Signal in the Dark Part 16

"A light ray machine which explodes mines on land or sea. The affair is very complicated."

At Penny's expression of doubt, Mrs. Leonard added: "It really works too!

The first night the professor came here, he exploded a mine out in the lake. Such a splash as it made! I saw it with my own eyes! The professor expects to sell it to the Army or Navy for a lot of money."

"If it will do all he claims, why hasn't the government taken it over before this?"

"Oh, it takes a long while to complete negotiations," Mrs. Leonard replied. "The professor is expecting an officer here tomorrow to witness another demonstration."

"Where is the machine kept? In your house?"

"Oh, dear no! The professor has it in a little shack down by the lake.

You can see the place from here."

Mrs. Leonard led the girls a short distance from the summer house, pointing through the trees to a knoll at the edge of Blue Hole Lake.

"The professor and his wife went down there a few minutes ago," she revealed. "Why don't you ask them to show you the invention? They might do it."

"I doubt if we have time."

"Oh, let's take time," Louise urged. "It sounds so interesting, Penny."

Thus urged, Penny agreed, and with her chum, walked down the hill toward the lake.

"It sounds fishy to me," she declared skeptically. "Probably this professor is just a crack-pot who thinks he has a wonderful invention, but hasn't."

"Mrs. Leonard said she saw a successful demonstration."

"I know, Lou. But how could a light ray machine explode mines that were under water? Why, if it could be done, military warfare would be revolutionized!"

"Unbelievable changes are coming every day."

"This one certainly is unbelievable! I'll take no stock in it unless I see the machine work with my own eyes!"

Approaching the shack, the girls saw no one. The door was closed. And it was locked, Penny discovered, upon testing it.

"No one here," she said in disappointment.

"They must be around somewhere," Louise declared, unwilling to give up.

"Maybe that car belongs to them."

A sedan stood in a weed-grown lane not far away. Penny, turning to gaze carelessly at it, suddenly became excited.

"Lou, this trip has been worth while!" she cried. "Look at the license number of that auto! It's D F 3005!"

CHAPTER 11 _A FAMILIAR CAR_

Louise gazed again at the automobile parked in the lane and at its mud-splattered license number.

"D F 3005," she read aloud. "What about it, Penny?"

"Why, that is the number of the car that went off with Salt Sommers'

camera and plates the night of the big explosion," her chum explained excitedly.

"You're sure it's the same auto?"

"It certainly looks like it. Now I remember! Salt traced the license to an owner named Bettenridge!"

Hopeful of recovering the lost property, Penny, with Louise close at her side, tramped through the high gra.s.s to the deserted lane. Apparently the car owner had not gone far, for the doors had not been locked.

Penny climbed boldly in. A glance a.s.sured her that the camera or plates were not on the back seat where they had been tossed. As Penny ran her hands beneath the cushions, Louise plucked nervously at her skirt.

"Someone is coming, Penny! A man and a woman! They're heading straight toward this car."

"All the better," declared Penny, undisturbed. "If they own the car, we may be able to learn what became of Salt's property."

The man, middle-aged, was tall and thin and wore rimless gla.s.ses. He walked with a very slight limp. His wife, a striking brunette, who appeared many years his junior, might have been attractive had she not resorted to exaggerated make-up.

"Good afternoon," the professor said, eyeing the girls sharply. "My car seems to interest you."

"I was searching for something I thought might be on the back seat,"

Penny explained.

"Indeed? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"I was looking for a camera and plates."

"I regret I still fail to follow you," the man said stiffly. "Why should our car contain a camera? My wife and I take no interest in photography."

"Aren't you Professor Bettenridge?"

"I am."

Penny gazed again at the car. "This must be the automobile," she said, deeply troubled. "On the night of the Conway Steel Plant explosion, I tossed a camera and photographic plates into the back seat to prevent them being destroyed by a mob."

"Not this car," said the professor with quiet finality. "I have not been in Riverview for nearly a month."

"A woman who resembled your wife was driving the car."

"Are you accusing me of stealing a camera?" the woman demanded angrily.

"Oh, no! Certainly not! I just thought--" Penny became confused and finished: "The camera was expensive and didn't belong to me."

"I know nothing about the matter! You certainly have your nerve accusing me!"