_CONTENTS_
CHAPTER PAGE
1 LOST ON A HILLTOP 1
2 AT THE LISTENING POST 11
3 AN UNPLEASANT DRIVER 20
4 STOLEN TIRES 26
5 AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW 35
6 FRONT PAGE NEWS 43
7 QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS 52
8 A FEW CHANGES 58
9 AN OPEN SAFE 68
10 TALE OF A GHOST 75
11 BY A CEMETERY WALL 85
12 FLIGHT 91
13 A BLACK MARKET 100
14 A FAMILIAR FIGURE 107
15 GHOST IN THE GARDEN 117
16 A DOOR IN A BOX 125
17 ADVENTURE BY MOONLIGHT 134
18 THROUGH THE CELLAR WINDOW 142
19 A BAFFLING SEARCH 151
20 ACCUSATIONS 157
21 MRS. BOTTS' REVELATION 166
22 A PARK BENCH 173
23 FORGOTTEN EVENTS 180
24 TRICKERY 190
25 FINAL EDITION 203
CHAPTER
1
_LOST ON A HILLTOP_
The little iceboat, with two laughing, shouting girls clinging to it,
sped over the frozen surface of Big Bear River.
"Penny, we're going too fast!" screamed Louise Sidell, ducking to protect
her face from the biting wind.
"Only about forty an hour!" shrieked her companion gleefully.
At the tiller of the _Icicle_, Penelope Parker, in fur-lined parka,
sheepskin coat and goggles, looked for all the world like a jolly Eskimo.
Always delighting in a new sport, she had built the iceboat
herself--spars from a wood lot, the sail from an old tent.
"Slow down, Penny!" pleaded her chum.
"Can't," shouted Penny cheerfully. "Oh, we're going into a hike!"
As one runner raised off the ice, the boat tilted far over on its side.
Louise shrieked with terror, and held tight to prevent being thrown out.
Penny, hard pressed, sought to avert disaster by a snappy starting of the
main sheet.
For a space the boat rushed on, runners roaring. Then as a sudden puff of
wind struck the sail, the steering runner leaped off the ice. Instantly
the _Icicle_ went into a spin from which Penny could not straighten it.
"We're going over!" screamed Louise, scrambling to free her feet.
The next moment the boat capsized. Both girls went sliding on their backs
across the ice. Penny landed in a snowdrift at the river bank, her parka
awry, goggles hanging on one ear.
"Are you hurt, Lou?" she called, jumping to her feet.
Louise sprawled on the ice some distance away. Slowly she pulled herself
to a sitting position and rubbed the back of her head.
"Maybe this is your idea of fun!" she complained. "As for me, give me
bronco busting! It would be a mild sport in comparison."
Penny chuckled, dusting snow from her clothing. "Why, this is fun, Lou.
We have to expect these little upsets while we're learning."
The sail of the overturned iceboat was billowing like a parachute.
Slipping and sliding, Penny ran to pull it in.
"Take the old thing down!" urged Louise, hobbling after her. "I've had
enough ice-boating for this afternoon!"
"Oh, just one more turn down the river and back," coaxed Penny.
"No! We're close to the club house now. If we sail off again, there's no
telling where we'll land. Anyway, it's late and it's starting to snow."
Penny reluctantly acknowledged that Louise spoke pearls of wisdom. Large,
damp snowflakes were drifting down, dotting her red mittens. The wind
steadily was stiffening, and cold penetrated her sheepskin coat.
"It will be dark within an hour," added Louise. Uneasily she scanned the
leaden sky. "We've been out here all afternoon."
"Guess it is time to go home," admitted Penny. "Oh, well, it won't take
us long to get the _Icicle_ loaded onto the car trailer. Lucky we upset
so close to the club house."
Setting to work with a will, the girls took down the flapping sail. After
much tugging and pushing, they righted the boat and pulled it toward the
Riverview Yacht Club. Closed for the winter, the building looked cold and
forlorn. Penny, however, had left her car in the snowy parking lot, which
was convenient to the river.
"Wish we could get warm somewhere," Louise said, shivering. "It must be
ten below zero."
Pulling the _Icicle_ behind them, the girls climbed the slippery river
bank. Snow now swirled in clouds, half-curtaining the club house.
"I'll get the car and drive it down here," Penny offered, starting toward
the parking lot. "No use dragging the boat any farther."
Abandoning the _Icicle_, Louise went with her chum. A dozen steps took
the girls to a wind-swept corner of the deserted building. Rounding it,
they both stopped short, staring.
On the snow-banked parking lot where the car had been left, there now
stood only one vehicle, an unpainted, two-wheel trailer.
"Great fishes!" exclaimed Penny. "Where's the coupe?"
"Maybe you forgot to set the brake and it rolled into a ditch!"
"In that case, the trailer would have gone with it." Her face grim, Penny
ran on toward the parking lot.
Reaching the trailer, the girls saw by tire tracks in the snow that the
car had been detached and driven away.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Penny wailed, pounding her mittens together. "The
coupe's been stolen!"
"What's that across the road?" Louise demanded. "It looks like an
automobile to me. In the ditch, too!"
Taking new hope, Penny went to investigate the little ravine. Through a
screen of bare tree branches and bushes, she glimpsed a blur of metal.
"It's the car!" she cried jubilantly. "But how did it get across the
road?"
Penny's elation quickly died. Drawing nearer, she was dismayed to see
that the coupe appeared to be lying on its stomach in the ditch. Four
wheels and a spare had been removed.
"Stripped of every tire!" she exclaimed. "The thief ran the car out here
on the road so we couldn't see him at work from the river!"
"What are we going to do?" Louise asked weakly. "We're miles from
Riverview. No houses close by. We're half frozen and night is coming on."
Penny, her face very long, had no answer. She measured the gasoline tank
with a stick. All of the fuel had been siphoned. She lifted the hood,
expecting to find vital parts of the engine missing. However, everything
appeared to be in place.
Seeking protection from the penetrating wind, the girls climbed into the
car to discuss their situation.
"Can't we just wait here until someone comes along and gives us a lift to
town?" suggested Louise.
"Yes, but we're on a side road and few cars travel this way during
winter."
"Then why not go somewhere and telephone?"
"The nearest stores are at Kamm's corner, about two miles away."
Louise gazed thoughtfully at the soft snow which was banking deeper on
the windshield of the car.
"Two miles in this, facing the wind, will be a hard hike. Think we ought
to try it, Penny?"
"I'm sure I don't want to. And we needn't either! Do you remember Salt
Sommers?"
"The photographer who works on your father's newspaper?"
"Yes, he spends his spare time as an airplane spotter. His station is
over in the hills not more than a half mile from here! Why not tramp over
there and ask him to telephone our folks?"
"Are you sure you know the way?"
"I was there once last summer," Penny said confidently. "One follows a
side road through the woods. I'm sure I can find it."
"All right," Louise consented, sliding from behind the steering wheel.
"If we're going, let's move right along."
Stiff with cold, the girls trudged past the club house and on down the
road. Snow was falling faster and faster. Several times they paused to
wipe their frosted goggles.
"This promises to be a man-sized blizzard," Louise observed uneasily.
"It's getting dark early, too."
Penny nodded, her thoughts on what she would say to her father when she
reached home. The car had been fully insured, but even so it would not be
easy to replace five stolen tires. Ruefully she reflected that Mrs.
Weems, the kindly housekeeper who had looked after her since her mother's
death, had not favored the river trip.
"Oh, don't take it so hard," Louise tried to cheer her. "Maybe the thief
will be caught."
"Not a chance of it," Penny responded gloomily.
A hundred yards farther on the girls came to another side road which
wound upward through the wooded hills. Already there was an ominous dusk
settling over the valley. Penny paused to take bearings.
"I think this is the way," she said doubtfully.
"You think!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure," Penny amended. "Salt's station is up there on
top of one of those hills. If this snow would stop we should be able to
see the tower from here."
Slightly reassured, Louise followed her chum across a wooden bridge and
up a narrow, winding road. On either side of the frozen ditches, tall
frosted evergreens provided friendly protection from the stabbing, icy
wind. Nevertheless, walking was not easy for the roadbed bore a shell of
treacherous ice.
Confident that they soon would come to the airplane listening post, the
girls trudged on. Penny, anxious to make the most of the remaining
daylight, set a stiff pace.
"Shouldn't we be coming to the station?" Louise presently asked. "Surely
we've gone more than a half mile."
"The post is a little ways off from the road," Penny confessed, peering
anxiously at the unbroken line of evergreens. "We should be able to see
it."
"In this blinding snow? Why, we may have passed the station without
knowing it."
"Well, I don't think so."
"You're not one bit sure, Penny Parker!" Louise accused. "We were crazy
to start off without being certain of the post's location."
"We always can go back to the car."
"I'm nearly frozen now," Louise complained, slapping her mittens
together. "There's no feeling in one of my hands."
Penny paused to wipe the moisture from her goggles. From far down the
road came the sound of a laboring motor. She listened hopefully.
"A car, Lou!" she cried. "Everything will be all right now! We'll hail it
and ask the driver for a lift."
Greatly encouraged, the girls waited for the approaching vehicle. They
could hear it climbing a steep knoll, then descending. From the sound of
the engine they decided that it must be a truck and that it might round
the curve at a fast speed.
Worried lest the driver fail to see them, the girls stepped out into the
middle of the road. As the truck swerved around the bend, they shouted
and waved their arms.
The startled driver slammed on brakes, causing the big black truck to
slide like a sled. Penny and Louise leaped aside, barely avoiding being
struck.
As they watched anxiously, the driver recovered control of the machine.
He straightened out and brought the truck to a standstill farther up the
road.
Penny seized her chum's hand. "Come on, Lou! He's going to give us a
ride!"
Before they could reach the truck, the driver lowered the cab window.
Thrusting his head through the opening he bellowed angrily:
"What you tryin' to do? Wreck my truck?"
Giving the girls no opportunity to reply, he closed the cab window.
Penny saw that the man was intending to drive on. "Wait!" she called
frantically. "Please give us a ride! We're lost and half frozen!"
The man heard for he flashed an ugly smile. Shifting gears, he drove
away.
"Of all the shabby tricks, that's the worst!" Penny said furiously. "It
wasn't our fault his old truck skidded."
"But it is our fault we're lost on this road," Louise added. "How are we
ever to find the listening post?"
Penny leaned against the leeward side of a giant pine. Already it was so
dark that she could see only a few feet down the road. There were no
houses, no lights, nothing to guide her.
"Penny, are we really lost?" Louise demanded, suddenly afraid.
"We really, truly are," her chum answered in a quavering voice. "The post
must be somewhere near here, but we'll never find it. All we can do is
try to get back to the car."
CHAPTER
2
_AT THE LISTENING POST_
Penny's courage did not long forsake her. She had suggested to Louise
that they return to the stripped car, but she knew that would not solve
their problem. Staring up the dark road, she remarked that they must be
close to the summit of the hill.
"Then why not keep on?" urged Louise. "We set out to find the listening
post, so let's do it!"
They trudged on up the winding road. At intervals, in an attempt to
restore circulation to numbed feet, they ran a few steps. Snow fell
steadily, whipping and stinging their faces.
Gasping, half-winded, they kept doggedly on. Finally they struggled into
a clearing at the top of the hill. Penny wiped her eyes and gazed down
through a gap in the white-coated evergreens. A quarter of the way down
the slope on the other side appeared a glowing dot of light.
"I'm afraid it's only a cabin," she said dubiously. "It can't be the
airplane listening post."
"Let's go there anyway," advised Louise. "We can warm ourselves and ask
how to get back to civilization."
They pushed on, still following the road. Downhill walking was much
easier and at intervals they were encouraged by a glimpse of the light.
Then, rounding a bend of the road, the girls came to an artistic, newly
constructed iron fence, banked heavily with snow. The fence led to a high
gate, and behind the gate loomed a dark, sprawling house with double
chimneys.
"The place is deserted!" Louise observed in disappointment. "What became
of the light we've been following?"
"It must be farther on. This house looks as if it had been closed for the
winter."
Penny went to the gate and rattled a heavy chain which held it in place.
Peering through the palings, she could see an unshoveled driveway which
curved gracefully to a pillared porch. The spacious grounds were dotted
with evergreens and shrubs, so layered with snow that they resembled
scraggly ghosts.
"Wonder who owns this place?" speculated Louise.
"Don't know," Penny answered, turning away. "In fact, I don't recall ever
having seen it before."
Her words carried special significance to Louise.
"If you've never seen this house before, then we're on a strange road!
Penny, we never will find the listening post!"
"I'm beginning to suspect it myself," Penny admitted grimly. "But we must
keep plodding on. That light can't be far ahead."
Turning their backs upon the gloomy estate, they again braved the
penetrating wind. Soon Louise lost her footing and fell. She remained in
a dispirited little heap until Penny pulled her off the ice.
"Let's keep going, Lou," she urged. "It won't be long now."
Louise allowed Penny to pull her along. They rounded a curve in the road,
and there, miraculously, the lighted cabin rose before them.
"At last!" exulted Louise. "The Promised Land!"
Staggering up a shoveled path, they pounded on the cabin door. An old
man, who held a kerosene lamp, responded promptly.
"Come in, come in!" he invited heartily. "Why, you look half frozen."
"Looks aren't deceitful either," Penny laughed shakily.
As the girls went into the warm room a little whirlpool of wind and snow
danced ahead of them. Quickly the old man closed the door. He made places
for Penny and Louise at the stove and tossed in a heavy stick of wood.
"Bad night to be out," he commented cheerfully.
Penny agreed that it was. "We're lost," she volunteered, stripping off
her wet mittens. "At least we can't find the airplane listening post."
"Why, it's just a piece farther on," the old man replied. "The tower's
right hard to see in this storm."
While they thawed out, the girls explained that they had been forced to
abandon their car at the Riverview Yacht Club. The old man, whose name
was Henry Hammill, listened with deep sympathy to their tale of woe.
"I'll hitch up my horses and take you to Riverview in the sled," he
offered. "That is, unless you'd rather stop at the listening tower."
"It would save you a long trip," Penny returned politely. "If Salt
Sommers is on duty, I'm sure he'll take us to our homes."
In the end it was decided that Old Henry should drive the girls as far as
the post. Then, if arrangements could not be made with the photographer,
he would keep on to Riverview.
Warm at last, Penny and Louise declared that they were ready to start.
Old Henry brought the sled to the door and the team soon was racing down
the icy road. Above the jingle of bells arose occasional squeals of
laughter, for the young passengers enjoyed every minute of the unexpected
ride.
Presently Old Henry pulled up at the side of the road.
"There's the tower," he said, pointing to a two-story wooden observatory
rising above the evergreens. "I'll wait until you find out if your
friend's here."
The girls thanked the old man for his kindly help and scrambled from the
sled. They were sure their troubles were over, for they could see Salt
Sommers seated at a table in the lighted tower.
A flight of steps led to a narrow catwalk which ran around three sides of
the glass-enclosed house. Before Penny and Louise could hammer on the
door Salt opened it.
"Well, see what the storm blew in!" the young man exclaimed. "I didn't
expect you girls to pop in on a night like this."
"Salt, how soon will you be driving to Riverview?" Penny asked
breathlessly.
"About twenty minutes. As soon as my relief shows up."
"May we ride with you?"
"Why, sure."
Penny called down from the catwalk to tell Old Henry he need not wait.
With a friendly wave of his hand, the cabin owner drove away. The girls
then followed Salt into the drafty tower room.
Curiously they gazed at their surroundings. In the center of the room
stood a small coal stove. Above it a tacked sign admonished: "Keep this
fire going!" There was a table, two chairs and a telephone. Also a round
clock which indicated seven-forty.
Before Penny and Louise could explain why they had come, Salt held up a
warning finger.
"Listen!" he exclaimed. "Wasn't that a plane?"
He ran out on the catwalk, letting in an icy blast of wind. In a moment
he came back, grinning sheepishly.
"A passenger airplane is due through here about this time. Sometimes I
listen for it so hard I imagine the sound of the engine."
"The job must get tiresome at times," Penny ventured, making herself
comfortable by the glowing stove.
"Oh, it does, but I'm glad to serve my trick. What brings you girls here
on such a wild night?"
The story was quickly told. Nevertheless, by the time Penny had
telephoned to Mrs. Weems, it was after eight o'clock. Footsteps pounded
on the stairway. An elderly man, his hat and overcoat encrusted with
snow, swept into the room.
"My relief," said Salt, presenting Nate Adams to the girls. "I'm free to
shove off now."
"Hope you can start your car," commented the newcomer. "It's mighty cold,
and the temperature is still dropping."
Salt's battered coupe was parked not far from the tower. Snow blanketed
the windshield. He wiped it away and after several attempts started the
engine.
"Think I'd better stop at the first garage and have more alcohol put in
the radiator. No use in taking a chance."
Salt followed the same road over which the girls had trudged an hour
earlier. In passing the estate not far from Old Henry's cabin, Penny
peered with renewed interest at the big house. In the blinding snow storm
she could not be sure, but she thought a light gleamed from an upstairs
window.
"Salt," she inquired, "who lives in that place?"
"Can't tell you," he replied, without turning his head.
"Does anyone live there now?"
"Haven't seen anyone since I took over as observer at the tower. Nate
Adams tells me the estate has a private air field. No planes have taken
off or landed while I've been on duty."
"I thought I saw a light just now in an upstairs window."
"Probably a reflection from the car headlights," Salt answered
carelessly.
The car passed Old Henry's cabin and crept on until it came to a
crossroad. Several buildings were clustered on either side of the main
highway.
"Guess I'll stop at Mattie's garage," Salt said.
As he pulled up on a gravel runway, a masculine looking woman came to the
door of the car. She was in her mid-thirties and wore a man's coat much
too large for her. The girls guessed, and correctly, that she was Mattie
Williams, owner of the garage and filling station.
"How many will you have?" she asked Salt, briskly clearing the windshield
of snow.
The photographer replied that he did not require gasoline, but wanted at
least a quart of alcohol.
"Drive into the garage," the woman instructed, opening a pair of double
doors. "I'll have Sam take care of it."
As the car rolled into the building, Mattie shouted loudly to a
stoop-shouldered man who was busy in the rear office: "Hey, Sam! Look
after this customer, will you?"
Sam Burkholder slouched over to the car and began to unscrew the radiator
cap. Penny and Louise assumed that the man must be Mattie's husband, but
a remark to that effect was corrected by Salt.
"Sam is Mattie's partner," he explained in an undertone. "It's hard to
tell which one of them is boss of the place."
Losing interest in the pair, Penny and Louise climbed out of the coupe.
They had noticed a cafe next door and thought they might go there for a
cup of hot coffee.
"Go ahead," Salt encouraged. "I'll stay here until this job is finished,
and join you."
As the girls let themselves out the garage door, a truck pulled up in
front of the cafe. They would have given it no more than a casual glance
had not the driver alighted. He was a short, ruddy-faced man with a
missing front tooth which made his facial expression rather grotesque.
Without glancing at the girls, he entered the restaurant.
"That man!" exclaimed Louise. "Haven't we seen him somewhere?"
"We have indeed," agreed Penny grimly. "He's the same driver who refused
us a ride. Let's march in there and give him a piece of our minds!"
CHAPTER
3
_AN UNPLEASANT DRIVER_
From outside the lighted cafe, the girls could see the truck driver
slouched at one of the counter stools.
"I'm willing to go inside," said Louise, "but why start a fuss? After
all, I suppose he had a right to refuse us a ride."
"We might have frozen to death!"
"Well, he probably didn't realize we were lost."
"I wish I had your charitable disposition," Penny said with a sniff. "He
heard me shout, and he drove away just to be mean."
"Anyway, let's forget it."
Louise took Penny's elbow, steering her toward the cafe. The girls had
been friends since grade school days. They made an excellent pair, for
Louise exerted a subduing effect upon her impulsive chum.
The only daughter of Anthony Parker, publisher of the _Star_, Penny had a
talent for innocently getting into trouble. Inactivity bored her. When
nothing more exciting offered, she frequently tried her hand at writing
stories for her father's newspaper. Such truly important yarns as _The
Vanishing Houseboat_, _The Wishing Well_, _Behind the Green Door_, and
_The Clock Strikes Thirteen_ had rolled from her typewriter. Penny
thoroughly enjoyed reportorial work, but best of all she loved to take an
active part in the adventures she recounted.
"Now remember," Louise warned her, "not a word to that truck driver.
We'll just snub him."
"Oh, all right. I'll try to behave myself."
Grinning, Penny allowed herself to be guided toward the restaurant. Near
the doorway they came to the parked truck, and noticed that it was loaded
with large wooden boxes.
"War equipment," commented Penny.
"How do you know?"
"Why, the boxes are unmarked except by numerals. Haven't you noticed,
Lou, that's the way machines and materials are transported to and from
factories. It's done so no one can tell what's inside."
Penny opened the door and they went into the warm, smoky cafe. As they
seated themselves at a table the driver glanced toward them, but
seemingly without recognition.
"How about a date tonight, Baby?" he asked the waitress.
Without replying, the girl slapped a menu card on the counter in front of
him.
"High toned, ain't you?" he chuckled.
"What will it be?" the waitress demanded impatiently.
"How about a nice smile, Baby?"
Turning away, the waitress started to serve another customer.
"Gimme a cup o' coffee and two sinkers," the driver hurled after her.
"And make it snappy too! I'm in a hurry."
Once the coffee and doughnuts had been set before him, the man was in no
haste to consume them. He read a newspaper and fed a dollar and a half
into a pin-ball machine.
Penny and Louise ordered coffee. Knowing that Salt might be waiting for
them, they swallowed the brew scalding hot and arose to leave.
At the cashier's desk Penny paid the bill. Upon impulse she quietly asked
the man behind the cash register if he knew the driver.
"Fellow by the name of Hank Biglow," he answered.
Before Penny could ask another question, a police patrol car screeched to
a standstill just outside the restaurant. The cafe owner turned to stare
as did the driver.
"What are those cops comin' here for?" Hank Biglow demanded.
"How should I know?" retorted the cafe owner. "Maybe they want to ask you
a few questions about that cargo you carry!"
"What do you mean by that crack?" the driver asked harshly.
As the cashier shrugged and did not reply, Hank allowed the matter to
pass. Although he remained at the counter, he kept watching the police
car through the window.
The brief interchange between cafe owner and driver had interested Penny.
To delay her departure, she bought a candy bar and began to unwrap it.
Only one policeman had alighted from the car. Tramping into the cafe, he
pounded his hands together and sought the warmth of a radiator.
"Mind if I have a little of your heat?" he asked the cafe owner.
"Help yourself."
Penny had been watching Hank Biglow. A moment before the man had sat
tense and nervous at the counter. Now he seemed completely relaxed and at
ease as he sipped his coffee.
"Hello, Hank," the policeman greeted him. "Didn't see you at first. How's
the trucking business?"
"Okay," the trucker growled. "Workin' me night and day."
The casual conversation disappointed Penny. Her first thought had been
that Hank Biglow feared a police investigation. Seemingly, she had
indulged in wishful thinking.
Having no further reason for remaining in the cafe, the girls stepped out
into the storm.
"A pity that policeman wasn't looking for Hank Biglow," Penny muttered.
"I thought for a minute he was," responded Louise, stooping to fasten the
buckle of her heavy overshoe. "At least Hank acted peculiar."
"You heard what the cashier said to him?"
"About the cargo he carried?"
"Yes," nodded Penny, "what do you suppose he meant?"
"Don't you think it was intended as a joke?"
"It didn't seem that way to me, Lou. Hank took offense at the remark. He
was as nervous as a cat, too."
Penny stared curiously at the big truck which was parked not far from the
police car.
"I wonder what can be in those big boxes, Lou?"
"A few minutes ago you said they contained tools or defense plant
products."
"That was only my guess. I assumed it from the lack of marking on the
boxes."
Penny paused beside the big truck. Pressing her face close to an opening
between the slats, she counted ten large crates, all the same size and
shape.
"Lou, maybe this isn't defense plant merchandise," she speculated. "Maybe
it's some sort of contraband...."
Penny's words trailed off. Someone had touched her on the shoulder.
Whirling around, she faced the same policeman who a moment before had
entered the cafe.
"What do you think you're doing?" he inquired.
"Why, just looking," stammered Penny. "We were wondering what's inside
these boxes."
"Machinery," replied the policeman. "Now skidoo! Behave yourselves or
I'll have to speak to your parents."
CHAPTER
4
_STOLEN TIRES_
"We're very sorry," Louise apologized to the policeman. "We didn't
suppose it would do any harm to look at the outside of the boxes."
"Run along, run along," the officer said impatiently.
Penny was tempted to make a rather pointed remark, but Louise pulled her
away.
"Never argue with a policeman," she whispered. "You always lose."
"We weren't doing any harm," Penny scowled. "What does he think we are, a
couple of female spies?"
Entering the garage, the girls saw that the car had been serviced. Salt
could be seen inside the little glass-enclosed office.
"I'm waiting for Sam Burkholder," he explained as they joined him. "He
took care of the radiator and then disappeared."
Penny and Louise loitered about the office, reading the evening
newspaper. After a little delay, Mattie Williams appeared.
"Can you give me my bill?" Salt requested. "We're in a hurry to get to
Riverview."
"I thought Sam was looking after you," Mattie replied, making out the
slip.
The bill settled, Salt backed the car from the garage. Penny noticed that
Hank Biglow's truck no longer stood in front of the cafe. The police car
also had gone. She would have thought no more of it, had not Louise at
that moment exclaimed:
"Penny, that truck is parked at the rear of the garage now! And they're
unloading the boxes!"
Penny twisted around to see for herself. It was true that the big truck
had been backed up close to the rear entrance of the garage. Through the
blinding snow, she could just see Hank Biglow and Sam Burkholder carrying
one of the boxes into the building.
"Well, that's funny!" she exclaimed. "Those crates can't contain defense
machinery or materials. Otherwise Hank wouldn't be delivering them here."
"What crates?" inquired Salt, shifting gears.
Penny told him what had transpired in the cafe, and revealed that she and
Louise had been rebuked by the policeman. Salt, occupied with driving,
did not consider the incident in any way significant.
"Oh, you know how some cops are," he commented carelessly.
The car went into a wild skid and Salt thereafter devoted his attention
strictly to driving.
Without further mishap, the party arrived safely at Riverview. Louise
alighted at her own home, and then Salt took Penny to the Parker
residence.
"Won't you come in for a cup of chocolate?" she invited.
"Thanks, not tonight," Salt replied. "I'm dead tired. Think I'll hit the
hay early."
Only one light burned in the living-room as Penny stomped in out of the
cold. Mrs. Weems, the plump housekeeper who had served the Parkers for
many years, sat beside the hearth, sewing.
"I'm glad you're home at last!" she exclaimed, getting up quickly.
"You've no idea how worried I've been."
"But Louise and I telephoned."
"I couldn't hear you very well. I barely was able to make out that
something had happened to your car."
"A major catastrophe, Mrs. Weems. Every tire was stolen!"
While the housekeeper bombarded her with questions, Penny stripped off
overshoes and heavy outer clothing. Pools of water began to form on the
rug.
"Take everything out to the kitchen," Mrs. Weems said hastily. "Have you
had your supper?"
"Not even a nibble. And I'm starving!"
As Mrs. Weems began to prepare a hot meal, Penny perched herself on the
kitchen table, alternately talking, and chewing on a sugared bun.
"If you ever were lost in an Arctic blizzard you have a good picture of
what Louise and I endured," she narrated grandly. "Oh, it was awful!"
"Losing five practically new tires is a mere detail in comparison?"
"It's nothing less than a tragedy! I was thinking--maybe you ought to
break the sad news to Dad."
"Indeed not. You'll have to tell him yourself. However, he's attending a
meeting and won't be home until eleven."
"That's much too late for me," Penny said quickly. "I'll see him in the
morning. And I do hope you cooperate by giving him a dandy breakfast."
"Just see to it that you don't oversleep," suggested the housekeeper
dryly.
Penny consumed an enormous supper and then slipped off to bed. She did
not hear her father come home a few hours later. In the morning when Mrs.
Weems called her, it seemed advisable to take a long time in dressing.
Her father had gone by the time she strolled downstairs.
"Did you tell Dad?" she asked the housekeeper hopefully.
"You knew I would," chided Mrs. Weems. "Your father expects to see you at
his office at nine o'clock."
"How'd he take the blow?"
"Naturally one couldn't expect him to be pleased."
With a deep sigh, Penny sat down to breakfast. Worry over the coming
interview did not interfere with her usual excellent appetite. She had
orange juice, two slices of toast, four pancakes, and then, somewhat
concerned lest she lose her slim figure, debated whether to ask for
another helping.
"The batter's all gone," Mrs. Weems settled the matter. "Do stop dawdling
and get on to the office. Your father shouldn't be kept waiting."
With anything but enthusiasm, Penny took herself to the plant of the
Riverview _Star_. Passing through the busy newsroom where reporters
pounded at their typewriters, she entered her father's private office.
"Hello, Dad," she greeted him with forced cheerfulness. "Mrs. Weems said
you wanted to see me."
"So you lost five tires last night?" the editor barked. Mr. Parker was a
lean, keen-eyed man of early middle age, known throughout the state as a
fearless newspaper man. At the moment, Penny decided that "fearful" would
prove a more descriptive term.
"Well, Dad, it was this way--" she began meekly.
"Never mind a long-winded explanation," he interrupted, smiling. "It
wasn't your fault--the car was stripped."
Penny wondered if she had heard correctly.
"Your tires weren't the only ones stolen yesterday," Mr. Parker resumed.
"A half dozen other thefts were reported. In fact, I've known for several
weeks that a professional gang of tire thieves has been operating in
Riverview."
"Oh, Dad, you're a peach!" Penny cried, making a dive for him. "I'm going
to give you a great big kiss!"
"You are not," Mr. Parker grinned, pushing her away. "Try to remember,
this is an office."
Penny resigned herself to a chair. Questioned by her father, she gave a
straightforward account of how the car had been stripped at the Yacht
Club grounds.
"The tire gang is getting bolder every day!" Mr. Parker exclaimed
wrathfully. "But we'll soon put a stop to their little game!"
"How, Dad?"