CHAPTER 6 _OLD NOAH_
Carl Oaks saw the girls approaching, and recognized them with a curt nodof his head. He responded to their cheerful greeting, but with no warmth.
"I was hoping to see you, Mr. Oaks," Penny began the conversation. "Lastnight Louise and I had no opportunity to express our appreciation for theway you helped us."
"Well, I didn't help myself any," the old watchman broke in. "It was surebad luck for me when your sailboat came floatin' down the river. Now I'velost my job."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear it."
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Mr. Oaks resumed in a whining tone."I've never been strong and I can't do hard work."
"Perhaps you can find another job as a watchman."
"No one will take me on after what happened last night."
"But it wasn't your fault the bridge was dynamited."
"Folks always are ready to push a man down if they get the chance," Mr.Oaks said bitterly. "No, I'm finished in this seedy town! I'd pull out ifI had the price of a ticket."
Penny was decidedly troubled. "You mustn't take that attitude, Mr. Oaks,"she replied. "Maybe I can help you."
The watchman looked interested, but amused. "How can you help me?" hedemanded.
"My father owns the _Riverview Star_. Perhaps he can use an extrawatchman at the newspaper building. If not, he may know someone who willemploy you."
"I've always worked around the waterfront," Mr. Oaks returned,brightening a bit. "You know I ain't able to do much walkin' or any heavylifting. Maybe your father can get me another job on a bridge."
"Well, I don't know," Penny responded. "I'll talk to him. Just give meyour address so I can notify you later."
Mr. Oaks scribbled a few lines on the back of an old envelope and handedit to her. He did not express appreciation for the offer Penny had made,accepting it as his just due.
"I suppose the police questioned you about the bridge dynamiting," sheremarked, pocketing the address.
"Sure, they gave me the works," he acknowledged, shrugging. "Kept me atthe station half the night. Then this morning they had me identify one ofthe suspects."
"_Not_ Burt Ottman?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't identify him as the saboteur?" Penny inquired in dismay.
"I told the police he looked like the fellow. And he did."
"But how could you see his face?" Penny protested. "The motorboattraveled so fast! Even when the man crawled out of the water and ran, onecould only tell that he was tall and thin."
"He looked like young Ottman to me," the watchman insisted stubbornly."Well, guess I'll shove on. You talk to your father and let me know aboutthat job. I can use 'er."
Without giving the girls a chance to ask another question, Mr. Oaks movedoff down the street.
"Now if things aren't in a nice mess," Penny remarked as she and Louiseretraced their way to the bus stop. "No wonder the police held BurtOttman! I don't see how Mr. Oaks could have thought he resembled thesaboteur."
"I'm sure I didn't get a good look at the fellow," Louise returned. "Mr.Oaks must have wonderful eyes, to say the least."
After a ten minute wait, a bus came along, and the girls rode to theirseparate homes. Penny ate luncheon, helped Mrs. Weems with the dishes andthen slipped away to her father's newspaper office.
An early afternoon edition of the _Star_ had just rolled from the press.Entering the editorial room, Penny noted that it appeared to have beenswept by a whirlwind. Discarded copy lay on the floor, and there weremore wads of paper around the scrap baskets than in them.
Jerry Livingston's battered typewriter served as a comfortable foot restfor his unpolished shoes. Seeing Penny, he removed them to the floor, andgrinned at her.
"Hello, Miss Pop-Eye!" he said affectionately. "How's our little sailor?"
"Never mind," returned Penny. "What's this I hear about Burt Ottman beingarrested by the police?"
"That's how it is." The grin faded from the reporter's face. "Tough onDeWitt too."
"DeWitt?" Penny inquired. She could not guess what connection the editormight have with the dynamiting case.
Jerry glanced about the news room to make certain that DeWitt was notwithin hearing. In a low tone he confided:
"Didn't you know? Burt Ottman is DeWitt's first cousin. It rather putshim in a spot, being kin to a saboteur."
"Nothing has been proved against Ottman yet."
"All the same, it looks bad for the kid. When the story came in it gaveDeWitt a nasty jolt."
"I should think so," nodded Penny. "Why, I never dreamed that he wasrelated to the Ottmans."
"Neither did anyone else in the office. But you have to hand it toDeWitt. He took it squarely between the eyes. Didn't even play the storydown nor ask your father to soft pedal it."
"Mr. DeWitt is a real newspaper man."
"Bet your life!" Jerry agreed with emphasis. "He's gone young Ottman'sbail to the tune of ten thousand dollars."
"Why, that must represent a good portion of his life time savings."
"Sure, but DeWitt says the kid has been framed, and he's going to standby him."
"I think myself that Burt Ottman was too far away to be properlyidentified. I mean to tell the police so, too."
"Well, we all hope for DeWitt's sake that it is a mistake," Jerry saidsoberly. "But the evidence is stacking up fast. The motorboat came fromOttman's. Carl Oaks said he recognized the saboteur as young Ottman. Thenthis morning police found a handkerchief with an initial 'O' lying alongthe shore not far from where the fellow crawled out of the water."
"Circumstantial evidence."
"Maybe so," Jerry agreed with a shrug, "but unless young Ottman gets agood lawyer, he's likely to find himself doing a long stretch."
Deeply troubled by the information, Penny went on toward her father'sprivate office. As she passed the main copy desk where Editor DeWittworked, she noticed that his face was white and tense. Although heusually had a smile for her, he barely glanced up and did not speak.
Penny tapped twice and entered her father's office. Mr. Parker had justfinished dictating a letter to his secretary who quietly gathered up hernotebook and departed. The newspaper owner pretended to glance at thecalendar on his desk.
"Unless I'm all muddled, this is Saturday, not Thursday," he greeted hisdaughter teasingly. "Aren't you a bit mixed up?"
"Maybe so," Penny admitted, seating herself on a corner of the desk.
"You seldom honor me with a call except to collect your Thursdayallowance."
"Oh, I'm not concerned with money these days," Penny said, trying tobalance a paper weight on her father's head. "It's this dynamiting casethat has me all tied in a knot."
"Stop it, Penny!" Irritably, Mr. Parker squirmed in his chair. "This isan office, not a child's play room!"
"Try to give me your undivided attention, Dad. I want you to do me afavor."
"How about granting me one first? Please stop playing with the gadgets onmy desk!"
"Why, of course," grinned Penny, backing away. "Now about this job forCarl Oaks--"
"Job?"
"Yes, he was relieved of duty at the Thompson bridge, you know. It waspartly my fault. So I want you to square matters by finding other workfor him."
"Penny, I am _not_ an employment agency! Anyway, what do I know about theman?"
"I owe him a job, Dad. He says he likes to work around the waterfront.Can't you get him something to do? Oh, yes, it has to be an easy jobbecause he can't walk and he can't lift anything."
"How about a nice pension?" Mr. Parker demanded. He sighed and added,"Well, I'll see what I can do for him. Now run along, because I have workto get out."
Feeling certain that her father would find a suitable position for theold watchman, Penny went directly from the newspaper office to LouiseSidell's home. After relating all the latest news, she asked her chum ifshe would not enjoy another excursion to the riv
er.
"But we were just there a few hours ago!" Louise protested. "I've hadenough sailing for one day."
"Oh, I don't care to sail either," Penny corrected hastily. "I thought itmight be interesting to call on Old Noah."
"That queer old man who has the ark?"
"What do you say?"
"Oh, all right," Louise agreed, rather intrigued by the prospect. "But ifwe get into trouble, just remember it was your idea."
By bus the girls rode to a point near the river. Without approachingOttman's Dock, they crossed the Big Bear over Thompson's bridge which hadjust been opened to pedestrian traffic only. Making their way along theeastern shore, they came at last to the mouth of Bug Run.
"It looks like rain to me," Louise declared, scanning the fast-movingclouds. "Just our luck to be caught in a downpour."
"Maybe we can take refuge in the ark," Penny laughed, leading the way upthe meandering stream. "That is, if we can find it."
Trees and bushes grew thick and green along either bank of the run.Several times the girls were forced to muddy their shoes in order toproceed. In one shady glade, a bullfrog blinked at them before making ahasty dive into the lilypads.
There was no sign of a boat or any structure remotely resembling an ark.And then, rounding a bend, they suddenly saw it silhouetted against adarkening sky.
"Why, it looks just as if it had rolled out of The Old Testament!" Louisecried in astonishment.
The ark, painted red and blue, rose three stories from the muddy water. Alarge, circular window had been built in the uppermost part, and therewere tiny, square openings beneath. From within could be heard a strangemedley of animal sounds--the cackling of hens, the squeal of a pig, thesquawking of a saucy parrot who kept calling: "Noah! Oh, Noah!"
Louise gripped Penny's hand. "Let's not go any nearer," she saiduneasily. "It's starting to rain, and we ought to make a double dash forhome."
A few drops of rain splashed into the stream. Dropping on the tin roof ofthe ark like tiny pellets of metal, they made a loud drumming sound. Thedisturbed hens began to cluck on their roosts. The parrot screechedloudly, "Oh, Noah! Come Noah!"
"Where is Noah?" Penny asked with a nervous giggle. "I certainly must seehim before we leave."
As if in answer to her question, they heard a strange series of soundsfrom deep within the woods. A cow mooed, and a man spoke soothing words.Soon there emerged from among the trees a bewildering assortment ofanimals and fowl--a cow, a goat, a pig, and two fat turkeys. An old manwith a long white beard which fell to his chest, drove the creaturestoward the gangplank of the ark.
"Get along, Bessie," he urged the cow, tapping her with his crookedstick. "The Lord maketh the rain to fall for forty days and forty nights,but you shall be saved. Into the ark!"
Penny fairly hugged herself with delight.
"Oh, Louise, we can't go now," she whispered. "That must be Old Noah. Andisn't he a darling?"
Saboteurs on the River Page 6