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.