CHAPTER 3 STRANGER OF THE STORM

Penny swerved the steering wheel, missing the girl by inches. Somewhat shaken by the near-accident, she pulled up at the roadside.

“My, that was close!” exclaimed Louise. Lowering the side window of the coupe, she gazed curiously at the snowy figure, plodding through the drifts.

“Maybe we ought to offer her a lift to Riverview,” said Penny. “Whoever she is, she shouldn’t be walking alone at this time of night—and with a heavy suitcase too.”

“But should we pick up a hitchhiker, Penny? It might not be safe.”

“I don’t like to do it as a rule, but this is different. It’s storming hard and she looks about our age.”

Debating no longer, Penny thrust her head through the window opening and called: “Want a ride?”

The girl with the suitcase had moved into the glare of the headlights. She turned toward the car with a startled expression. Penny and Louise saw that she was thinly clad in a light weight coat, and wore no galoshes.

To their astonishment, the girl shook her head and kept on walking.

“Well, what do you know!” exclaimed Penny. “She’s more afraid to ride with us than we were to pick her up. She may not realize we’re just a couple of school girls.”

“She shouldn’t be out in this storm dressed as she is,” declared Louise, now concerned for the stranger. “Ask her again.”

Penny shifted into low gear and pulled alongside. “Please, can’t we give you a lift into the city?” she urged.

The girl stopped then, resting her suitcase in the roadway. A breath of wind swept a lock of dark hair across her thin face. Impatiently she brushed it aside and murmured: “No, no, thank you.”

Penny would have driven on, but the voice held a hint of tears. It occurred to her that the girl might be running away from home—certainly she was bewildered and in trouble.

“Don’t be foolish!” she exclaimed. “This snow is coming down heavier every minute. Of course, you want a ride.” She flung the car door wide open.

A moment longer the girl hesitated. Then without a word, she swung the suitcase into the automobile and squeezed in beside Louise. However, she scarcely glanced at the girls, but centered her sober gaze on the snowflakes which danced across the windshield.

The car moved ahead. “Going far?” inquired Penny.

“I—I don’t know.”

“You don’t know!” Penny twisted her head sideways to stare at the girl. She started to ask a question, then thinking better of it, remained silent.

Louise, however, could not allow the odd reply to pass unchallenged.

“Why, you must know where you’re going!” she exclaimed. “Do you mean you have no home, or are running away?”

“I have a home,” the girl replied shortly. “I only meant I haven’t decided where I’ll go or what I’ll do when I reach Riverview. That’s the name of the closest place, isn’t it?”

Penny nodded. “Apparently, you come from some distance away,” she remarked.

The girl made no reply.

“May we introduce ourselves?” said Louise, determined to learn the stranger’s name. “This is Penny Parker, and I’m Louise Sidell.”

Only by a brief nod did the girl acknowledge the introduction. She did not volunteer her own name. Her failure to do so, obviously was deliberate.

“Do you live near here?” Louise inquired.

The stranger squirmed uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t feel like answering questions. That’s why I didn’t want to accept a ride.”

Louise took the reply for a rebuke. “I certainly didn’t mean to be personal,” she returned stiffly. “Excuse it, please. Dreadful weather!”

The topic fell flat. No further attempt at conversation was made.

Penny kept close watch of the road, for the heavy, wet snow made visibility very poor. She was greatly relieved when they reached the outskirts of the city and a wide boulevard which followed the curve of the frozen river.

Seeing the lights of Riverview, the strange girl began to watch the streets intently.

“Just let me out anywhere,” she said presently.

“Anywhere?” Penny repeated.

“Will we pass the river docks on this road?”

“Yes, at the next turn.”

“Then let me off there, please.”

“The river docks!” exclaimed Louise. “At this time of night? No boats are running and there are no houses or business places close by. Only deserted fish houses and the like.”

“Please, that’s where I want to get off.”

Penny and Louise gave up trying to figure out their strange passenger. At the next turn in the road, they pulled up near a dimly lighted street corner.

The girl opened the car door and reached for her suitcase.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said in a low voice. “I’m sorry if I seemed rude and unfriendly. There are things I can’t explain.”

Before Penny or Louise could answer, the car door closed firmly in their faces.

“Well, how do you like that?” the latter demanded furiously. “If she isn’t a cool cucumber!”

“She may be running away from home,” Penny said, frowning. “Why otherwise, would she refuse to tell her name?”

“And why did she insist in getting out on this corner, of all places?”

“It’s a bad section of town, Louise. No one seems to be about, but even so, a girl shouldn’t be wandering around here alone.”

“We tried to warn her. She seemed to know what she wanted to do.”

“All the same, I feel sort of responsible,” Penny returned uneasily. “I hope nothing happens to her.”

After leaving the car, the girl walked toward the river. Now at the corner, she paused beneath a street light, and glanced back.

“She’s waiting for us to go on!” Penny guessed shrewdly. “For some reason, she doesn’t want anyone to know where she’s going!”

“Then let’s wait and watch!”

“We’ll learn nothing that way. She can tell we’re keeping our eye on her.” Penny threw in the clutch and the car rolled away from the curb. “Tell you what, Lou! We’ll drive around the block.”

“Good idea!” approved her chum. “That way she’ll think we’ve gone and we can see where she really goes.”

Penny turned at the first corner and made a quick trip around the block. As they again came within view of the ice-locked river, the girls looked quickly up and down the street for a glimpse of their former passenger.

“There she is!” Louise cried. “Why, she’s walking straight to the docks!”

The two girls now were completely mystified and not a little worried. At this late hour, the waterfront was deserted.

Penny watched the retreating figure for a moment, and then swung the car door open.

“That girl can’t know what she’s doing!” she decided. “I’m going after her!”

“For our pains, we may be told to mind our own affairs.”

“That’s beside the point, Lou. Something’s wrong.”

Without taking time to lock the car, the two girls hurried down the dark street toward the docks. Far ahead they could see the one they pursued walking swiftly. Then in the blinding, whirling snow, they lost sight of her.

Reaching the waterfront, Penny and Louise gazed about in disbelief and bewilderment. The girl had vanished.

“Now where could she have gone—” Penny murmured, only to break off as her gaze fell upon a trail of footsteps.

The prints led along the dock for a short distance, only to end at the river’s edge.