moment. "If anything really is hidden it might be deep down in the well.
She never will find it in that case."
"We might help her," Penny suggested impulsively.
"You know she would resent our interference."
"She probably would if we tell her what we intend to do."
Louise gazed speculatively at her chum, realizing that Penny had some
plan in mind. She waited expectantly, and then as the other did not
speak, inquired:
"Just what scheme are you hatching now?"
"You gave me the idea yourself," Penny chuckled. "The logical place to
search is deep down inside the well. I'm sure the water can't be more
than a few feet deep."
"So you want me to dive in and drown myself?" Louise joked. "Thank you,
but I prefer to restrict my aquatic exercise to swimming pools!"
"Remember that silk ladder I acquired when I helped police capture Al
Gepper and his slippery pals?" Penny demanded, paying no heed to the
teasing.
"I do," Louise nodded. "It was made of braided silk strands by a Chinese
curio man, and had two iron hooks to claw into the wood of window
ledges."
"Those same hooks will fit very nicely over the side of the wishing well.
I've been waiting for a chance to use that ladder, and here it is!"
"Penny! You actually have the courage to climb down into a well?"
"Why not?" Penny laughed. "But it must be tonight while my enthusiasm is
bubbling. Meet me at nine o'clock and bring a good flashlight."
Louise could only stare. "You're actually serious!"
"Indeed I am," Penny replied gaily. "Everything is settled. Now let's
slip away from here before Mrs. Marborough sees us."
CHAPTER
14
_NIGHT ADVENTURE_
The night, dark and misty, was entirely suitable for the purpose to which
the two girls had dedicated it. Dinner over, Penny obtained the unique
silken ladder from an attic trunk. Compressing it into a small
brief-case, she sauntered through the living room.
"Aren't you becoming quite studious of late?" Mr. Parker inquired, noting
the brief-case tucked under her arm. "Off to the library again?"
"Over to Louise's house," Penny corrected vaguely. "From that point on
there's no guarantee."
"You'll be home early?"
"I hope so," Penny answered earnestly. "If for any reason I fail to
appear, don't search in any of the obvious places."
Leaving her father to ponder over the remark, she hastily quitted the
house. A clock chimed nine o'clock as she reached the Sidell house, and a
moment later her chum joined her in the yard.
"I had trouble getting away," Louise reported. "Mother asked a thousand
questions."
"Did you bring the flashlight?"
"Yes, here it is. My, but it's a dark night!"
"All the better for our purpose," Penny said cheerfully.
A single light burned in the kitchen window of the Marborough house as
the girls presently approached it. The garden was shrouded in damp, wispy
mist and the unkempt grounds never had appeared more desolate.
"Penny, must we go through with this?" Louise asked, rapidly losing
enthusiasm for the venture.
"I'll admit the idea doesn't look quite as attractive as it did this
afternoon," her chum replied. "All the same, I'm going through with it!"
"What can you hope to find down in that well?"
Penny did not answer. Walking ahead of Louise, she noiselessly crossed
the yard to the old wishing well. Flashing her light into the circular
interior, her courage nearly failed her. However, she gave no indication
of it to her companion.
"Better be careful of that light," Louise warned. "That is, unless you
want Mrs. Marborough to come out and catch us."
Penny switched off the flashlight and thereafter worked in darkness.
Taking the silken ladder from its case, she fastened the two iron hooks
over the stone ledge. Next, she lowered the ladder into the well,
listening until she heard a faint splash in the water below.
"Now you stay here and keep watch," she instructed briskly. "I'll be down
and back again before you know it!"
"The ladder may break," Louise said pessimistically, seating herself on
the stone ledge of the well. "Silk deteriorates with age, and those
braided strands never did look strong."
"They once held one of Riverview's most notorious apartment-house
burglars," Penny returned with forced cheerfulness. She climbed over the
ledge, gazing down into the dark well. "It's safe enough--I hope."
"In case you slip and fall, just what am I to do?"
"That's your problem," Penny chuckled. "Now hand me the flashlight. I'm
on my way."
Despite their banter, both girls were tense and worried. By daylight, a
descent into the well had seemed to Penny an amusing stunt; but now as
she cautiously descended into the damp, circular pit, she felt that for
once in her life she had ventured too far.
"What do you see?" Louise called softly from above. "Anything?"
Reminded of the work before her, Penny clung with one hand to the swaying
ladder, while with the other she directed the flashlight beam about the
circular walls. The sides were cracked in many places and covered with a
slimy green moss.
"What do you see, Penny?" Louise called again. "Are any of the bricks
loose?"
"Not that I can discover," Penny answered, and her voice echoed weirdly.
Intrigued by the sound she tried an experimental yodel. "Why, it's just
like a cave scene on the radio!"
"In case you've forgotten, you're in a well," Louise said severely.
"Furthermore, if you don't work fast, Mrs. Marborough will come out
here!"
"I have to have a little relaxation," Penny grumbled.
Descending deeper into the well, she resumed her task of examining the
walls. There were no loose bricks, nothing to indicate that anything ever
had been hidden in the cavern. Reaching the last rung without realizing
it, she stepped not into space, but water.
Surprisingly her foot struck a solid foundation.
Hastily pulling herself back on the ladder, Penny shouted the information
to her chum.
"Lou, the water isn't more than a foot and a half deep! There's an old
boot or something of the sort floating around. You don't catch me
drinking any more of this water. No sir!"
There was no reply from above.
"Louise!" Penny called, flashing her light upward.
"Quiet!" came the whispered response. "I think someone is coming!"
"Mrs. Marborough?" Penny gasped, thoroughly alarmed.
"No! Two men! They're turning in at the gate!"
Penny began to climb the silken ladder with frantic haste.
"You never can get out without them seeing you!" Louise hissed. "I'm
ducking out!"
"Don't you dare!"
"They'll see me if I don't. Stay where you are Penny, and I'll come back
after they go. Oh, the ladder! It's sure to give you away!"
In the emergency, Penny's mind worked with rapidity. Lowering herself
into the well several rungs, she deliberately stepped into the water. To
her relief it came just below her knees.
"Quick! Pull up the ladder!" she instructed.
The two men were so close that Louise dared not obey. Instead she loosed
the iron hooks and dropped the ladder into the well. Penny barely was
able to catch it and prevent a loud splash.
"Of all the tricks--" she muttered, but Louise did not hear. She had fled
into a clump of bushes.
Penny huddled against the slimy wall, listening intently. Thinking that
she heard footsteps, she switched out the flashlight.
"This is the place all right," a masculine voice said. "Wonder if the old
lady is at home?"
"There's a light showing."
The voices faded away, and Penny drew a deep sigh of relief. Impatiently
she waited for Louise to come to her aid. After several minutes she
realized why her chum delayed, for she again heard voices.
"The old lady must be inside the house. Funny she wouldn't come to the
door. They say she's a queer one though."
To Penny's discomfort, the two men paused by the wishing well.
"Want a drink?" she heard one ask.
The voices seemed faintly familiar to Penny and suddenly it dawned upon
her that the two men were Mr. Coaten and his Texas friend. However, she
could think of no reason why they should call upon Mrs. Marborough. Her
reflection came to an abrupt end, as the well bucket splashed into the
water beside her.
Suppressing a giggle, she groped for the old boot which floated nearby.
Dropping it into the bucket, she watched as it was raised to the surface.
A moment later she heard an exclamation of wrath from above.
"See what I've drawn up!" one of the men muttered. "These old wells must
be filled with filth!"
Penny hoped that the strangers would immediately depart, but instead they
loitered by the well, talking.
"We've been wasting entirely too much time in this," remarked the man
whom she took to be Mr. Coaten. "Suppose we were to offer Ted a hundred
dollars to sign the paper. Would he do it?"
"I think he might, but the girl is the one who'll make trouble. She's
shrewd."
"We'll get around her somehow," the other said gruffly. "This thing can't
drag on forever. I have work waiting for me in Texas."
The voices gradually died away and Penny heard no more. However, from the
snatch of conversation, she was convinced that Rhoda's suspicions
regarding the Texas strangers had been well founded. But what had brought
the two men to Riverview?
"If Rhoda or Ted own property, I could understand why it would be
desirable to adopt them," she thought. "As it is, the thing doesn't make
sense."
To keep from freezing, Penny gingerly waded around and around in the
well. It seemed ages before Louise thrust her head over the ledge and
called softly:
"Are you still there, pet?"
"I'm frozen into one big icicle!" Penny retorted. "Get me out of here."
Instructing her chum to lower the bucket, Penny fastened the silken
ladder to the handle. Louise hauled it up, and again hooked the irons to
the ledge of the well.
Stiffly, Penny climbed toward the surface. She had nearly reached the top
when the beam of light chanced to play across a section of brick which
hitherto had escaped her notice. Halting, she traced with her finger a
rectangular pattern on the wall.
"That's not an ordinary crack!" she thought. "It might be an old opening
which has been bricked up!"
"Are you coming?" Louise called impatiently.
"I am," said Penny, emerging from the well. "And don't you dare say that
this night has been a failure. I've just made a most astounding
discovery!"
CHAPTER
15
_OLD BOTTLES_
Penny's startling appearance rather than her words made the deepest
impression upon Louise. The girl's shoes and stockings were wet, her
clothing was smeared with green slime, and strings of moss clung to her
hair.
"You look like Father Neptune emerging from the briny deep," she
chuckled.
"I'm freezing to death," Penny chattered. "Come on, we're going home!"
Louise hauled up the silken ladder from the well. Squeezing out the
water, she compressed it into the carrying case.
"What were you saying about a discovery?" she inquired belatedly.
"Oh, nothing of consequence," Penny answered, pounding her hands together
to restore circulation. "Merely an opening in the side of the well. It
probably leads into a tunnel."
"Penny! Are you sure?"
"I'm not sure of anything except that I'm going home!" Penny replied
crossly.
She started across the lawn with her chum hurrying after her.
"Oh, Penny, I'm terribly sorry," Louise said contritely. "I know you had
an awful time down in the well. But it wasn't my fault those two men
arrived just when they did."
"Who were they?" Penny asked, mollified by the apology. "From their
voices I took them to be Mr. Coaten and his friend."
"That's who they were. But, I can't imagine why they came to see Mrs.
Marborough. Anyway, they didn't get into the house."
"Lou, I heard those men talking while I was down in the well," Penny
revealed. "I'm sure they're dishonest. They want Ted and Rhoda to sign
something over to them."
"But Rhoda said she and her brother have no property."
"I know," Penny frowned. "I can't make head nor tail of the situation.
I'm too miserable to think about anything now."
Pausing beside a tree, she removed one of her shoes. After pouring a
little water from it, she replaced it and went through a similar
procedure with the other shoe.
"Please tell me what else you learned while in the well," Louise pleaded.
"Haven't I been punished enough?"
Her good humor restored, Penny grinned amiably. "To tell you the truth,
Lou, I'm not sure whether I found anything or not."
"But you said--"
"I know. Just as I reached the top of the well I noticed a section of
brick wall which seemed to be cracked in the exact shape of a rectangle."
"Was that all?" Louise asked in disappointment.
"I didn't even take time to examine the place. I felt so disgusted,"
Penny resumed. "However, I believe that if one were able to remove those
loose bricks, an opening might be found behind them."
"Where something may be hidden?"
"It's possible."
"How could one remove the bricks without hiring a workman?" Louise asked
after a moment.
"If they are as loose as I think they are, I might be able to get them
out myself. Not tonight though."
Penny felt in no mood to discuss future possibilities or even to consider
them. Already cold, the misty air added to her physical discomfort.
"Better get a hot shower and go to bed," Louise advised as they finally
reached the Parker home. "We'll talk things over in the morning."
Not desiring to attract attention to herself, Penny entered the house by
a side door. To her discomfiture, Mrs. Weems, who chanced to be getting a
drink in the kitchen, saw the disheveled clothing.
"Why, Penny Parker!" she exclaimed. "What have you done to yourself?"
"Nothing," Penny mumbled. "I'm just a little wet. I've been down in a
well."
"There are times when your jokes don't seem at all funny," the
housekeeper said sternly. "How did you ruin your clothes?"
"That's the truth, Mrs. Weems. I was down in a well and I stepped off
into the water--"
"Penny, you can't expect me to believe such a tall story. Now tell me
exactly what _did_ happen."
"Would it seem more reasonable if I said that I stumbled and fell into a
ditch?"
"I rather thought something of the sort happened," Mrs. Weems declared.
"How did the accident occur?"
"It didn't," Penny maintained plaintively.
Escaping upstairs before the housekeeper could question her further, she
took a hot shower and went to bed. She could hear a murmur of voices in
the living room below, and knew that Mrs. Weems was discussing her
"behavior" with her father.
"Sometimes grownups are so unreasonable," she sighed, snuggling into the
covers. "You tell them the truth and what they really want is a nice
logical whopper!"
Penny slept soundly and did not awaken until the Sunday morning sun was
high in the heavens. Sitting up in bed, she moved her arms
experimentally. They were very sore and stiff. She swung her feet to the
floor and groaned with pain.
"Guess I can't take it any more," she muttered. "I must be getting soft,
or else it's old age sneaking up on me!"
Torturing herself with a limbering exercise, Penny dressed and went
downstairs. Mrs. Weems had gone to church while Mr. Parker had submerged
himself in fifty-eight pages of Sunday paper. Detouring around the living
room, Penny went to the kitchen to prepare herself a belated breakfast.
She was picking at the nuts of a fruit salad found in the ice box when
her father appeared in the doorway.
"Penny--" he began sternly.
"Where was I last night?" she interrupted. "I've said before, and now
repeat--in a well! A nice deep one with water in it."
"When you're ready to tell me the real story, I shall listen," Mr. Parker
said quietly. "Until that time, I must deprive you of your weekly
allowance."
"Oh, Dad!" Penny wailed. "You know I'm stony broke! I won't be able to
drive my car or even buy a hot dog!"
"That is your misfortune. Mrs. Weems says I have been entirely too
indulgent with you, and I am inclined to agree with her. I've seldom
checked your comings or goings, but in the future I shall expect you to
tell me your plans when you leave the house at night."
Having delivered his ultimatum, Mr. Parker quietly withdrew.
Penny had lost her appetite for breakfast. Feeling much abused she banged
out the kitchen door into the yard. Her first act was to inspect the
gasoline tanks of both Leaping Lena and the maroon car. As she had
feared, the combined fuel supply did not equal three gallons.
"There's just about fifty-five miles between me and misery," she
reflected grimly. "I wouldn't dare siphon gas out of Dad's car or ask for
credit at a filling station either!"
Wandering around to the front porch, she sat down on the steps. One of
her high school boy friends pedalled past on his bicycle, calling a
cheery greeting. Penny barely responded.
Presently a milk wagon clattered to a stop in front of the house. The
driver came up the walk with his rack of milk bottles. Penny eyed him
speculatively.
"We have a lot of old bottles in the basement," she greeted him. "Does
your company pay for them?"
"Sorry," he declined. "We use only our own stamped bottles. There's no
deposit charge. Customers are expected to return them without rebate."
The driver left a quart of milk on the back doorstep of the Parker home.
In walking to his wagon, he paused beside Penny, remarking:
"Maybe you could sell your old bottles to a second-hand dealer. I saw one
on the next street about five minutes ago."
"Where?" Penny demanded, jumping to her feet.
"He was on Fulton Avenue when I drove past."
Thanking the driver, Penny ran as fast as her stiff limbs would permit to
the next street corner. Far up the avenue she saw a battered old car of
the second-hand man. Hurrying on, she reached the automobile just as its
owner came from a house carrying an armful of corded newspapers.
"Excuse me," she called eagerly, "do you buy old bottles?"
The man turned toward her, doffing his derby hat.
"Good morning, Miss," he said. "I buy newspapers, old furniture, rubber
tires, copper, brass, or gold, but not bottles."
Penny scarcely heard the discouraging information for she was staring at
the man as if his appearance fascinated her. For a moment she could not
think where she had seen him before. And then suddenly she remembered.
"Why, I saw you at Mrs. Marborough's place!" she exclaimed. "You're the
one person who has been inside the house! I want you to tell me all about
it."
CHAPTER
16
_INSIDE THE MANSION_
Mr. Butterworth, the second-hand dealer, scarcely knew what to make of
Penny's abrupt request.
"Tell me how the house looks inside," she requested as he remained mute.
"Is it as handsome as folks say?"
"You are a friend of Mrs. Marborough?" the man inquired, cocking his head
sideways as he regarded the girl.
"Of course."
"Then why do you not ask Mrs. Marborough that question?"
"Because she never invites anyone into her house," Penny explained
patiently. "You're the only person to get in so far as I know. I'll
venture she sold you something. Am I right?"
"Maybe so," Mr. Butterworth grinned. "My lips, they are sealed."
"Sealed?"
"I promise Mrs. Marborough I tell nothing of what I see in the house."
"Then there is something mysterious going on there!" Penny exclaimed.
"Tell me, why did you go to the house?"
"Mrs. Marborough sent for me."
"But why?" Penny demanded, exasperated because she could learn nothing of
importance. "Did Mrs. Marborough sell you something?"
"Maybe so, maybe not," the second-hand man answered, climbing into his
overloaded car. "You ask her."
Penny watched him drive away, and then returned to her own doorstep. She
was listlessly throwing acorns at a squirrel when Louise Sidell came down
the street, dressed in her Sunday best.
"What's the matter, Penny?" she inquired, roving over to the porch. "How
do you feel this morning?"
"Lower than the center of the earth. I've lost my reputation with Dad, my
allowance, and my initiative. If I had a nickel I'd go drown myself in a
coke!"
"What you need is a nice adventure," Louise said mischievously. "How
about a trip out to Mrs. Marborough's tomorrow night?"
"I've had enough of wells!"
"Penny, you don't mean it!" Louise grinned. "After discovering those
loose bricks, you'll just forget about them?"
"Why not?" Penny demanded wildly. "Dad won't let me leave the house at
night any more without a six thousand page report on where I am going. If
I so much as mention Mrs. Marborough's well, he'll clap on a double
punishment."
"You can manage it somehow," Louise declared with confidence. "I'll meet
you tomorrow night about eight-thirty."
"Maybe," Penny said gloomily.
Throughout the day she tried to win favor with both Mrs. Weems and her
father by doing small things to please them. When the housekeeper came
home from church, dinner awaited her. Penny insisted upon doing the
dishes. She straightened the kitchen, she brought her father his bedroom
slippers, and refrained from turning on the radio while he was reading.
The schedule was a trying one for her, but she kept it up faithfully all
day Sunday and until after dinner on Monday. Then came the denouement
upon which she pinned her hopes.
"Dad," she said demurely, leaning on the chair arm and stroking his hair,
"with your kind permission I should like to absent myself from the house
for a few minutes."
"Where do you plan to go?" he asked, trying to act stern.
Penny was prepared for the question. From her pocket she whisked a
lengthy typewritten paper, handsomely decorated with a diagram.
"What's this?" Mr. Parker asked, his lips twitching slightly.
"Merely a report on my proposed movements for the next hour. At
eight-thirty I hope to be at Louise's house. Eight thirty-four should
find me on Adams Street, moving southward. At eight thirty-eight I pass
Gulbert Park--"
"Never mind," Mr. Parker interrupted. "I see by this lengthy document
that your ultimate destination is Mrs. Marborough's estate. Isn't it
rather late to pay a social call?"
"Eight-thirty?"
"What does this X on the map represent?" the publisher asked, his
interest shifting.
"Oh that?" smiled Penny. "Merely one of the fixtures in Mrs. Marborough's
yard. Louise and I think treasure may be hidden there."
Amused by what he took to be his daughter's whimsy, Mr. Parker returned
the diagram to her.
"Do I have your permission to leave the house?" she asked anxiously.
"Yes, you may go," he agreed. "But mind, no late hours. And no more tall
tales about falling into wells!"
Louise was waiting for Penny in the Sidell yard and the girls went as
quickly as they could to the Marborough estate. The house was completely
dark, leading them to believe that the widow might have absented herself
for the evening.
"We'll have to be especially careful," Louise warned as they approached
the old wishing well. "She might return at any moment and find us."
Penny had brought the silken ladder, extra rope, a flashlight and a suit
of warm coveralls which her father used when he worked on the car.
Donning the bulky garment, she prepared to descend a few feet into the
well.
"Do be careful," Louise said anxiously. "If you should fall you might
kill yourself."
"You think of the most cheerful things," Penny muttered, climbing nimbly
down the swaying ladder. "I'm not taking any chances though. I'll tie
myself to the ladder with this extra piece of rope."
After she had gained the position she desired, Louise handed down the
flashlight. Penny carefully inspected the brick wall.
"I believe it is an opening!" she reported jubilantly. "I really do.
Here, take this flash. I can't work and hold it."
While Louise directed the beam from above, Penny tugged at the bricks.
Unable to move them, she called for a tool which she had brought with
her. By means of it, she easily pried one of the bricks loose. Pushing
her arm through the opening, she encountered only empty space.
"It's a little tunnel I think!" she shouted to Louise. "Take this brick,
and I'll try to pry out others!"
Within ten minutes Penny had handed up enough of them to make a large
pile beside the flagstones.
"Do you realize you're practically destroying Mrs. Marborough's well!"
Louise said uneasily. "How will we ever explain this?"
"I can put the bricks back again," Penny assured her. "They were meant to
come out. Now, the flashlight again."
Balancing herself precariously on the ladder, she directed the light
through the opening she had created. A long narrow tunnel which she
judged to be about five feet below the ground, extended as far as she
could see.