The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (258 page)

“Yeah, leave the dog on the island,” growled Danny Deevers. “He’ll be a bother to us.”

“Git the dog then, gal,” commanded Coon.

Penny scrambled aboard the Hawkins’ boat. Bones had crawled far forward.

As she bent to gather him into her arms, her hand encountered a gunny sack. Inside were wrapped three hard, round objects.

“The cans of stolen money!” Penny thought, her pulse jumping.

Without considering the punishment that might be meted out to her, she seized the sack.

“Hey!” shouted Coon furiously. “Drop those cans!”

He sprang aboard, intending to strike her a stunning blow. Penny leaped for shore, but the boat shot from beneath her feet.

Misbalanced, it went over, tumbling Coon and herself into the water.

But as Penny went down, she clung fast to the cans of money. Fortunately, the muddy water was shallow. Her feet touched bottom and she came up sputtering.

Hod and Danny started for the boat on a run, intending to seize her. Suddenly, they halted, listening intently.

“What was that?” Danny demanded. “Thought I heard the splash of a paddle!”

“Two boats are coming!” Hod cried hoarsely. “Police!”

“Come on!” ordered Danny, seizing one end of the overturned boat. “Help me right this! We’ll still get away! The girl goes with us as a hostage!”

Hod grasped Penny’s arm, while his brother aided Danny with the boat.

“No go!” ordered a cool voice from the thicket. “I gotta you covered!”

As the three men whirled around, Tony, rifle in hand, came out of the deep shadows.

“Stand-a by tree!” he commanded, motioning with the gun. “Keep-a hands up!”

Sullenly the three men obeyed. Tony guarded them closely until policemen swarmed over the island.

In the first boat were Salt, Jerry and several officers. Behind came a second boat, also loaded with policemen.

Danny, Hod and Coon quickly were handcuffed and placed under heavy guard. Tony then helped Penny release her father.

“What about Ezekiel?” the publisher asked. “We ought to get him too!”

Jerry revealed that the swamper already had been taken prisoner at Lookout Island. Two policemen had remained behind to guard both him and his wife.

“Oh, Jerry! I’m so glad you got through safely!”Penny declared. “Did you have any trouble?”

“Not a bit,” he replied. “When I reached the farmhouse, police already were there. Mrs. Jones had telephoned them.”

“We arrested Mrs. Hawkins,” Salt took up the story. “Then we captured Ezekiel at Lookout Point, and followed your boat here. Most of the time we had you in sight, though from a long distance.”

Penny was greatly relieved to be able to turn over the three cans of stolen money to police officers. By lantern light a hasty count was made and it was disclosed that a sizeable portion of the funds were missing.

However, when Danny Deevers, Hod, and Coon were searched, a large roll of bills was found in the escaped convict’s pocket.

“This should account for it all,” said the police officer, taking charge of the money and adding it to the other. “So you were trying to double-cross your pals, Danny? Figured on keeping the lion’s share!”

Danny glared at the officer, refusing to answer.

“So you got nothing to say, eh?” the officer prodded. “Maybe you’ll be in a more talkative mood when we get you back to the pen. You’ll do double time for skipping out!”

Danny’s sullen gaze fastened briefly on Jerry Livingston.

“I got only one regret!” he muttered. “I wish I’d slugged that guy harder when I had the chance!”

“May I ask the prisoners a question or two?” Penny asked the officer in charge.

“Sure, go ahead,” he nodded. “If you get anything out of ’em, you’re good.”

Penny knew that Danny, a hardened criminal, would never give her any information, so she centered her attention upon Hod and Coon.

At first, they only eyed her sullenly, refusing to speak. But after she had pointed out that a more cooperative attitude might bring a lighter sentence, they showed a little interest.

“How did you come to be mixed up with Danny?” she asked. “Were you all together in the big bank robbery?”

The question drew fire from Hod.

“No, we weren’t!” he shouted. “We never even knowed where Danny hid the money until tonight!”

“Then why were you so willing to hide and help him?”

“’Cause him and Paw always was good friends! Danny come here, saying the cops was after him and would we give him some clothes and hide him fer a day or two? So like fools we was, we took him in and kept him in the woodshed. It would have been safe enough if you hadn’t come snoopin’ around!”

“No doubt you all would have gone free if you hadn’t made the mistake of keeping Louise’s dog,”Penny retorted. “However, you seem to forget you were operating a still illegally.”

“Anyone else in on that business?” the policeman cut in. “How’d they market the stuff?”

“Through a trucker at Hartwell City,” Penny exclaimed. “I think they called him Ike.”

“Too bad the bird will go free, while these eggs do a stretch in the pen,” commented the policeman. “You can depend on it though, they’ll never do the smart thing and turn him in.”

“Oh, wouldn’t we?” growled Hod. “He was no pal o’ ourn!”

“Would it git us a lighter stretch if we was to turn him in?” asked Coon craftily.

“It might.”

“His name’s Ike Glanzy and he stays mostly at the Devon Club in Hartwell City,” Hod volunteered.

“We’ll pick him up,” said the policeman. “Depend on it, he’ll be behind bars before another twenty-four hours. Now let’s get out of here!”

As the boats began to load for the return trip through the swamp, Penny glanced anxiously about the tiny clearing.

“Where’s Tony?” she asked.

No one had seen the Italian lad in the last few minutes. Unnoticed, he had slipped away into the interior of the island.

“We can’t leave without Tony!” Penny protested. “He’s afraid he’ll be sent back to Italy, so he’s run off somewhere!”

“He can’t have gone far,” said Salt. “We should be able to find him.”

However, an intensive search of the bushes nearby did not reveal the missing youth. At last, in desperation, Penny called his name several times.

“Please, Tony, give yourself up!” she pleaded. “You won’t be sent back to Italy! I’m sure of it! Please come out of hiding!”

“If that appeal doesn’t fetch him, nothing will,” said Salt. “We’ve held up the party too long now, Penny. We’ve got to shove off.”

Penny nodded disconsolately. When the photographer took her arm and started back toward the waiting boats, she did not resist.

But after they had gone a few yards, she abruptly halted.

“Tony
is
close by!” she insisted. “I can
feel
that he’s watching us now! Listen! Don’t you hear the bushes rustling?”

“I do hear something. Maybe it’s only an animal.”

“Tony,” Penny made one last appeal, “if you’re back there in the dark, please come out. Don’t you understand? You were a hero tonight—you saved the day by popping out of the bushes at just the right moment. Please don’t fail me now.”

The leaves were stirring again. Then, to Penny’s joy, the branches parted. Grinning sheepishly, Tony shuffled out.

“You call-a me?” he grinned.

“Oh, Tony!” Penny seized his arm and held fast. “We’ve practically torn out the lining of our lungs, trying to find you! Come on! You’re going back with us!”

“Not to Immigration mens!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that now, Tony! My father has a little influence and he’ll help you all he can. Besides, you’re almost certain to win a portion of the reward offered for Danny Deevers’ capture.”

“Money no good if they send-a me back to Italy!”Tony said stubbornly. “Want-a stay in America. I work-a hard. Go to school!”

“I think perhaps it can be arranged,” Penny promised recklessly. With Salt’s help, she kept steering the boy toward the boat. “After all you’ve done tonight, Immigration authorities couldn’t be hard-hearted enough to refuse you citizenship.”

Tony allowed himself to be persuaded and entered a boat with Penny and other members of the party. After a long and tiring but uneventful trip through the swamp, the Hawkins’ farm finally was reached.

At the farmhouse, Mrs. Hawkins and her husband were being held prisoners by other policemen. Also waiting were the Widow Jones and Trapper Joe Scoville, whom she had summoned.

“Praises be! The police got to ye in time!” the widow exclaimed, giving Penny’s hand an affectionate squeeze. “If harm had befallen ye this night, I never would have fergiven myself fer having taken ye into the swamp.”

“Maybe what happened’ll teach ye a lesson, but I got m’ doubts,” interposed the old trapper with a chuckle. “Wimmin is mighty stubborn critters!”

As Mrs. Hawkins and her husband were led out of the house, the woman caught sight of her two sons handcuffed to officers. “Hod! Coon!” she screamed hysterically.

She tried to break away from the policemen who held her, and would have attacked Danny Deevers had they not restrained her.

“Ye’r the one who got us into this mess!” she accused the convict. “I hope they lock ye up fer the rest o’ y’er life!”

Much later, after all the prisoners had been confined in Riverview jail, Mr. Parker and Penny obtained custody of Tony. Arrangements were made so that the lad might remain in the Parker home while Immigration officials considered his case.

The Italian boy proved to be a perfect guest. Not only did he help about the house and yard, but he never overlooked an opportunity to improve his education. Many a time Penny or her father came upon him in the library, reading a book.

“If he doesn’t get to stay, it will be a crime!” the girl declared. “Oh, why doesn’t the Immigration department reach a decision?”

Despite Penny’s fretting, weeks dragged on and still Tony’s case hung fire. Many telegrams went back and forth between Riverview and Washington, D. C. So involved did the affair become that even Mr. Parker began to lose hope the boy could be kept in America.

But at last word came that the last bit of red tape had been cut. A high immigration official had ruled that although it was irregular, Tony might remain in Riverview, providing someone would guarantee his support.

Mr. Parker willingly signed the necessary papers. A job next was in order, but this Penny easily arranged through Mark Fiello, the hamburger shop man.

As for Danny Deevers, the convict promptly was returned to prison, and the stolen $50,000 turned over to the Third Federal Bank.

In due time, Ezekiel, Coon, Hod and Mrs. Hawkins were convicted on charges of harboring a fugitive from justice. At their trial, evidence also was introduced, showing they had operated a still illegally.

For many days the
Riverview Star
carried front page stories of the happenings. Penny wrote several of the articles, while others carried Jerry’s byline.

“The best part of all is that with Danny behind bars, you’ll no longer be in danger,” the girl remarked one day to the reporter. “He really was out to get you.”

“I suppose so,” Jerry agreed, “but I never was much worried. Danny’s real motive in coming back to Riverview was to recover the hidden $50,000. Running into me—and particularly you—proved his undoing.”

In days that followed, Penny drove many times to the swamp to see Mrs. Jones and Trapper Joe. Both rejoiced that Danny Deevers and the Hawkins family could cause no more trouble.

One afternoon as the girl paid the widow a long call, they fell to talking over their swamp experiences.

“It was mighty excitin’ out there—you and me in the boat,” Mrs. Jones recalled. “Now that it’s all over, I hain’t ashamed to say I was plenty skeered we’d never git out o’ the swamp alive.”

“So was I,” grinned Penny.

“Revenooers was in yesterday to smash up Ezekiel’s still.”

“They were!”

“Yep, and they got track o’ that trucker who was in so thick with the Hawkins boys.” The widow sighed and pulled aside a kitchen curtain to gaze thoughtfully toward the swamp. “Well, I reckon the last bit o’evil’s been driv’ away from Black Island. From now on, the land’ll jest lie there and belong to the wind and the rain.”

“And to us,” Penny added softly.

The widow nodded as her gaze lingered long on the fringe of towering pines. “One o’ these days, when the spirit moves us, we’ll go back there,” she promised. “The swamp always belongs to them that loves it!”

THE CRY AT MIDNIGHT

CHAPTER 1

MIDNIGHT AT THE GATE

After a long, tiring climb, the two friends, Penny Parker and Jerry Livingston, had reached the summit of Knob Hill, far above the city of Riverview.

Now as they paused in the moonlight to catch their breath, the slim, golden-haired girl bent to adjust the irons of her skis before making a swift descent to the clearing below.