At first, they only eyed her sullenly, refusing to speak. But after she had pointed out that a more cooperative attitude might bring a lighter sentence, they showed a little interest.
“How did you come to be mixed up with Danny?” she asked. “Were you all together in the big bank robbery?”
The question drew fire from Hod.
“No, we weren’t!” he shouted. “We never even knowed where Danny hid the money until tonight!”
“Then why were you so willing to hide and help him?”
“’Cause him and Paw always was good friends! Danny come here, saying the cops was after him and would we give him some clothes and hide him fer a day or two? So like fools we was, we took him in and kept him in the woodshed. It would have been safe enough if you hadn’t come snoopin’ around!”
“No doubt you all would have gone free if you hadn’t made the mistake of keeping Louise’s dog,”Penny retorted. “However, you seem to forget you were operating a still illegally.”
“Anyone else in on that business?” the policeman cut in. “How’d they market the stuff?”
“Through a trucker at Hartwell City,” Penny exclaimed. “I think they called him Ike.”
“Too bad the bird will go free, while these eggs do a stretch in the pen,” commented the policeman. “You can depend on it though, they’ll never do the smart thing and turn him in.”
“Oh, wouldn’t we?” growled Hod. “He was no pal o’ ourn!”
“Would it git us a lighter stretch if we was to turn him in?” asked Coon craftily.
“It might.”
“His name’s Ike Glanzy and he stays mostly at the Devon Club in Hartwell City,” Hod volunteered.
“We’ll pick him up,” said the policeman. “Depend on it, he’ll be behind bars before another twenty-four hours. Now let’s get out of here!”
As the boats began to load for the return trip through the swamp, Penny glanced anxiously about the tiny clearing.
“Where’s Tony?” she asked.
No one had seen the Italian lad in the last few minutes. Unnoticed, he had slipped away into the interior of the island.
“We can’t leave without Tony!” Penny protested. “He’s afraid he’ll be sent back to Italy, so he’s run off somewhere!”
“He can’t have gone far,” said Salt. “We should be able to find him.”
However, an intensive search of the bushes nearby did not reveal the missing youth. At last, in desperation, Penny called his name several times.
“Please, Tony, give yourself up!” she pleaded. “You won’t be sent back to Italy! I’m sure of it! Please come out of hiding!”
“If that appeal doesn’t fetch him, nothing will,” said Salt. “We’ve held up the party too long now, Penny. We’ve got to shove off.”
Penny nodded disconsolately. When the photographer took her arm and started back toward the waiting boats, she did not resist.
But after they had gone a few yards, she abruptly halted.
“Tony is close by!” she insisted. “I can feel that he’s watching us now! Listen! Don’t you hear the bushes rustling?”
“I do hear something. Maybe it’s only an animal.”
“Tony,” Penny made one last appeal, “if you’re back there in the dark, please come out. Don’t you understand? You were a hero tonight—you saved the day by popping out of the bushes at just the right moment. Please don’t fail me now.”
The leaves were stirring again. Then, to Penny’s joy, the branches parted. Grinning sheepishly, Tony shuffled out.
“You call-a me?” he grinned.
“Oh, Tony!” Penny seized his arm and held fast. “We’ve practically torn out the lining of our lungs, trying to find you! Come on! You’re going back with us!”
“Not to Immigration mens!”
“Oh, don’t worry about that now, Tony! My father has a little influence and he’ll help you all he can. Besides, you’re almost certain to win a portion of the reward offered for Danny Deevers’ capture.”
“Money no good if they send-a me back to Italy!”Tony said stubbornly. “Want-a stay in America. I work-a hard. Go to school!”
“I think perhaps it can be arranged,” Penny promised recklessly. With Salt’s help, she kept steering the boy toward the boat. “After all you’ve done tonight, Immigration authorities couldn’t be hard-hearted enough to refuse you citizenship.”
Tony allowed himself to be persuaded and entered a boat with Penny and other members of the party. After a long and tiring but uneventful trip through the swamp, the Hawkins’ farm finally was reached.
At the farmhouse, Mrs. Hawkins and her husband were being held prisoners by other policemen. Also waiting were the Widow Jones and Trapper Joe Scoville, whom she had summoned.
“Praises be! The police got to ye in time!” the widow exclaimed, giving Penny’s hand an affectionate squeeze. “If harm had befallen ye this night, I never would have fergiven myself fer having taken ye into the swamp.”
“Maybe what happened’ll teach ye a lesson, but I got m’ doubts,” interposed the old trapper with a chuckle. “Wimmin is mighty stubborn critters!”
As Mrs. Hawkins and her husband were led out of the house, the woman caught sight of her two sons handcuffed to officers. “Hod! Coon!” she screamed hysterically.
She tried to break away from the policemen who held her, and would have attacked Danny Deevers had they not restrained her.
“Ye’r the one who got us into this mess!” she accused the convict. “I hope they lock ye up fer the rest o’ y’er life!”
Much later, after all the prisoners had been confined in Riverview jail, Mr. Parker and Penny obtained custody of Tony. Arrangements were made so that the lad might remain in the Parker home while Immigration officials considered his case.
The Italian boy proved to be a perfect guest. Not only did he help about the house and yard, but he never overlooked an opportunity to improve his education. Many a time Penny or her father came upon him in the library, reading a book.
“If he doesn’t get to stay, it will be a crime!” the girl declared. “Oh, why doesn’t the Immigration department reach a decision?”
Despite Penny’s fretting, weeks dragged on and still Tony’s case hung fire. Many telegrams went back and forth between Riverview and Washington, D. C. So involved did the affair become that even Mr. Parker began to lose hope the boy could be kept in America.
But at last word came that the last bit of red tape had been cut. A high immigration official had ruled that although it was irregular, Tony might remain in Riverview, providing someone would guarantee his support.
Mr. Parker willingly signed the necessary papers. A job next was in order, but this Penny easily arranged through Mark Fiello, the hamburger shop man.
As for Danny Deevers, the convict promptly was returned to prison, and the stolen $50,000 turned over to the Third Federal Bank.
In due time, Ezekiel, Coon, Hod and Mrs. Hawkins were convicted on charges of harboring a fugitive from justice. At their trial, evidence also was introduced, showing they had operated a still illegally.
For many days the Riverview Star carried front page stories of the happenings. Penny wrote several of the articles, while others carried Jerry’s byline.
“The best part of all is that with Danny behind bars, you’ll no longer be in danger,” the girl remarked one day to the reporter. “He really was out to get you.”
“I suppose so,” Jerry agreed, “but I never was much worried. Danny’s real motive in coming back to Riverview was to recover the hidden $50,000. Running into me—and particularly you—proved his undoing.”
In days that followed, Penny drove many times to the swamp to see Mrs. Jones and Trapper Joe. Both rejoiced that Danny Deevers and the Hawkins family could cause no more trouble.
One afternoon as the girl paid the widow a long call, they fell to talking over their swamp experiences.
“It was mighty excitin’ out there—you and me in t
he boat,” Mrs. Jones recalled. “Now that it’s all over, I hain’t ashamed to say I was plenty skeered we’d never git out o’ the swamp alive.”
“So was I,” grinned Penny.
“Revenooers was in yesterday to smash up Ezekiel’s still.”
“They were!”
“Yep, and they got track o’ that trucker who was in so thick with the Hawkins boys.” The widow sighed and pulled aside a kitchen curtain to gaze thoughtfully toward the swamp. “Well, I reckon the last bit o’evil’s been driv’ away from Black Island. From now on, the land’ll jest lie there and belong to the wind and the rain.”
“And to us,” Penny added softly.
The widow nodded as her gaze lingered long on the fringe of towering pines. “One o’ these days, when the spirit moves us, we’ll go back there,” she promised. “The swamp always belongs to them that loves it!”
THE CRY AT MIDNIGHT
CHAPTER 1
MIDNIGHT AT THE GATE
After a long, tiring climb, the two friends, Penny Parker and Jerry Livingston, had reached the summit of Knob Hill, far above the city of Riverview.
Now as they paused in the moonlight to catch their breath, the slim, golden-haired girl bent to adjust the irons of her skis before making a swift descent to the clearing below.
“We’ll not have many more glorious skiing nights like this one,” she said regretfully. “Anytime now, the weather is due to turn warm.”
Jerry, a reporter at the Riverview Star, nodded as his gaze swept the snowy hillside, unmarked save for the herring-bone tracks made by their own skis.
Tall and muscular, he was several years older than Penny, who attended high school. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, giving him the appearance of a semi-amused spectator of the world’s goings-on.
“Jerry, it’s getting late,” she reminded him. “This will have to be our last run tonight. Ready?”
“Okay, I’ll race you to the valley!” the reporter challenged. “Let’s go!”
Digging in their poles, they flashed off down the hillside. Though they started together, Penny soon forged ahead, descending the steep slope in graceful, curving Christiania turns.
Beneath the mellow moon, snow crystals were brilliant with light. Every pine bristled with glowing icicles. Penny, feeling the rush of wind on her cheek, drew in her breath and was glad to be alive.
With effortless ease, she swung her hips for the sharp turns between the trees. Finally reaching the clearing, she brought up with a spectacular jump-turn and waited for Jerry who was close behind.
“You’re getting faster every trip!” he praised. “I haven’t a chance any more!”
Penny laughed, and with her arm linked in his, glided on to the fire where a group of noisy young people were roasting wieners and boiling coffee.
“Time you’re getting back!” declared Louise Sidell, a dark-haired girl in heavy red woolen snowsuit. She was on her knees in the snow, feeding hickory chips to the cherry red fire.
Louise considered Penny her dearest friend. Though she would not have admitted it, she was slightly green-eyed whenever another person claimed any of her chum’s attention.
“M—m! That coffee smells delicious!” Penny cried, sniffing the fragrant aroma. “I’m starved too!”
She and Jerry made their own sandwiches and poured the steaming beverage. After they had finished eating, the reporter suggested one last climb to Knob Hill.
“It’s nearly midnight,” said Louise, before Penny could accept. “Oughtn’t we to be starting home?”
Immediately a loud chorus of protest arose from other members of the party. Penny looked at her wristwatch regretfully.
“I hate to break up the party,” she said. “But I promised Dad I would be in fairly early tonight. Lou and I will run along, and the rest of you stay.”
“I’ll take you home if you must leave,” Jerry offered.
“Oh, Penny has her car,” said Louise quickly. “It’s parked on the roadside just over the hill.”
“Yes,” Penny added, “we’ll ski down there and be home in a few minutes.”
“You’re not afraid to go alone?” Jerry asked teasingly.
“Afraid?” The question caught Penny by surprise. “Why should we be?”
“You’ll have to pass the old deserted Abbington Monastery to reach your car. It’s a spooky place at night!”
Penny arose and slipped her wrists through the loops of her ski poles. “Now don’t put ideas into our heads!” she chuckled. “It’s just another building.”
“Sure you don’t want me to go along?” urged Jerry.
“Of course not! Louise and I can handle any ghost we’ll meet tonight!”
The girls glided away, pausing at the top of the slope to wave goodbye to their friends. Then they shot down the hill on a trail which skirted a dense grove of pine.
Ahead loomed the gloomy old Abbington Monastery, a structure of moldy stone enclosed by a high brick wall. To the right, inside the enclosure, was an ancient graveyard, many of its white stones at rakish angles.
Penny studied the building with keen interest as she waited for Louise to catch up with her. Built generations earlier, the property first had been used by an order of Black Friars bound to the vows of poverty and obedience.
Later, the monastery had been taken over by an order of nuns, but as the buildings deteriorated, the property had been abandoned. For ten years now, it had stood unoccupied.
“Ugly old place!” puffed Louise, pausing beside her chum to catch her breath. “All the windows broken—why, that’s funny!”
“What is?” demanded Penny.
“The windows aren’t broken! They’ve been replaced!”
“Probably the owner did it to save his property from going completely to wreck and ruin. Wonder who owns the place anyhow?”
“The last I heard, it was sold at public auction for taxes. I think a real estate man bought it for a song.”
“Then maybe he intends to fix it up for rent or sale,” Penny remarked. “But who would want to live in that ancient shell? Somehow, the place gives me the creeps!”
Louise was staring hard at an upstairs window of the distant building.
“Penny!” she exclaimed. “I saw a moving light just then!”
“Where?”
Louise pointed to the window high on the stone wall of the monastery.
“I don’t see anything,” replied Penny. “You must have imagined it.”
“I did not! The light is gone now. But I saw it plainly. It may have been from a lantern. Someone was moving from room to room!”
“Maybe it was a reflection of moonlight then.”Undisturbed, Penny removed her skis. Carefully placing the running surfaces together, she threw them over her left shoulder.
Far away, in the city of Riverview, a tower clock began to chime the hour of midnight.
“Penny!” insisted Louise in a half-whisper. “I did see a light! Maybe the old monastery is haunted—”
“Now hush!” Penny silenced her. “What are you trying to do? Work up a case of nerves?”
“But—”
“Just climb out of those skis and come on, my pet.”Penny moved briskly away. “We’re late now.”
“Wait for me!” Frantically, Louise fumbled with her ski irons. “Don’t leave me here alone!”
“Then not another word about ghosts!” Penny chided.
However, she waited patiently until her chum had removed the skis. The two girls then walked rapidly toward the roadside where the car had been parked. No longer could they see the friendly campfire in the valley. As they drew closer to the monastery, towering pines blotted out the moonlight.
Like a powerful magnet, the old stone building drew their gaze.
Deep snow, glittering with an eerie blue lustre, lay heavy on the high boundary wall. In the deserted garden beyond the gatehouse, several statues also were covered with soft white shrouds.
Louise clutched her chum’s hand and
urged her to a faster pace.
Then suddenly, with one accord, the girls halted.
Directly ahead, at the front entrance to the monastery, a big rusty gate stood slightly ajar!
“It’s open!” whispered Louise. “Why, never before have I seen that gate unlocked!”
For an instant, Penny too was slightly unnerved. But she replied steadily: “What of it? Perhaps someone has moved in.”
While Louise watched uneasily, she walked to the gate, fingering the rusty chain which dangled in the snow.
Then boldly, she pushed the gate farther open.
“Don’t go in there!” Louise warned, her voice sharp with anxiety. “Please come on.”
Penny’s ears were deaf to the plea. She stared intently at a trail of footprints which led from where she stood to a circular stone gatehouse only a few yards away. The marks were very large and had been made by a man’s heavy boot.
“Lou—” she began, but the words froze on her lips.
From inside the monastery came a shrill, piercing scream. As the girls huddled together, the sound died slowly away.
Then a silence, even more terrifying, fell upon the grounds.
CHAPTER 2
“NO TRESPASSING”
“Someone is inside that building!” Penny exclaimed, recovering from startled surprise.
Tensely, the girls waited, but the sound was not repeated.
“It was a woman’s scream,” Louise whispered after a moment. Nervously, she clung to her chum’s hand as they stood in the shadow of the big iron gate. “What can be happening in there?”
Penny stared at the dark monastery, uncertain what to do. Nowhere was a light visible, yet she felt that not only was the building occupied, but also that alert eyes were watching them from somewhere in the gloomy interior.
“Someone may be in trouble and need help,” she said in an unsteady voice. “Let’s rap on the door and ask.”
“At this time of night?” Louise tugged at her chum’s hand, trying to pull her away. “Let’s go, Penny! It’s really none of our affair what goes on here.”
“But someone may be ill and in need of a doctor.”
“It wasn’t that type of scream,” Louise replied with a shiver. “That cry gave me the creeps!”
The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels Page 187