CHAPTER 20 A SHACK IN THE WOODS

Fearing detection, Louise and Penny remained motionless as the man stared in their direction. He did not see them, and after puttering about the boat for a few minutes, started off through the woods.

“Now what shall we do?” Louise whispered anxiously.

“Let’s follow and find out where he goes,” proposed Penny, stealing from her hiding place.

None too eager for the adventure, Louise nevertheless kept close beside her chum as they followed the stranger. Instead of returning to the main river, he chose a trail which led deeper into the woods. Coming soon to the ark which loomed dark and mysterious against a background of trees, he paused for a moment to gaze at it. Then he veered away from the well-trampled path, keeping on through the dense thickets.

“Don’t you think we should turn back?” Louise whispered anxiously. “There’s no guessing where we’ll end up. We easily could get lost.”

Penny was plagued by the same worry, but she bantered: “Why, Lou, your Scout leader would blush with shame to hear you say that! The woods stretch for only a few miles. We always can find our way out.”

“What if our folks come searching for us while we’re wandering around?”

“I try not to think of such unpleasant situations,” Penny responded cheerfully. “You may be sure we’ll have to do some tall explaining. But if this fellow we’re tailing should prove to be a saboteur, everything will be lovely.”

“That’s not the word I’d use,” Louise muttered.

The girls had fallen many yards behind the head waiter. Failing to see the flash of his light, they quickened their pace and for a minute or two feared they had lost him. But as they paused in perplexity, they again saw a gleam of light off to the right.

“Let’s do less talking and more watching,” Penny said, hastening on. “If we’re not careful we’ll lose that fellow.”

Taking care to make no noise in the underbrush, the girls soon approached fairly close to the waiter. Apparently he knew his way through the woods, for not once did he hesitate. Occasionally he glanced overhead at dark clouds which were scudding across the sky. Reaching a small clearing, he paused to look at a watch which he held close to his flashlight beam.

“What time do you suppose it is?” Louise whispered to her chum.

“Not very late. Probably about nine o’clock.”

Because the waiter had paused, the girls remained motionless behind a giant oak. They saw the stranger switch off his light and gaze carefully about the clearing. In particular his attention centered upon a little shack, though no light showed there.

“Whose cabin is it?” whispered Louise. “Do you know?”

“I’m not sure,” returned Penny. “I think it was built several years ago by an artist who lived there while he painted the ravine and river. But he moved out last winter.”

The cabin was a curious structure, picturesquely situated beneath the low-spreading branches of an ancient tree. No windows were visible at the front, but a raised structure on the flat roof gave evidence of a large skylight.

After gazing at the shack for several minutes, the waiter raised fingers to his lips and whistled twice. To the surprise of the girls, an answering signal came from within the dark cabin.

A moment later, the front door opened, and an old man stepped outside.

“That you, Jard?” he called softly.

Without replying, the waiter left the shelter of trees to cross the clearing.

“Had any trouble?” he asked the old man.

“Everything’s been going okay. I’ll be glad to pull out o’ here though.”

The waiter made a reply which the girls could not hear. Entering the cabin, the men closed the door behind them.

“Who was that old man the waiter met?” Louise asked curiously. “Did you know him, Penny?”

“I couldn’t see his face. He stood in the shadow of the door. His voice sounded familiar though.”

“I thought so, too. What do you suppose those men are up to anyway?”

“Nothing good,” Penny responded grimly.

The girls huddled together at the edge of the clearing, uncertain what to do. If a light had been put on inside the shack it did not show from where they stood.

“Why not go for the police?” Louise proposed hopefully.

“I have a hunch those men may not stay here long. By the time we could bring help, the place might be deserted. Besides, we haven’t a scrap of real evidence against them.”

“How about the stolen motorboat?”

“We’re not even sure about that, Lou. Sara and her brother both have disappeared. Accusing a man falsely is a very serious offense.”

“Then what are we to do?” Louise asked despairingly. “Just stand here and wait until they come outside?”

“That’s all we can do—unless—”

“Unless what?” Louise demanded uneasily as Penny interrupted herself.

“Lou, I have a corking idea! See how those tree limbs arch over the roof of the shack? Why, that old maple is built to our order!”

“I don’t follow you.”

“You will in a minute if you’re a good climber!” chuckled Penny. “We can get up that tree and onto the roof. Even if it shouldn’t have a skylight we can see through, at least we can hear what’s being said.”

“Let’s just wait here.”

“And learn nothing,” Penny said impatiently. “How do you expect ever to be a G woman if you don’t start practicing now?”

“I’m going to be a nurse when I grow up. Climbing trees won’t help me at that.”

“Then wait here until I get back,” Penny said, starting across the clearing.

As she had known, her chum could not bear to be left alone in the dark woods. Louise hastened after her and together they crept to the base of the scraggly old maple.

The branches were so low that Penny pulled herself into them without difficulty. She then helped Louise scramble up beside her. They clung together a moment, listening to make certain that no sound had betrayed them.

“So far, so good,” Penny whispered jubilantly. “Now to get onto the roof. And it does have a skylight!”

“We’ll probably tumble through it,” Louise muttered.

A dim light, which came from a candle, burned inside the shack. Nevertheless, from their perch on the overhanging limb, the girls were unable to see what was happening below. Penny decided to lower herself to the roof.

“Put on your velvet shoes,” she warned as she swung lightly down from the lower branch. “The slightest noise and we’re finished.”

Dropping on the flat roof, she waited a moment, listening. Satisfied that the men inside the shack had not heard her, she motioned for Louise to follow. Her chum however, held back, shaking her head vigorously.

Abandoning the attempt to get Louise onto the roof, Penny crept toward the skylight. Lying full length, she pressed her face against the thick glass.

In the barren room below a candle burned on a table. The head waiter whom Penny first had seen at The Green Parrot sat with his legs resting on the fender of a pot-bellied stove. Opposite him was the older man whose face she could not immediately see.

“I tell you, I’m getting worried,” she heard the old fellow say. “When the Coast Guards took me off that coal barge they gave me the third degree. I can’t risk having anything hung on me.”

Penny pressed her face closer to the glass. Her pulse pounded. She was certain she knew the identity of the old man.

“I wish he’d turn his head,” she thought. “Then I’d be sure.”

As if in response to the unspoken desire, the old man shifted in his chair. The light of the candle flickered on his face, and Penny saw it clearly for the first time.

“Carl Oaks!” she whispered. “And to think that I ever helped him!”