Swamp Island Part 36

"Fer all his promises, maybe he don't calculate ever to give us our cut!

Ever think o' that?"

"Danny would double cross us if he got the chanst," Hod agreed. "Maybe ye'r right, Pappy!"

"Doggone tootin', I am! We git rid o' him tonight, soon's we git back from this island. But first we make him tell where he hid the money!"

"How we gonna do it, Pappy?" asked c.o.o.n.

"Hain't figured fer sure, but he's the same as our prisoner, ain't he? If we was to turn him over to the police, claimin' we found him hidin' out in the swamp, he couldn't prove no different."

"And we'd git $10,000 reward!" Hod added. "We could use thet money!"

"I hain't one to double cross a pal if it can be helped," Ezekiel amended hastily. "Now if Danny's a mind to tell where he hid the money, and split, we'll help him git out o' here tonight."

"And if he won't cough up?"

"We'll turn him over to police and claim the reward."

To Penny, it now was clear Hod Hawkins had been with Danny Deevers at the time Jerry was slugged. Also, the conversation made it evident the escaped convict had sought a hideout somewhere near if not in the swamp.

Tensely, the girl waited for further details of the escape plan, but none were forthcoming. The three men applied themselves to their work and said no more.

"My best bet is to get away from here fast and notify police!" Penny thought.

Noiselessly, she and Tony retreated through the thicket to a sh.o.r.eline some distance away.

"Listen, Tony!" Penny said hurriedly. "I've got to go away for awhile!

Will you stay here and keep watch of these men for me?"

"I stay," the boy promised soberly.

"I'll come back as soon as I can. And Tony! Please don't run away. I want to do something for you--perhaps I can."

"No go back to Italy," the boy said firmly. "Stay-a here--you come back.

Then go far away. No trust pol-eese."

Penny dared not take time to try to convince the youth of the folly of fleeing from Immigration authorities. Saying goodbye, she ran to the boat where the Widow Jones anxiously awaited her.

"Shove off!" she ordered tersely. "I've seen plenty! I'll tell you about it, once we're away from here!"

Mrs. Jones gave a mighty push with her pole, and the skiff floated out of its hiding place into the hyacinth-clogged channel.

"How is your foot?" Penny inquired. "Better let me paddle."

"It hain't hurtin' so much now," the widow replied without giving up the paddle. "I'll steer until we're out o' these floatin' hyacinth beds."

"One place looks exactly like another to me," Penny said anxiously. "So many false channels!"

"Ye git a feel fer it after awhile. There's a current to follow, but it's mighty faint."

"We must get back as fast as we can," Penny urged, glancing nervously over her shoulder toward Black Island. In terse sentences she told of her meeting with Tony and all they had seen in the clearing.

"So the Hawkins' are runnin' a still!" commented the widow. "Humph! Jest as I figured, only I didn't dast say so without proof."

"The important thing is they're hiding Danny Deevers! Where they're keeping him will be for the police to discover as soon as they arrest Ezekiel and his sons."

"I'll git ye back fast," the widow promised grimly. "Soon's we git out o'

these beds and away from the island, I kin switch on the motor."

Safely out of sight of the island, the couple found themselves in a labyrinth of floating hyacinths with no clearly defined channel. The Widow Jones tried a half dozen of them, each time being forced to return to a point she could identify as their starting place.

"Penelope, I can't seem to find the main channel," she confessed at last.

"'Pears like we're lost."

"Oh, we can't be!" Penny exclaimed. "We must get back quickly!"

"I'm a-tryin' hard as I kin," the widow said doggedly.

"Let me paddle for awhile," Penny offered. "Your ankle is hurting and you're tired. Just tell me which way to go."

Mrs. Jones indicated a channel which opened in a wide sweep. But before Penny had paddled far, it played out. The sun, sinking lower in the sky, warned the pair how fast time was pa.s.sing.

For another hour they sought desperately to find the exit channel.

Although they took turns at paddling, and used the motor whenever the pa.s.sageway was not too clogged, they soon became exhausted.

"It hain't no use," the widow said at last. "We're tuckered out, and we're goin' around in circles. We'll pull up on sh.o.r.e and take a little rest."

Penny nodded miserably.

Herons flew lazily over as the couple pulled the boat out on the soft muck. Seeking a high point of land, the widow flung herself flat on her back to rest.

For a time, Penny sat beside her, thinking over everything that had occurred. It was bitterly disappointing to realize that due purely to a stroke of bad luck, Danny Deevers undoubtedly would elude police.

"Mrs. Jones and I may not find our way out of here in twenty-four hours!"

she thought. "By that time, the Hawkins' family will have helped him escape!"

Tormented by weariness, Penny stretched out beside the widow. Insects annoyed her for awhile. Then she dozed off.

Much later when the girl awoke, she saw that her companion still slept.

The shadow of dusk already was heavy upon the swamp.

Sitting up, Penny gazed resentfully across the water at an almost solid sea of floating plants.

"Such miserable luck!" she muttered. "Of all times to be lost!"

Penny's gaze remained absently upon the hyacinth bed. The plants slowly were drifting westward. At first their movement signified nothing to the girl. Then suddenly, she sprang to her feet.

Excitedly she shook Mrs. Jones by the arm. "The channel!" she cried. "I can see it now! If we move fast, we still may get out of the swamp before night!"