Under the Canvas
"It begins to look as if my hunch might be correct," Penny told
herself. "Unless that truck merely drove into the garage for gasoline
or service, things look suspicious!"
She saw Brunner follow the car into the building, carefully closing the
doors.
"If everything is honest and above board, why did they use the alley
entrance when the other one is far more convenient?" she reflected.
"Obviously, Brunner knew the car was coming at exactly ten o'clock too."
Convinced that she was on the verge of important discoveries, Penny
settled herself for a long wait. From her chair by the window she
could watch both the alley and the main entrance.
A half hour elapsed, then another. At length Penny's patience was
rewarded. The alley doors swung open and a heavy truck which was
covered over with a canvas top, emerged. The driver wore a cap and his
head was bent low. In the semi-darkness of the dimly lighted street
Penny could not catch even a glimpse of his face.
"I must follow that truck!" she thought tensely. "If Dad were here he
would do it I feel sure! It's the only chance to gain real evidence!"
She waited at the window only long enough to see that the car had
turned down Center Avenue. Scribbling a brief message to her father
explaining what she intended to do, she left the note where he would
find it in the event he returned to the office that night. Then she
raced to the street.
By the time she had her roadster started the covered truck had
disappeared. However, turning down Center Avenue, Penny caught it at
the first traffic light. Satisfied that she would have no trouble in
keeping it in view, she slowed down, falling back to a distance which
was not likely to arouse suspicion.
Penny had no idea where the chase would lead, although the truck seemed
to be driving directly out of the city. From the slow rate of speed at
which it traveled, she thought that it must be heavily loaded with
cargo.
"If I only knew what was hidden under that canvas cover I might have
the solution to the mystery," she reflected. "I think I have it
anyway, but I must secure definite evidence."
Penny was fully aware that she had launched herself upon a dangerous
enterprise. In some manner Joe Franey had lost track of her
completely, and she could no longer count upon his protection. In an
emergency she must depend entirely upon her own resources.
Before Penny had traveled many miles out of the city she began to grow
alarmed because her gasoline gauge showed that she had scarcely a
gallon left. Although she had her purse with her, it contained only a
dollar. She could buy about five gallons of fuel, but should the truck
lead her much farther into the country, she easily might find herself
stranded.
Apparently, the driver ahead faced a similar need for gasoline. At the
next filling station he turned in.
Penny determined upon a bold move. At the risk of detection, she too
drove into the station.
"This will give me just the opportunity I need to get a good look at
that driver!" she thought.
The truck had pulled up alongside of one of the three pumps but as
Penny stopped in the shadow where the light from the filling station
office would not shine fully upon her, she was disappointed to see that
the driver's seat was empty.
"He's gone off somewhere," she told herself. "If only I could be sure
he'd be away for a minute or two, I'd peep under that canvas cover and
see what it is he's hauling."
Before she could transfer the thought into action, a filling station
attendant came to serve her.
"How many?" he inquired.
"Three gallons," Penny said.
While the attendant operated the pump, she looked searchingly about.
The driver of the truck was talking with someone inside the office, but
his back was turned so that she could not see his face.
"Sixty-three cents," the attendant informed politely. "Shall I look at
your oil?"
"It's all right I think," Penny responded, offering the money. The man
went inside for change.
"This is my only chance!" Penny told herself.
Like a flash she was out of the roadster. She moved swiftly to the
back of the truck, cast a quick glance toward the office, and seeing
that she was unobserved, lifted a corner of the canvas cover.
The truck was loaded with automobile wheels.
A sound from the direction of the filling station office caused Penny
to wheel. The driver was coming back!
She dropped the canvas flap and melted back into the shadow. She
pretended to busy herself with the radiator cap of her own car.
"Everything okay, sir?" the station attendant asked, emerging from the
office and addressing the truck driver.
"Yes, what do I owe?"
Penny started as she heard the voice. It was strangely familiar. If
only she could see the driver's face!
"Three-forty-two," the attendant informed the trucker, in response to
his question.
The driver gave him a bill and waited for his change. For the first
time he turned toward Penny. She hastily averted her face, yet looked
over her shoulder an instant later to view his.
"It's Jerry Barrows!" she recognized. "Now I understand in what
capacity he was employed by Brunner!"
The attendant had returned with the driver's change and likewise her
own. He noticed that she had removed the radiator cap from the
roadster.
"Need water?" he questioned pleasantly.
"Please," Penny said, very low.
At the sound of her voice, Jerry Barrows turned, but he saw nothing
more than Penny's back. Apparently satisfied that he had never seen
the girl before, he climbed into his truck.
The attendant had peered down into the radiator of Penny's car.
"It's full to the top," he reported.
"Why, so it is," Penny acknowledged with a self-conscious laugh. "I
guess I didn't look very well."
She stepped into the roadster but spent several minutes putting away
her change and starting the motor. She did not wish to pull away from
the station until after Jerry Barrows had left.
"I intend to find out where he's taking those stolen wheels before I
turn back," she decided grimly.
After a seemingly interminable delay, the boy started his truck and
pulled out of the station. Penny waited a few minutes longer and then
followed.
For some time they traveled over a wide, national highway but presently
the truck driver turned into a dirt road which wound in and out through
the low hills. Several times Penny was forced to stop her car and wait
by the roadside lest she draw too close to the vehicle ahead.
The trail led through a dense forest. Farm houses became farther and
farther apart. After awhile they crossed a river, and directly beyond
Penny noticed an odd wooden structure which appeared to be a rebuilt
sawmill.
The truck turned into a narrow lane which led to the old building.
Penny hesitated to follow lest the driver discover that he was being
shadowed. She parked her car in a clump of bushes just off the road.
Since leaving the main highway she had traveled without headlights.
The truck drew up near the sawmill. Penny could hear the roar of the
powerful engine and see the headlight beam. Then the lights were
switched off and the sound of the motor became muffled.
"He's driven inside the building," she decided. "Unless I get in there
somehow, I'll never discover what is going on."
Penny debated, but in the end curiosity conquered fear. She left the
roadster and stealthily made her way toward the sawmill.