Signal in the Dark Part 30

The professor went hurriedly down the beach while Mrs. Bettenridge and Mr. Johnson walked slowly toward the rooming house. Penny and Salt remained beside the cabin until everyone was beyond hearing.

"Well, our trick worked," Salt chuckled, "but if we aren't careful, the professor will pull off a successful test yet and ruin all our plans."

"He and Webb are certain to examine the mines and discover the one with Mr. Johnson's initials still in the shack. Then they may convince Mr.

Johnson there was a mix-up, and go ahead with another test which will be successful."

"We've got to do something," Salt muttered. "But what?"

"I know!" Penny exclaimed. "I'll telephone Dad and have him come here right away with Major Bryan!"

"Good!" approved Salt. "I'll stay here and hold the fort while you telephone. Tell your father to step on the gas, because we've got to move fast to queer Professor Bettenridge's game."

CHAPTER 20 _A CROOK EXPOSED_

Eager to carry out Salt Sommers' bidding, Penny ran up the hill in search of a telephone. She considered using the one at the house where Professor and Mrs. Bettenridge roomed, but decided against it, fearing that the conversation might be overheard or reported to them by the farm woman.

Hastening on, she saw a light farther down the road, and recalled having noticed a house there. Five minutes later, completely winded, she pounded on the door. A man in shirtsleeves, the evening newspaper in his hand, answered her knock.

"Please, may I use your telephone?" Penny gasped.

"Why, sure," he agreed, stepping aside for her to enter. "Anything wrong?"

Penny knew better than to mention what was happening at the lake. "I want to telephone my father in Riverview," she explained.

"The phone is in the other room," the man said, switching on a light.

Placing the call, Penny waited impatiently for it to be put through. She was uncertain whether her father would be at home. If she failed to reach him, then the only other thing was to notify the sheriff.

"Here is your party. Go ahead, please," came the long distance operator's voice. The next moment Penny heard her father's clear tones at the other end of the line.

"Dad, I'm at Blue Hole Lake with Salt," she explained hurriedly. "Can you drive here right away?"

"I suppose so," he answered, knowing from her voice that something serious was wrong. "What's up?"

"We've learned plenty about Professor Bettenridge, Dad. Unless something is done quickly, he may sell his fake machine to Mr. Johnson."

"But what can _I_ do about it?" the publisher asked.

"Can you get hold of the Major and bring him with you?" Penny pleaded.

"Professor Bettenridge may be the man he's after!"

"Maybe I can reach him!" Mr. Parker agreed. "If I have luck I'll be out there within twenty or thirty minutes. I'll come as fast as I can."

Before hanging up the receiver, Penny gave her father detailed instructions for reaching the lake and told him where to park. Leaving a dollar bill to pay for the call, she then hastened back to find Salt.

The photographer was nowhere near the cabin and she was afraid to call his name lest she be overheard by the Bettenridges.

As she stood in the shadow of the building, she heard voices from the beach. Someone with a lighted lantern was coming up the trail, and soon she distinguished two figures--Professor Bettenridge and Webb.

"That's the story you'll have to tell Johnson," she heard the professor say. "Tell him that somehow you got the two mines mixed up as you were loading them onto the boat and dumped one that was never meant to explode."

"But he saw us load the mine."

"It was dark and he may not be sure. Anyway, the mine with Johnson's initials is still in the shack. We'll show it to him."

"What bothers me is how did the mistake happen?" Webb muttered. "I know the mine I loaded on the boat had Johnson's initials. It should have gone off."

"Someone is onto our game, and tampered with the mines. It may have been a trick of that newspaper pair."

"In that case, we're in a dangerous spot. We ought to clear out while the clearing is good. If the authorities get onto what we're doing--"

"They won't--at least not tonight," the professor said confidently. "The sheriff is as dumb as they come, and is convinced I am a genius second only to Thomas Edison. We'll have to pull off a successful test tonight with Johnson's mine, collect what we can, and clear out."

"Okay," Webb agreed, "but this is my last job. The game is too dangerous.

I served one stretch in the pen and I don't look forward to another."

"If we can explode Johnson's mine tonight, we'll collect the money and be away from here as soon as we cash the check. Can you pull off the job without any blunder?"

"Sure I can unless someone tampers with the mine! This time I'll make sure they don't!"

"Okay," the professor agreed. "Now I want you to talk to Johnson. Put up a good story, and get him to look at the mine that has his initials on it. If he refuses, we're licked, but it's worth a final try."

"I'd like to find the guy who broke into the shack!" Webb muttered.

"We may have time for that later. Just now our most important job is to convince Johnson we have something to sell."

The two men now were very close. Penny flattened herself against the building wall, fearful of being seen. The light from their lantern illuminated her for an instant, but the men were so absorbed in their discussion, they failed to see her. Going on up the hillside path, they vanished into the farmhouse.

What had become of Salt, Penny did not know. Thinking he might have gone down to the lake, she walked rapidly in that direction. As she approached the shack where the mines were stored, she heard a low whistle.

"Is that you, Salt?" she called softly.

He came from behind a clump of bushes to join her. Quickly they compared notes. Salt had overheard no conversation, but he had watched Professor Bettenridge and Webb as they reexamined the mines in the shack.

"They're onto our game, and it won't work twice," he said. "We've got to delay the test, but how?"

"Maybe we could cut the boat loose!"

"A capital idea!" Salt approved, chuckling. "Penny, you really have a brain!"

As they scurried over the stones to the water's edge, Penny suddenly stopped short.

"Listen!" she commanded.

"I didn't hear anything," Salt said.