Saboteurs on the River Part 20

"Mind's a blank."

"You must have been struck by someone," Penny said, refusing to be discouraged. "Can't you recall whom you were with just before the accident?"

"What is this, a third degree?" Burt asked, and only a faint, amused smile took the edge from his question.

"I'm sorry," Penny apologized.

"It doesn't matter what happened to me," Burt said quietly. "I just don't feel like talking about it--see?"

"Yes."

"I don't mean to seem unappreciative," the young man resumed. "Thanks for taking me home."

"You're very welcome, I'm sure," Penny responded dryly.

The car drew up in front of the home where Burt and his sister lived. A pleasant, one-story cottage rather in need of paint, it was situated high on a bluff overlooking the river.

As Burt stiffly alighted from the car, the cottage door opened, and Sara came running to meet him.

"You're hurt!" she cried anxiously. "Oh, Burt, what happened to you?"

"Nothing," he answered, moving away from her encircling arms.

"But your head!"

"Your brother was hurt sometime last night," Penny explained to Sara.

"Just how, we don't know. My father and I found him lying in an alley at the rear of The Green Parrot."

"The Green Parrot--that night club!" Sara gazed at her brother in dismay.

"Oh, Burt, I was afraid something like this would happen. Those dreadful men--"

"Now Sara," he interrupted brusquely. "No theatricals, please.

Everything's all right." Giving her cheek a playful pinch, he wobbled past her into the cottage.

Sara turned frightened eyes upon Penny. "Tell me exactly what happened,"

she pleaded.

"I honestly don't know, Sara. My father thought someone must have struck your brother from behind, but he's not told us a thing."

"I just knew something of the sort would happen," Sara repeated nervously.

"What do you mean?" inquired Penny. "Does your brother have enemies who would harm him?"

"Burt's been trying to find out who framed him in the bridge dynamiting.

He won't tell me much about it, but I know he's been trailing down a few leads."

"Isn't that work for the police?"

"The police!" Sara retorted bitterly. "Their only interest is in piling up more evidence against Burt!"

"Your brother knows the ident.i.ty of the saboteur?"

"He won't tell me, but I think he does have an idea who blew up the bridge."

Penny scarcely knew whether or not to accept Sara's explanation of her brother's activities. Unquestionably, the girl believed that he was innocent of all charges against him. For one not prejudiced in his favor, there were many factors to be considered. Why had Burt denied losing the leather billfold? And with whom had he kept the Tuesday night appointment at The Green Parrot?

"If your brother has any clue regarding the real saboteur, he should present his evidence to the police," Penny advised Sara.

"He'll never do that until he's ready to appear in court. Not after the way the police treated him."

Penny realized that nothing was to be gained by discussing the matter further with Sara. Offering a few polite remarks to the effect that she hoped Burt would soon recover completely from his injury, she drove away.

Later, in repeating the conversation to her father, she declared that she could not make up her mind regarding Burt Ottman's guilt.

"The case does have interesting angles," Mr. Parker acknowledged. "I talked to the Police Commissioner this morning about The Green Parrot.

The place long has had a reputation for cheating customers, and lately it's been under suspicion as a rendezvous for anti-American groups."

"That would fit in with what the bakery woman told us. What became of The Green Parrot, Dad? Have the police been able to trace it to a new location?"

"Not yet. The cafe may not open up again, or if it does, under a new name."

For two days Penny divided her time between school and the river. As the water remained too rough for safe sailing, she and Louise spent their spare hours painting and cleaning their boat. Upon several occasions they called at the Ottman Boat Dock. Burt never was there, but Sara a.s.sured them that her brother had completely recovered from his recent mishap.

"Did he never tell you how he was struck?" Penny inquired once.

"Never," Sara returned. "I've given up talking to him about it."

With the river high, the girls had no opportunity to visit Old Noah at his ark. However, Sara told them that she was quite certain Sheriff Anderson had not succeeded in getting rid of the old fellow and his animals.

"The ark is still anch.o.r.ed up Bug Run," she laughed ruefully. "I know because a steady flow of blue bottles has been floating down here!"

"Do you always read the message?" Louise inquired.

"Not always," Sara replied. "Frequently I do because they're so crazy."

Since his arrest and subsequent release from jail, Burt Ottman had seldom been seen at the boat dock. Hara.s.sed and overburdened, Sara endeavored to do the work of two people. She ran the motor launch, taking pa.s.sengers up and down the river. She rented canoes and row boats, and looked after repair work which came to the shop. If she felt that her brother was shirking his duties, she gave no inkling of it to the girls.

"When does Burt's trial come up?" Louise remarked to Penny late Thursday night as they walked home from the Public Library. "Next week, isn't it?"

"Yes, the twenty-first," her chum nodded. "From all I can gather, he'll be convicted, too."

"I feel sorry for Sara."

"So do I," agreed Penny. "At first I didn't like her very well. Now I know her brusque manner doesn't mean anything."

The girls were pa.s.sing a drugstore. In the window appeared a colored advertis.e.m.e.nt, a picture of a giant chocolate soda, topped with frothy whipped cream. Penny paused to gaze longingly at it.

"That's a personal invitation addressed to me," she remarked. "How about it, Lou?"