"Well, I can't," Penny announced with equal firmness.
"But it may be dangerous. Let's go back to the hotel and get Jerry or
your father."
Penny hesitated, then shook her head. "You stay here if you like, Lou,"
she replied. "I'm going inside."
Before her chum could detain her, she stooped low and crawled into the
narrow, dark tunnel.
CHAPTER
12
_CAUGHT BY THE TIDE_
Unwilling to be left behind, Louise followed her chum into the dark
cavern. Once she and Penny were well beyond the yawning mouth of the
cave, they could not see a foot ahead of them. Guided by the sound of
rushing water, they groped their way along a damp wall.
"This is awful!" Louise whispered nervously. "Let's turn back."
Penny might have yielded to her chum's coaxing but at that moment the
tunnel broadened out and became lighter. Directly ahead a series of steps
led down to a lower room of the cave.
"This place must be safe enough or steps wouldn't have been built here,"
she whispered. "Don't be nervous, Lou. We may discover something
important."
Louise muttered that they were more likely to break their necks. However,
she cautiously followed Penny down the rock-hewn steps. Half way down,
they both paused. From below came a weird sound.
"What was that?" Louise whispered.
"It sounded for all the world like the note of a pipe organ!" Penny
observed. "There it is again--a different tone this time."
Noiselessly the girls moved on down the steps. Ahead of them they now
could see a moving light which undoubtedly was a flash lantern carried by
the beachcomber. Drawing closer, they saw the man himself. In the great
cavern his shadow appeared grotesque and huge.
"What is he doing?" Louise whispered in awe.
The man was unaware that he had been followed. He stood in the center of
the great chamber, gazing with wrapt expression at the stalagmites which
rose in strange formations from the cave floor. The girls could hear him
muttering to himself. At the risk of being seen they moved closer.
"Music! Music!" the old man mumbled. "Talk about your pipe organs! They
ain't in it with _this_!"
He held a long stick in his hand and with it began to explore the row of
stalagmites, striking them one by one, at first with a slow tempo and
then faster and faster. The weird sounds echoed and reached through the
galleries of the cavern.
"Pretty!" the old man prattled. "It's the music o' Heaven. There ain't no
music to equal it."
Again the beachcomber struck the stalagmites, listening raptly while the
sounds died slowly away.
"Come on, Penny," Louise urged, tugging at her hand. "Let's get out of
here. That old goof has lost his buttons."
Decidedly crestfallen, Penny permitted herself to be pulled along the
passage and up the steps. As the girls groped their way to the cave's
mouth, they still could hear the weird echoing tones.
"That was a good joke on you!" Louise teased. "You thought you were going
to find a hidden radio station!"
"Well, we did find a cave," Penny said defensively.
"We didn't exactly discover it," Louise amended. "This must be Crystal
Cave. Seemingly that old beachcomber regards it as his own personal
property."
"Mr. Emory certainly gave us a wrong steer. A mysterious character, my
eye!"
"You'll admit that the old fellow is interesting," Louise laughed.
"However, I doubt he'll warrant much attention from the FBI."
"All right, laugh," Penny retorted grimly. "You think my detective
efforts are a joke anyway."
"No, I don't, Penny. But I will say I doubt you'll have success tracing a
hidden radio station. After all, it's a problem that has the State
authorities baffled. Not to mention Uncle Sam's Army."
The girls stepped from the cave out into the brilliant sunshine. Gazing
toward the sea, they were amazed to see how high the tide had risen.
Giant waves were washing very close to the Parker automobile left on the
beach.
"Ye fishes!" Penny exclaimed in horror. "I forgot all about the car!"
"And the tide's coming in fast!"
"The Point will be cut off in a few more minutes!" Penny added, recalling
Mr. Emory's warning. "We'll have to travel, and travel fast!"
Scrambling down from the rocks, the girls plunged through the dunes to
the beach. A wind was blowing and the sea had an angry look.
"If just one wave strikes the car, the wheels will sink in the sand, and
then we'll be in it!" Penny cried.
With increasing alarm she noted that sand was damp within a foot of the
rear wheels. And as she jerked open the car door, a greedy wave nipped
again at the rubber.
"We'll soon be out of here," Louise said encouragingly.
Penny stepped on the starter and to her relief the motor caught
instantly. In great haste she turned the car around, circling away from
the inrushing sea.
"Careful!" Louise warned. "The sand is dreadfully soft this far up
shore."
Too late Penny realized the same thing. She could feel the car starting
to bog down. The motor began to labor. Then the car stalled completely.
"We're stuck!" she gasped.
Both girls sprang out to look at the wheels. Their spirits sank. On one
side, front and rear tires were bogged deep in sand.
"Start the engine again!" Louise urged desperately. "I'll try to push."
Penny obeyed, but her chum's puny strength made not the slightest
impression upon the car. It could not be moved a foot. The spinning
wheels only drove deeper and deeper into the sand.
"What shall we do?" Louise asked helplessly. She turned to stare at the
incoming sea. Each wave was breaking a little closer to the car.
"This place will be under in another twenty minutes," Penny calculated.
"Even if the car isn't washed away, the salt water will ruin it. How did
we ever get into such a mess?"
"Just by being careless. If only we weren't so far from the hotel!"
"I'll run to the lighthouse," Penny decided desperately. "Maybe the
keeper will help us."
Both girls were badly frightened, not for their own safety, but because
they feared that the car would be damaged beyond repair. Once the waves
began to strike it, it would sink deeper and deeper into the sand. Salt
water would corrode all of the bright chromium.
"We've no time to waste!" Penny cried, darting away.
The girls plunged through the sand drifts to the lighthouse. Evidently
the keeper already had observed their plight, for he was standing on the
upper platform peering down into the courtyard.
"Our car is stuck in the sand!" Penny shouted. "Can you help us get it
out?"
"No, I can't," the keeper answered gruffly. "You should have watched the
tide."
"There's no one else to help us," Penny pleaded. "Just a little push--"
"I'm forbidden to leave my post."
"Then will you telephone to the Inn? Or to a garage?"
"I could 'phone but it wouldn't do any good," the keeper said
reluctantly. "Your car will be under water before a tow-car could get
here."
Exasperated by the man's unwillingness to help, Louise and Penny ran back
to the car. Already waves were lapping against the rear wheels. The
situation seemed hopeless.
"Shall I try to push again?" Louise asked.
"It wouldn't do any good. We're not strong enough." In desperation,
Penny's gaze wandered down the deserted shore. Suddenly she saw a lone
fisherman who was wading through the surf. She recognized him as George
Emory.
"He'll help us!" she cried confidently.
The girls shouted Mr. Emory's name. Apparently he heard, for he turned
his head quickly. Their plight, they thought, must be instantly evident,
but Mr. Emory did not seem to comprehend. He waved his hand as if in
friendly greeting, and then, reeling in his fish line, turned and walked
away from them.
CHAPTER
13
_A HIDDEN PACKAGE_
"Why, Mr. Emory doesn't understand!" Penny cried, aghast. "Can't he see
that we're stuck here with the tide rolling in?"
The girls shouted again and again. If the man heard, he gave no sign.
"I don't believe he wanted to help us!" Penny declared furiously.
"Probably he's afraid he'll over-strain himself pushing!"
Unwilling to give up without a last try, she sprang into the car and once
more started the engine. It roared and labored but could not pull the
vehicle. Sick with despair, Penny allowed the motor to idle. She slumped
behind the steering wheel, only to straighten suddenly as she thought she
heard her name called.
Louise too heard the cry for she turned quickly toward the main road some
yards back from the beach. A young man in uniform was running across the
dunes toward the girls.
"It's Jerry!" Penny cried jubilantly. "He'll help us!"
"He will if he can," Louise corrected. "The tide's coming in so fast now.
I doubt anyone can get us out of here now."
Jerry did not waste time asking questions. Taking in the situation at a
glance, he instructed Penny to remain at the wheel. With the motor
racing, he and Louise pushed with all their strength. At first the rear
wheels kept spinning in the sand. A great wave slapped the rear end of
the car, spraying Louise from head to foot.
"It's no use!" she gasped. "We can't do it."
"Yes, we can!" Jerry insisted. "Try once more, Louise."
Again they pushed and this time the car actually moved a few feet before
it bogged down. Encouraged, Jerry and Louise tried harder than before.
The wheels suddenly struck firm sand, dug in, and the car began to creep
forward. Penny kept it moving until she was sure the footing beneath the
tires was solid. Then she pulled up so that Jerry and Louise might leap
aboard.
"Drive as fast as you can for the hotel!" Jerry instructed crisply.
"We'll be lucky to make it."
Where an hour before the roadway along the beach had been wide and ample,
there now was only a fringe of white sand. To avoid the incoming waves,
Penny had to drive dangerously close to the dunes. And midway to the
hotel, they came to a flooded stretch of beach.
"We'll have to risk it," Jerry advised as Penny hesitated to drive on.
The water was not deep but the sand was wet and treacherous. Choosing a
moment between breakers, Penny braved it, and to her intense relief the
car rolled through without sinking down.
"It's clear sailing now," Jerry said as a wider strip of beach opened
before them. "We're well beyond the Point."
Mr. Emory was walking along the shore and as the car went past, he waved
his hand in a friendly way. Penny did not bother to return the salute,
pretending she did not see him.
"I'm sure he knew we were in trouble and didn't want to help," she told
Jerry. "The more I see of that man the less I like him."
"Who is he anyhow?"
"Just a vacationer. He got Lou and me all excited yesterday with his talk
about that hidden radio station."
"How do you mean?" Jerry asked with interest.
Penny repeated the conversation, and mentioned how Mr. Emory had
suggested that the old beachcomber was a mysterious character that would
bear watching.
"Not old Jake Skagway?" Jerry asked, amused.
"I believe that was his name."
"Jake's the only beachcomber I know hereabouts. He makes his living
picking up things on the beach and selling them. Folks say he buries some
of his loot in the caves."
"How do you know so much about him, Jerry?"
"Oh, I used to run down to Sunset Beach real often years ago. I know this
locality like a book. Guess that's why the Army sent me here to do a
little scouting around."
Penny waited expectantly, but Jerry offered no more information as to the
reason for his visit to Sunset Beach.
"Probably Lou and I were taken in by Jake Skagway," she admitted after a
moment. "If we hadn't followed him into the cave, we certainly wouldn't
have involved ourselves in such difficulties."
Upon reaching the Crystal Inn a few minutes later, the girls searched for
Mr. Parker. He was nowhere to be found. After waiting for a time, they
left the car with Jerry and hiked to the forest camp. There the early
afternoon was devoted to camp tasks. When Mr. Parker still did not come,
Penny proposed that they return to Sunset Beach for a plunge in the surf.
"Too cold," Louise shivered.
"Well, let's go down to Sunset Beach anyhow," Penny urged. "I get
restless just sitting here in camp."
"You know you want to see Jerry again," Louise teased. "'Fess up."
"All right, I do want to see him," Penny admitted unabashed. "Jerry's my
very best friend. I've not been with him in months and I suppose in a few
days he'll be shot off to goodness-knows-where."
"He's not told you very much about why he came here."
"No," Penny said briefly. The subject was a sore one with her. She felt
that both her father and Jerry were keeping secrets.
The tide was still high when the girls reached the beach, but the flow
was outward. Sprawling in the warm sand, they watched the gulls.
"Wonder what became of Jerry and Dad?" Penny speculated. "They're
probably together somewhere."
"Or with Mrs. Deline," Louise suggested wickedly.
She was sorry that she had spoken for Penny's face immediately became as
black as a thundercloud.
"Sorry," Louise apologized. "I was only joking."
Penny continued to scowl for at that moment she glimpsed Mrs. Deline
walking rapidly down the beach. The widow came from the direction of the
lighthouse and was alone. To avoid the incoming waves she waded ankle
deep through the great sand ridges along the drift fence.
"That's queer," Penny muttered, sitting up.
"What is?"
"Why, Mrs. Deline apparently has been at the lighthouse again. What's she
doing now?"
The widow had paused. Carefully she gazed up and down the deserted shore,
but she did not see Penny and Louise who were hidden from view by a sand
dune. However, by raising up slightly, they could see her plainly.
Mrs. Deline carried a package of considerable size under her arm.
Seemingly satisfied that no one was at hand to observe her actions, she
moved swiftly to one of the sand dunes near the drift fence. As the girls
watched in amazement, she dug a deep hole and buried the package. Her
work completed, she carefully brushed sand over the spot and obliterated
her own footprints one by one.
"What was the idea of that?" Louise asked in bewilderment.
"That's what I want to know!" Penny muttered. "We'll wait until she
leaves and then find out the contents of that package!"
But Mrs. Deline did not immediately go away. Instead she sat down in the
sand close by. The girls could not see very well but they thought she was
writing something on the skirt of her white suit.
"Why is she doing that?" Louise asked in bewilderment.
"I'll bet a cookie she's writing down the location of what she hid in the
sand dune!" Penny speculated. "That's so she can find it again!"
"But why write it on her skirt? And why should she hide anything here on
the beach?"
"Because she's a spy!" Penny declared triumphantly. "I've been suspicious
of her from the first!"
"Yes, you have, darling," agreed Louise. "But would a spy necessarily
hide a package? If Mrs. Deline had information to communicate wouldn't
she send it to her superiors? Besides, Sunset Beach isn't even an
important manufacturing town."
"That's true. But I've heard Dad say that the Coast Guards watch this
place closely. Because of its isolation and jagged coastline it's
considered a likely spot for surprise night landings by the Enemy."
"Only this morning you thought old Jake Skagway was a rascal," Louise
chuckled. "You don't catch me falling for your theories this time."
"Then you have no interest in that hidden package?"
"Of course I have! I merely don't agree that Mrs. Deline is a spy."
"Quiet!" Penny warned. "Here she comes!"
Mrs. Deline had arisen from the sand and came rapidly down the beach. She
did not see the girls until she was very close to them. Involuntarily,
she paused, and looked somewhat disconcerted. Recovering, she spoke
coldly.
"Hello," Penny responded, her gaze on the woman's white flannel skirt. It
bore not a single tell-tale mark.
Mrs. Deline went on down the beach.
"You see," Louise whispered when the woman was beyond hearing, "she
didn't write anything on her dress."
"But we saw her do it!"
"We only thought we did."
"Maybe she wrote it in invisible ink."
"Oh, Penny, you certainly have an imagination," Louise sighed.
"I suppose I imagined about the package too?"
"No, she really did bury something in the sand."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Penny demanded, leaping to her feet.
"Let's dig it up, and then maybe we'll have the answer to a few of our
questions."
CHAPTER
14
_VOICE FROM THE CAVE_
From a distance Penny and Louise had marked well the spot where Mrs.
Deline had buried the package. But as they approached the drift fence all
of the dunes seemed strikingly similar in appearance. They could not
agree as to the exact mound which contained the hidden package.
"It was buried in this one, I think," Penny said, starting to dig. "Mrs.
Deline certainly did a good job of covering her tracks."
"You're wasting time working on that dune," Louise insisted. "I'll get
busy over here and turn up the package in nothing flat."
Selecting a mound of sand several feet from Penny, she began to dig with
a will. The mysterious package proved elusive. Scarcely had the girls
started work than a few raindrops splattered down.
"Oh, it's going to storm!" Louise exclaimed, turning startled eyes toward
the dark sea.
The rain came down faster and faster. Faced with a choice of abandoning
the search or being drenched, the girls decided to make a dash for the
hotel.
As they darted up the steps at the Crystal Inn, they were surprised to
see Mrs. Deline sitting on the veranda. A spyglass lay in her lap.
Whether she had been watching the sea or their own antics they had no way
of knowing.
"Have you seen my father, Mrs. Deline?" Penny asked, shaking the
raindrops from her flying hair.
"Indeed, I don't keep track of his whereabouts," Mrs. Deline replied
coldly. "By the way, did you find what you were searching for in the
sand?"
The question caught Penny off guard. She stammered a few words which only
caused the widow to smile in a knowing, amused way.
"I don't mind telling you what I buried in the sand," she resumed. "It
may save you a little trouble. The package contained nothing but fish
bones."
"Fish bones!"
"Yes, I had just visited my friend, Jim McCoy, at the lighthouse. It's
most difficult to bury anything there because of so many rocks. He asked
me to dispose of the scraps for him."
"Oh," Penny murmured, completely deflated.
"I've been watching you girls through the spyglass," Mrs. Deline went on.
"It really was amusing."
"I can imagine," Penny agreed grimly. "Oh, well, I'm glad to provide a
little amusement for this dead place."
She and Louise retreated until they were screened from the widow by a
potted palm.
"I guess she scored on you that time, Penny," Louise commented. "So we
wasted our strength digging for garbage!"
"You needn't rub it in."
"But it's all so silly. Why don't we try to like Mrs. Deline, Penny?"
"I'll leave that job up to you. Furthermore, how do I know she was
telling the truth? Maybe she just handed us that story so we wouldn't go
on digging in the dunes!"
"That's so!" Louise acknowledged. "Mrs. Deline isn't the type to be doing
gracious little jobs for anyone."
"If Jim McCoy asked her to bury a package of garbage, she would have
disposed of it long before she did," Penny reasoned. "Instead, she walked
quite a distance down shore. Then she seemed to select a particular dune,
as if by pre-arrangement."
"You think she may have hidden something there expecting another person
to pick it up?"
"That's my theory, Lou. Oh, I wish this rain would let up."
Restlessly Penny walked to a window. The rain showed signs of slackening.
And as she watched, a taxi drew up in front of the hotel. Jerry
Livingston leaped out.
"Wait for me!" he instructed the driver. "I'll be right back."
Penny and Louise managed to block Jerry's path as he came hurrying into
the hotel.
"Hello, girls," he greeted them offhanded. "Want to go for a drive into
the country?"
"We certainly do," Penny accepted for both. "What's our destination?"
"Tell you on the way," Jerry answered.
He disappeared into an elevator, but was back in the lobby within a few
minutes. Taking Penny and Louise each by an elbow, he escorted them to
the waiting cab.
"In a way, this is a secret trip," he said after he had given directions
to the driver. "Ever see a radio monitoring truck?"
"Never even heard of one," Penny replied. "What is it?"
"Well, we have a truck equipped so that our instruments pick up the
direction from which any short wave broadcast is sent. It's not generally
known that the Army's at work here, so whatever you girls see you must
keep under your sunbonnets."
The taxi sped along the country road, following a route that was
unfamiliar to the girls. By the time it drew up several miles from Sunset
Beach the rain had ceased.
"Tumble out," Jerry said, opening the cab door. "This is the end of the
line."
He went ahead, breaking a hole in the tall hedge at one side of the road.
Eagerly the girls followed him through the gap. In a clearing just beyond
a clump of saplings stood what appeared to be an ordinary covered Army
truck.
An enlisted man came toward Jerry and the girls, saluting smartly.
"Are you picking up any signals?" Jerry asked him.
"Nothing yet, sir. The weather hasn't been very favorable."
"You've had your equipment set up here two days now?"
"Right, sir."
"It's not likely we'll get anything today or tonight," Jerry replied.
"Oh, well, we'll have to have patience. Sooner or later the station will
go on the air again, and then we'll learn its location."
Louise and Penny were curious to learn more about the monitoring truck.
Jerry took them inside, introduced them to the officers, and showed them
the radio apparatus.
"Our truck is equipped with rotating antennae," he explained. "Whenever
the unknown station starts to broadcast we'll be able to swing our loops
toward the signals. Then we chart the signals and where the lines
intercept, the station is located."
"As you explain it, Jerry, finding any radio station is a simple matter."
"It is, providing the station doesn't move in the meantime.
Unfortunately, Mr. Voice from the Cave is an elusive fellow."
"You have no idea who the man may be?"
"No, he's known to FBI agents only as B4 which is a code number."
"What is the purpose behind the broadcasts?" Louise inquired. "Enemy
propaganda?"
"We know that the station is enemy owned and operated," Jerry replied.
"So far that's about all we do know, for we've been unable to break the
code. We suspect that persons connected with the station may be aiding
German prisoners to escape from the country."
"Prisoners originally held in Canada?" Penny inquired.
"Yes, they've been aided by a ring of very clever spies."
Penny was silent as she thought over the information. There were many
questions she longed to ask.
"Jerry--" she began, but just then there came an interruption.
In the Army truck an officer had adjusted his earphones. His attitude as
he listened was one of tense expectancy.
"Picking up any signals?" Jerry demanded.
The other man nodded. "Something's coming in! Yes, it's our friend, the
Voice. In just a minute we should know exactly where the station is
located."
Jerry and the girls remained in the truck, eagerly awaiting a report from
the efficient men who manned the radio direction finders.
"Okay, we've got it charted!" came the terse announcement a moment later.
"Where's the station located?" Jerry demanded eagerly. "Let's see the
chart."
It was thrust into his hand. Jerry stared at the intercepting lines and
then at a map of the district.
"Why, the station seems to be located along the shore!" he exclaimed.
"Apparently in one of the caves--Crystal Cave I'd judge."
"That's the cave where Louise and I were!" Penny exclaimed. "But we saw
no shortwave radio apparatus. Only crazy old Skagway who was playing a
tune on the stalagmites."
"All the same, direction finders don't lie. The broadcast came from
Crystal Cave! But that doesn't mean the station will be there fifteen
minutes from now."
"What's to be done?" Penny asked. "Can't the Voice be caught before he
has a chance to move his portable outfit?"
"A message already has been sent to Headquarters. Army men should be on
their way to the cave now."
"Jerry, we're not far from Crystal Cave ourselves!" Penny exclaimed, her
eyes dancing with excitement. "Can't we go there too?"