CHAPTER 20 A CROOK EXPOSED

Eager to carry out Salt Sommers’ bidding, Penny ran up the hill in search of a telephone. She considered using the one at the house where Professor and Mrs. Bettenridge roomed, but decided against it, fearing that the conversation might be overheard or reported to them by the farm woman.

Hastening on, she saw a light farther down the road, and recalled having noticed a house there. Five minutes later, completely winded, she pounded on the door. A man in shirtsleeves, the evening newspaper in his hand, answered her knock.

“Please, may I use your telephone?” Penny gasped.

“Why, sure,” he agreed, stepping aside for her to enter. “Anything wrong?”

Penny knew better than to mention what was happening at the lake. “I want to telephone my father in Riverview,” she explained.

“The phone is in the other room,” the man said, switching on a light.

Placing the call, Penny waited impatiently for it to be put through. She was uncertain whether her father would be at home. If she failed to reach him, then the only other thing was to notify the sheriff.

“Here is your party. Go ahead, please,” came the long distance operator’s voice. The next moment Penny heard her father’s clear tones at the other end of the line.

“Dad, I’m at Blue Hole Lake with Salt,” she explained hurriedly. “Can you drive here right away?”

“I suppose so,” he answered, knowing from her voice that something serious was wrong. “What’s up?”

“We’ve learned plenty about Professor Bettenridge, Dad. Unless something is done quickly, he may sell his fake machine to Mr. Johnson.”

“But what can I do about it?” the publisher asked.

“Can you get hold of the Major and bring him with you?” Penny pleaded. “Professor Bettenridge may be the man he’s after!”

“Maybe I can reach him!” Mr. Parker agreed. “If I have luck I’ll be out there within twenty or thirty minutes. I’ll come as fast as I can.”

Before hanging up the receiver, Penny gave her father detailed instructions for reaching the lake and told him where to park. Leaving a dollar bill to pay for the call, she then hastened back to find Salt.

The photographer was nowhere near the cabin and she was afraid to call his name lest she be overheard by the Bettenridges.

As she stood in the shadow of the building, she heard voices from the beach. Someone with a lighted lantern was coming up the trail, and soon she distinguished two figures—Professor Bettenridge and Webb.

“That’s the story you’ll have to tell Johnson,” she heard the professor say. “Tell him that somehow you got the two mines mixed up as you were loading them onto the boat and dumped one that was never meant to explode.”

“But he saw us load the mine.”

“It was dark and he may not be sure. Anyway, the mine with Johnson’s initials is still in the shack. We’ll show it to him.”

“What bothers me is how did the mistake happen?” Webb muttered. “I know the mine I loaded on the boat had Johnson’s initials. It should have gone off.”

“Someone is onto our game, and tampered with the mines. It may have been a trick of that newspaper pair.”

“In that case, we’re in a dangerous spot. We ought to clear out while the clearing is good. If the authorities get onto what we’re doing—”

“They won’t—at least not tonight,” the professor said confidently. “The sheriff is as dumb as they come, and is convinced I am a genius second only to Thomas Edison. We’ll have to pull off a successful test tonight with Johnson’s mine, collect what we can, and clear out.”

“Okay,” Webb agreed, “but this is my last job. The game is too dangerous. I served one stretch in the pen and I don’t look forward to another.”

“If we can explode Johnson’s mine tonight, we’ll collect the money and be away from here as soon as we cash the check. Can you pull off the job without any blunder?”

“Sure I can unless someone tampers with the mine! This time I’ll make sure they don’t!”

“Okay,” the professor agreed. “Now I want you to talk to Johnson. Put up a good story, and get him to look at the mine that has his initials on it. If he refuses, we’re licked, but it’s worth a final try.”

“I’d like to find the guy who broke into the shack!” Webb muttered.

“We may have time for that later. Just now our most important job is to convince Johnson we have something to sell.”

The two men now were very close. Penny flattened herself against the building wall, fearful of being seen. The light from their lantern illuminated her for an instant, but the men were so absorbed in their discussion, they failed to see her. Going on up the hillside path, they vanished into the farmhouse.

What had become of Salt, Penny did not know. Thinking he might have gone down to the lake, she walked rapidly in that direction. As she approached the shack where the mines were stored, she heard a low whistle.

“Is that you, Salt?” she called softly.

He came from behind a clump of bushes to join her. Quickly they compared notes. Salt had overheard no conversation, but he had watched Professor Bettenridge and Webb as they reexamined the mines in the shack.

“They’re onto our game, and it won’t work twice,” he said. “We’ve got to delay the test, but how?”

“Maybe we could cut the boat loose!”

“A capital idea!” Salt approved, chuckling. “Penny, you really have a brain!”

As they scurried over the stones to the water’s edge, Penny suddenly stopped short.

“Listen!” she commanded.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Salt said.

“An automobile stopped by the roadside. I’m sure of it. Maybe it’s my father!”

“He couldn’t have reached here so soon.”

“You don’t know Dad,” Penny chuckled. “He drives like the wind. It certainly sounded like the engine of our car.”

“Let’s have a look before we cut the boat loose,” Salt said, slipping a knife back into his pocket.

“I’ll go,” Penny offered. “You wait here.”

Before Salt could stop her, she darted away into the darkness. Crawling under a barbed wire fence, she took a short cut to the road. Even before she saw the car, she heard a voice which she recognized as her father’s.

“Dad!” she called softly.

He was with another man whom Penny hoped was Major Bryan. As the two came toward the fence, she saw that it was indeed the Army officer.

“Dad, how did you get here so quickly?” she greeted him. “Salt and I didn’t expect you for at least another twenty minutes.”

“I was lucky enough to get hold of Major Bryan right away,” Mr. Parker answered, climbing over the fence. “Now I hope you haven’t brought us on a wild chase, Penny. What’s up?”

“Come with me and I’ll show you,” she offered. “That’s easier than explaining everything.”

Major Bryan, a well-built man of early middle age, asked Penny several questions about Professor Bettenridge as the three walked hurriedly toward the lake.

“From your description, he seems to be the man I’m after,” he declared grimly. “If he’s the same person, his real name is Claude Arkwright and he’s wanted for impersonating an officer and on various other charges. He pulled a big job in New York three months ago, then vanished.”

Salt was waiting at the lake. “What’s our move?” he asked, after relating everything that had occurred that night. “Shall we cut the boat loose?”

“First, let me examine those mines,” the major requested. “Can we get into the shack?”

“I can pick the lock, but it takes time,” Salt offered.

“We’ll break it,” the major decided. “Those men may return here at any minute, so there’s no time to lose.”

The door was forced open and Penny was placed on guard to watch the hillside for Webb or anyone in the professor’s party.

There was no light in the shack, but both Mr. Parker and the major had brought flashlights. Salt pointed out the mine which had been doctored by Webb. Carefully, the Army officer examined it.

“I can’t tell much by looking at it for the work has been cleverly concealed,” he admitted. “But from what you’ve told me, I am quite certain how the mine is made to explode.”

“How is it done?” Salt demanded.

“After the hole is made, a chemical—probably sodium—is inserted. Then another substance which melts slowly in water is used to seal up the opening.”

“Then that explains why Webb delayed so long in giving the signal after the mine had been dropped into the water!” Penny exclaimed from the doorway. “He was waiting for the substance to melt!”

“Exactly,” agreed the major. “If my theory is correct, only the action of water is required to explode this mine. The professor’s machine, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with it.”

“Why don’t we explode the mine now?” Penny suddenly proposed. “That would put an end to the professor’s little scheme.”

“It might also prevent us from arresting him,” the major said. He debated a moment. Then he exclaimed: “It’s worth trying! We’ll load the mine on the boat and dump ’er in the lake!”

The men would not permit Penny to help with the dangerous work. Carefully they transported the mine to the boat. Salt was about to start the motor, but the major stopped him.

“No, we don’t want the sound of the engine to give us away,” he said. “We’ll row out into the lake.”

Penny was eager to accompany the men, but they would not hear of it. To her disappointment, she was compelled to remain on the beach.

Sitting down on the sand, she nervously watched until the boat faded into the black of the night. Presently, she heard a splash which told her that the mine had been lowered overboard. Anxiously, she waited for the boat to return.

“Why don’t they come?” she thought, straining to hear the sound of oars. “If the explosion should go off while they’re still out there—”

Then she heard the boat coming and breathed in relief. Soon the craft grated on sand, and the three men leaped out.

“Perhaps my theory is wrong,” the major commented, as they all huddled together, waiting. “The mine should have gone off by this time.”

Several minutes elapsed and still nothing happened. And then, as the group became convinced their plan had failed, there came a terrific explosion which sent flame and water high above the lake’s surface.