“Why can’t we pull the job now and get out?”
“Because the car won’t be waiting for us. Everything’s got to move on schedule.”
As the night wore on, a light rain began to fall. Wessler and his companion went frequently to the windows, seemingly well pleased by the change of weather.
The ordeal of waiting was a cruel one for Louise and Penny. Although they knew that Old Noah had tossed their messages into the water, they held scant hope that any of the bottles would be found that night. While searching parties might continue to seek them, it was unlikely that they would be released in time to prevent the destruction of the Seventh Street Bridge.
Another hour elapsed. Wessler looked at his watch and spoke to his companion.
“Well, I’m shoving off! When you hear the explosion, lock ’em up in the bird room, and make for the shack. The car will pick you up.”
“Good luck, Jard,” Breneham responded.
Wessler went out the door, closing it behind him. The girls heard him lower the gangplank into place, and then his footsteps died away.
Penny gazed at Louise in despair. They both knew that Jard Wessler had gone to dynamite the Seventh Street Bridge. Although they were not certain of the plan, they believed that he intended to use Sara Ottman’s boat which doubtlessly would be loaded with explosives.
Breneham began to pace the floor nervously. Suddenly he halted by a porthole, listening. The girls too strained to hear.
“Someone’s out there in the trees!” Breneham muttered. “This ark is being watched! Noah, stick your head out the window and ask who it is! And no tricks!”
Old Noah did as ordered.
“Hello, the ark!” shouted a voice which Penny thought belonged to Jerry Livingston. “Are you alone there, Noah?”
“Tell him yes,” prodded the saboteur. “Say that you are just going to bed.”
“But my son, that would be a base falsehood,”Noah argued. “I have no intention of retiring—”
Penny, quick to divine that Breneham’s attention was diverted, rushed to another window. In a shrill voice she screamed for help.
Breneham sprang toward Penny, intending to fell her with a blow. Louise began to shout. Realizing that he had been betrayed, Breneham jerked open the door and leaped from the high deck into the stream.
“Get him! Get him!” shouted Penny to the group of men on shore.
Breneham swam a few feet and then waded toward the far side of the stream.
“Oh, he’s going to get away!” Louise murmured, watching anxiously from a porthole.
As the saboteur scrambled up the bank, two men rose from their hiding places in the tall bushes and grasped him by the arms.
“It’s Dad!” cried Penny gleefully. “And your father too, Louise!”
Thrilled by the manner in which their release had been accomplished, the girls ran out of the cabin. Crossing the gangplank, they saw that the rescue party was comprised of Mr. Parker, Mr. Sidell, Jerry Livingston, several men who were strangers, and Sara Ottman.
“I found your message in the bottle!” she greeted the girls excitedly.
“Not really?” demanded Penny.
“I was in the little cove just below here, guarding my boat,” explained Sara. “I intended to get back earlier to relieve you girls, but I was detained at the police station. Anyway, while I waited at the bend, wondering what to do, a swarm of corked bottles came floating downstream.”
“Old Noah threw out a box full of them,” chuckled Louise. “So you read our message, asking for help, Sara?”
The older girl nodded. “Yes, one of the bottles drifted ashore. Usually I don’t bother to read the message, but this time I did.”
“How were you able to bring help here so quickly?” asked Penny.
“Actually I didn’t. Although I didn’t realize it until a few minutes ago, your parents have been dreadfully worried about you girls. When Bill Evans telephoned them, they came here to search.”
“I know,” nodded Penny. “Dad was here earlier in the evening. The saboteurs tricked him into leaving.”
“I didn’t see him at the time,” Sara resumed her explanation. “Penny, your father returned home, but when he learned you were not there, he organized a searching party. Just as the men reached Bug Run once more, I found your message. I gave it to Mr. Parker and—well, you know the rest.”
“Did you capture Jard Wessler?” Penny demanded tensely. “That’s the important thing!”
“Wessler? You mean the man who stole my motorboat?”
“Yes, he went away from the ark about five minutes ago. I’m sure he intended to use the hidden boat, Sara! You left it well guarded, I hope.”
“There’s no one watching it now.”
“Then we’ve got to move fast!” Penny cried, looking anxiously about for her father. “Jard Wessler plans to destroy the Seventh Street Bridge! He’s probably close by now, waiting for a chance to make his get-away!”
The three girls ran to meet Mr. Parker who at that moment had crossed the stream with the prisoner. Just then the engine of a motorboat was heard to sputter. Sara stopped short, listening. Unmistakably, the sound came from around the bend.
“That’s my boat!” Sara cried.
“Jard Wessler is getting away!” Penny added. “We must stop him!”
Leaving others to guard the prisoner, Mr. Parker and Jerry ran toward the mouth of Bug Run. Not to be left behind, Penny, Sara, and Louise, followed as fast as they could. By the time they reached the river, Wessler’s boat had disappeared. However, the popping of its engine could be heard far out on the water.
“We’ll never overtake him now,” Sara said despairingly. “That boat is a fast one.”
A slower craft, one the girl had used earlier in the evening to cross the river, was beached nearby. Even though pursuit seemed useless, the men launched it. Overloaded with five passengers, the boat made slow progress against the current.
“We haven’t a chance to overtake that fellow,”Sara repeated again.
“If only we could notify Coast Guards!” Penny murmured hopelessly. “Their station is up river. They still might be able to intercept Wessler before he reaches the bridge.”
“No way to contact them,” Mr. Parker responded, his voice grim. “If there were any houses along shore, we could telephone. As it is, the situation is pretty hopeless.”
“Shall we give up the chase?” asked Sara who handled the tiller.
As Mr. Parker hesitated, Penny suddenly grasped his arm. To the starboard she had glimpsed an approaching yacht. Its contour was so well known along the waterfront that she had no doubt as to its identity—the Eloise III.
“Dad, we still have a chance!” she cried. “By radio telephone!”
“How d’you mean?” he demanded.
“The Eloise has a radio telephone!” Penny explained. Excitedly, she began to signal with Sara’s flashlight. “Dad, if only they see us in time, we still may save the bridge!”
CHAPTER 25
A BOW IN THE CLOUD
In the radio room of the Eloise III, Mr. Parker, Jerry, and the three girls hovered at the elbow of Commodore Phillips who sat at the radio-telephone.
“I’ve done all I can,” the Commodore said, putting aside the instrument. “The Coast Guard station has acknowledged our message. Now we must wait.”
The Eloise which had picked up Mr. Parker’s party, was heading at full steam toward the Seventh Street Bridge. Unmindful of the rain, the young people went out on deck. Huddling in the lee of the cabin, they anxiously watched and listened.
“It’s one fifteen,” said Mr. Parker, glancing at his watch. “Any minute now—”
A loud report sounded over the water.
“The bridge!” gasped Louise. “It’s been dynamited!”
“No, no!” exclaimed the Commodore impatiently. “That was gunfire! The Coast Guard boat has gone into action!”
A moment later those aboard the Eloise saw a flash of fire
and heard another loud report.
“You may rest easy now,” said the Commodore, relaxing. “With the Coast Guard on the job, that saboteur hasn’t a chance. If he escapes with his life he’ll be lucky.”
Penny sagged weakly against the railing of the Eloise. Now that she knew the bridge would be saved, she felt completely exhausted from the long period of suspense.
“Wessler can’t be the only one involved in this plot,” she heard her father say. “There must be others.”
“Oh, there are!” Penny cried, recovering her strength. “Carl Oaks is a member of the outfit! He’s waiting at a shack not far from the ark. And Burt Ottman is held a prisoner there!”
“Burt!” Sara exclaimed in horror. “Oh, why didn’t you tell me!”
“In the excitement it just passed out of my mind,”Penny confessed. “I forgot about everything except saving the bridge!”
Once more Commodore Phillips busied himself on the radio telephone, this time contacting Riverview police. Before he left his desk he learned that a squad had been dispatched to the shack in the woods. Likewise, a message soon came from the Coast Guard station, informing him that Jard Wessler had been captured.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see Burt,” Sara declared, anxiously pacing the deck. “He may be seriously hurt.”
To ease the girl’s mind, Commodore Phillips put the entire party ashore not far from the entrance to Bug Run. Hastening through the woods, Mr. Parker and the young people reached the shack only a few minutes after the arrival of police.
“What became of Carl Oaks?” the newspaper owner asked a sergeant. “Did you get him?”
The policeman indicated a downcast figure who sat handcuffed inside the patrol car. Oaks, he explained, had been captured without a struggle.
“And Burt Ottman?” Mr. Parker inquired.
“They’re taking him to the ambulance now.”
Four men came out of the shack bearing the injured young man on a stretcher. Pale but conscious, he grinned as Sara tearfully bent over him.
“I’m okay, Sis,” he mumbled. “Feelin’ swell.”
Sara was allowed to ride with her brother to the hospital. Remaining behind, Mr. Parker, Jerry and the girls, tried to learn from police officers if Burt had made any statement.
“Sure, he was able to spill the whole story,” one of the men told them. “Seems he set out to prove that he was innocent of any association with the saboteurs. Instead of cooperating with police, he went to work on his own. He investigated an organization known as the American Protective Society. That put him on the trail of a head waiter at The Green Parrot, a foreigner by the name of Jard Wessler.”
“I understand now why Burt acted so queer about that billfold he lost along the river,” Penny commented. “He didn’t want me to know that he was meeting one of the saboteurs at the Parrot.”
“How many were involved in the dynamiting plot?” Mr. Parker asked.
“Twelve or thirteen. According to Ottman, Jard Wessler is the brains of the group. By pretending to go along with them, the kid gathered a lot of evidence.”
“But at first the saboteurs tried to throw the guilt on Burt,” Penny protested.
“True,” nodded the policeman. “They used a boat stolen from the Ottman dock, and they planted evidence to make it appear that Burt was the guilty one.”
“Then why would they take up with him later?”Penny asked in perplexity.
“They never did. One of the saboteurs met him at The Green Parrot to try to learn how much the kid knew. Young Ottman was slugged over the head when he tried to get into a basement room where the gang held their meetings.”
“I guess that explains why we found Burt lying outside in the alley,” Mr. Parker remarked. “It’s a pity he couldn’t have told us what he was attempting to do.”
“The kid did get a lot of evidence,” resumed the officer. “With the information he’s given us, we expect to mop up the entire gang.”
“Louise and I found him a prisoner here at the shack,” Penny remarked slowly. “I suppose in seeking evidence, he tangled with the saboteurs again.”
“Yes, young Ottman was foolhardy. He was caught spying a second time and they slugged him. Lucky for him his injuries aren’t likely to prove serious.”
Mr. Parker and Jerry asked many more questions, knowing the story would rate important play in the Riverview Star. Turning Penny and Louise over to Mr. Sidell who belatedly joined the party, the two newspaper men rushed off to scoop rival papers.
“Dad didn’t even take time to say he was glad we escaped from those saboteurs!” Penny complained to Louise. “Isn’t that a newspaper man for you!”
Before another hour had elapsed, reporters and photographers from other papers swarmed the woods. Louise and Penny were quizzed regarding the capture of the three saboteurs. Determined that the Star should print an exclusive story, they had very little to say.
Hours later, at home, Penny learned that police had lost no time in acting upon information provided by Burt Ottman. The entire group of men known to be associated with Jard Wessler had been arrested at a Fourteenth Street club. A complete confession had been signed by Carl Oaks who claimed that he was not a member of the gang, but had been hired to do as instructed.
“Well, the Star scooped every paper in town,” Mr. Parker remarked, as he put aside the front page. “That’s not important, however, compared to saving the Seventh Street Bridge.”
“How about your daughter?” Penny asked, rumpling his hair. “Aren’t you one speck glad about saving me?”
“I’ve been reserving a special lecture for you,” he said, pretending to be stern. “Young ladies who go running about at night—”
“Never mind,” laughed Penny, “If Lou and I hadn’t done our prowling, I guess you wouldn’t have any old Seventh Street Bridge!”
Actually Mr. Parker was very proud of his daughter and showed it in many ways. He would not allow Mrs. Weems to scold her for the night’s escapade. Learning that she was worried about Old Noah, he promised to talk to Sheriff Anderson and do what he could for the old fellow. The next morning, he and Penny started off to see Noah, stopping enroute at the hospital.
“Oh, I’m so glad you came!” Sara Ottman greeted them at her brother’s bedside. “Burt and I owe you so much. I’ve been very unpleasant—”
“Not at all,” corrected Penny. “Anyway, I like folks who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.”
From Burt Ottman, Mr. Parker and his daughter heard a story much like the one previously told them by the police. The young man rapidly had gained in strength and was much cheered because he had been cleared in connection with the bridge dynamitings.
“How did you learn that Jard Wessler was a saboteur?”Mr. Parker asked him.
“Accident,” admitted Burt. “Even before the bridge was blasted, I had seen the fellow around the docks. One day I overheard him talking to Breneham, and what they said made me suspicious. After getting involved in the mess myself, I made it my business to investigate. I managed to meet one of the saboteurs at the Parrot, but he proved too shrewd for me.”
“You woke up in the alley,” Penny recalled.
“Yes, after that I watched a place I’d learned about on Fourteenth Street. Figured I had all the dope. But as I started for the police, someone hit me with a blackjack. That’s the last I remember until I came to at the woods shack.”
Penny and her father were pleased to know that the young man was recovering from his injuries.
After chatting with him for a time, they left the hospital and proceeded toward the ark in the mud flats.
“I confess I don’t know what to say to Noah,” Mr. Parker declared as they approached the gangplank. “Sheriff Anderson insists the ark is a nuisance and must go.”
Penny paused at the edge of the stream. It had started to rain once more, and drops splattered down through the trees, rippling the quiet water.
“Poor Noah!” she sighed. “He’ll be unwilling to le
ave his home or his animals. This ark never can be floated either.”
“I’ll be glad to pay for his lodging elsewhere,” Mr. Parker offered. “Naturally, he’ll have to forsake his pets.”
Crossing the gangplank, Penny called Old Noah’s name. There was no answer. Not until she had shouted many times did the old fellow come up from the ark’s hold. His arms were grimy, his clothing wet from the waist down.
“Why, Noah!” Penny exclaimed, astonished by his appearance.
“All morning I have labored,” the old fellow said wearily. “The commotion last night excited Bess, my cow. The critter kicked a hole in the ark. Water has poured in faster than I can pump it out.”
“Well, why not abandon this old boat?” Mr. Parker proposed, quick to seize an opportunity. “Wouldn’t you like to live in a steam-heated apartment?”
“With my animals?”
“No, you would have to leave them behind.”
Old Noah shook his head. “I could not desert my animals. At least not my dogs and cats, or my birds or fowls. As for cows and goats, they are a burden almost beyond my strength.”
“A little place in the country might suit you,” suggested Penny brightly. As Noah showed no interest, she added: “Or how would you like a big bus? You could take your smaller pets and tour the United States!”
Old Noah’s dull blue eyes began to gleam. “I had a truck once,” he said. “They took it away from me after I had made a payment. I’ve always hankered to see the country. But it’s not to be.”
“Oh, a truck might be arranged,” declared Penny, grinning at her father.
“It’s not that.” Old Noah leaned heavily on the railing of the ark. “You might say I made a covenant to keep this place of refuge. The Great Flood soon will be upon us—”
“There will be no flood,” interrupted Mr. Parker impatiently.
“I’d be happy to leave this ark if only I could believe that,” sighed Noah. “I’m getting older, and it’s a great burden to care for so many animals. But I must not shirk my duty because I am tired.”
Penny knew that the old man could not be influenced by mere words. Glancing at the sky, she saw that although rain still fell, the sun had straggled through the clouds. Above the trees arched a beautiful rainbow.
The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels Page 94
