CHAPTER
12
JERRY’S DISAPPEARANCE
Without noticing Jerry and the girls, Burt Ottman walked directly to a table at the other side of the dining room. He spoke to the stranger whom Penny and Louise had followed, and sat down opposite him.
“Ha! The plot thickens!” commented Jerry in an undertone. “Obviously our friend and Burt Ottman had an appointment together.”
“This is certainly a shock to me,” declared Penny. “I’d made up my mind that Burt had nothing whatsoever to do with the dynamiting. Now I don’t know what to think.”
“He must be the saboteur,” Louise said, speaking louder than she realized. “We picked up the billfold along the river and it undoubtedly was his.”
“He denied it,” replied Penny. “However, when I spoke of The Green Parrot I noticed that he seemed to recognize the name. Oh, dear!”
“Now don’t take it so hard,” Jerry comforted her. “The best thing to do is to report what we’ve seen to police and let them draw their own conclusions.”
“I suppose so,” Penny admitted gloomily. “I had hoped to help Sara and her brother.”
“You wouldn’t want to protect a saboteur?”
“Of course not, Jerry. Oh, dear, it’s all so mixed up.”
So intent had the young people been upon their conversation that they failed to observe a waiter hovering near. Nor did it occur to them that he might be listening. As Jerry chanced to glance toward him, he bowed, and moving forward, presented the bill.
“Howling cats!” the reporter muttered after the waiter had discreetly withdrawn. “Will you look at this!”
“How much is it?” Penny asked anxiously. “We only had three ham sandwiches.”
“Two dollars cover charge. Three sandwiches, one dollar and a half. Tip, fifty cents. Grand total, four dollars, plus sales tax.”
“Why, that’s robbery!” Penny exclaimed. “I wouldn’t pay it, Jerry.”
“I can’t,” he admitted, slightly abashed. “I only have three dollars in my pocket. Then I’ll have to buy my hat back from the checkroom girl.”
“Louise and I haven’t any money either,” Penny said. “Thirty-eight cents to be exact.”
“Thirty-three,” corrected her chum.
“Tell you what,” said Jerry after a moment of thought. “You girls stay here and hold down the chairs. I’ll go outside and telephone one of the boys at the office. I’ll have someone bring me some cash.”
Left to themselves, the girls tried to act as if nothing were wrong. However, they were very conscious of the waiter’s scrutiny. Every time the man entered the dining room with a tray of food, he gazed suggestively at the unpaid bill.
“I’d feel more comfortable under the table,” Penny commented. “Why doesn’t Jerry hurry?”
“Perhaps he can’t find a telephone.”
“Something is keeping him. We’re going to become conspicuous if we stay here much longer.”
The girls fumbled with their purses and sipped at their water glasses until the tumblers were empty. Minutes passed and still Jerry did not return.
After a while, Burt Ottman’s companion left the dining room. The young owner of the boat dock waited until the older man had vanished, and then called for his check. If the bill were unusually large he did not appear to notice, for he paid it without protest and likewise left the dining room.
“Louise, I don’t want to stay here any longer,” Penny said nervously. “I can’t understand what’s keeping Jerry.”
“Why not go out to the foyer and look for him.”
“A good idea if we can get away with it,” Penny approved. “I judge though, that if we start off, the waiter will pursue us with the bill.”
“Couldn’t we just explain?”
“We can try. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what will happen.”
Before leaving the table, Penny scribbled a hasty note which she left for Jerry on his plate. It merely said that the girls would wait for him in the foyer. Choosing a moment when their own waiter was occupied at another table, they sauntered across the room and out into the hall.
“That wasn’t half as hard as I thought it would be,” chuckled Penny. “But where’s Jerry?”
The foyer was deserted. Noticing a stairway which led to a lower level, the girls decided that the telephones must be located below. They started down, but soon realized their mistake for no light was burning in the lower hall.
“We’re not supposed to be down here,” Louise murmured, holding back.
“Wait!” whispered Penny.
At the far end of the dingy hall she had glimpsed a moving figure. For just a second she thought that the young man might be Jerry. Then she saw that it was Burt Ottman.
“What do you suppose he’s doing down here?” she speculated. “He seems to be familiar with all the nooks and crannies of this place.”
Burt Ottman had not seen or heard the girls. They saw him pause at the end of the hall and knock four times on a closed door. A circular peep-hole shot open and a voice muttered: “Who is it?”
The girls heard no more. Someone touched Penny on the shoulder from behind. With a startled exclamation, she whirled around to face the head waiter.
“So sorry, Mademoiselle, to have frightened you,” he said blandly. “You have taken the wrong stairway.”
“Why, yes,” stammered Penny, trying to collect her wits. “We were looking for the public telephones.”
“This way please. You will find them in the foyer. Just follow me.”
Penny and Louise had no choice but to obey. They wondered if the head waiter knew how much they had seen. His expressionless face gave them no clue.
“We were waiting for our friend,” Louise remarked to cover her embarrassment.
“The young man who escorted you here?”
“Yes,” nodded Louise. “He went to telephone and we haven’t seen him since.”
The waiter had reached the top of the stairs. He turned and looked directly at the girls as he said: “The young man left here some minutes ago.”
“He left!” Penny exclaimed incredulously. “But the bill wasn’t paid.”
“Oh, yes, the young gentleman took care of it.”
“Why, Jerry didn’t have enough money,” Penny protested, unable to grasp the situation. “You’re sure he left the cafe?”
“Yes, Mademoiselle.”
“And didn’t he leave any message for us?”
“I regret that he did not,” the waiter replied. “As young ladies without escorts are not permitted at The Green Parrot, I suggest that you leave at once.”
“You may be sure we will,” said Penny. “I simply can’t understand why Jerry would go off without saying a word to us.”
The head waiter conducted the girls to the exit, bowing as he closed the door in their faces. Rather bewildered, they huddled together on the stone steps. Rain had started to fall once more and the air was unpleasantly cold.
“We certainly got out of that place in a hurry,” Louise commented. “If you ask me, it was a shabby trick for Jerry to go off and leave us. Especially when he knew we didn’t have the price of a taxi.”
“Lou,” said Penny soberly, “I don’t believe that Jerry did desert us.”
“But he disappeared! And the head waiter told us that he left.”
“Something happened to Jerry when he went to telephone—that’s certain,” replied Penny, thinking aloud.
“Then you believe he was forcibly ejected?”
“No one could have tossed Jerry out of The Green Parrot without a little opposition.”
“Jerry’s quite a scrapper when he’s aroused,” Louise agreed. “We didn’t hear any sound of scuffling. What do you think became of him?”
“I don’t know and I’m worried,” confessed Penny. Taking Louise’s arm, she guided her up the stone steps to the street. “The thing for us to do is to get home and tell Dad everything! Jerry may be in serious trouble.”
CHAPTER
13
A VACANT BUILDING
Hastening to a main street, Penny and Louise waited many minutes for a bus. Finally as a taxi cruised past they hailed it, knowing they could obtain cab fare when they reached home.
“Let’s go straight to my house,” Penny said, giving the driver her address. “Dad should be there by this time. I know he’ll be as worried about Jerry as we are.”
A few minutes later the taxi drew up in front of the Parker home. Lights burned in the living room and the girls were greatly relieved to glimpse the editor reading in a comfortable chair by the fireplace.
“Dad, I need a dollar sixty for cab fare!” Penny announced, bursting in upon him.
“A dollar sixty,” he protested, reaching for his wallet. “I thought you and Louise went to a picture show. What have you been doing in a taxicab?”
“I’ll explain just as soon as I pay the driver. Please, this is an emergency.”
Mr. Parker gave her two dollars and she ran outside with it. In a moment she came back with Louise.
“Now, Penny, suppose you explain,” suggested Mr. Parker. “Has walking become an outmoded sport or are you trying to save wear and tear on rayon stockings?”
“Dad, Louise and I never went to the Rialto Theatre,” Penny said breathlessly. “We’ve been at The Green Parrot!”
“The Green Parrot!”
“Oh, we didn’t go alone,” Penny explained hastily as she saw disapproval written on her father’s face. “We telephoned Jerry and had him accompany us.”
“How did you learn the location of the place?”
“We heard a man give the address to a taxi driver, and followed in another cab. Dad, we saw Burt Ottman there!”
“Interesting, but it hardly proves that he is a saboteur.”
“He arrived at exactly nine-fifteen,” Penny resumed excitedly. “After talking with that man we followed, they both left the dining room, though not together. We saw Burt go downstairs and knock on a door which had a peephole.”
“Did he enter?”
“I don’t know,” Penny admitted. “Louise and I weren’t able to see. Just as things were getting interesting the head waiter came and politely escorted us out of the building.”
“Why didn’t Jerry bring you home?”
“That’s what I’m getting at, Dad. Jerry just disappeared.”
“What do you mean, Penny?”
Together the girls told him exactly what had happened at The Green Parrot. Mr. Parker promptly agreed that it would not be like Jerry to leave the cafe without an explanation.
“Something has happened to him!” Penny insisted soberly. “Dad, why don’t you call the police right away? It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if The Green Parrot is a meeting place for saboteurs! There’s no telling what they may have done to Jerry!”
By this time Mr. Parker had begun to share the alarm of the girls. Getting abruptly to his feet, he started toward the telephone. Before he could take down the receiver, the bell jingled. Answering the incoming call, a peculiar expression came over the newspaper owner’s face. After talking for a moment, he hung up the receiver and turned toward Penny.
“That was Jerry,” he announced dryly.
“Jerry!” Penny became confused. “But I don’t understand, Dad. Is he being held at The Green Parrot?”
“Jerry is at home. He called to ask if you and Louise arrived safely.”
“Well, of all the nerve!” Penny cried indignantly. “Just wait until I see him again!”
“Not so fast,” advised her father. “There seems to have been a little mix-up. After Jerry left the dining room to telephone, the head waiter told him that you girls had decided not to wait.”
“And he told us that Jerry had gone!” Louise cried. “I wonder why?”
“Because he wanted to get rid of our entire party!” Penny declared. “All the time we were in the cafe that head waiter seemed to keep his eye on us. Dad, what did Jerry do about paying the bill?”
“He was told that he need not settle it—that he could pay later.”
“Well, it’s all very peculiar,” Penny said with a sigh. “I’m glad Jerry is safe, but I still maintain we were hustled out of that place.”
“No doubt you were,” agreed her father. “I’m curious to see the cafe—especially that door with the peep hole.”
“I’ll take you there,” Penny offered eagerly.
“Not tonight,” Mr. Parker declined, yawning. “Tomorrow morning perhaps.”
Penny had to be satisfied with the decision, though she yearned for immediate action. After Louise had gone to her own home, she mulled over the situation, discussing every angle of it with her father.
“Why do you think Burt Ottman was at the Parrot?” she tried to pin him down. “Would you say he’s one of the plotters?”
“I have no opinion whatsoever,” Mr. Parker responded somewhat wearily.
Penny did not allow her father to forget his promise to visit The Green Parrot. The following morning she awoke early and at the breakfast table reminded him that they had an important appointment together.
“I should be at the office,” Mr. Parker said, glancing at his watch. “Besides, the cafe won’t be open at this hour.”
“The manager should be there, Dad. You’ll be able to talk to him and really look over the place.”
“We can ask a few questions—that’s all,” Mr. Parker corrected. “One can’t walk into an establishment and start searching.”
“Let’s go anyway,” pleaded Penny.
More to please her than because he hoped to uncover vital evidence, Mr. Parker agreed to make the trip. With Penny at the wheel of the family car, they drove to the street where The Green Parrot was situated. Parking not far from the entrance to an alley, they walked the remaining distance.
“This is the place,” said Penny, pausing before the familiar building. “Why, what’s become of the cafe?”
Bewildered, she stared at the doorway where the painted parrot sign had swung. It was no longer there and the Venetian blinds had been removed from the window.
“This place doesn’t have the appearance of a cafe,” said Mr. Parker. “Are you sure you have the correct address, Penny?”
“Why, yes, I know we came here last night. But the sign has been removed.”
Descending the stone steps, Penny pressed her face against the uncovered windows. Only a large, empty room confronted her astonished gaze. All of the tables and chairs had been removed, even the palm trees and decorations.
“It’s deserted, Dad!” she exclaimed.
Mr. Parker came down the steps to peer through a window. Bits of colored paper and menu cards still littered the floor. Testing the door, he found it locked.
“This certainly is strange,” he remarked thoughtfully. “Let’s inquire next door.”
Penny and her father chose to enter a bakery which adjoined the building. A stout woman in a white apron, who was arranging frosted cakes in a showcase, favored them with a professional smile.
“Good morning,” Mr. Parker greeted her, removing his hat. “Can you tell me what has become of the cafe next door?”
“Are you from the police?” the woman asked quickly.
“No, I’m connected with the Star.”
“Oh, a reporter!” assumed the woman, and Mr. Parker did not correct her. “I thought maybe you were from the police. Yesterday I saw a man watching The Green Parrot and I said to my husband, Gus, ‘The cops are going to raid that place.’”
“And did they?” interposed Mr. Parker.
“Not that I know of. The outfit just moved out. And a queer time to be doing it too, if you ask me!”
“When did they leave?”
“The van pulled up there about two o’clock last night. They were loading stuff in until almost dawn.”
“Can you tell me where they went or why they moved out?”
“No, I can’t,” the woman replied with a shrug. “Like as not they were afraid the police were going to raid ’em. I’m telling you that place deserved to be closed up.”
“Just what went on there?”
“I never was inside the place, but some mighty queer acting people seemed to be running it. Why, I’ve seen men go in and out of there at four o’clock of a morning, hours after the cafe closed up.”
“Foreigners?”
“I couldn’t rightly say as to that. My husband, Gus, thinks a lot of gambling went on. Anyway, I’m glad the outfit’s gone.”
Unable to learn more, Penny and her father left the bakery and walked toward their parked car. The information they had gained was not likely to prove very helpful. Obviously, The Green Parrot had closed its doors, fearing an investigation. Whether it had moved elsewhere or gone out of existence, they could not know.
“The call that Jerry, Louise and I paid there last night may have had something to do with it,” Penny remarked. “I know the head waiter was eager to be rid of us.”
As Mr. Parker and his daughter walked slowly along, several persons ran past them toward an alley. Approaching its entranceway, they saw that a throng of people had gathered not far from the rear exit of The Green Parrot.
“Wonder what’s wrong back there?” speculated Mr. Parker, pausing. “Probably an accident of some sort.”
“Let’s find out,” proposed Penny.
She and her father joined the group of excited men and women in the alley. They were startled to see a young man sprawled face downward on the brick pavement. A garbage collector jabbered excitedly that he had found the victim lying thus only a moment before.
Mr. Parker pushed through the circle of people. “Has anyone called an ambulance?” he asked.
“I’ll send for one, Mister,” offered a boy, hastening away.
Mr. Parker bent over the prone figure.
“He ain’t dead is he?” the garbage man asked anxiously.
“Unconscious,” replied the newspaper man, his fingers on the victim’s wrist. “A nasty head wound. I’d say he either fell or was struck from behind.”
Carefully Mr. Parker rolled over the limp figure. As he beheld the face, he stared and glanced quickly at Penny.
“Who is he, Dad?” she asked, and then she saw for herself.
The young man was Burt Ottman.
CHAPTER
14
TEST BLACKOUT
As Mr. Parker covered Burt Ottman with his overcoat, the young man stirred and opened his eyes. He gazed at the newspaper owner with a dazed expression and for a moment did not attempt to speak.
“Take it easy,” Mr. Parker advised.
“What happened to me?” the young man whispered.
“That’s what we’d like to know. Were you struck?”
“Don’t remember,” Ottman mumbled. He closed his eyes again, but aroused as he heard the shrill siren of an approaching ambulance. “Don’t let ’em take me to a hospital,” he pleaded. “Take me home.”
The ambulance drew up in the alley. Stretcher bearers carefully lifted the young man.
“I’m all right,” he insisted, trying to sit up. “Just take me home.”
“Where’s that?” asked one of the attendants.
Burt Ottman mumbled an address which was on a street not far from the boat dock he operated.
“We’ll take you to the hospital for a check up,” the young man was told. “Then if you’re okay, you’ll be released.”
Deeply interested in the case, Mr. Parker and Penny followed the ambulance to City Hospital. There, after an hour’s wait in the lobby they were told that Burt Ottman had suffered no severe injury. A minor head wound had been dressed, and he was to be released within a short while.
“What caused the accident?” Mr. Parker asked one of the nurses. “Did the young man say?”
“He couldn’t seem to remember what happened,” she replied. “At least he wouldn’t talk to the doctor about it.”
Overdue at the Star office, Mr. Parker could remain no longer. However, Penny, whose time was her own, loitered about the lobby for an hour and a half until Burt Ottman came down in the elevator. The young man’s head was bandaged and he walked with an unsteady step as he leaned on the arm of a nurse.
“I’ll call a taxi for you,” the young woman said. “You’re really in no condition to walk far, Mr. Ottman.”
Penny stepped forward to offer her services. Her father, knowing that she might have use for the car, had left it parked outside the hospital.
“I’ll be glad to take Mr. Ottman home,” she volunteered.
The young man protested that he did not wish to cause anyone inconvenience, but allowed himself to be guided to the waiting automobile.
As the car sped along toward the riverfront, Penny stole quick glances at Burt. He sat very still, his gaze on the pavement ahead. She half expected that he would offer an explanation of the accident, or at least ask a few questions, but he remained silent.
“You took rather a hard blow on the head,” she remarked, seeking to lead him into conversation.
Burt merely nodded.
“Dad and I were astonished to find you lying in the alley at the rear of The Green Parrot,” Penny went on. “Don’t you remember how you came to be there?”
“Mind’s a blank.”
“You must have been struck by someone,” Penny said, refusing to be discouraged. “Can’t you recall whom you were with just before the accident?”
“What is this, a third degree?” Burt asked, and only a faint, amused smile took the edge from his question.
“I’m sorry,” Penny apologized.
“It doesn’t matter what happened to me,” Burt said quietly. “I just don’t feel like talking about it—see?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t mean to seem unappreciative,” the young man resumed. “Thanks for taking me home.”
“You’re very welcome, I’m sure,” Penny responded dryly.
The car drew up in front of the home where Burt and his sister lived. A pleasant, one-story cottage rather in need of paint, it was situated high on a bluff overlooking the river.
As Burt stiffly alighted from the car, the cottage door opened, and Sara came running to meet him.
“You’re hurt!” she cried anxiously. “Oh, Burt, what happened to you?”
“Nothing,” he answered, moving away from her encircling arms.
“But your head!”
“Your brother was hurt sometime last night,” Penny explained to Sara. “Just how, we don’t know. My father and I found him lying in an alley at the rear of The Green Parrot.”
“The Green Parrot—that night club!” Sara gazed at her brother in dismay. “Oh, Burt, I was afraid something like this would happen. Those dreadful men—”
“Now Sara,” he interrupted brusquely. “No theatricals, please. Everything’s all right.” Giving her cheek a playful pinch, he wobbled past her into the cottage.
Sara turned frightened eyes upon Penny. “Tell me exactly what happened,” she pleaded.
“I honestly don’t know, Sara. My father thought someone must have struck your brother from behind, but he’s not told us a thing.”
“I just knew something of the sort would happen,” Sara repeated nervously.
“What do you mean?” inquired Penny. “Does your brother have enemies who would harm him?”
“Burt’s been trying to find out who framed him in the bridge dynamiting. He won’t tell me much about it, but I know he’s been trailing down a few leads.”
“Isn’t that work for the police?”
“The police!” Sara retorted bitterly. “Their only interest is in piling up more evidence against Burt!”
“Your brother knows the identity of the saboteur?”
“He won’t tell me, but I think he does have an idea who blew up the bridge.”
Penny scarcely knew whether or not to accept Sara’s explanation of her brother’s activities. Unquestionably, the girl believed that he was innocent of all charges against him. For one not prejudiced in his favor, there were many factors to be considered. Why had Burt denied losing the leather billfold? And with whom had he kept the Tuesday night appointment at The Green Parrot?
“If your brother has any clue regarding the real saboteur, he should present his evidence to the police,” Penny advised Sara.
“He’ll never do that until he’s ready to appear in court. Not after the way the police treated him.”
Penny realized that nothing was to be gained by discussing the matter further with Sara. Offering a few polite remarks to the effect that she hoped Burt would soon recover completely from his injury, she drove away.
Later, in repeating the conversation to her father, she declared that she could not make up her mind regarding Burt Ottman’s guilt.
“The case does have interesting angles,” Mr. Parker acknowledged. “I talked to the Police Commissioner this morning about The Green Parrot. The place long has had a reputation for cheating customers, and lately it’s been under suspicion as a rendezvous for anti-American groups.”
“That would fit in with what the bakery woman told us. What became of The Green Parrot, Dad? Have the police been able to trace it to a new location?”
“Not yet. The cafe may not open up again, or if it does, under a new name.”
For two days Penny divided her time between school and the river. As the water remained too rough for safe sailing, she and Louise spent their spare hours painting and cleaning their boat. Upon several occasions they called at the Ottman Boat Dock. Burt never was there, but Sara assured them that her brother had completely recovered from his recent mishap.
“Did he never tell you how he was struck?” Penny inquired once.
“Never,” Sara returned. “I’ve given up talking to him about it.”
With the river high, the girls had no opportunity to visit Old Noah at his ark. However, Sara told them that she was quite certain Sheriff Anderson had not succeeded in getting rid of the old fellow and his animals.
“The ark is still anchored up Bug Run,” she laughed ruefully. “I know because a steady flow of blue bottles has been floating down here!”
“Do you always read the message?” Louise inquired.
“Not always,” Sara replied. “Frequently I do because they’re so crazy.”
Since his arrest and subsequent release from jail, Burt Ottman had seldom been seen at the boat dock. Harassed and overburdened, Sara endeavored to do the work of two people. She ran the motor launch, taking passengers up and down the river. She rented canoes and row boats, and looked after repair work which came to the shop. If she felt that her brother was shirking his duties, she gave no inkling of it to the girls.
“When does Burt’s trial come up?” Louise remarked to Penny late Thursday night as they walked home from the Public Library. “Next week, isn’t it?”
“Yes, the twenty-first,” her chum nodded. “From all I can gather, he’ll be convicted, too.”
“I feel sorry for Sara.”
“So do I,” agreed Penny. “At first I didn’t like her very well. Now I know her brusque manner doesn’t mean anything.”
The girls were passing a drugstore. In the window appeared a colored advertisement, a picture of a giant chocolate soda, topped with frothy whipped cream. Penny paused to gaze longingly at it.
“That’s a personal invitation addressed to me,” she remarked. “How about it, Lou?”
“Oh, that same picture has been in the window for months,” her chum said discouragingly. “You can’t get whipped cream unless you steal it from a cow.”
“Well, how about a dish of ice cream then? I’m horribly hungry.”
“That’s your natural state,” teased Louise, pulling her on. “If we stop now, we’ll be caught in the test blackout.”
“Is there one tonight?”
“Don’t you read the papers? It’s to be held between nine and ten o’clock. And it’s ten after nine now.”
“I think it might be fun to be caught out in one—just so long as it’s not the real thing.”
“I want to get home before the street lights are turned out,” Louise insisted. “In fact, I promised Mother I’d come straight home when the library closed.”
“Oh, all right,” Penny gave in reluctantly.
The girls began to walk faster for they were many blocks from their own street. Now and then they met an air raid warden and so knew that the time for the test blackout was close at hand.
“Louise!” Penny suddenly exclaimed, stopping short.
“Now what?” the other demanded. “Don’t you dare tell me you’ve left something at the library!”
Penny was staring at a man who only a moment before had come through the revolving doors of the Hotel Claymore.
“See that fellow!” she said impressively.
“Yes, what about him?”
“He’s the head waiter at The Green Parrot.”
“Why, you’re right!” Louise agreed. “For a minute I didn’t recognize him in street clothes.”
“Let’s follow him,” Penny proposed as the man started down a side street. “Maybe we can learn the new location of The Green Parrot.”
“Oh, Penny, I told Mother I’d come straight home.”
“Then I’ll follow him alone. I can’t let this opportunity slip.”
Louise hesitated, and then, unwilling to have Penny undertake an adventure alone, quickly caught up with her.
“There’s no telling where this chase will end,” she complained. “That man may not be going to The Green Parrot.”
“Then perhaps we’ll learn where he lives and police can question him.”
As Penny spoke, a siren began to sound. A car which was cruising past, pulled up at the curb and its headlights went off. All along the street, lights blinked out one by one.
“The blackout!” Louise, gasped. “I was afraid we’d be caught in it. Now we’ll lose that man, and what’s worse, I’ll be late in getting home!”
CHAPTER
15
A DRIFTING BARGE
Upon hearing the shrill notes of the air raid siren, the man whom Penny and Louise followed, quickened his step. Hastening after him, the girls turned a corner and came face to face with an air raid warden.
“Take shelter!” he ordered sternly. “The closest one is across the street—the basement of the Congregational Church.”
Penny started to explain, but the warden had no time to listen. Waving the girls across the street, he watched to see that they actually entered the shelter.
“I guess he thought we weren’t very cooperative,” Louise remarked as they followed a throng of persons downstairs to the basement. “These blackout tests really are very important.”
“Of course,” agreed Penny. “It’s a pity though that our friend, the waiter, couldn’t have been sent into this same shelter. Now we’ll lose him.”
For nearly twenty minutes the girls remained in the basement until the All Clear sounded. As they returned to the street level, lights were going on again, one by one. Pedestrians began to pour out of the shelters, but the girls saw no one who resembled the waiter.
“We’ve lost him,” sighed Penny. “I guess we may as well go home.”
“Let’s hurry,” urged Louise who was glad to abandon the pursuit. “Mother will be worried about me.”
At the Sidell home, Penny turned down an invitation to come in for a few minutes. As she started on alone, she paused and called to her chum who was on the porch: “Oh, Lou, how about a sail early tomorrow morning?”
“Isn’t the river too high?”
“It was dropping fast this morning. The current’s not so strong now either. Let’s get up bright and early.”
“How early?” Louise asked dubiously.
“Oh, about seven o’clock.”
“That’s practically the middle of the night,” Louise complained.
“I’ll come by for you at a quarter to seven,” Penny said, as if the matter were settled. “Wear warm clothes and don’t you dare keep me waiting.”
The next morning heavy mists shrouded Riverview’s valleys and waterfront. Undaunted by the dismal prospect, Penny proceeded in darkness to the Sidell home. There, huddling against the gate post, she whistled several times, and finally tossed a pebble against the window of Louise’s room. A moment later the sash went up.
“Oh, is it you, Penny?” her chum mumbled in a sleepy voice. “You surely don’t expect to go sailing on a morning like this!”
“The fog will clear away just as soon as the sun gets up. Hurry and climb into your clothes, lazy bones!”
With a groan, Louise slammed down the window. Ten minutes later she appeared, walking awkwardly because she wore two pair of slack suits and three sweaters.
“Think we’ll freeze?” she inquired anxiously.
“You won’t,” laughed Penny, giving her a thermos bottle to carry.
By the time the girls reached the dock, the rising sun had begun to scatter the mist. Patches of fog still hung over portions of the river however, and it was impossible to see the far shore.
“Shouldn’t we wait another hour?” Louise suggested as Penny leaped aboard the dinghy.
“Oh, by the time we get the sail up the river will be clear,” she responded carelessly. “Toss me the life preserver cushions.”
While Penny put up the mainsail, Louise wiped the seats dry of dew. Her fingers stiff with cold, she cast off the mooring ropes, and the boat drifted away from the dock.
“Well, the river is all ours this morning,” Penny remarked, watching the limp sail. “That’s the way I like it.”
“Where’s the breeze?” demanded Louise suspiciously.
“We’ll get one in a minute. The headland is cutting it off.”
“You’re a chronic optimist!” accused Louise. Wetting a finger, she held it up. “I don’t believe there is any breeze! We’ll just drift down stream and then have to row back!”
“We’re getting a little now,” said Penny as the sail became taut. “Hold your fire, dear chum.”
The boat gradually picked up speed, but the breeze was so unsteady that the girls did not attempt to cross the river. Instead, they sailed in midstream, proceeding toward the commercial docks. The mists did not entirely clear away and Penny began to shiver.
“Don’t you wish you had one of my sweaters?” asked Louise, grinning.
Penny shook her head as she reached to pour herself a cup of steaming coffee from the thermos bottle. Before she could drink it, a large, flat vessel loomed up through the mist ahead.
“Now don’t try to argue the right of way with that boat,” Louise advised uneasily.
“Why, it’s a barge!” Penny exclaimed, bringing the dinghy about. “I do believe it’s adrift!”
“What makes you think so?” Louise asked, staring at the dark hulk.
Penny maneuvered the dinghy closer before she replied. “You can see it’s out of control. There’s no tow boat anywhere near.”
“It does seem to be drifting,” Louise acknowledged. “No one appears to be aboard either.”
Realizing that the large vessel would block off all the wind if she approached too close to it, Penny kept the dinghy away. The barge, almost crosswise to the current, was floating slowly downstream.
“How do you suppose it got loose?” Louise speculated.
“Saboteurs may have cut the hawser.”
“The big mooring rope has been severed!” Louise exclaimed a moment later. “I can see the frayed end!”
Penny came about again, tacking in closer to the drifting vessel.
“That certainly looks like the barge Carl Oaks was hired to guard,” she declared with a worried frown. “Can you read the numbers, Lou?”
“519-9870.”
“Then it is his barge!”
“He must have deserted his post again.”
“In any case that barge is a great hazard to other vessels,” Penny declared, deeply troubled. “Not even a signal light on the bow or stern!”
“Oughtn’t we to notify the Coast Guards?”
“We should, but while we’re reaching a telephone, the barge may ram another boat. Why not board her and put up signal lights first? In this fog one can’t see a vessel many yards ahead.”
“It doesn’t look possible to climb aboard.”
“I think I can do it,” Penny said, offering the tiller to her chum. “Here, take the stick.”
“You know what happens when I try to steer,” Louise replied, shrinking back. “I’ll be sure to upset. The wind always is tricky around a big boat.”
“Then I’ll take down the sail,” Penny decided, moving forward to release the halyard.
The billowing canvas came sliding down. Penny broke out the oars, and maneuvered the dinghy until it grated against the hull of the barge.
“Even a trained monkey couldn’t get up there,” Louise declared, staring at the high deck.
Penny rowed around to the other side of the barge. Discovering a rope which did not give to her weight, she announced that she intended to climb it.
“You’ll fall,” Louise predicted.