Part 7

"Well, what will we do?" Penny asked, scarcely able to hide her growing irritation. "It's still foggy on the river. I've put up signal lights, but an approaching freighter might not see them in time to change her course."

"There's nothing more to be done," Carl Oaks responded with a shrug. "The Coast Guard boat will come along after awhile. I'm not going to worry about it--not me! I'm done with this lousy job, and you can tell your father so."

"My father can bear the shock, I think," Penny answered coldly.

Thoroughly disgusted at the indifferent attitude of the watchman, she ran out on deck. Looking down over the side, she saw Louise waiting anxiously in the dinghy.

"Oh, there you are!" her chum cried. "I thought you never were coming!"

Penny explained that she had found Carl Oaks lying bound and gagged inside the deck house. As the old watchman himself came up behind her, she could say nothing about his indifferent attitude.

"I wondered how you got out to this barge," Oaks commented, gazing down at the dinghy. "You can take me to shore with you."

"Isn't it your duty to remain here until relieved?" Penny asked.

"I resigned, takin' effect last night at midnight," Oaks grinned. "I've had enough of Riverview. I'm getting out of this town."

Penny faced the watchman with flashing eyes.

"My father obtained this job for you, Mr. Oaks. You'll show very little gratitude if you run off just because you're in trouble again."

"A man's got a right to do as he pleases!"

"Not always," Penny corrected. "Saboteurs are at work along this waterfront, and it's your duty to tell police what you know."

"I didn't see the men, I tell you! They came at me from behind."

"Even so, you may be able to contribute information to the police. In any case, you'll have to stay here until relieved--"

"Penny!" interrupted Louise from below. "There's a boat coming!"

The steady chug of a motor could be heard, but for a moment the swirling mists hid the approaching vessel. Then a pleasure yacht, with pennants flying, came into view.

"It's the _Eloise III!_" Penny cried, recognizing the craft as one belonging to Commodore Phillips of the Riverview Marine Club.

Waving their arms and shouting, the girls tried to attract the pilot's attention. To their relief, the yacht veered slightly from her course, and the engines slackened speed.

"Yacht ahoy!" called Penny, cupping hands to her lips.

"Ahoy!" came the answering shout from Commodore Phillips. "What's wrong there? Barge adrift?"

Penny confirmed the observation and requested to be taken aboard. Although she was not certain of it, she believed that the _Eloise III_ was equipped with a radio telephone which could be used to notify Coast Guards of the floating barge.

Leaving Carl Oaks behind, the girls rowed to the yacht and were helped aboard. Commodore Phillips immediately confirmed that his vessel did have radio-telephone apparatus.

"Come with me," he directed, leading the girls to the radio room.

The Commodore sat down beside the transmitting apparatus, quickly adjusting a pair of earphones. Snapping on the power switch, he tuned to the wave length of the Coast Guard station. While the girls hovered at his elbow, he talked into the radio telephone, informing the Coast Guard of the floating barge and its position. The message, he explained to Penny and Louise, would be received in "scrambled speech" and automatically transformed into understandable English by means of an electrical device.

"How do you mean?" inquired Louise, deeply puzzled.

"Nearly all ship-to-shore radio telephone conversations are carried on in scrambled speech," the Commodore replied. "Otherwise, eavesdroppers could tune in on them and learn important facts not intended to be made public."

"But you spoke ordinary English into the 'phone," Louise said, still perplexed.

"The speech scrambler is an electric circuit which automatically transposes voice frequencies," the Commodore resumed. "The words are made unintelligible until unscrambled by a similar device at the receiving station. For instance, if I were to say 'Mary had a little lamb,' into this phone, anyone listening in would hear: 'Noyil hob e ylippey ylond.' Yet at the receiving post, the message would be unscrambled to its original form."

"I wish our telephone at home was fixed that way!" Penny declared with a laugh. "Wouldn't some of the neighbors develop a headache!"

Having been informed that a Coast Guard cutter would proceed at once to the locality, the girls felt relieved of further responsibility. As Commodore Phillips said that he would stand by with his yacht until the cutter reached the scene, they finally decided to return to shore. Once well away from the yacht they raised sail and tacked toward their own dock.

"I hope the Coast Guard gives Carl Oaks a good lecture," Penny remarked, turning to gaze back at the slowly drifting barge. "Why, he wasn't one bit concerned what might happen to other vessels!"

"I never did like him," said Louise with feeling. "He complains too much. Was it his fault that the barge was cut adrift?"

"Not according to his story. Three men attacked him while he was in the deck house. Of course, he couldn't have been too alert."

"Carl Oaks wouldn't be!"

"There was one rather peculiar thing," Penny said slowly. "It never occurred to me until now."

"What's that?"

"Why, Mr. Oaks' bonds were very loose. If he had tried, I believe he could have freed himself."

"That does seem strange," agreed Louise. "You don't think he allowed those saboteurs to board the barge?"

Penny brought the dinghy around, steering to avoid a floating log.

"I wouldn't know," she replied soberly. "But I'm glad we forced Mr. Oaks to wait for the Coast Guard. I hope they question him until they get to the bottom of this affair."

CHAPTER 17 _A STOLEN BOAT_

The mists were lifting as Penny and Louise sailed slowly past the Ottman Dock toward their own snug berth. Sara, in blue slacks, a red bandana handkerchief over her head, was trying to start a stubborn outboard motor. Glancing up, she called a greeting, and then asked abruptly:

"Say, what's that barge doing out on the river? It looks to me as if it's adrift, but I can't see well enough to tell."

Penny and Louise, eager to impart information, brought the dinghy to a mooring at the floating platform. Sara listened with interest as they revealed how they had boarded the barge, released Carl Oaks, and then notified the Coast Guard.

"Neat work!" she praised. "That Carl Oaks! He's one of the most shiftless men I ever knew. He doesn't deserve to hold a job."

Penny glanced about the dock, searching for Burt Ottman.

"Your brother isn't here?" she remarked absently.

"No, he isn't," Sara replied, rather defiantly. "If you think he had anything to do with that barge--"

"Why, it never entered my mind!" Penny exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," the older girl apologized. "I shouldn't have said that. I don't know why I'm so jumpy lately."

"You have a great deal to worry you," said Louise sympathetically. "And you work too hard."

"I'll be all right as soon as Burt's trial is over. He's not here this morning--" Sara's voice broke. "In fact, I don't know where he is."

Louise and Penny said nothing, though the remark astonished them.

"Burt was out all last night," Sara spoke and then seemed to realize that her words easily could be misinterpreted. She added hastily: "He's been trying to gain evidence which will prove his innocence."

"You mean your brother went away yesterday and failed to return?" Penny asked after a moment.

Sara nodded. "He's on the trail of the real saboteurs, and it's dangerous business. That's why I'm so worried. I'm afraid he's in trouble."

"Have you talked to the police?" Penny inquired.

"Indeed, I haven't."

"Didn't your brother tell you where he was going when he left home?"

"No, he didn't. He keeps things from me because he says I worry too much now."

"I suppose he never explained what happened at The Green Parrot?"

"He said he couldn't remember. Oh, everything's so mixed up. I try not to think about it, because when I do my head simply buzzes."

Once more Sara tried to start the balky engine, and this time her efforts brought success.

"Thank goodness for small favors!" she muttered. "Now I've got to go out on the river and look for our stolen boat. Hope no one runs off with this place while I'm gone."

"You've not had another boat stolen?" Louise asked in surprise.

"I figure that's what happened to it. Late yesterday afternoon a man came here and rented our fastest motorboat. That's the last I've seen of him or it."

"Didn't you report your loss to the Coast Guards?" inquired Penny.

Sara answered with a trace of impatience. "Of course, I did. They searched the river last night. No accident reported, and no trace of the boat."

"The man might have drowned," Louise offered anxiously.

"It's not likely. If he had gone overboard, the boat would have been found by this time. No, it's been pulled up somewhere in the bushes and hidden. Last year one of our canoes was taken. Burt found it a month later, painted a different color!"

"Didn't you know the man who rented the boat?" questioned Penny.

"Never saw him before. He was tall and thin and dark. Wore a brown felt hat and overcoat. I noticed his hands in particular. They were soft and well manicured. I said to myself, 'This fellow doesn't know a thing about boats,' but I was wrong. He handled that motor like a veteran."

"The man didn't look like a waiter, did he?" Penny asked quickly.

"You couldn't prove it by me."

Penny groped in her mind to recall a characteristic which definitely would describe the head waiter of The Green Parrot. To her chagrin, she could think of only one unusual facial characteristic, a tiny scar on his cheek. She did remember that the man had worn a large, old fashioned gold watch which might have been of foreign make.

"Why, the fellow who rented the boat did have such a watch!" Sara cried when Penny mentioned the timepiece. "I didn't notice the scar. What is his name?"

"Louise and I never were able to learn," Penny replied with regret. "The Green Parrot has closed its doors, so I don't know how you can get in touch with him."

Sara sighed. Placing an oar, a bailer, and a can of gasoline in the boat, she prepared to leave the dock.

"I'll be lucky if I ever see the fellow again," she commented. Hesitating a moment, she asked diffidently: "Don't suppose you girls would like to go along?"

Penny and Louise wondered if their ears had betrayed them. It seemed beyond belief that Sara actually would invite them to accompany her.

"Why, of course, we'd like to go," Penny accepted, before her chum could find her voice.

Scrambling out of the dinghy, the girls made it fast to the dock and transferred to the other boat. Sara opened the throttle, and they shot away, leaving behind a trail of churning foam. Out through the slip they raced, rounding a channel buoy at breakneck speed.

"You can certainly handle a boat," Penny said admiringly.

"Been at it since I was a kid," Sara grinned. "I could cruise this river blindfolded."

They passed the floating barge, observing that a Coast Guard cutter was proceeding up river to take it in tow. Turning upstream, Sara swung the boat toward shore.

"Keep close watch of the bushes," she directed the girls. "If you see anything that looks like a hidden boat, sing out."

At low speed they crept along the river, watching for marks in the sand which might reveal where a craft had been pulled out of water. Once, venturing too close in, Sara went aground and had to push off with the oars.

"It doesn't look as if we'll have any luck," she remarked gloomily. "The boat's probably so well hidden, it would take a ferret to find it."

They kept on upstream toward the Seventh Street Bridge, a structure much in use since the more modern Thompson's Bridge had been closed to auto traffic. Penny, watching the stream of vehicles passing above, remarked that Riverview commerce would be paralyzed should anything occur to damage it.

"The Seventh Street Bridge now is the only artery open to the Riverview Munitions Plant," Sara added. "I understand it's being guarded day and night. By a better watchman than Carl Oaks, I hope."

Without passing the bridge, the girls turned downstream, searching the opposite shore. Before they had gone far, Sara beached the boat on a stretch of sand.

"It was along here that Burt found our canoe last year," she explained. "If you don't mind waiting, I'll get out and prowl around a bit."

"Aren't we near Bug Run?" Penny inquired.

Sara pointed out the mouth of the stream which was hidden from view by a clump of willows.

"If you expect to be here a few minutes, Louise and I might pay Old Noah a flying visit," Penny said eagerly. "We're curious to learn what has happened to him."

"I'll be around for at least half an hour," Sara replied. "Take your time."

Penny and Louise set off along the twisting bank of Bug Run. Approaching the vicinity of the ark, they noticed many corked blue bottles caught amid the debris of the sluggish stream.

"I'll bet a cent and a half that Old Noah still is on the old stamping grounds!" Penny remarked. "Sheriff Anderson probably hasn't found a way to get rid of him. Why, unless a regular deluge floods this stream, the ark never could be floated out to the main river."

"The sheriff could put Old Noah in jail."

"True, but a great many people would criticize him if he did."

A moment later the girls rounded a bend and saw the ark in its usual setting. A long clothes line had been stretched from bow to stern, and wet garments fresh from the wash tub, flapped in the breeze.

"Well, Noah is still here," chuckled Penny. "He's run up the white flag though! Or should we say the white flags!"

On the deck of the ark, Old Noah was so busy that he failed to note the approach of the two girls. He stood in the center of a ring of soiled clothes, laboring diligently over a tub of steaming suds.

As the girls reached the gangplank, a dog from inside the ark began an excited barking. Startled, Old Noah glanced up. Unnoticed by him, his long white beard slipped into the soapy water and he rubbed it vigorously on the washboard.

Scarcely able to control a giggle, Penny followed her chum aboard the ark. As Old Noah kept on scrubbing his beard she could not resist asking: "Excuse me, but aren't you washing your whiskers by mistake?"

Surprised, the old man straightened to his full height. Squeezing the dripping beard, he carefully wrung it out. Next he produced a comb from his loose fitting brown pantaloons, and painstakingly unsnarled the tangles. Then turning to the girls, he greeted them with his usual dignity.

"Good morning, my daughters. I am glad you kept your promise to visit me again."

"Good morning, Noah," responded Penny, trying not to laugh. "We thought we would drop by and see if you were still here. I remember Sheriff Anderson said he was going to call on you again."

The old man's weather beaten face crinkled into deep wrinkles. "Ho, ho! So he did, but he reckoned without the Might of the Righteous. I was watching for him when he came."

"I hope you didn't mistreat him," Penny said uneasily.

"When I observed his approach I untied my two hounds, Nip and Tuck, and hid myself in the forest. He was gone when I returned to the ark."

"Likewise, part of his anatomy, I suppose," commented Penny.

"Nip and Tuck did cause a commotion," Old Noah acknowledged, "but they did him no harm. When he went away the sheriff left a cowardly note tacked to a tree. It said he would return to dispossess me. Before that happens, I will blow this ark to Kingdom Come!"

"How will you do that?" inquired Penny, rather amused.

"With dynamite."

"Do you have any aboard the ark?"

Old Noah smiled mysteriously. "I know where I can lay my hands on all I'll need. When I was hiding in the woods yesterday, I saw where they keep it."

Penny and Louise glanced quickly at each other. While it was possible that Old Noah was talking wildly, the mention of dynamite made them uneasy. If it were true that he had come into possession of such a cache, then obviously it was their duty to report to the authorities.

"Who hid the dynamite?" Penny asked.

"I do not rightly know," replied Old Noah. "It may have been those strangers who were pestering me last night. They came to my ark and were very nosey, asking me about this and that."

"Not officers?"

"They had no connection with the Law, speaking of it with great contempt."

"How many men were there, Noah?"

"Two."

"And they came by car?"

"Bless you, no," replied Noah wearily. "They arrived in a motorboat. Of all the pop-poppin' you ever heard! It almost drove my animals crazy."

"After they talked to you, the men went away again in their boat?"

"They started off, but as soon as they had turned the bend they switched out the motor. I wondered what they were up to, so I sneaked through the bushes and watched."

"Yes, go on!" Penny urged eagerly as Old Noah interrupted the narrative to wash another shirt. "What did the men do?"

"Why, nothing," answered the old man. "They just pulled the boat up into the bushes and went off and left it."

"The boat is still there?" Penny demanded.

"So far as I know, my daughter."

"Will you show us where the boat is hidden?" pleaded Penny. "And the dynamite cache too!"

"I am very busy now," Old Noah said, shaking his flowing locks. "I have this pesky washing to do, and then, there's all the animals to feed."

"Can't we help you?" offered Louise.

"I thank you kindly, but it would not be fit work for young ladies. If you will return tomorrow, I gladly will guide you to the place."

Penny and Louise tried their powers of persuasion, but the old man was not to be moved. In the end they had to be satisfied with a description of the site where the motorboat had been hidden. Old Noah stubbornly refused to tell them more about the cache of dynamite.

Finally, the girls said goodbye to the master of the ark, and hastened toward the river to join Sara. They were greatly excited by the information they had obtained.

"Old Noah may have talked for the fun of it," Penny declared as they struggled through the underbrush. "If not, I think we've stumbled into an important clue--one which may have a bearing on the bridge dynamiting case!"

CHAPTER 18 _PENNY'S PLAN_

Sara was waiting beside her boat when Penny and Louise came running along the muddy shore. Without apologizing for being so late, they excitedly related their conversation with Old Noah.

"Say, maybe that hidden motorboat is mine!" the girl exclaimed. "What did it look like?"

"We didn't take time to search for it," Penny replied. "We knew you would be waiting so we came straight here."

"Let's see if we can find it," Sara said, starting up the engine.

"Noah's animals don't like motorboats," Louise chuckled. "I suggest we do our searching afoot."

"All right," Sara agreed readily, switching the motor off again. "Lead and I'll follow."

Penny and Louise guided their companion to the mouth of Bug Run and thence along its slippery banks to a clump of overhanging willows.

"According to Old Noah's description, this should be the place," Penny declared, looking about. "No sign of a boat though."

Sara took off shoes and stockings and waded through the shallow, muddy water. Whenever she came to a clump of bushes, she would pull the branches aside to peer behind them.

"Old Noah may have been spoofing us," Penny began, but just then Sara gave a little cry.

"Here it is! I've found it!"

Penny and Louise slid down the bank to the water's edge. Behind a dense thicket, a motorboat had been pulled out on the sand. The engine remained attached, covered by a piece of canvas.

"Is it your boat, Sara?" Penny asked eagerly.

"It certainly is!" She spoke with emphasis. "The hull has been repainted, but it takes more than that to fool me."

"Any positive way to identify it?"

"By the engine number. Ours was 985-877 unless I'm mistaken. I have it written down at home."

"What's the number of this engine?"

"The same!" Sara cried triumphantly after she had removed the canvas covering and examined it. "This is my property all right, and I shall take it back with me."

"Old Noah spoke of two strangers who came here last night by boat," Penny said thoughtfully.

"The fellow who stopped at the dock probably picked up a pal later on," Sara commented, trying to shove the boat into the water. "My, this old tub is heavy! Want to help?"

"Wait, Sara!" Penny exclaimed. "Let's leave the boat here."

"Leave it here! Now that would be an idea! This little piece of floating wood represents nine hundred and fifty dollars."

"I don't mean that you're to lose the boat," Penny hastened to explain. "But if we take it now, we never will catch the fellow who stole it."

"That's true."

"If we leave the boat here we can keep watch of the place and catch those scamps when they come back."

"They may not come back," Sara said, without warming to the plan. "Besides, I've no time to do a Sherlock Holmes in the bushes. I have my dock to look after."

"Louise and I could do most of the watching."

"Well, I don't know," Sara said dubiously. "Something might go wrong. I never would get over it if I lost the boat."

"You won't lose the boat," promised Penny. "It's really important that we catch those two men, Sara. From what Old Noah said, they may be connected with the bridge dynamiting."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because Old Noah found a cache of dynamite somewhere near here."

"He won't tell us its location," added Louise.

"If it should develop that the men are saboteurs, we might learn something which would help your brother's case," Penny said persuasively. "How about it, Sara?"

"I'd be glad to risk the boat if I thought it would help Burt."

"Then let's leave it here. We can watch the spot night and day."

"And what will your parents have to say?"

Penny's face fell. "Well, I suppose when it comes right to it, Dad will set his foot down. But at least we can watch during the day time. Then if necessary, we might report to the police."

"Let's leave them out of it," Sara said feelingly. "If you girls will remain throughout the day, I'll stand the night watch."

"Not alone!" Louise protested.

"Why not?" Sara asked, amused. "I've frequently camped out along the river at night. Once I made a canoe trip the full length of the river just for the fun of it."

"Louise and I will stay here now while you return to the dock," Penny declared. "Better call our parents when you get there and break the news as gently as possible."

"What will you do for lunch?"

"Maybe we can beg a sandwich or a fried egg from Old Noah," Penny chuckled. "We'll manage somehow."

"Well, whatever you do, don't leave the boat unguarded," Sara advised, starting away. "As soon as it gets dark I'll come back."

Left to themselves, Penny and Louise explored the locality thoroughly. Not far away they found a log which offered a comfortable seat, and they screened it with brush.

"Now we're all ready for Mr. Saboteur," Penny said. "He can't come too soon to suit me."

"And just what are we going to do when he does arrive?"

"I forgot to figure that angle," Penny confessed. "We may have to call on Old Noah for help."

"Noah will be busy doing a washing or giving the goat a beauty treatment," Louise laughed.

The sun lifted higher, and steam rising from the damp earth made the girls increasingly uncomfortable. As the hours dragged by they rapidly lost zest for their adventure. Long before noon they were assailed by the pangs of hunger.

"If I could catch a bullfrog I'd be tempted to eat him raw," Penny remarked sadly. "How about chasing up to the ark? Noah might give us a nibble of something."