The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels

by Mildred Benson

  Leaving Carl Oaks behind, the girls rowed to the yacht and were helped aboard. Commodore Phillips immediately confirmed that his vessel did have radio-telephone apparatus.

  “Come with me,” he directed, leading the girls to the radio room.

  The Commodore sat down beside the transmitting apparatus, quickly adjusting a pair of earphones. Snapping on the power switch, he tuned to the wave length of the Coast Guard station. While the girls hovered at his elbow, he talked into the radio telephone, informing the Coast Guard of the floating barge and its position. The message, he explained to Penny and Louise, would be received in “scrambled speech” and automatically transformed into understandable English by means of an electrical device.

  “How do you mean?” inquired Louise, deeply puzzled.

  “Nearly all ship-to-shore radio telephone conversations are carried on in scrambled speech,” the Commodore replied. “Otherwise, eavesdroppers could tune in on them and learn important facts not intended to be made public.”

  “But you spoke ordinary English into the ’phone,”Louise said, still perplexed.

  “The speech scrambler is an electric circuit which automatically transposes voice frequencies,” the Commodore resumed. “The words are made unintelligible until unscrambled by a similar device at the receiving station. For instance, if I were to say ‘Mary had a little lamb,’ into this phone, anyone listening in would hear: ‘Noyil hob e ylippey ylond.’ Yet at the receiving post, the message would be unscrambled to its original form.”

  “I wish our telephone at home was fixed that way!”Penny declared with a laugh. “Wouldn’t some of the neighbors develop a headache!”

  Having been informed that a Coast Guard cutter would proceed at once to the locality, the girls felt relieved of further responsibility. As Commodore Phillips said that he would stand by with his yacht until the cutter reached the scene, they finally decided to return to shore. Once well away from the yacht they raised sail and tacked toward their own dock.

  “I hope the Coast Guard gives Carl Oaks a good lecture,” Penny remarked, turning to gaze back at the slowly drifting barge. “Why, he wasn’t one bit concerned what might happen to other vessels!”

  “I never did like him,” said Louise with feeling. “He complains too much. Was it his fault that the barge was cut adrift?”

  “Not according to his story. Three men attacked him while he was in the deck house. Of course, he couldn’t have been too alert.”

  “Carl Oaks wouldn’t be!”

  “There was one rather peculiar thing,” Penny said slowly. “It never occurred to me until now.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why, Mr. Oaks’ bonds were very loose. If he had tried, I believe he could have freed himself.”

  “That does seem strange,” agreed Louise. “You don’t think he allowed those saboteurs to board the barge?”

  Penny brought the dinghy around, steering to avoid a floating log.

  “I wouldn’t know,” she replied soberly. “But I’m glad we forced Mr. Oaks to wait for the Coast Guard. I hope they question him until they get to the bottom of this affair.”

  CHAPTER 17

  A STOLEN BOAT

  The mists were lifting as Penny and Louise sailed slowly past the Ottman Dock toward their own snug berth. Sara, in blue slacks, a red bandana handkerchief over her head, was trying to start a stubborn outboard motor. Glancing up, she called a greeting, and then asked abruptly:

  “Say, what’s that barge doing out on the river? It looks to me as if it’s adrift, but I can’t see well enough to tell.”

  Penny and Louise, eager to impart information, brought the dinghy to a mooring at the floating platform. Sara listened with interest as they revealed how they had boarded the barge, released Carl Oaks, and then notified the Coast Guard.

  “Neat work!” she praised. “That Carl Oaks! He’s one of the most shiftless men I ever knew. He doesn’t deserve to hold a job.”

  Penny glanced about the dock, searching for Burt Ottman.

  “Your brother isn’t here?” she remarked absently.

  “No, he isn’t,” Sara replied, rather defiantly. “If you think he had anything to do with that barge—”

  “Why, it never entered my mind!” Penny exclaimed.

  “I’m sorry,” the older girl apologized. “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know why I’m so jumpy lately.”

  “You have a great deal to worry you,” said Louise sympathetically. “And you work too hard.”

  “I’ll be all right as soon as Burt’s trial is over. He’s not here this morning—” Sara’s voice broke. “In fact, I don’t know where he is.”

  Louise and Penny said nothing, though the remark astonished them.

  “Burt was out all last night,” Sara spoke and then seemed to realize that her words easily could be misinterpreted. She added hastily: “He’s been trying to gain evidence which will prove his innocence.”

  “You mean your brother went away yesterday and failed to return?” Penny asked after a moment.

  Sara nodded. “He’s on the trail of the real saboteurs, and it’s dangerous business. That’s why I’m so worried. I’m afraid he’s in trouble.”

  “Have you talked to the police?” Penny inquired.

  “Indeed, I haven’t.”

  “Didn’t your brother tell you where he was going when he left home?”

  “No, he didn’t. He keeps things from me because he says I worry too much now.”

  “I suppose he never explained what happened at The Green Parrot?”

  “He said he couldn’t remember. Oh, everything’s so mixed up. I try not to think about it, because when I do my head simply buzzes.”

  Once more Sara tried to start the balky engine, and this time her efforts brought success.

  “Thank goodness for small favors!” she muttered. “Now I’ve got to go out on the river and look for our stolen boat. Hope no one runs off with this place while I’m gone.”

  “You’ve not had another boat stolen?” Louise asked in surprise.

  “I figure that’s what happened to it. Late yesterday afternoon a man came here and rented our fastest motorboat. That’s the last I’ve seen of him or it.”

  “Didn’t you report your loss to the Coast Guards?” inquired Penny.

  Sara answered with a trace of impatience. “Of course, I did. They searched the river last night. No accident reported, and no trace of the boat.”

  “The man might have drowned,” Louise offered anxiously.

  “It’s not likely. If he had gone overboard, the boat would have been found by this time. No, it’s been pulled up somewhere in the bushes and hidden. Last year one of our canoes was taken. Burt found it a month later, painted a different color!”

  “Didn’t you know the man who rented the boat?” questioned Penny.

  “Never saw him before. He was tall and thin and dark. Wore a brown felt hat and overcoat. I noticed his hands in particular. They were soft and well manicured. I said to myself, ‘This fellow doesn’t know a thing about boats,’ but I was wrong. He handled that motor like a veteran.”

  “The man didn’t look like a waiter, did he?” Penny asked quickly.

  “You couldn’t prove it by me.”

  Penny groped in her mind to recall a characteristic which definitely would describe the head waiter of The Green Parrot. To her chagrin, she could think of only one unusual facial characteristic, a tiny scar on his cheek. She did remember that the man had worn a large, old fashioned gold watch which might have been of foreign make.

  “Why, the fellow who rented the boat did have such a watch!” Sara cried when Penny mentioned the timepiece. “I didn’t notice the scar. What is his name?”

  “Louise and I never were able to learn,” Penny replied with regret. “The Green Parrot has closed its doors, so I don’t know how you can get in touch with him.”

  Sara sighed. Placing an oar, a bailer, and a can of gasoline in the boat, she prepared to
leave the dock.

  “I’ll be lucky if I ever see the fellow again,” she commented. Hesitating a moment, she asked diffidently:“Don’t suppose you girls would like to go along?”

  Penny and Louise wondered if their ears had betrayed them. It seemed beyond belief that Sara actually would invite them to accompany her.

  “Why, of course, we’d like to go,” Penny accepted, before her chum could find her voice.

  Scrambling out of the dinghy, the girls made it fast to the dock and transferred to the other boat. Sara opened the throttle, and they shot away, leaving behind a trail of churning foam. Out through the slip they raced, rounding a channel buoy at breakneck speed.

  “You can certainly handle a boat,” Penny said admiringly.

  “Been at it since I was a kid,” Sara grinned. “I could cruise this river blindfolded.”

  They passed the floating barge, observing that a Coast Guard cutter was proceeding up river to take it in tow. Turning upstream, Sara swung the boat toward shore.

  “Keep close watch of the bushes,” she directed the girls. “If you see anything that looks like a hidden boat, sing out.”

  At low speed they crept along the river, watching for marks in the sand which might reveal where a craft had been pulled out of water. Once, venturing too close in, Sara went aground and had to push off with the oars.

  “It doesn’t look as if we’ll have any luck,” she remarked gloomily. “The boat’s probably so well hidden, it would take a ferret to find it.”

  They kept on upstream toward the Seventh Street Bridge, a structure much in use since the more modern Thompson’s Bridge had been closed to auto traffic. Penny, watching the stream of vehicles passing above, remarked that Riverview commerce would be paralyzed should anything occur to damage it.

  “The Seventh Street Bridge now is the only artery open to the Riverview Munitions Plant,” Sara added. “I understand it’s being guarded day and night. By a better watchman than Carl Oaks, I hope.”

  Without passing the bridge, the girls turned downstream, searching the opposite shore. Before they had gone far, Sara beached the boat on a stretch of sand.

  “It was along here that Burt found our canoe last year,” she explained. “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll get out and prowl around a bit.”

  “Aren’t we near Bug Run?” Penny inquired.

  Sara pointed out the mouth of the stream which was hidden from view by a clump of willows.

  “If you expect to be here a few minutes, Louise and I might pay Old Noah a flying visit,” Penny said eagerly. “We’re curious to learn what has happened to him.”

  “I’ll be around for at least half an hour,” Sara replied. “Take your time.”

  Penny and Louise set off along the twisting bank of Bug Run. Approaching the vicinity of the ark, they noticed many corked blue bottles caught amid the debris of the sluggish stream.

  “I’ll bet a cent and a half that Old Noah still is on the old stamping grounds!” Penny remarked. “Sheriff Anderson probably hasn’t found a way to get rid of him. Why, unless a regular deluge floods this stream, the ark never could be floated out to the main river.”

  “The sheriff could put Old Noah in jail.”

  “True, but a great many people would criticize him if he did.”

  A moment later the girls rounded a bend and saw the ark in its usual setting. A long clothes line had been stretched from bow to stern, and wet garments fresh from the wash tub, flapped in the breeze.

  “Well, Noah is still here,” chuckled Penny. “He’s run up the white flag though! Or should we say the white flags!”

  On the deck of the ark, Old Noah was so busy that he failed to note the approach of the two girls. He stood in the center of a ring of soiled clothes, laboring diligently over a tub of steaming suds.

  As the girls reached the gangplank, a dog from inside the ark began an excited barking. Startled, Old Noah glanced up. Unnoticed by him, his long white beard slipped into the soapy water and he rubbed it vigorously on the washboard.

  Scarcely able to control a giggle, Penny followed her chum aboard the ark. As Old Noah kept on scrubbing his beard she could not resist asking: “Excuse me, but aren’t you washing your whiskers by mistake?”

  Surprised, the old man straightened to his full height. Squeezing the dripping beard, he carefully wrung it out. Next he produced a comb from his loose fitting brown pantaloons, and painstakingly unsnarled the tangles. Then turning to the girls, he greeted them with his usual dignity.

  “Good morning, my daughters. I am glad you kept your promise to visit me again.”

  “Good morning, Noah,” responded Penny, trying not to laugh. “We thought we would drop by and see if you were still here. I remember Sheriff Anderson said he was going to call on you again.”

  The old man’s weather beaten face crinkled into deep wrinkles. “Ho, ho! So he did, but he reckoned without the Might of the Righteous. I was watching for him when he came.”

  “I hope you didn’t mistreat him,” Penny said uneasily.

  “When I observed his approach I untied my two hounds, Nip and Tuck, and hid myself in the forest. He was gone when I returned to the ark.”

  “Likewise, part of his anatomy, I suppose,” commented Penny.

  “Nip and Tuck did cause a commotion,” Old Noah acknowledged, “but they did him no harm. When he went away the sheriff left a cowardly note tacked to a tree. It said he would return to dispossess me. Before that happens, I will blow this ark to Kingdom Come!”

  “How will you do that?” inquired Penny, rather amused.

  “With dynamite.”

  “Do you have any aboard the ark?”

  Old Noah smiled mysteriously. “I know where I can lay my hands on all I’ll need. When I was hiding in the woods yesterday, I saw where they keep it.”

  Penny and Louise glanced quickly at each other. While it was possible that Old Noah was talking wildly, the mention of dynamite made them uneasy. If it were true that he had come into possession of such a cache, then obviously it was their duty to report to the authorities.

  “Who hid the dynamite?” Penny asked.

  “I do not rightly know,” replied Old Noah. “It may have been those strangers who were pestering me last night. They came to my ark and were very nosey, asking me about this and that.”

  “Not officers?”

  “They had no connection with the Law, speaking of it with great contempt.”

  “How many men were there, Noah?”

  “Two.”

  “And they came by car?”

  “Bless you, no,” replied Noah wearily. “They arrived in a motorboat. Of all the pop-poppin’ you ever heard! It almost drove my animals crazy.”

  “After they talked to you, the men went away again in their boat?”

  “They started off, but as soon as they had turned the bend they switched out the motor. I wondered what they were up to, so I sneaked through the bushes and watched.”

  “Yes, go on!” Penny urged eagerly as Old Noah interrupted the narrative to wash another shirt. “What did the men do?”

  “Why, nothing,” answered the old man. “They just pulled the boat up into the bushes and went off and left it.”

  “The boat is still there?” Penny demanded.

  “So far as I know, my daughter.”

  “Will you show us where the boat is hidden?” pleaded Penny. “And the dynamite cache too!”

  “I am very busy now,” Old Noah said, shaking his flowing locks. “I have this pesky washing to do, and then, there’s all the animals to feed.”

  “Can’t we help you?” offered Louise.

  “I thank you kindly, but it would not be fit work for young ladies. If you will return tomorrow, I gladly will guide you to the place.”

  Penny and Louise tried their powers of persuasion, but the old man was not to be moved. In the end they had to be satisfied with a description of the site where the motorboat had been hidden. Old Noah stubbornly refused to tel
l them more about the cache of dynamite.

  Finally, the girls said goodbye to the master of the ark, and hastened toward the river to join Sara. They were greatly excited by the information they had obtained.

  “Old Noah may have talked for the fun of it,”Penny declared as they struggled through the underbrush. “If not, I think we’ve stumbled into an important clue—one which may have a bearing on the bridge dynamiting case!”

  CHAPTER 18

  PENNY’S PLAN

  Sara was waiting beside her boat when Penny and Louise came running along the muddy shore. Without apologizing for being so late, they excitedly related their conversation with Old Noah.

  “Say, maybe that hidden motorboat is mine!” the girl exclaimed. “What did it look like?”

  “We didn’t take time to search for it,” Penny replied. “We knew you would be waiting so we came straight here.”

  “Let’s see if we can find it,” Sara said, starting up the engine.

  “Noah’s animals don’t like motorboats,” Louise chuckled. “I suggest we do our searching afoot.”

  “All right,” Sara agreed readily, switching the motor off again. “Lead and I’ll follow.”

  Penny and Louise guided their companion to the mouth of Bug Run and thence along its slippery banks to a clump of overhanging willows.

  “According to Old Noah’s description, this should be the place,” Penny declared, looking about. “No sign of a boat though.”

  Sara took off shoes and stockings and waded through the shallow, muddy water. Whenever she came to a clump of bushes, she would pull the branches aside to peer behind them.

  “Old Noah may have been spoofing us,” Penny began, but just then Sara gave a little cry.

  “Here it is! I’ve found it!”

  Penny and Louise slid down the bank to the water’s edge. Behind a dense thicket, a motorboat had been pulled out on the sand. The engine remained attached, covered by a piece of canvas.

  “Is it your boat, Sara?” Penny asked eagerly.

  “It certainly is!” She spoke with emphasis. “The hull has been repainted, but it takes more than that to fool me.”