THE STOLEN TROPHY
Hand in hand the two girls tiptoed to the entranceway of the lounge. Distinctly they could hear someone moving about in the darkness, and the sound came from the direction of a small cabin which the Barkers used as an office room.
"Pop!" Sally called sharply. "Is that you?"
She was answered only by complete silence. Then a plank creaked. The prowler was stealing stealthily toward the girls!
"Pop!" shouted Sally at the top of her lungs, groping to find a light switch.
Before she could illuminate the room, a man brushed past the two girls. Penny seized him by the coat. A sharp object pierced her finger. She was thrust back against the wall so hard that it knocked the breath from her. The man twisted, and jerking his coat free, dashed up the stairs.
"Pop!" Sally called again.
Captain Barker, armed with revolver and flashlight, came out of his cabin. By this time, Sally had found and turned on the light switch.
"A prowler!" she cried. "He ran up on deck."
"Stay below!" ordered the captain. "I'll get him!"
Penny and Sally had no intention of missing any of the excitement. Close at Captain Barker's heels, they darted up the companionway to the deck. To the starboard, the trio heard a slight splash, then the sound of steady dipping oars.
"Someone's getting away in a rowboat!" Sally cried.
Captain Barker ran to the railing. "Halt!" he shouted. "Halt or I'll fire!"
The man, a mere shadow in the mist arising from the river, rowed faster. Captain Barker fired two shots, purposely high. The man ducked down into the boat, and a moment later switched on an outboard motor, which rapidly carried him beyond view.
"Did you see who the fellow was, Sally?" the captain demanded wrathfully.
"No, it was too dark. Do you think he got away with the money in the safe?"
Fearing the worst, the trio descended to an office room adjoining the passenger lounge. A chair had been overturned there, but the door of the safe remained locked.
"You girls must have surprised him before he had time to steal the money," Captain Barker declared in relief. "No harm done, but this is the first time in six years that anyone tried to sneak aboard the Queen. We'll have to keep a better watch from now on."
As the girls turned to leave the cabin, Sally saw that Penny was looking at the third finger of her right hand.
"Why, you're hurt!" she cried.
Penny's hand was smeared with blood which came from a tiny pin-prick wound on the finger.
"It's nothing," she insisted.
Sally ran to a cabinet for gauze, iodine and cotton. "How did it happen?" she asked.
"I tried to stop the prowler. As I grabbed his coat, something stuck my finger. It must have been a pin."
The wound was superficial and did not pain Penny. Sally wrapped the finger for her, and then after Captain Barker had said he would remain up for awhile, they returned to bed.
Throughout the night there were no further disturbances. At dawn the girls arose, feeling only a little tired as the result of their night's adventure. They had time for a quick swim in the river before breakfast and disgraced themselves by eating six pancakes each.
"The crew will be coming aboard soon," Sally said, glancing at her watch. "I usually sweep out the lounge and straighten up a bit before we make our first passenger run."
Penny, who had nothing to do until Jack could come to take her back to the island, eagerly offered to help. Armed with brooms and dust rags, the girls went below.
In the doorway, Penny paused, staring at the overhead beam.
"Why, Sally," she commented in astonishment. "What did you do with the lantern trophy? Take it down?"
"No, it's still there."
Alarmed by Penny's question, Sally moved past her, gazing at the beam. Where the brass lantern had hung, there now was only a neatly severed chain.
"Why, it's gone!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
"Wasn't it here last night when we went to bed?"
"Of course."
"Then it was stolen last night!"
