Whispering Walls

by Mildred A. Wirt

  CHAPTER 22 _STRANGER IN THE STORM_

  Penny squirmed and rolled until her hands were very close to the cocoanutoil lamp on the rocky floor of the cave.

  "Be careful!" Lorinda cried fearfully. "If your clothing should catchfire, nothing could save you."

  Penny held her hands, which were bound behind her back, over the flame.The heat seared her flesh and made her wince with pain.

  "Keep it up, Penny!" encouraged her companion. "The cord is catchingfire! But the lamp is almost out!"

  Penny gritted her teeth and endured the pain. Then the lamp sputtered andwent out, leaving the cave to darkness.

  "Oh!" wailed Lorinda in bitter disappointment.

  Penny tugged at the wrist cords. Although not severed, they were halfburned through and weakened. A hard jerk freed her hands.

  Only a moment then was required to untie the cords which held her feet.Next she freed Lorinda. As the girls started to leave through thepassageway, Penny felt a cold blast of air upon her neck. Looking up, shewas able to distinguish a small opening in the wall of the cave.

  "Maybe we can get out there!" she exclaimed. "Give me a boost and I'llsee!"

  Lorinda lifted her up. Scrambling like a monkey, Penny secured a toe holdand crammed her head and shoulders through the opening. A moment latershe ducked back to call to her friend:

  "We can get out all right! But the storm is getting awful! I'll crawl outand then help you."

  Scrambling through the narrow opening, Penny found herself amid the highrocks overlooking the beach. The wind was blowing in puffs, each sopowerful that she nearly was dislodged from her precarious perch.

  Reaching back through the hole, Penny offered her arms to Lorinda whosucceeded in joining her. They huddled in the lee of an overhanging rock,rain driving into their faces.

  "We must get word to the police!" Penny said breathlessly.

  "And I must make certain Mother is safe!" Lorinda added. "She's been lefttoo long alone. Anton and Celeste may have gone back there, and in thatcase, anything might happen!"

  Slipping and sliding, the girls descended the rocks to the beach. Theriver, lashed by a sheet of rain, was dark and ugly. Much of the sand hadbeen inundated and water bubbled at their heels as they ran toward theroad.

  A car swung toward them, its headlights blurred by the rain. It parked atthe curb, and the driver tooted several times as if in signal.

  "That looks like Jerry's car!" Penny cried hopefully.

  It was, indeed, the reporter. He swung open the automobile door, and asthey recognized him, they dashed across the road and gratefully slid intothe shelter offered.

  "Don't you girls know better than to be running around at a time likethis?" Jerry demanded severely. "Lucky I saw you streaking up the beach!"

  "What brought you here?" Penny gasped, taking several deep breaths.

  "What brought me? Say, don't you realize we're in for a real storm, andit's almost here! The radio ten minutes ago reported that Oelwein, on thecoast, has been completely destroyed! I knew you came here to do a littlesleuthing, Penny, and I figured someone ought to look after you."

  "Thanks, Jerry," she returned gratefully. "We were in trouble--plenty ofit."

  As the reporter drove on toward the Rhett mansion, Penny quickly revealedwhat had happened. Jerry made little comment, but his expression wasgrim.

  "Maybe Anton and Celeste are here," he said as the car reached the Rhetthome. "If they are, we'll round 'em up."

  Celeste and Anton, however, were not to be found in the mansion. Theirrooms remained deserted and there was no indication that they hadreturned to the house after leaving the cave.

  Lorinda lost not a moment in hastening to her mother's bedroom. To herrelief, Mrs. Rhett was sleeping quietly and did not awaken.

  "Thank goodness, she is safe," the girl murmured. "After what happened inthe cave, I feared the worst."

  "We ought to get the police on the trail of Anton and Celeste before theymake their escape," Jerry urged. "Once the full force of this stormstrikes, no one will be able to stir outside."

  He tried the telephone but the line remained dead. "I'll drive to thepolice station," he decided. "Are you girls coming along?"

  "I'll stay with Mother," Lorinda said. "She mustn't be left alone."

  Penny hesitated, intending to remain with her friend, but Jerry seizedher by the arm. "Your father sent me out here to round you up, so I'lltake you to the newspaper office," he declared. "Let's go!"

  As they opened the front door, rain poured in and a great blast of windnearly swept the pair from their feet.

  "Wow!" exclaimed the reporter, holding tight to Penny as with headslowered, they ran for the car. "This is it!"

  The air was filled with flying objects, and a shingle loosened from themansion roof, hurtled against Penny. Jerry pulled the car door open. Thewind seized it, nearly wrenching it off the hinges. Gusts were of greatervelocity now, with the intervals much shorter.

  For a dreadful moment, Penny and Jerry thought the car would not start.The reporter jammed his foot on the starter again and again and gave itthe full choke. Suddenly, the motor caught.

  As they drove off along the river road, the force of the wind was sogreat it required all of Jerry's strength to keep the car straight on theroad.

  "We'll be lucky if we reach the police station!" he exclaimed. "This is alot worse than I figured."

  "Jerry!"

  Seizing the reporter's arm, Penny pointed to a crouched figure visible onthe road ahead. The woman, hair flying in wild streamers, clutched alarge object in her arms, and was bent almost double as she sought tomove against the wind.

  "It's Celeste!" Penny cried.

  Jerry brought the car to the roadside almost beside the servant. Notuntil Penny and the reporter were out of the automobile and almost uponher, did she see them. Then with a startled cry, she turned to flee. Butit was too late. Jerry seized her by the arm.

  "You're coming with us!" he ordered sharply.

  Battered and frightened by the force of the wind, Celeste, surprisingly,made no protest. Clutching the big Zudi drum, she allowed Jerry and Pennyto pull her into the shelter of the car.

  "Where is Anton?" the reporter demanded.

  Celeste's answer was a shrug. She gazed toward the mansion grounds, andignored the pair.

  Jerry drove on. He glanced significantly at Penny who guessed that heintended to take Celeste directly to the police station.

  However, as they approached the downtown section, the wind blew with evengreater power. Not a vehicle was to be seen on the streets. The _Star_building loomed up, but the police station was six blocks away.

  "We can't make it," Jerry decided. "I'm turning in here."

  One of the double doors of the _Star_ garage, where trucks were usuallyloaded with their papers, stood open. He drove inside, pulling up nearthe entrance to the newspaper pressroom on the ground floor.

  Celeste stirred to life, and made a move to get out of the car.

  "Oh, no you don't!" said Jerry, pushing her back. "You and that drum staywith us."

  Celeste was of a different opinion. Glaring at Jerry, she slapped at him,and again tried to get her hand on the door handle.

  "We can't hold her here," Jerry said. "But I have an idea! Penny, see ifthe pressroom door is unlocked."

  Penny ran to test it and found it unlocked. Now that the extra was out,the pressmen had gathered in a far corner of the big room filled withgiant rotary presses, to smoke and watch the storm.

  Racing back to the car, Penny made her report.

  "Good!" exclaimed Jerry.

  With Penny's help, he got Celeste out of the car, separating her from theZudi drum which they left in the automobile. The woman stubbornly refusedto walk, so Jerry lifted her bodily and carried her kicking andstruggling into the pressroom.

  Near the door was a large storage closet where tools and oil for thepresses were kept
. Jerry shoved Celeste into this room and turned a keyin the lock.

  "That will hold her," he observed. "While you lock the Zudi drum in thecar, I'll talk to the press foreman and tell him what we've done. ThenCeleste can squawk her head off and it will do no good. We'll keep herhere until the storm lets up and we can get a police squad to pick herup."

  Penny ran back to the loading garage. It was deserted now save for a lonedelivery truck which stood directly in front of the paper chute. Althoughhis cargo was loaded, the driver hesitated to try to deliver until thestorm abated.

  Locking the car, Penny decided she would close the one big double garagedoor where rain was blowing in.

  The hurricane now roared in full fury. Peering out into the desertedstreet, it seemed to Penny that no person could stand against itsstrength. Yet as she closed the doors, she was amazed to see a scurryingfigure.

  The man, his hat gone, overcoat whipped between his legs, grasped acorner of the building for support.

  Seeing his face, Penny drew in her breath sharply. A small jagged scardisfigured one cheek. As he struggled past the door, she reached out andgrasped his arm.

  "Come in here out of the wind," she urged. As she gazed directly into hiseyes, she added distinctly: "We have been looking for you a long while,Mr. Rhett!"