A NIGHT PROWLER
That evening they all decided to have a picnic style supper in front of
the fireplace in the living room.
“I’m beginning to feel my bruises,” Penny said cheerfully. “But I’m not
going to let a few aches and pains bother me. I was very lucky to get
off without broken bones or sprains.”
“You certainly were,” Jimmy said. “And let me tell you, Sis, I thought
I’d go nuts until we finally heard your voice.”
“Me, too,” Marjorie chimed in. “Gosh, Penny, it was just about the most
awful few minutes of my life!”
“Well, let’s not talk about it any more,” Penny said. “The subject I
want to discuss is the bottom of the well. I can’t really--”
“Gee,” Jimmy interrupted, “wouldn’t it be neat if we get to the bottom
of the well and find pieces of gold. We’ll be on easy street the rest
of our lives.” He added, more to himself than the others, “The first
thing I’ll do is get a sailboat. I’ve found out already that I don’t
know enough about naval architecture to build one.”
“Ha, you don’t get on easy street that easily,” said Penny. “Besides, I
don’t remember feeling anything beneath my feet but slime, and if all
you want is a sailboat, you’d better work for it!”
“I like that!” exclaimed Jimmy. “And what do you call digging away at
that well? If that isn’t work, I’d like to know what you’d call it.”
“Oh, it’s work all right,” Penny said with a laugh. “But I think it’s
work without any purpose.”
“So do I, in a way,” Phil said. “But the kids will never be happy until
we get to the bottom and prove that there isn’t any treasure buried
there.”
“You just wait until tomorrow,” Marjorie said stubbornly. “When we
come running up to you, Penny, with our hands dripping with pieces of
eight, then you and Phil will eat those words.” She raised her voice.
“I know there’s something valuable hidden around here, and I, for one,
am never going to give up until I’ve gone over every inch of the place
with a fine-tooth comb!”
“You don’t have to shout about it,” Jimmy said. “If there is something
valuable around here, let’s not encourage every Tom, Dick and Harry in
the village to come out and try to find it first. Although,” he went on
in a more sympathetic tone of voice, “I know how you feel, Marjorie.
When Alf and Brook get here, and we haven’t found any gold by then,
they’ll want to dig up the whole place, too.”
“Dig, if you must,” Penny said, “but spare Pat’s flower beds. I--” She
stopped suddenly, her finger to her lips. “Sh-h.” She touched Phil’s
arm lightly and pointed to the window, whispering, “Someone’s out there
and I’m afraid he’s heard every word we said.”
They all stared silently out through the vine-covered lattice that
partially screened the court from view. The moon was shining brightly,
and then from the shrubbery a shadow moved and melted into a little
clump of low spruces. In another second they saw the figure of a man
slip around the corner of the wing to disappear again in the shadows of
another trellis.
It was a warm evening, and all of the doors and windows were wide open.
The man might try to get into the house. Penny started to rise.
But Phil, with his hand on her arm, shook his head and whispered: “All
of you stay right here. I don’t want him to know that we’ve seen him.”
Swiftly he tiptoed across the room to take his pistol from the cabinet.
Penny remembered with relief that Phil always kept his gun loaded. Just
then she saw Mal run into the court. He had obviously seen the prowler
from the kitchen window. Before Penny could shout a warning, the man
darted from the shadows and flung himself on Mal’s back, one arm around
his throat.
At almost the same moment Phil leaped through the window and fired his
gun into the air. As the shot rang out, Penny closed her eyes. Opening
them immediately, she saw Phil running out of the court, with Mal close
at his heels, in pursuit of the prowler. Jimmy was just about to jump
through the window to join in the chase, but Penny held him back.
“Stay here with us, Jimmy,” she said. “Phil and Mal can cope with that
eavesdropper.”
Marjorie, who had for once been speechless, found her voice then. “Oh,
yes, Jimmy,” she begged. “Stay here with us. He might come back, and we
haven’t got a gun.”
Jimmy looked disappointed, but he knew he could help Phil best by
staying with the girls. “Ah, that guy isn’t going to come back,” he
said. He stared gloomily out of the window as Pat ran across the court
to join the others.
By this time, Kitty and Ann Mary had appeared, wide-eyed and
frightened. “Oh, oh,” Kitty cried. “I just know my Mal is going to get
shot.”
Another shot rang out. Penny’s heart sank. Had the prowler fired the
second shot? Somehow she managed to disguise her fears and said in a
reassuring voice to Kitty:
“Don’t worry, dear. Phil and Pat know how to handle their guns.”
“They sure do,” Ann Mary said bravely although Penny could see that
she was almost as terrified as her cousin. “My Pat won’t let anything
happen to your Mal.”
Theresa came in from the hall then, rubbing her eyes bewilderedly. “I
was asleep,” she said. “Did I hear a shot or did I dream it?”
She looked so confused that everyone laughed, and the tension was
eased. “You heard two shots,” Jimmy told her. “I guess the first one
woke you up.”
While he was explaining what had happened, they heard footsteps on the
graveled walk, and in another moment, they could see Phil, Pat and Mal
slowly approaching the house. Everyone ran out to meet them.
“He got away,” Phil said ruefully.
“Shouldn’t we notify the police?” Penny asked.
Phil shrugged. “Probably only a tramp. I fired in the air to frighten
him when he jumped on Mal.”
“But you fired a second time,” Marjorie said excitedly. “We were
terrified for fear one of you had been hurt.”
“That’s right,” Jimmy said. “Say, Phil, how about giving us a play by
play description of what happened. I missed all the fun, remember?”
Phil frowned. “We want to look around some more. We just came back to
be sure the rest of you were okay.”
“We’re perfectly all right,” Penny said. “Go ahead with your search.”
She smiled. “As long as Jimmy stays with us we’re perfectly safe.”
“I want to know what happened,” Jimmy complained. “Give, Phil.”
“Well,” Phil said patiently, “from the minute that man disappeared into
the shrubbery, he slipped from one tree to another like an Indian, then
doubled around toward the lake.”
“It certainly sounds as though he knows his way around here,” Marjorie
put in.
Phil nodded. “Pat fired the second shot when we saw him trying to get
away in one of our boats. Although Pat fired into the air, it scared
the living daylights out of him, I guess. He jumped from the boat
and made for the woods below us.” Phil grinned. “I’ll bet he’s still
running. He may think we’re mighty poor shots, but at least he knows
we’re armed. I doubt if he ever comes back on our property again.”
“But who could it have been?” Penny asked. “A tramp wouldn’t know his
way around our grounds.”
“If anyone should ask me,” Pat said, “I’d say it was one of those crazy
villagers after the so-called buried treasure. I’ll bet the news is
all over town already that we found the old well near the shed.”
“But,” Jimmy objected. “Nobody could have heard about it so soon.”
“A lot of people could have,” Mal pointed out. “There were several
delivery boys out here during the excitement when Miss Penny fell into
the well.”
Ann Mary nodded. “We were all so worried about Penny we didn’t pay
any attention to them. When Marjorie came running into the kitchen to
tell us about the accident, I dashed out of the house so fast I almost
knocked down one boy who biked out here with some groceries.”
Pat shook his head gravely. “That rumor about buried treasure is going
to cause us a lot of trouble. We don’t want the place cluttered up with
night prowlers this summer.”
“Let’s go have a look at the shed,” Jimmy said eagerly. “Maybe the guy
was down there snooping around and sneaked up to the house to make sure
we were all inside.”
“All right,” Phil said. “But you have to stay with the girls.”
“Oh, no, he doesn’t,” Marjorie said pertly. “The girls are going, too.”
“We can’t all leave,” Penny said wisely. “After all, he might have been
a burglar. We would be playing right into his hands if we left the
house deserted with all the doors and windows open.” She glanced around
at the shadows with a little shiver. “Suppose he doubled back and is
watching us right now, waiting to see what we’ll do?”
Marjorie moved a little closer to Penny. “Oh, isn’t it thrilling?” she
cried. “I wouldn’t be at all afraid to stay here and guard the house if
I had a gun.”
“Not much you wouldn’t,” Jimmy jeered.
“I for one,” Kitty said, “have no intention of going down to that shed.
I’m going into the house and Mal is going with me and we’re going to
lock ourselves in.”
“Fine,” Jimmy said. “That solves the problem. Phil can leave his gun
with Mal just in case.”
“Okay,” Mal agreed and stuck Phil’s little pistol into his pocket.
After the Donahues had gone into the house the others headed for the
shed.
Jimmy had brought a flashlight with him, and when they got inside the
shed he flashed it all around. Just as they were about to leave, he
shouted, “Look!” and pointed to a spot near the broken wall where Penny
had fallen through earlier that day.
The floor of the shed had been opened and plainly showing in the earth
under it was a footprint. “Someone has been here since we left,” Jimmy
cried excitedly. “That footprint was made by a man wearing a shoe with
a rubber sole. And we were all wearing sneakers.”
“You’re right,” Phil said soberly. “But the man who made that footprint
might not have been our prowler. It could have been left by one of the
delivery boys whose curiosity was aroused when he heard about Penny’s
accident.”
Penny nodded. “One of them might have biked back out while we were
having supper just to have a look. Kids are like that.”
“But,” Jimmy argued, “they don’t have such big feet.”
“Oh, yes, they do,” Marjorie said with a giggle. “Take a look at what’s
on the end of your own ankles.”
“Maybe the prowler was just a curious kid,” Penny said suddenly. “Have
you thought of that, Phil?”
Philip thought for a minute. “He had awfully broad shoulders, and I
don’t think a kid would have jumped on Mal.” He shrugged. “But I really
think whoever it was won’t come back.” He put the floor boards back in
place. “If he does, he won’t do any digging for buried treasure at this
spot. Jimmy, go and get the old Bus and park it right here.”
Jimmy grinned with delight. “Right. And if our curious friend comes
back to search, he’ll have to move the Bus. And, unless he’s a Samson
he’ll have to start her up, and, when this thing starts running, he’ll
realize that he’s set off the loudest fire alarm in Michigan.” He ran
off to get the Bus.
“If we don’t find any treasure when we dig up the well,” Marjorie said,
“let’s dig under the floor here.”
“Definitely no,” Phil told her firmly. “We’ll dig up the well and let
it be known far and wide that we found nothing. That should put a stop
to all the silly rumors.”
Pat nodded approvingly. “And night prowlers.”
When they returned to the house they found that Kitty and Mal had
sandwiches and a large pot of hot cocoa waiting for them.
“I think you men should take turns keeping watch tonight,” Kitty said
nervously. “And please, can’t we sleep in the house tonight instead of
in the cabin?”
“Of course, you can,” Phil said. “And perhaps it isn’t a bad idea for
us to take turns keeping an eye on the place.” He smiled reassuringly.
“For the rest of tonight anyway.”
“I’ll take one shift,” Marjorie said, suppressing a yawn. “I won’t
sleep a wink anyway.”
But she did, the minute her head touched the pillow, and when she awoke
in the morning was very disappointed to hear that the night had been
uneventful.
“At least I didn’t miss anything,” she said as they hurriedly ate
breakfast on the sunny porch. “Now, to find the buried treasure!”
But the whole day proved to be a tremendous disappointment. They
finally dug all the way down to the bottom of the well and found
absolutely nothing but mud. And the source of the spring had evidently
gone dry.
“All that labor for nothing,” Pat said in a very disgruntled voice. “A
wasted day.”
Everyone had pitched in and helped at various intervals, although Jimmy
and Marjorie were the only ones who never gave up hope of finding gold
pieces deep in the mud.
Wearily the men filled up the huge hole, and the rest of the week was
spent in what Ann Mary called “fruitful labor.” The shed was converted
into quite a presentable garage, and at last even Phil admitted that
they were practically ready to open the Lodge for business. They were
all so busy with final preparations they dismissed the night prowler
from their minds.
Only Jimmy and Marjorie remained convinced that there was treasure
buried on the grounds.
“What about the laundry situation?” Phil asked Penny the night before
the first guests were expected. “Have you been able to cope with that?”
“I certainly have,” Penny told him proudly. “Several days ago a very
pleasant-looking man who looks strong enough to carry any amount of
damp linen, drove out to ask for the job. He’d heard in the village
that we wanted someone to tote a huge bundle into the laundry-mat twice
a week, and came right out without even waiting to telephone for an
appointment with me.”
Phil looked puzzled. “I sort of took it for granted that you’d give the
job to a woman.”
“I planned to,” Penny said, “in spite of what Pat said about anybody
being able to work those automatic machines. But there just aren’t any
women in the village who drive their own cars and who are free to help
us out.”
“I suppose not,” Phil said.
“This man, a Mr. Taggart,” Penny went on, “recently moved to town for
the summer and needs work badly. He offered to handle our laundry for
us at a flat rate of only fifteen dollars a week.”
Phil whistled. “Say, that _is_ cheap!” He added teasingly: “Maybe he’ll
take the first batch in and never come back!”
Penny laughed. “He’s already taken in one big bundle of sheets and
pillow cases and, according to Ann Mary, brought them back snowy white.
She’s terribly pleased. I had no idea we could get anyone to do it so
cheaply. When the place is filled with guests he’ll probably demand
more money, but let’s not object. Kitty says the laundry problem in all
summer hotels is usually the hardest one to solve.”
Phil nodded. “If the place really fills up, we’ll not only have to
raise Taggart’s pay, but we’ll have to get some people from the village
to come out by the day and do the ironing.”
“I’ve thought of that,” Penny said. “The same girls who are going to
help wait on the tables when we really get going are going to do some
ironing between meals.”
“You think of everything,” Phil said approvingly. “I’m proud of you,
Sis.”
Penny sighed. “You shouldn’t be. I couldn’t do a thing without the
advice of Ann Mary and Theresa and Kitty. And, frankly, Phil, I’m
getting cold feet at the last minute. What if the whole project is a
flop?”
“It won’t be,” Phil said reassuringly. “You’re just tired and getting
a case of stage fright.” He tucked her hand through his arm and led
her toward the stairs. “After a good night’s sleep you’ll be your old
irrepressible self again. Full of vim, vigor and vitality!”