TRAPPED
Jack had little to say about the theft as he and Penny returned to the Gandiss home. However, after lunch he offered to go to his father's factory to learn the identity of the employee who had lost the badge aboard the River Queen.
"Want to come along?" he invited.
Ordinarily, Penny would have welcomed the opportunity, but remembering that Sally had wished to see her, she regretfully turned down the invitation.
"I'll ride across the river if you don't mind," she said. "I have an errand in town."
By this time Penny was familiar with the daily route of the River Queen and knew where it would dock to pick up and unload passengers. Sally, she felt certain, would be aboard, expecting her.
They crossed the river in the motorboat, making an appointment to meet again at four o'clock. After Jack had gone, Penny set off for the River Queen's dock where a sizable group of passengers awaited the ferry.
Soon the Queen steamed in, her bell signaling a landing. Passengers crowded the railing, eager to be the first off. A crewman stood at the wheel, and Sally was nowhere to be seen.
As the boat brushed the dock, sailors leaped off to make fast to the dock posts. Captain Barker, annoyed because the passengers were pushing, bellowed impatient orders to his men: "All right, start that gangplank forward! Lively! Are you going to sleep over it all day?"
Then, seeing Penny, he raised his hand in friendly greeting.
"Is Sally aboard?" she called to him.
"No, she went up the shore a ways--didn't say where," the captain replied, waving his hand upriver. "Ought to be back here any minute."
Sally, however, did not appear, and the Queen pulled away without her. Penny loitered on the dock for twenty minutes. The sun was hot and with nothing to do, time lay heavy upon her. It lacked a half hour before the River Queen would return, and fully two hours before she was due to meet Jack. For lack of occupation, she walked upriver along the docks.
Buildings were few and far between. There were several fish houses, a boat rental place and the half-deserted amusement park. The beach beyond made easy walking, so Penny kept on. With quickening interest she saw that she was approaching a two-story building which appeared to stand on stilts over the water. Close by was a large, smoothly cemented area with overhead lights.
"That's the Harper place!" Penny recognized it. "With the dance area adjoining."
She moved on along the beach. Drawing closer to the building, she passed a clump of bushes fringing the sand. The leaves stirred slightly though there was no breeze. Penny failed to notice the movement.
But as she passed the bushes, a hand reached out and grasped her ankle.
Startled, Penny uttered a nervous cry.
"Be quiet, you goon!" a familiar voice bade.
It was Sally Barker crouched amid the foliage. Quickly she pulled Penny with her behind the bushes.
"Sally, what are you doing here?" Penny demanded.
"Watching that house. I saw you a long way down the beach."
"Anything doing?"
"A boat is coming in now. That's why I didn't want you to be seen."
A rowboat with an outboard, rapidly approached the Harper pier. Already it was making a wide sweep preparatory to a landing.
"Why, it's that fellow, Joe the Sweeper!" Penny exclaimed, peering out from the hiding place. "Who is steering the boat?"
"Claude Harper," Sally revealed. "Ma Harper's husband."
"Wonder what Joe would be doing here?"
"That's what I'd like to know myself," Sally returned grimly. "Joe isn't as stupid as he's given credit for being. He's crafty and mean, and being mixed up with the Harpers is no recommendation."
While the girls watched, the boat landed. The two men tied up the craft, and removing a burlap sack which apparently was filled with something heavy, carried it into the two-story house.
"I wish we knew what they brought here," Penny said. "Why not try to find out?"
"How?"
