CHAPTER 18 _PENNY'S PLAN_
Sara was waiting beside her boat when Penny and Louise came running alongthe muddy shore. Without apologizing for being so late, they excitedlyrelated their conversation with Old Noah.
"Say, maybe that hidden motorboat is mine!" the girl exclaimed. "What didit look like?"
"We didn't take time to search for it," Penny replied. "We knew you wouldbe waiting so we came straight here."
"Let's see if we can find it," Sara said, starting up the engine.
"Noah's animals don't like motorboats," Louise chuckled. "I suggest we doour searching afoot."
"All right," Sara agreed readily, switching the motor off again. "Leadand I'll follow."
Penny and Louise guided their companion to the mouth of Bug Run andthence along its slippery banks to a clump of overhanging willows.
"According to Old Noah's description, this should be the place," Pennydeclared, looking about. "No sign of a boat though."
Sara took off shoes and stockings and waded through the shallow, muddywater. Whenever she came to a clump of bushes, she would pull thebranches aside to peer behind them.
"Old Noah may have been spoofing us," Penny began, but just then Saragave a little cry.
"Here it is! I've found it!"
Penny and Louise slid down the bank to the water's edge. Behind a densethicket, a motorboat had been pulled out on the sand. The engine remainedattached, covered by a piece of canvas.
"Is it your boat, Sara?" Penny asked eagerly.
"It certainly is!" She spoke with emphasis. "The hull has been repainted,but it takes more than that to fool me."
"Any positive way to identify it?"
"By the engine number. Ours was 985-877 unless I'm mistaken. I have itwritten down at home."
"What's the number of this engine?"
"The same!" Sara cried triumphantly after she had removed the canvascovering and examined it. "This is my property all right, and I shalltake it back with me."
"Old Noah spoke of two strangers who came here last night by boat," Pennysaid thoughtfully.
"The fellow who stopped at the dock probably picked up a pal later on,"Sara commented, trying to shove the boat into the water. "My, this oldtub is heavy! Want to help?"
"Wait, Sara!" Penny exclaimed. "Let's leave the boat here."
"Leave it here! Now that would be an idea! This little piece of floatingwood represents nine hundred and fifty dollars."
"I don't mean that you're to lose the boat," Penny hastened to explain."But if we take it now, we never will catch the fellow who stole it."
"That's true."
"If we leave the boat here we can keep watch of the place and catch thosescamps when they come back."
"They may not come back," Sara said, without warming to the plan."Besides, I've no time to do a Sherlock Holmes in the bushes. I have mydock to look after."
"Louise and I could do most of the watching."
"Well, I don't know," Sara said dubiously. "Something might go wrong. Inever would get over it if I lost the boat."
"You won't lose the boat," promised Penny. "It's really important that wecatch those two men, Sara. From what Old Noah said, they may be connectedwith the bridge dynamiting."
"What makes you think that?"
"Because Old Noah found a cache of dynamite somewhere near here."
"He won't tell us its location," added Louise.
"If it should develop that the men are saboteurs, we might learnsomething which would help your brother's case," Penny said persuasively."How about it, Sara?"
"I'd be glad to risk the boat if I thought it would help Burt."
"Then let's leave it here. We can watch the spot night and day."
"And what will your parents have to say?"
Penny's face fell. "Well, I suppose when it comes right to it, Dad willset his foot down. But at least we can watch during the day time. Then ifnecessary, we might report to the police."
"Let's leave them out of it," Sara said feelingly. "If you girls willremain throughout the day, I'll stand the night watch."
"Not alone!" Louise protested.
"Why not?" Sara asked, amused. "I've frequently camped out along theriver at night. Once I made a canoe trip the full length of the riverjust for the fun of it."
"Louise and I will stay here now while you return to the dock," Pennydeclared. "Better call our parents when you get there and break the newsas gently as possible."
"What will you do for lunch?"
"Maybe we can beg a sandwich or a fried egg from Old Noah," Pennychuckled. "We'll manage somehow."
"Well, whatever you do, don't leave the boat unguarded," Sara advised,starting away. "As soon as it gets dark I'll come back."
Left to themselves, Penny and Louise explored the locality thoroughly.Not far away they found a log which offered a comfortable seat, and theyscreened it with brush.
"Now we're all ready for Mr. Saboteur," Penny said. "He can't come toosoon to suit me."
"And just what are we going to do when he does arrive?"
"I forgot to figure that angle," Penny confessed. "We may have to call onOld Noah for help."
"Noah will be busy doing a washing or giving the goat a beautytreatment," Louise laughed.
The sun lifted higher, and steam rising from the damp earth made thegirls increasingly uncomfortable. As the hours dragged by they rapidlylost zest for their adventure. Long before noon they were assailed by thepangs of hunger.
"If I could catch a bullfrog I'd be tempted to eat him raw," Pennyremarked sadly. "How about chasing up to the ark? Noah might give us anibble of something."
"Dare we go away and leave the boat?"
"Oh, it's safe enough for a few minutes," Penny returned. "The idea ofstaying here wasn't such a good one anyhow. What if those men shouldnever come back?"
"This is a fine time to be thinking of that possibility!"
Moving quietly through the woods, the girls came to the ark. They couldhear the hens cackling, and as they called Old Noah's name, the parrotanswered, squawking: "Polly wants a cracker."
"You've got nothing on me, Polly," said Penny. "Where's your master?"
The old ark keeper was nowhere in evidence. Nor were the girls able toboard the boat, for the gangplank had been removed.
"Now if this isn't a situation!" Penny exclaimed, exasperated. "It looksas if we're going to starve to death."
After lingering about the ark for a few minutes, they returned to theirformer hiding place. By this time they were so sorry for themselves thatthey could think of nothing but their discomfort. Belatedly, theyrecalled that Sara had smiled as she went away.
"She knew what we were up against staying here!" Penny declared. "Figuredus for a couple of softies, I bet!"
"While everyone knows we're regular Commandos," Louise retortedsarcastically. "Why, if necessary we could go an entire day withouteating."
"That's exactly what we will do," announced Penny with reneweddetermination. "I'll stay here until Sara comes if it kills me. But Ihope you slug me if ever I get another idea like this."
"Don't worry, I will," promised Louise. "In fact, I may not wait thatlong!"
The hours dragged slowly on. All amusements failing them, the girls tookturns sleeping. Twice they went to the ark, but Old Noah had notreturned.
At last, as shadows lengthened, Louise and Penny were confronted with anew worry. It occurred to them that Sara might not expect to take overher duties until long after dark. The air had grown chilly, and hungrymosquitoes were swarming from their breeding places.
"Even my Mother doesn't seem concerned about me any more," Louise moaned,slapping at a foraging insect.
Penny glared at the motorboat snugly hidden in the underbrush. "If thatthing weren't worth so much money, I'd certainly chuck this job. Even so,I'm just about desperate."
Louise, huddled against a tree trunk, suddenly straighte
ned alertly.Placing a warning finger on her lips, she listened.
"Someone's coming, Penny!"
"Maybe it's Sara with a basket of food. I'd rather see her than a dozensaboteurs!"
"Keep quiet, you egg," Louise warned nervously.
Crouching low behind their shelter, the girls waited. They could hear asteady tramp, tramp of feet coming up the stream on their side of thebank.
"That's not Sara," murmured Penny. "She doesn't walk like an elephant.What'll we do if it should be a saboteur?"
"I'm scared," Louise chattered, hugging her chum's arm.
The footsteps came closer. Peering out through the screen of underbrush,the girls saw a young man coming straight toward their hiding place. Inhis hand he carried a safety-cap gasoline can.
"Who is he?" whispered Louise.
"Can't tell yet," Penny responded, straining her eyes to see. "He looks alittle like--oh, my aunt! That's who it is--Bill Evans! Now what's hedoing here?"