CHAPTER 3 _SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT_
Darkness shrouded the streets as the press car careened toward theoutskirts of the city where the Conway Steel Plant was situated. Rattlingover the river bridge, Salt and Penny caught their first glimpse of thefactory.
Flames were shooting high into the sky from one of the buildings, andemployes poured in panic through the main gate. No policemen were yet inevidence, nor had the fire department arrived.
Pulling up at the curb, Salt seized his camera and stuffed a handful offlashbulbs into his pockets. Grabbing Penny's elbow, he steered hertoward the gate. To get through the barrier, they fought their way pastthe outsurging, panic-stricken tide of fleeing employes.
"Scared?" Salt asked as they paused to stare at the shooting flames.
"A little," Penny admitted truthfully. "Will there be any moreexplosions?"
"That's the chance we're taking. DeWitt shouldn't have sent you on thisassignment!"
"He couldn't know there would be other explosions," Penny replied."Besides, someone had to cover the story, and no one else was there. Ican handle it."
"I think you can too," said Salt quietly. "But you'll have to work alone.My job is to take pictures."
"I'll meet you at the car," Penny threw over her shoulder as she lefthim.
Scarcely knowing how or where to begin, she ran toward the burningbuilding. One of the smaller storage structures of the factory, it wasnot connected with the main office. The larger building remained intact.Workmen with an inadequate hose were making a frantic effort to keep theflames from spreading to the other structures.
Penny ran up to one of the men, plucking at his sleeve to commandattention.
"What set off the explosion?" she shouted in his ear.
"Don't know," he replied above the roar of the flames.
"Anyone killed?"
"Two workmen. They're over there." The man waved his hand vaguely towardanother building.
Unable to gain more information, Penny ran toward the nearby structure.The wind, she noted, was carrying flames in the opposite direction.Unless there were further explosions, danger of the fire spreading wasnot great.
Entering the building, she met several men who appeared to be officialsof the company.
"I'm looking for Mr. Conway!" she accosted them. "Is he here?"
"Who are you?" one of the men asked bluntly.
"I'm Penny Parker from the _Star_."
"My name is Conway. What do you want to know?"
"How many killed and injured?"
"Two killed. Three or four injured. Perhaps more. We don't know yet."
Penny asked for names which were given her. But when she inquired how theexplosion had occurred, Mr. Conway suddenly became uncommunicative.
"I have no statement to make," he said curtly. "We don't know what causedthe trouble."
As if fearing that Penny would ask questions he did not wish to answer,the factory owner eluded her and disappeared into the darkness.
Running back to the burning building, Penny caught a glimpse of Salttaking a picture. From another workman she sought to glean additionaldetails of the disaster.
"I was in the foundry when the first blast went off!" he revealed. "Justa minute before the explosion, I seen a man in a light overcoat and adark hat, run from the building."
"Who was he?"
"No one I ever saw workin' at this plant. But I'll warrant, he touchedoff that explosion!"
"Then you think he was a saboteur?"
"Sure."
Penny did not place too much stock in the story, but as she wanderedabout among the excited employes, she heard others saying that they toohad seen the strange man running from the building. No one knew his namenor could they provide an accurate description.
Sirens screamed, proclaiming the arrival of fire engines. As the ladderswent up, and streams of water began to play on the blazing structure,Salt snapped several more pictures. His hat was gone, and his face hadbecome streaked with soot.
"I got some good shots!" he told Penny enthusiastically as he sought herat the fringe of the crowd. "What luck you having?"
Penny told him everything she had learned.
"We'll talk with the Fire Chief and then let's head for a telephone andcall the office," Salt declared.
As they started toward the fire lines, a strange sound accosted theirears. Hearing it, Salt stopped short to listen. From the gates outsidethe factory came the rumbling murmur of an angry crowd.
"A mob must be forming!" Salt exclaimed. "Something's up!"
He started for the gate with Penny hard at his heels.
At first they could not see what had caused the commotion. But as thegroup of angry employes swept nearer the gate, a man in a light overcoatwho apparently was fleeing for his life, leaped into a car which waitedat the curb.
"Quick!" Penny cried. "Take a picture!"
Salt already had his camera into position. As the car started up, theflash bulb went off.
"Got it!" Salt exclaimed triumphantly.
Penny tried to note the license number of the automobile, but the platewas so covered with mud she could not read a single figure. The carwhirled around a corner and was lost to view.
"Salt, that man may have been the one who set off the explosion!" Pennycried. "The mob is of that opinion at least!"
Angry employes now were bearing directly toward Penny and Salt. Suddenlya woman in the crowd pointed toward the photographer, shouting: "There heis! Get him!"
Dismayed, Penny saw then that Salt wore a light overcoat which bore astriking resemblance to the garment of the fleeing stranger. Their buildstoo were somewhat similar, for both were thin and angular. In thedarkness, the mob had failed to see the car roll away, and had mistakenSalt for the saboteur.
"Let's get out of here!" Salt muttered. "One thing you can't do is arguewith a mob!"
He and Penny started in the opposite direction, only to be faced by asmaller group of workmen who had swarmed from another factory gate.Escape was cut off.
"Tell them we're from the _Star_!" Penny urged, but as she beheld theangry faces, she realized how futile were her words.
"They'll wreck my equipment before I can explain anything!" Salt saidswiftly. He thrust the camera into her hands. "Here, take this and try tokeep it safe! And these plates!"
Empty-handed, Salt turned to face the mob. Not knowing what to do, Pennytried to cut across the street. But the crowd evidently had taken her fora companion of the saboteur, and was determined she should not escape.
"Don't let her get away!" shouted a woman in slacks, her voice shrillwith excitement. "Get her!"
A car was coming slowly down the street. Its driver, a woman, waswatching the flaming building, and had rolled down the window glass tosee better. The window of the rear seat also was halfway down.
As the women of the mob bore down upon Penny, she acted impulsively tosave Salt's camera and the precious plates. Without thinking of theultimate consequence, she tossed them through the open rear window ontothe back seat of the moving car.
The driver, her attention focused upon the blazing factory, apparentlydid not observe the act, for she continued slowly on down the street.
"D F 3005," Penny noted the license number. "If only I can remember!"
The factory women were upon the girl, seizing her roughly by theshoulders and shouting accusations. Penny's jacket was ripped as shejerked free.
"I'm a reporter for the _Star_!" she cried desperately. "Sent here tocover the story!"
The words made not the slightest impression upon the women. But beforethey could lay hands upon her again, she fled across the street. Thewomen did not pursue her, for just then two police cars rolled up to thecurb.
Penny, greatly relieved, ran to summon help.
"Quick!" she urged the policemen. "That crazy mob has mistaken a reporterfor one of the saboteurs who escaped in a car!"
Wi
th drawn clubs, the policemen battled their way through the crowd.Already Salt had been roughly handled. But arrival of the police savedhim from further mistreatment, and fearful of arrest, the mob began toscatter. In another moment the photographer was free, although a bitbattered. His coat had been torn to shreds, one eye had been blackened,and blood trickled from a cut on his lower lip.
"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously as Penny rushed to him.
"Oh, yes! But you're a sight, Salt. They half killed you!"
"I'm okay," Salt insisted. "The important thing is we've got a whale of astory, and we saved the camera and pictures."
A stricken look came over Penny's face.
"Salt--" she stammered. "Your camera--"
"It was smashed?"
"No, I tossed it into a car, but the car went on down the street. Howwe'll ever find it again I don't know!"