Swamp Island Part 17

The rattle of the chain had disturbed a hound penned inside the shed.

Before Salt and Penny could retreat, the animal's paws scratched against the door and he uttered a deep and prolonged bay.

"Jeepers!" exclaimed Salt. "We've got to get away from here--and fast!"

Already it was too late. A window on the second floor of the house flew up and Mrs. Hawkins in cotton nightdress and lace cap, peered down into the yard.

"Who's there?" she called sharply. "Answer up if you ain't hankerin' fer a bullet through yer innards!"

CHAPTER 11 _AN ABANDONED CAR_

For Salt and Penny, the moment was a perilous one. In plain view of the upstairs window, they could not hope to escape detection.

But shrewdly, they reasoned that Mrs. Hawkins could not be certain they had been trying to break into the woodshed.

"Oh, is that you, Mrs. Hawkins?" Penny called as cheerily as if greeting an old friend. "I hope we didn't awaken you."

The farm woman leaned far out the window. "Who be ye folkses?" she demanded suspiciously. "What you doin' here?"

"Don't you remember me?" Penny asked. "I stopped here this afternoon with my girl friend. We had a drink at your pump."

"Humph! That ain't no gal with you now! Who is he?"

"Oh, just a friend who works at--" Penny was on the verge of saying the _Riverview Star_, but caught herself in time and finished--"a friend who works where I do."

"And what you spyin' around here for?"

"We're looking for another friend of ours."

"'Pears to me you got a heap o' friends," the woman said harshly. "This afternoon you was cryin' you lost a dog."

"It was Louise who lost the dog," said Penny, well realizing that her story would never convince the woman.

"Whatever you lost, man or beast, git off this property and don't come back!" Mrs. Hawkins ordered. "We hain't seen no dog, and we hain't seen none o' yer friends. Now git!"

Another face had appeared at the window--that of the bearded stranger Penny had seen earlier in the day on Lookout Point. No longer could she doubt that he was Ezekiel Hawkins, the man who a few minutes earlier had ordered his two sons to bed.

"We're leaving now," said Salt, before Penny had an opportunity to speak again of Louise's missing dog. "Sorry to have bothered you."

Taking Penny firmly by an elbow, he pulled her along. Not until they had reached the fence safely did they look back.

In the upper window of the Hawkins' house a light continued to burn dimly.

"We're still being watched," Salt commented. He helped Penny over the fence, disentangling her dress which snagged on a wire. "Whew! That was a close call! That old biddy would have enjoyed putting a bullet through us!"

"She dared to say Louise's dog hadn't been seen! All the while her husband stood right there! He's the one who refused to let us go after Bones this afternoon!"

"Sure?"

"Almost positive."

"Well, all I can say is the Hawkins' are mean customers," Salt sighed.

"Stealing a dog probably is right in their line."

"They're up to other tricks too!"

"Oh, undoubtedly. Wish we could have learned what was in those cans they were trucking to the city."

In the press car, speeding toward Riverview, the pair discussed all phases of their night's adventure. Failure to learn anything about Jerry's whereabouts worried them.

Presently, worn out, Penny slumped against Salt's shoulder and fell asleep. She was awakened when the car stopped with a jerk.

"Where are we?" she mumbled drowsily. "Home?"

"Not yet, baby," he answered, shutting off the engine.

Penny straightened in the seat, brushing away a lock of hair which had tumbled over her left eye. Peering through the window she saw that they still were out in the country.

"What are we stopping here for, Salt?" she asked in astonishment. "Don't tell me we've run out of gas!"

"Nothing like that," he said easily. "Just go back to sleep. I'll be right back."

"You'll be right back! Where are you going, Salt Sommers?"

"Only down the road a ways. We pa.s.sed a car, and I want to have a better look at it."

By now Penny was fully awake.

"I'm going with you," she announced.

Salt held the door open for her. "This probably is a waste of time," he admitted.

"Was it a car you saw in the ditch?" Penny questioned, walking fast to keep up with him. "An accident?"

"Don't think so. The car seemed to be parked back in the bushes on a road bisecting this one."

"What's so unusual in that?"

"Nothing perhaps. Only the car looked familiar."

"Not Jerry's coupe?"

"No. There it is now--see!" Salt pointed through the trees to an old upright vehicle of antiquated style. His flashlight picked up the numbers on the rear license plate.

"K-4687!" Penny read aloud. "Mrs. Jones' stolen auto!"