"Why, Jack!" teased Sally. "Imagine admitting a thing like that!" + +"Now don't try to rub it in," he pleaded. "I know I've been an awful +heel. You probably won't believe me, but I'm sorry about the way I +acted--" + +"For goodness sakes, don't apologize," Sally cut him short. "I enjoyed +every one of those squabbles we had. I hope we have a lot more of them." + +"We probably will," Jack warned, "because I expect to be underfoot quite +a bit of the time." + +Later in the afternoon, the brass lantern which had been turned over to +the club by the police, was formally presented to Sally. She was warned +however, that the trophy would have to be returned later for use in court +as evidence against Adam Glowershick. + +The nicest surprise of all was yet to come. Captain Barker was requested +by a committee chairman to kindly step forward into full view of the +spectators. + +"Now what's this?" he rumbled, edging away. + +But he could not escape. Speaking into a loudspeaker, the committee +chairman informed the captain and delighted spectators, that in +appreciation of what he had done to save the waterfront, a thousand +dollar purse had been raised. Mr. Gandiss, whose factory certainly would +have faced destruction had wharves caught fire, had contributed half the +sum himself. + +"Why, beaching the _Florence_ was nothing," the captain protested, deeply +embarrassed. "I can repair the damage done to the _Queen_ with less than +a hundred dollars." + +"The money is yours, and you must keep it," he was told. "You must have a +use for it." + +"I have that," Captain Barker admitted, winking at his daughter. "There's +a certain young lady of my acquaintance who has been hankerin' to go away +to college." + +"Oh, Pop." Sally's eyes danced. "How wonderful! I know where I want to go +too!" + +"So you've been studying the school catalogues?" her father teased. + +Sally shook her head. Reaching for Penny's hand, she drew her close. + +"I don't need a catalogue," she laughed. "I only know I'm scheduled for +the same place Penny selects! She's been my good luck star, and I'll set +my future course by her!" + + + + + Transcriber's Notes + + +--Replaced the list of books in the series by the complete list, as in + the final book, "The Cry at Midnight". + +--Silently corrected a handful of palpable typos. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Guilt of the Brass Thieves, by Mildred A. 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