CHAPTER 25 _MISSION ACCOMPLISHED_
The information shocked Penny.
"Mrs. Lear--dead," she repeated. "Oh, I was hoping that somehow sheescaped."
"She would have if it hadn't been for me," Mrs. Burmaster said dully."Ten minutes before the dam gave way, a telephone warning was sent out.Mrs. Lear thought my husband and I might not have heard it. She rode herhorse to Sleepy Hollow, intending to warn us."
"And then what happened?"
"Just as Mrs. Lear reached our place, the wall of water came roaring downthe valley. We all ran out of the house, hoping to reach the hills. Wedid get to higher ground but we saw we couldn't make it. Mrs. Lear mademy husband and me climb into a tree. Before she could follow us, thewater came."
"Mrs. Lear was swept away?"
"Yes, we saw her struggling and then the water carried her beyond sight."Mrs. Burmaster covered her face. "Oh, it was horrible! And to think thatit was all my fault!"
"Where is your husband now?" Penny inquired kindly.
"Outside, I think," Mrs. Burmaster murmured. "We were brought heretogether in a boat."
Penny and Louise went outdoors and after a brief search found Mr.Burmaster. His clothing was caked with mud, his face was unshaven and helooked years older.
To his wife's story he could add little. "This has been a dreadfulshock," he told Penny. "Now that it's too late I realize what a stubbornfool I was. My wife and I are responsible for Mrs. Lear's death."
"No, no, you mustn't say that," Penny tried to comfort him. "It wasimpossible for anyone to predict what would happen."
"Sleepy Hollow is gone--completely washed away," Mr. Burmaster went onbitterly. "The estate cost me a fortune."
"But you can rebuild."
"I never shall. My wife never could be happy in Red Valley. Now that thisterrible thing has occurred, it would be intolerable to remain. I've beenthinking matters over. I've decided to deed all the land I bought back tothe valley folk. It's the least I can do to right a great wrong."
"It would be very generous of you," said Penny, her eyes shining.
The girls talked with Mr. Burmaster for a little while and then startedtoward US highway 20, intending to watch incoming cars. Ambulances, armyand supply trucks now were flowing into Delta in a steady stream.However, midway there, they spied a car coming toward them which bore"_Riverview Star_" on its windshield.
"There's Salt now!" Penny cried, signaling frantically.
The car stopped with a jerk. The _Star_ photographer sat behind thewheel, while beside him were two men from the paper's news department.
"Well, well," Salt greeted the girls jovially. He swung open the cardoor. "If it isn't Penny, the child wonder! Meet Roy Daniels and JoeWiley."
Acknowledging the introduction, Penny and Louise squeezed into the frontseat of the sedan. Driving on, Salt plied them with questions. Penny toldhim how rival newsmen had tried to buy her camera pictures.
"Good for you, hanging onto them!" Salt approved warmly. "Our car neverdid break down. By the way, where can we set up our portable wire photoequipment?"
"There's only one possibility. The telephone company. Right now they havethe only wire service in Delta."
Penny directed Salt through the few streets that were clear of debris tothe telephone building. There the portable wire photo equipment quicklywas set up. Penny's camera pictures were developed, and though some ofthe shots were over-exposed there were four good enough to send over thenetwork.
"Mr. Nordwall has six toll lines out of Delta now," Salt told the girlsjubilantly. "He's letting us have one of them."
Carefully the photographer tested the controls of the wire photo machine.He listened briefly to the hum of the motor. Satisfied that everythingwas running properly, he attached one of the freshly printed pictures tothe transmitting cylinder.
"Okay," he signaled to Mr. Nordwall. "Give us a toll to the _RiverviewStar_."
Within a few minutes the order came: "Network clear. Go ahead, Delta."
Salt turned on a switch and the sending cylinder began to revolve. One byone Penny's pictures were transmitted over the wire.
"Your shots are the first to get out of Red Valley!" Salt told hertriumphantly. "Your work's done now. Better crawl off somewhere andsleep."
Penny nodded wearily. She was glad to know that the _Star_ would scoopevery other paper in the country on the flood story and pictures. Still,for some reason she couldn't feel very happy about it. As she turnedaway, Salt called: "Hey, wait! Your father's on the wire photo phone. Hewants to talk to you."
Penny caught up the receiver eagerly.
"That you, Penny?" a blurred voice asked in her ear. "Congratulations!You came through with flying colors!"
"Guess I was lucky to come through at all," Penny said slowly. "Someweren't so fortunate."
"Just now the important thing is when are you coming home?" Mr. Parkerasked. "Can you get here today?"
To Penny, the thought of home and a soft bed was more alluring than anyother earthly bliss.
"I'll certainly try, Dad," she promised. "Yes, somehow I'll get there."
After Penny ended the conversation with her father, she and Louise talkedto Salt about the prospects of a trip home. Regretfully he explained thatwith a big story to cover, he probably would not be leaving that day.
"But there are plenty of cars going out of here," he encouraged them."Why not go down to the depot and make inquiries."
The idea seemed an excellent one. At the station the girls talked againwith Joe Quigley who assured them he knew of a car that was leaving veryshortly.
"Hurry out to Highway 20 and I think you can catch the fellow," he urged.
Hastily saying goodbye not only to Joe but to Mr. and Mrs. Burmaster whoremained in the crowded station, the girls went outside. As they roundeda corner of the building a voice fairly boomed at them: "Hello, folks!"
Penny and Louise whirled around to see Silas Malcom coming toward them.Clinging to his arm was a spry little woman in a borrowed coat and hat.
"Mrs. Lear!" gasped the girls in one voice.
"It takes more than a flood to wash me away!" chirped the old lady,bright as a cricket.
Penny and Louise rushed to embrace her. Eagerly they plied her withquestions.
"I'm jest like a cat with nine lives," old Mrs. Lear chuckled. "When theflood carried me off, I didn't give up--not me. I was a purty goodswimmer as a gal and I ain't so bad even now. I kinda went with thecurrent until I got ahold of a log. There I clung until a Red Cross boatpicked me up."
Mrs. Lear's safe arrival at Delta thrilled Penny and Louise. They rushedinto the station to bring Mr. and Mrs. Burmaster who shared their greatrelief over the rescue. And Penny was delighted when Mr. Burmasterrepeated to the old lady what he had told her--that he intended to allowhis property to revert to the former tenants.
"That's mighty good of you, Mr. Burmaster," the old lady thanked him."What we've been through has taught us all a bitter lesson. I'm ashamedof the way I acted."
"You were justified in your attitude," the estate owner acknowledged.
"No, I wasn't. It was childish o' me tryin' to take my spite out on yourwife. I'm especially sorry about the way I egged Joe Quigley onto thatHeadless Horseman trick."
"I was afraid you were behind it," smiled Mr. Burmaster. "Oh, well, itall seems trivial now. We'll forget everything."
"There are some things," said Penny quietly, "that I doubt we'll evererase from our minds." She turned to the old lady and asked: "Won't youcome to Riverview with Louise and me? You'll need a place to stay--"
Mrs. Lear's gaze met hers, challengingly but with a twinkle of humor.
"And what better place could I have than this?" she demanded with quietfinality. "Red Valley is my home, and my home it will be till the end o'time!"
Transcriber's Notes
--Replaced the list of books in the series
by the complete list, as in the final book, "The Cry at Midnight".
--Silently corrected a handful of palpable typos.
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