“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?”
“We can and will!” Jerry laughed. “But if we expect to catch our friend, the Voice, there’s no time to lose. Come along, girls, if you’re traveling with me.”
CHAPTER 15
AFTERGLOW
Penny sprawled on the grass beside the dying embers of the camp fire. Listlessly, and with very bad aim, she hurled acorns at a brown squirrel chattering overhead.
“You’ve been in a bad mood ever since we got back from Crystal Cave,” Louise observed, coming out of the tent. “But why take it out on that poor creature?”
Penny raised herself on an elbow. She scowled and did not reply.
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