Hoofbeats on the Turnpike Part 4

"No, my friend and I come from Riverview."

"Well, you see, it's like this." The editor drew a crude map for the girls. "Sleepy Hollow estate is situated in a sort of 'V' shaped valley.

Just below it is the little town of Delta, and on below that, a hamlet called Raven. We're at the foot of the valley, so to speak. Huntley Lake and the dam are just above Sleepy Hollow estate."

"And is there really danger that the dam will give way?"

"If you want my opinion, read the Hobostein Weekly," answered the editor.

"The dam won't wash out tomorrow or the next day, but if these rains keep on, the whole valley's in danger. But try to pound any sense into Burmaster's thick head!"

"You started to tell me about the Headless Horseman," Penny reminded him.

"Did I now?" smiled the editor. "Don't recollect it myself. Fact is, Burmaster's ghost troubles don't interest me one whit."

"But we've come all the way from Riverview just to find out about the Headless Horseman."

"Calculate on earning that reward?" The editor's eyes twinkled.

"Perhaps."

"Then you don't want to waste time trying to get second-hand information.

Burmaster's the man for you to see. Talk to him."

"Well--"

"No, you talk to Burmaster," the editor said with finality. "Only don't tell him I sent you."

"But how will we find the man?" Penny was rather dismayed to have the interview end before it was well launched.

"Oh, his car is parked down the street," the editor answered carelessly.

"Everyone in town knows Burmaster. I'd talk to you longer only I'm so busy this afternoon. Burmaster is the one to tell you his own troubles."

Thus dismissed, the girls could do nothing but thank the editor and leave the newspaper building. Dubiously they looked up and down the street. The fine new car they had noticed a little while earlier no longer was parked at the curb. Nor was there any sign of the man who had just left the newspaper office.

"All we can do is inquire for him," said Penny.

At a grocery store farther down the street they paused to ask if Mr.

Burmaster had been seen. The store keeper finished grinding a pound of coffee for a customer and then answered Penny's question.

"Mr. Burmaster?" he repeated. "Why, yes, he was in town, but he pulled out about five minutes ago."

"Then we've just missed him!" Penny exclaimed.

"Burmaster's on his way to Sleepy Hollow by this time," the store keeper agreed. "You might catch him there."

"But how can we get to Sleepy Hollow?"

"Well, there's a train. Only runs once a day though. And it went through about half an hour ago."

"That was the train we came in on. Isn't there a car one can hire?"

"Don't know of any. Clem Williams has some good horses though. He keeps the livery stable down the street."

Their faces very long, the girls picked up their overnight bags and went outside again.

"I knew this trip would be a wash-out," said Louise disconsolately. "Here we are, stuck high and dry until our train comes in tomorrow."

"But why give up so easily?"

"We're licked, that's why. We've missed Mr. Burmaster and we can't go to Sleepy Hollow after him."

Penny gazed thoughtfully down the street at Clem Williams' livery stable.

"Why can't we go to Sleepy Hollow?" she demanded. "Let's rent horses."

Louise waxed sarcastic. "To be sure. We can canter along balancing these overnight bags on the pommel of our saddles!"

"We'll have to leave our luggage behind," Penny planned briskly. "The most essential things we can wrap up in knapsacks."

"But I'm not a good rider," Louise complained. "The last time we rode a mile I couldn't walk for a week."

"Seven miles isn't so far."

"Seven miles!" Louise gasped. "Why, it's slaughter."

"Oh, you'll last," chuckled Penny confidently. "I'll see to that."

"I am curious to see Sleepy Hollow estate," Louise admitted with reluctance. "All that talk about the Huntley Dam interested me too."

"And the Headless Horseman?"

"That part rather worries me. Penny, do you realize that if we go to Sleepy Hollow we may run into more than we bargain for?"

Penny laughed and grasping her chums arm, pulled her down the street.

"That's what I hope," she confessed. "Unless Sleepy Hollow lets us down shamefully, our adventure is just starting!"

CHAPTER 4 _A STRANGER OF THE ROAD_

Even for late September it was a warm day. The horses plodded slowly up a steep, winding trail heavily canopied with yellowing maple leaves. Louise and Penny swished angrily at the buzzing mosquitoes and tried to urge their tired mounts to a faster pace.

"I warned you this trip would be slaughter," Louise complained, ducking to avoid a tree limb. "Furthermore, I suspect we're lost."

"How could we be, when we haven't turned off the trail?" Penny called over her shoulder.

She rode ahead on a sorry looking nag appropriately named Bones. The animal was more easily managed than the skittish mare Louise had chosen at Williams' Livery Stable, but had an annoying appet.i.te for foliage.