The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (252 page)

In the bushes close by, the girl heard a faint, rustling sound.

“Who’s there?” she called sharply.

No one answered. All was still for a moment. Then again she heard the whisper of disturbed leaves.

Penny’s flesh began to creep. Suddenly losing all interest in the footprints, she decided to beat a hasty retreat to the boardwalk.

The decision came too late. Before she could move, a dozen big rooters led by an old gray boar, swarmed out of the bushes, surrounding her.

Too frightened and startled to cry out, Penny huddled back against the tree trunk. The rooters had spread out in a circle and slowly were coming closer.

Retreat to the safety of the boardwalk was completely cut off. The leader of the pack now was so near that she plainly could see his razor-sharp ivory tusks. In another moment, the animal would attack.

Throwing off the paralysis of fear which gripped her, Penny swung herself into the lowermost branch of the big trees. The package of lunch she had carried, dropped from her hand, falling at the base of the trunk.

Instantly, the rooters were upon it, tearing savagely at the meat and at each other. Sick with horror, Penny clung desperately to the tree limb.

“If I slip now, I’m a gonner!” she thought. “Those rooters are half starved. If I fall, they’ll attack me!”

Penny considered shouting for Louise, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. Her chum probably was too far away to hear her cries. If she did come, unarmed as she was, she might leave the boardwalk only to endanger herself.

“Louise can’t help me,” Penny told herself. “I brought this on myself by not heeding Old Joe’s warning. Now it’s up to me to get out of the mess the best way I can.”

The girl lay still on the limb, trying not to draw the attention of the rooters. Once they finished the meat, she was hopeful they would go away. Then she could make a dash for the walk.

Grunting and squealing, the rooters devoured the meat and looked about for more. To Penny’s relief, they gradually wandered off—all except the old boar.

The leader of the pack stayed close to the big tree, eyeing the girl in the tree wickedly. Even in the dim light she could plainly see his evil little eyes and working jaws.

“Go away you big brute!” she muttered.

Penny’s perch on the limb was a precarious one and her arms began to ache from the strain of holding on. Unsuccessfully, she tried to shift into a more comfortable position.

“I may be treed here for hours!” she thought. “Can I hold on that long?”

The old boar showed no disposition to move off, but kept circling the tree. It seemed to the now desperate Penny, that the animal sensed she was weakening and only awaited the moment when she would tumble down to the ground.

Breaking off a small tree branch she hurled it defiantly at the boar. The act caused her to lose her balance. Frantically, she clawed for a foothold but could not obtain it. Down she slipped to the base of the tree.

The old boar, quick to see his opportunity, charged. With a scream of terror, Penny leaped aside and the animal rushed past, squealing in rage at having missed his prey.

Even now, the boar stood between the girl and the plank walk. The tree from which she had fallen, offered her only refuge, and as she measured her chances, she realized that the probability of regaining the limb was a slim one.

But at that instant, as Penny froze in terror, a shot was fired from somewhere in the bushes behind her. The bullet went straight and true, stopping the boar in his tracks. He grunted, rolled over, twitched twice, and lay still.

CHAPTER 17

RESCUE

With a sob of relief, Penny whirled around to thank her rescuer. Through the 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 for deliverance, the man had vanished.

His disappearance reminded her that though she had been snatched from the jaws of death, the danger by no means was over. At any moment the herd of rooters might return to attack.

Turning, Penny ran swiftly to the planked walk, in her haste not watching where she stepped. Her boots sank deeply in muck. Once on the planks well above the water level, she paused to catch her breath, and to gaze searchingly toward the bushes. All now was still.

“Who could my rescuer have been?” she mused. “Why didn’t he wait for me to thank him?”

Penny called several times but received no reply. Finally, giving up, she started slowly back along the walk toward the bay where she had left Louise.

More than the girl realized, the adventure had unnerved her. She felt weak 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 I get out of here in one piece, I’m tempted to forget Danny Deevers and let the 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 heard you shout! What happened? Did you see a snake?”

“A snake would be mild compared to what I’ve been through. Were you ever eaten alive?”

“Not that I recall.”

“Well, I escaped it by the skin of my teeth,” Penny said, rather relishing the adventure now that the story made such good telling. “I was saved 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 for you.”

“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 a chance, I’ll tell you what happened.”

“The stage is all yours, sweet. But don’t give me any tall tale about being rescued by a Prince Charming disguised as a frog!”

Penny’s lips compressed into a tight line. “I can see you’ll never believe the truth, Lou. So I’ll prove it to you! Come with me, and I’ll show you the animal that nearly made mince meat of me.”

Treading single file, the girls returned the way Penny had come, to the end 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 could believe the sight of her own eyes. “But it’s gone!”

“It’s gone because it never was there. Penny, you’re suffering from too much heat.”

“I’m not! Neither am I imagining things! That old boar was there ten minutes ago. Either he came back to life and went off, or someone dragged him 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 have heard 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 over there by the tree.”

“I do see a newspaper,” Louise conceded.

“And that broken tree branch lying on the ground? I was up the tree and threw it at the boar. That’s how I lost my balance and fell.”

Louise now was convinced the story had solid foundation. “Start from the beginning,” she urged.

Penny related what had occurred, rather building up the scene in which she 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 she had finished. “Perhaps we can find him.”

“Not a chance! He’s deliberately hiding. Besides, I know better than to leave 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 the boardwalk. To their surprise, they saw a boat approaching.

“Why, it looks like Joe in the skiff!” Penny commented. “But he isn’t due back for a long while yet.”

Watching the oncoming boat for a moment, Louise said: “It’s Joe all right, 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 see both 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 the package o’ meat that drew them rooters to the tree. They hain’t likely to attack a human lest they’re half starved.”

“I wish I knew who saved me,” Penny said. “Could it have been one of the Hawkins’ 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, I could tell fer sure.”

“The boar disappeared and the bullet with him,”Penny said. “That’s another queer thing.”

“Whoever kilt the critter may have drug him off, or maybe the animal was only stunned.” The guide squinted at the lowering sun. “I’d like powe’ful well 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 Penny climbed into the skiff.

“Never got half way there,” the guide said in disgust. “Since I went in last time, the main channel’s clogged thick with hyacinths. To find yer way 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’t ye 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 Island interests 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 propelled the skiff with powerful strokes.

Penny waited patiently, but the guide showed no inclination to say more about 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 old boar!”

“It hain’t the boar that’s got me worried.”

“Then you must be afraid of something on Black Island—something you learned today and are keeping to yourself!”

“Maybe that’s it,” returned Joe briefly. “Anyhow, we hain’t goin’. And it won’t do no good to try coaxin’ me with yer female wiles. My mind’s made up!”

Having delivered himself of this ultimatum, the guide plied his paddle steadily.

The set of his jaw warned Penny it would be useless to tease. With a discouraged sigh, she settled down into the bottom of the skiff to think.

CHAPTER 18

WANTED—A GUIDE

Since the eventful trip to the swamp, several days now had elapsed, and from Penny’s viewpoint, nothing of consequence had happened.

Each day the
Riverview Star
carried a story giving details of the police search for Danny Deevers, and on each succeeding morning the account became shorter, with less new information.

Twice, it was rumored police were closing in on the escaped convict, and twice the rumor proved false.

At the request of Salt Sommers and Jerry Livingston, posses made several searches of the outer swamp area. However, no trace of the missing man was found, and investigators quickly switched their activities elsewhere.

Spurred by the
Star
’s reward offer, clues, anonymous and otherwise, came to both the newspaper and police officials. All proved worthless.