CHAPTER 17 _RESCUE_
With a sob of relief, Penny whirled around to thank her rescuer. Throughthe thick leaves of the bushes she could see the shadowy figure of a man.But even as she watched, he retreated.
"Wait!" the girl cried.
There was no answer, and before she could call out a word of thanks fordeliverance, the man had vanished.
His disappearance reminded her that though she had been snatched from thejaws of death, the danger by no means was over. At any moment the herd ofrooters might return to attack.
Turning, Penny ran swiftly to the planked walk, in her haste not watchingwhere she stepped. Her boots sank deeply in muck. Once on the planks wellabove the water level, she paused to catch her breath, and to gazesearchingly toward the bushes. All now was still.
"Who could my rescuer have been?" she mused. "Why didn't he wait for meto thank him?"
Penny called several times but received no reply. Finally, giving up, shestarted slowly back along the walk toward the bay where she had leftLouise.
More than the girl realized, the adventure had unnerved her. She feltweak all over, and several times as she gazed steadily at the water,became dizzy and nearly lost her balance.
"Guess I'm not tough enough for swamp life," she reflected. "If ever Iget out of here in one piece, I'm tempted to forget Danny Deevers and letthe police do all the searching."
Footsteps became audible on the boardwalk some distance away.
Every sense now alert to danger, Penny halted to listen.
Someone was coming toward her, moving swiftly on the creaking planks.
"Penny!" called an agitated voice.
Penny relaxed as she knew that it was her chum. "Louise!" she answered,running to meet her.
Rounding a clump of bushes, and walking gingerly on the narrow boards,Louise stopped short as she beheld her friend.
"Why, you're as white as a ghost!" she exclaimed. "And I distinctly heardyou shout! What happened? Did you see a snake?"
"A snake would be mild compared to what I've been through. Were you evereaten alive?"
"Not that I recall."
"Well, I escaped it by the skin of my teeth," Penny said, ratherrelishing the adventure now that the story made such good telling. "I wassaved by a mysterious stranger!"
Louise gazed at her chum anxiously and reached out to touch her forehead."You're hot and feverish," she insisted. "This trip has been too much foryou."
"I'm as cool as a piece of artificial ice!" Penny retorted. "Furthermore,I'm not touched by the heat!"
"Well, something is wrong with you."
"I've just had the fright of my life, that's all. If you'll give me achance, I'll tell you what happened."
"The stage is all yours, sweet. But don't give me any tall tale aboutbeing rescued by a Prince Charming disguised as a frog!"
Penny's lips compressed into a tight line. "I can see you'll neverbelieve the truth, Lou. So I'll prove it to you! Come with me, and I'llshow you the animal that nearly made mince meat of me."
Treading single file, the girls returned the way Penny had come, to theend of the planks.
"Look over at the base of that big tree," Penny instructed, pointing."What do you see?"
"Nothing."
"The boar that was shot--why, it should be there!" Penny scarcely couldbelieve the sight of her own eyes. "But it's gone!"
"It's gone because it never was there. Penny, you're suffering from toomuch heat."
"I'm not! Neither am I imagining things! That old boar was there tenminutes ago. Either he came back to life and went off, or someone draggedhim away."
"And your mysterious rescuer?" Louise teased. "What became of him?"
"I wish I knew! Lou, I'm not imagining any of this! Surely you must haveheard the shot?"
"Well, I did hear something that sounded like one."
"Also, the lunch is gone. All that remains of it, is the paper lying overthere by the tree."
"I do see a newspaper," Louise conceded.
"And that broken tree branch lying on the ground? I was up the tree andthrew it at the boar. That's how I lost my balance and fell."
Louise now was convinced the story had solid foundation. "Start from thebeginning," she urged.
Penny related what had occurred, rather building up the scene in whichshe had been delivered from death by the bullet shot from behind a bush.
"Whoever the man is, he must be somewhere close by," Louise said when shehad finished. "Perhaps we can find him."
"Not a chance! He's deliberately hiding. Besides, I know better than toleave the walk again. It's dangerous!"
"In that case we may as well go back and wait for Joe," Louise said.
Treading their way carefully, the girls returned to the far end of theboardwalk. To their surprise, they saw a boat approaching.
"Why, it looks like Joe in the skiff!" Penny commented. "But he isn't dueback for a long while yet."
Watching the oncoming boat for a moment, Louise said: "It's Joe allright, and he's coming fast. Something must be wrong."
Soon the guide brought the skiff alongside the sagging boardwalk.
"I heard a shot and started back," he explained. "I sure am glad to seeboth o' ye safe."
Before Penny could do so, Louise told Joe what had befallen her chum.
"Ye could have been kilt by that old boar," he said soberly. "It was thepackage o' meat that drew them rooters to the tree. They hain't likely toattack a human lest they're half starved."
"I wish I knew who saved me," Penny said. "Could it have been one of theHawkins' boys?"
"From the sound, I'd say that shot weren't fired from their rifles.More'n likely it came from my own gun!"
"The stolen one?"
"That's what I'm a-thinkin'. If I could see the bullet that was fired, Icould tell fer sure."
"The boar disappeared and the bullet with him," Penny said. "That'sanother queer thing."
"Whoever kilt the critter may have drug him off, or maybe the animal wasonly stunned." The guide squinted at the lowering sun. "I'd like powe'fulwell to see the place, but it's gitten late. We gotta git back."
"What did you learn at Black Island?" Louise asked as she and Pennyclimbed into the skiff.
"Never got half way there," the guide said in disgust. "Since I went inlast time, the main channel's clogged thick with hyacinths. To find yerway in now's a half day's job."
"Can't we try again tomorrow?" Penny asked eagerly.
The old guide gazed at her quizzically as he dipped his paddle. "Hain'tye had enough o' the swamp after today, young'un?"
"When that old boar came for me, I told myself if ever I got safely away,I'd never come again. But that was only a passing impulse. Black Islandinterests me."
"It's the most dangerous part of the swamp."
"Because of wild animals, you mean?"
"There's lots wuss things than animals," said the old guide soberly.
"For instance?"
Trapper Joe ignored Penny's question. Becoming as one deaf, he propelledthe skiff with powerful strokes.
Penny waited patiently, but the guide showed no inclination to say moreabout Black Island.
"Shall we make it tomorrow?" she inquired presently.
"Make what?" Joe's wrinkled face was blank.
"Why, I mean, shall we visit Black Island!"
"I hate to disappoint ye, but we hain't a-goin'."
"You may be busy tomorrow. Later in the week perhaps?"
"Not tomorrer nor never. I hain't takin' the responsibility o' bringin'ye young'uns into the swamp agin."
"But why?" wailed Penny. "I wish now I hadn't told you about that oldboar!"
"It hain't the boar that's got me worried."
"Then you must be afraid of something on Black Island--something youlearned today and are keeping to yourself!"
"Maybe that's it," returned Joe briefly. "Anyhow, we ha
in't goin'. And itwon't do no good to try coaxin' me with yer female wiles. My mind's madeup!"
Having delivered himself of this ultimatum, the guide plied his paddlesteadily.
The set of his jaw warned Penny it would be useless to tease. With adiscouraged sigh, she settled down into the bottom of the skiff to think.