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.