CHAPTER 19 _FLIGHT_
The high water grass loomed up and Penny's feet struck a muddy bottom.With the boat almost upon her, she plunged into the morass. The watercame to armpit level. Pushing aside the thick stalks which wrappedthemselves about her arms and body, she waded far into the patch beforeshe paused.
Hidden by the dense growth, she could not at first see the pursuing boat.She knew, however, that it had halted at the edge of the patch, for themotor had been cut off.
And after awhile she heard voices, low spoken, but nevertheless clear,for the slightest sound carried over water.
"She's over there somewhere in the center of the patch!" one of the menmuttered. "I could tell where she went by the way the grass moved. Shallwe let her go?"
"No, we got to get her or she'll tell everything she knows to old manGandiss and the police!" the other answered.
With the motor shut off, the two men then took out paddles, and began toforce the boat through the jungle of grass. Observing that they werecoming straight toward her, Penny noiselessly waded on, taking everyprecaution not to move the stalks unnecessarily. Noting the direction ofthe wind, she went with it, hoping that any movement of the grass wouldappear to be caused by the stiff breeze.
But she hoped in vain. For suddenly Joe the Sweeper shouted hoarsely:
"There she is! Over there!" He pointed with his paddle blade.
The men pushed the boat on, smashing the grass ahead of them. In despair,Penny saw that wherever she went she was leaving a trail of trampled,broken grass behind her.
No longer trying to prevent splashes, she waded in a wide half-circle.Then quickly she back-tracked, this time making not a sound. Slippinginto the dense growth just beside the trail she had made, shebreathlessly waited.
The boat came into view. Taking a deep breath, Penny ducked under water.Opening her eyes, she could see the blurred, dark bottom of the craftmoving slowly toward her, so close she could have reached out and touchedit.
Her breath began to grow short. The boat barely seemed to move. Penny'slungs felt as if they were ready to burst, but still she remained underwater.
Then the men had passed, and she dared raise her head for an instant togulp in air. The boat reached the end of the trail through the grass thatPenny herself had made. There it halted, as Sweeper Joe and hiscompanion, realizing they had lost their quarry, debated their next move.
"She was here a minute ago!" Sweeper Joe growled. "I caught a glimpse ofher clothes, and saw the grass move. Where did she go?"
"She must have doubled back."
With difficulty the men turned the boat around and rowed toward Pennyagain. When she dared wait no longer, she submerged again.
They passed her and she came up for air. A water snake slithered throughthe grass, almost touching her hand.
Startled, Penny leaped backwards, making an ugly, loud splash in thewater. Slight as was the sound, it told the men where she hid. Turning inthe boat, they saw her through the grass, and bore toward her again.
By this time, Penny actually enjoyed the desperate game of hide and seek,for so far, the advantage had been hers. She stood watching the boatuntil it came very close.
Then she dived, coming up directly underneath the craft. Getting hershoulder squarely under one side, she raised up, and with an ease thatsurprised her, upset the boat.
The two men went sprawling into the water. Unable to swim, they madeanimal noises and clutched desperately at the grass for support. But astheir feet found solid footing, they started furiously toward Penny.Taking her time, and deliberately seeking deeper water, she waded away.
"That will hold them for a few minutes," she thought gleefully. "I'll getout of this jungle now, and swim ashore."
One more the girl's hopes were rudely dashed. As she reached the edge ofthe grass area, she was disconcerted to see another rowboat approachingfrom the direction of the Harper place. With shadows deepening on thewater, she could not at first distinguish the man. Then she recognizedClaude Harper.
"He must have come home, and Ma sent him here to help capture me!" shethought. "If I swim out now, I'll certainly be caught."
Crouching down so that her nose was just above the water, she waited.Claude Harper rowed on, resting upon his oars when perhaps ten yardsaway.
"Joe!" he called.
There was an answering shout from the center of the grass patch.
"That gal's somewhere close by!" Sweeper Joe shouted in warning. "Sheupset our boat. Stay where you are, and see that she doesn't slip pastyou!"
Thus warned, Claude Harper began to survey the grass patch intently. Helooked hard at the place where Penny stood. She was certain he had seenher, but after a moment, he turned slightly, and his eyes roved on.
As she hesitated, not knowing what to do, Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton,who had bailed out their boat, came paddling out to meet Harper. Wet andplastered with mud, they had lost one of the paddles.
"If you ain't sights!" Harper cackled upon seeing them. He slapped histhigh in glee. "You look like a couple o' stupid mud turtles!"
"Fool!" rasped Sweeper Joe. "Don't you have sense enough to figure whatwill happen if that girl gets away from us?"
"You ain't goin' back to no job at the Gandiss factory. Nor Claytonneither!"
"It's a lot more serious than that!" Joe snapped. He guided the boatalongside Harper's craft. "Why do you think I took that job in the firstplace, and spent better than two years studyin' the Gandiss factorylayout? I lined up the employes we could get to go along with us, goteverything organized--and now this gal has to bust up the show just asthe profits begin to roll in!"
"Better pipe down," Harper warned curtly. "She can hear you, and so caneveryone else on the river."
"What's the difference?" Joe argued in disgust. "We're through. I'mgettin' out of this town tonight!"
"Me with you," added Clark Clayton. "Ever since Gandiss put detectives onthe job, I figured the game was gettin' too dangerous."
Now it was Claude Harper who lost his temper. "Hold on," he saidwarningly. "It's all right for you guys to blow town, but what about meand the wife?"
"You can do what you please," Joe retorted.
"We got your brass cached in our basement. If the cops should find itthere, we'd take the rap."
"Get rid of it."
"That's a lot easier said than done. Besides, that brass is worth a tidysum o' money."
"Then why not sell it tonight?" Joe proposed suddenly. "If we can get itto the junkman who has a place across from the factory, he'll pay us agood price. We can complete the deal, and still get out of town beforemidnight."
"That's okay for you," Harper argued, "but Ma and I own property here,and we got a good business."
"It was your stupid wife's stocking business that got us into this jam!"Clark Clayton snarled.
"I ain't talkin' about that. I mean our dance hall. We clean up about ahundred bucks every Saturday night."
"You should have thought about that before you went in with us," Joeretorted. "You knew the risks you were taking. Anyway, this mess was yourwife's making."
A silence fell, and then Clark Clayton said: "We ain't gettin' nowhere.We got to decide what we're goin' to do, and we got to make sure that galdon't get out o' this weed patch until we've arranged our escape."
In whispers, the men conferred. Though Penny strained her ears, she couldnot catch a single word. However, a plan satisfactory to the three seemedto have been formulated, for presently, the two boats separated.
Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton paddled off, heading for the pier at theHarpers'. The other man remained in his rowboat, unquestionably detailedto keep watch of the grass patch and prevent the girl's escape.
To amuse himself, he began to call out to her, though he could not seeher or know where she was.
"You think you're a clever one!" he taunted. "But you jest wait! We'llget you out o' there, and when
we do, you ain't goin' to like it!"
Lest a movement of the grass or a splash betray her, Penny remainedperfectly still. Shadows deepened on the river for night was fast comingon. Her muscles became stiff and cramped. The wind chilled her to thevery bone, and the water which at first had not seemed unbearably cold,made her teeth chatter and dance. Each minute became an hour as thetorture increased.
"I'll have to do something," she thought desperately. "I can't endurethis much longer."