Part 10

Pushing through the crowd, she grasped the arm of the woman who was talking. "Who was the girl? What was she wearing?" she demanded tensely.

"A blue sweater," the woman recalled. "Her hair was flying wild and her face was streaked with dirt as if she'd already been in the fire. I thought maybe she lived here."

"It was Sally," Penny murmured, her heart sinking to her shoe tops. "Why hasn't someone brought her out?"

"No human being could get into that house now," declared a man who stood close by. "The firemen aren't here yet. Anyway, we ain't sure there's anyone inside."

"I saw the girl run in, I tell you!" the woman insisted.

To debate over such a vital matter infuriated Penny and Jack. Sally was nowhere in the crowd and they were convinced she had entered the blazing building. Flames were blowing from some of the lower windows and smoke was dense. It was obvious that no man present was willing to risk his life to ascertain if the girl were inside.

"She must have tried to reach the basement!" Penny cried. "Oh, Jack, we've got to bring her out!"

Nodding grimly, Jack stripped off his coat. Throwing it over his head as a shield, he darted into the burning building. Penny, close at his heels, had no protection.

Inside the house, smoke was so black they could not see three feet ahead. Choking, gasping for breath, they groped their way through the living room to the kitchen. Penny jerked open the door leading into the cellar.

Flames roared into her face. The entire basement was an inferno of heat. No human being could descend the stairs and return. If Sally were below, she was beyond help.

Closing the door, Penny staggered backwards. Her head was spinning and she could not get her breath.

"It's no use!" Jack shouted in her ear. "We've got to get out of here! The walls or floor may collapse."

Clutching Penny's arm, he pulled her along. In the black smoke swirling about them, they missed the kitchen door.

Frantically, they crept along a scorching hot wall, seeking to find an exit.

Then Penny stumbled over an object on the floor and fell. As she tried to get up, her hand touched something soft and yielding. A body lay sprawled in a heap beside her on the floor.

"It's Sally!" she cried. "Oh, Jack, help me get her up!"

CHAPTER 24 _DREDGING THE RIVER_

Sally moaned softly but did not stir as Penny tried to pull her to a sitting position. The heat now was almost unbearably intense, with flying brands dropping everywhere. But near the floor, the air was better, and Penny drew it in by deep gulps.

Jack's groping hand encountered the sink. Soaking his coat with water from one of the taps, he gave it to Penny to protect her head and shoulders.

"Help me get Sally onto my back in a Fireman's carry," he gasped. "We can make it."

The confidence in Jack's voice gave Penny new courage and strength. As he knelt down on the floor, she dragged Sally onto his back. Holding the inert body high on his shoulders, he staggered across the kitchen.

Penny guided him to the door. Flames had eaten into the living room, and a small portion of the floor had fallen through. To reach the exit was impossible.

"A window!" Jack directed.

Penny could see none, so dense was the smoke, but she remembered how the room had been laid out, and pulled Jack to an outer wall. Her exploring hand encountered a window sill, but she could not get the sash up.

In desperation, she kicked out the glass. A rush of cool, sweet air struck her face. Filling her lungs, she turned to help Jack with his burden. Before she could grasp him, he sagged slowly to the floor.

Thrusting her head through the broken window, Penny shouted for help.

Willing hands lifted her to safety, and two men climbed through the window to bring out Jack and Sally. Both were carried some distance from the blazing building to an automobile where they were revived.

However, Sally was in need of medical attention. Hair and eyebrows had been singed half away, and more serious, her hands and arms were severely burned. Jack and Penny rode with her to the hospital when the ambulance finally came.

Not until hours later, after Captain Barker had been summoned, did Sally know anyone. Heavily bandaged, with her father, Jack, and Penny at her bedside, she opened her eyes and gave them a half-hearted grin.

"The _Florence_?" she whispered.

"Safely beached on a shoal," Captain Barker assured her tenderly. "There's nothing to worry about. All the passengers have been taken to hospitals or to their homes. A preliminary check has shown only one man lost, an engineer who was trapped at his post when the explosion occurred aboard the _Florence_."

"Pop, you were marvelous," Sally whispered. "You saved the waterfront."

"And nearly lost a daughter. Sally, why did you try to get into that burning building?"

Sally drew a deep, tired sigh.

"Never mind," said Penny kindly. "We know why you went in--it was to find the brass lantern."

Sally nodded. "When I got to the basement, flames were shooting up everywhere," she recalled with a shudder. "I realized then that I couldn't possibly find the lantern or anything else. I tried to get back, but smoke was everywhere. That was the last I remembered."

"It was Jack who saved you," Penny said, but he cut in to insist that the credit belonged to her rather than to him.

In the midst of a good-natured argument over the subject, a nurse came to say that Penny and Jack both were wanted on the telephone.

"The police department calling," she explained.

They were down the hall in a flash to take the call. Captain Brown of the city police force informed them they were wanted immediately at police headquarters to identify Sweeper Joe, the Harpers, and Clark Clayton who had been arrested at the railroad station. Adam Glowershick also had been taken into custody.

At headquarters fifteen minutes later, the young people found Mr. Gandiss, Penny's father, and Heiney Growski already there. Questioned by police, the young people revealed everything they knew about the case.

"We can hold these men for a while," Chief Bailey promised Mr. Gandiss, "but to make charges stick, we'll have to have more evidence."

Penny had told of the cache of brass in the Harper basement, and also of seeing Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton dump much of the loot in the river. She was assured that the ruins of the house would be searched in the morning and that a dredge would be assigned to try to locate the brass which had been thrown overboard into the deepest part of the channel.

Heiney Growski produced records he had kept, showing a list of Gandiss factory employes known to be implicated in the plot.

"Most of the persons involved are new employes who smuggled small pieces of brass out of the factory and turned them over to Sweeper Joe for pin money," he revealed. "The leaders are Joe, Clayton, and Glowershick. With them behind bars, the ring will dissolve."

"There's one thing I want to know," Penny declared feelingly. "Who planted the brass in Sally's locker while she was working at the factory?"

No one could answer the question at the moment, but the following day, after police had repeatedly questioned the prisoners, the entire story became known. Sweeper Joe, the real instigator of the plot, had slipped into the locker room himself, and had placed the incriminating piece of evidence in Sally's locker, using a master key. He had disliked her because several times she had resented his attempts to become friendly.

Although police had obtained signed confessions, tangible evidence also was needed, for as Chief Bailey pointed out to Mr. Gandiss, the men might repudiate their statements when they appeared in court. Accordingly, police squads were sent to the Harpers' to search the ashes for evidence, and also to the river to supervise dredging operations.

Throughout the day, between trips to the hospital to see Sally, Jack and Penny watched the dredge boat make its trips back and forth over the area where the loot had been dropped.

"I hope I wasn't mistaken in the location," Penny remarked anxiously as the vessel made repeated excursions without success. "After all, the night was dark, and I had no way of taking accurate bearings."

Across the river and barely visible, the blackened, smoking skeleton of the _Florence_ lay stranded on a sandbar. Throughout the night, a fireboat had steadily pumped water into the burning vessel, but even so, fires had not been entirely extinguished.

Morning papers had carried the encouraging information that there was only one known casualty as a result of the disaster. That many lives had not been lost was credited entirely to the courageous action of Captain Barker.

Becoming weary of watching the monotonous dredging operations, Jack and Penny joined a throng of curious bystanders at the Harper property. Police had taken complete charge and were raking the smoldering ruins.

"Find anything?" Jack asked a policeman he knew.

The man pointed to a small heap of charred metal which had been taken from the basement. There were many pieces of brass, but the missing lantern was not to be found in the pile.

However, from a member of the arson squad, they learned that enough evidence had been found to prove conclusively that the fire had been started with gasoline.

"Ma Harper spilled the whole story," one of the policemen related. "She and her husband were fairly straight until they became mixed up with Sweeper Joe, who has a police record of long standing. Ma had a black market business in silk stockings that didn't amount to much. So far as we've been able to learn, she and a taxi driver whom we've caught, were the only ones involved. Her husband and the other men considered the stocking racket small potatoes for them."

After talking with the policemen for awhile, the young people wandered down to the river's edge to see how dredging operations progressed.

"They're hauling something out of the water now!" Jack exclaimed. "By George! It looks like brass to me!"

Finding a boat tied up at the dock, they borrowed it and rowed rapidly out to the dredge. There they saw that some of the metal which Sweeper Joe had dumped, had indeed been recovered.

Prodding in the muddy pile in the bottom of the dredge net, Penny uttered a little scream of joy. "The brass lantern is here, Jack! What wonderful luck!"

Seizing the slime-covered object, she washed it in the river. "Let's take it straight to Sally at the hospital!" she urged.

Because the lantern would be important evidence in the case against Glowershick, police aboard the dredge were unwilling for it to be removed. However, the young people carried the news to Sally.

"Oh, I'm so glad the lantern has been recovered!" she cried happily. "Jack, you'll win it in the race Friday."

Jack and Penny exchanged a quick, stricken glance. Temporarily, they had forgotten the race and all it meant to Sally. With her hands bandaged from painful burns, she never would be able to compete.

"We'll postpone the race," Jack said gruffly. "It would be no competition if we held it without you."

"Nonsense," replied Sally. "It will be weeks before I can use my hands well, so it would be stupid to postpone the race that long. Fortunately, the doctor says I may leave the hospital tomorrow, and I'll not be scarred."

"If you can't race, I won't either," declared Jack stubbornly.

"Jack, you must!" Agitated, Sally raised herself on an elbow. "I'd feel dreadful if you didn't compete. The race has meant everything to you."

"Not any more. Winning doesn't seem important now. I'll not sail in the race unless the _Cat's Paw_ is entered, and that's final!"

"Oh, Jack, you're such an old mule!" Sally tossed her head impatiently on the pillow. Then she grinned. "If my _Cat_ is in the race, you'll sail?"

"Sure," he agreed, suspecting no trick.

Sally laughed gleefully. "Then it's settled! Penny will represent me in the race!"

"I'll do what?" demanded Penny.

"You'll skipper the boat in my stead!"

"But I lack experience."

"You'll win the trophy easily," chuckled Sally. "Why, the _Cat's Paw_ is by far the fastest boat on the river."

"Says who?" demanded Jack, but without his old fire.

"But I couldn't race alone," said Penny, decidedly worried. "Sally, would you be able to ride along as adviser and captain bold?"

"I certainly would jump at the chance if the doctor would give permission. Oh, Penny, if only he would!"

"The race isn't until Friday," Jack said encouragingly. "You can make it, Sally."

The girl pulled herself to a sitting posture, staring at her bandaged hands.

"Yes, I can," she agreed with quiet finality. "Why, I feel better already. Even if I have to be carried to the dock in a wheel chair, I'll be in that race!"

CHAPTER 25 _THE RACE_

A mid-afternoon sun beat down upon the wharves as a group of sailboats tacked slowly toward the starting line for the annual Hat Island trophy race. The shores were lined with spectators, and from the clubhouse where a band played, music carried over the water.

At the tiller of the _Cat's Paw_, Penny, in white blouse and slacks, hair bound tightly to keep it from blowing, sat nervous and tense. Sally, lounging on a cushion in the bow, seemed thoroughly relaxed. Though her arms remained in bandages, otherwise she had completely recovered from her unpleasant experience.

"Isn't the wind dying?" Penny asked anxiously. "Oh, Sally, I was hoping we'd have a good stiff breeze for the race! Handicapped as we are--"

"We're not handicapped," Sally corrected. "Of course, I can't handle the ropes or do much to help, but we have a wonderful boat that will prove more than a match for Jack's _Spindrift_."

"You're only saying that to give me confidence."

"No, I'm not," Sally denied, turning to study the group of racing boats. "We'll win the trophy! Just wait and see."

"If we do, it will be because of your brain and my brawn," Penny chuckled. "I'll admit I'm scared silly. I never was in an important race before."

Conversation ceased, for the boats now were bunching close to the starting line, maneuvering for position. Jack drifted by in the _Spindrift_, raising his hand in friendly greeting. As he passed, he actually glanced anxiously toward Sally, as if worried lest the girl overtax herself.

"I hope he doesn't try to throw the race just to be gallant," Penny thought. "But I don't believe he will, for then the victory would be a hollow one."

The change apparent in Jack so amazed Penny that she had to pinch herself to realize it was true. Since the night of the fire, he had visited Sally every day. In a brief span of hours, he had grown from a selfish, arrogant youth into a steady, dependable man. And it now was evident to everyone that he liked Sally in more than a friendly way.

"Better come about now, Penny," Sally broke in upon her thoughts. "Head for the starting line. The signal should be given any minute now."

The boats started in a close, tight group. Jack was over the line first, but with _Cat's Paw_ directly behind.

In the first leg of the race, the two boats kept fairly even, with the others lagging. As the initial marker was rounded, there was a noticeable fall-off in the wind.

"It's going to be a drifting race," Sally confirmed, raising troubled eyes to the wrinkled sail. "We're barely drawing now and Jack's boat has the edge in a calm."

The _Spindrift_ skimmed merrily along, now in the lead by many yards. Though Penny held the tiller delicately, taking advantage of every breath of wind, the distance between the two boats rapidly increased.

"We're out of it," she sighed. "We can't hope to overtake Jack now."

Sally nodded gloomily. Shading her eyes against the glare of the sun, she gazed across the river, studying the triangular course. Far off-shore, well beyond the line the _Spindrift_ and their own boat was taking, the surface of the water appeared rippled. Ahead of them there was only a smooth surface.

"Penny," she said quietly. "I believe there's more breeze out there."

Penny nodded and headed the _Cat's Paw_ on the longer course out into the river. To many spectators ashore it appeared that the girls deliberately had abandoned the race, but aboard the _River Queen_, Captain Barker grinned proudly at his guests, Mr. Parker, and Mr. and Mrs. Gandiss.

"Those gals are using their heads!" he praised. "Well, Mr. Gandiss, it looks as if the Barkers will keep the trophy another year!"

"The race isn't over yet," Mr. Gandiss rumbled goodnaturedly.

Aboard the _Cat's Paw_, Penny and Sally were none too jubilant. Although sails curved with wind and they were footing much faster than the other boats, the course they had chosen would force them to sail a much longer distance. Could they cross the finish line ahead of the _Spindrift_?

"Shouldn't we turn now?" Penny asked impatiently. "Jack's so much closer than we."

"Not yet," Sally said calmly. "We must make it in one long tack. He will be forced to make several. That's our only chance. If we misjudge the distance, we're sunk."

Tensely, they watched the moving line of boats close along shore. The _Spindrift_ seemed almost at the finish line, though her sails barely were drawing and she moved through the water at a snail's pace.

Again Penny glanced anxiously at her companion.

"Now!" Sally gave the signal.

Instantly Penny swung the _Cat's Paw_ onto the homeward tack. Every inch of her sails drawing, she swept toward the finish line.

"We're so much farther away than the _Spindrift_," Penny groaned, crouching low so that her body would not deflect the wind. "Oh, Sally, will we make it?"

"Can't tell yet. It will be nip and tuck. But if we can keep this breeze--"

The wind held, and the _Cat's Paw_, sailing to windward of the finish line, moved along faster and faster. On the other hand, the _Spindrift_ was forced to make several short tacks, losing distance each time. The boats drew even.

Suddenly Sally relaxed, and slumped down on the cushions.

"Just hold the old girl steady on her course," she grinned. "That brass lantern is the same as ours!"

"Then we'll win?"

"We can't lose now unless some disaster should overtake us."

Even as Sally spoke, boat whistles began to toot. Sailing experts nodded their heads in a pleased way, for it was a race to their liking.

A minute later, sweeping in like a house afire, the _Cat's Paw_ crossed the finish line well in advance of the _Spindrift_. Jack's boat placed second with other craft far behind.

Friendly hands assisted the girls ashore where they were spirited away to the clubhouse for rest and refreshments. As everyone crowded about to congratulate them upon victory, Jack joined the throng.

"It was a dandy race," he said with sincerity. "I tried hard to win, but you outsmarted me."

"Why, Jack!" teased Sally. "Imagine admitting a thing like that!"

"Now don't try to rub it in," he pleaded. "I know I've been an awful heel. You probably won't believe me, but I'm sorry about the way I acted--"

"For goodness sakes, don't apologize," Sally cut him short. "I enjoyed every one of those squabbles we had. I hope we have a lot more of them."

"We probably will," Jack warned, "because I expect to be underfoot quite a bit of the time."

Later in the afternoon, the brass lantern which had been turned over to the club by the police, was formally presented to Sally. She was warned however, that the trophy would have to be returned later for use in court as evidence against Adam Glowershick.

The nicest surprise of all was yet to come. Captain Barker was requested by a committee chairman to kindly step forward into full view of the spectators.

"Now what's this?" he rumbled, edging away.

But he could not escape. Speaking into a loudspeaker, the committee chairman informed the captain and delighted spectators, that in appreciation of what he had done to save the waterfront, a thousand dollar purse had been raised. Mr. Gandiss, whose factory certainly would have faced destruction had wharves caught fire, had contributed half the sum himself.

"Why, beaching the _Florence_ was nothing," the captain protested, deeply embarrassed. "I can repair the damage done to the _Queen_ with less than a hundred dollars."

"The money is yours, and you must keep it," he was told. "You must have a use for it."

"I have that," Captain Barker admitted, winking at his daughter. "There's a certain young lady of my acquaintance who has been hankerin' to go away to college."

"Oh, Pop." Sally's eyes danced. "How wonderful! I know where I want to go too!"

"So you've been studying the school catalogues?" her father teased.

Sally shook her head. Reaching for Penny's hand, she drew her close.

"I don't need a catalogue," she laughed. "I only know I'm scheduled for the same place Penny selects! She's been my good luck star, and I'll set my future course by her!"

Transcriber's Notes

--Replaced the list of books in the series by the complete list, as in the final book, "The Cry at Midnight".

--Silently corrected a handful of palpable typos.

End of Project Gutenberg's Guilt of the Brass Thieves, by Mildred A. Wirt