CHAPTER 6 TALL CORN

Hastening up the lane, Penny and Louise approached the pump in such a way that Mrs. Davis could not return to the house without meeting them. Not until the woman had filled the water bucket and was starting back did she see the two girls.

“Well?” she demanded defiantly.

By daylight the woman appeared much younger than Penny had taken her to be the previous night. Not more than thirty-two, she wore a shapeless, faded blue dress which had seen many washings. Rather attractive brown hair had been drawn back into a tight, unbecoming knot that made her face seem grotesquely long.

“I don’t suppose you recognize me,” Penny began diffidently. “My father and I were here last night with Sheriff Daniels.”

“I remember you very well,” the woman retorted. “What do you want?”

“Why, I should like to buy some melons,” Penny replied, the idea only that instant occurring to her. “Have you any for sale?”

“Melons,” the woman repeated, and the hard line of her mouth relaxed. “I thought you came to pester me with questions. Sure, we’ve got some good Heart o’ Gold out in the patch. How many do you want?”

“About three, I guess.”

“You can pick ’em out yourself if you want to,” Mrs. Davis offered. Setting down the water bucket, she led the way through a gate to a melon patch behind the cabin. Her suspicions not entirely allayed, she demanded: “Sheriff Daniels didn’t send you out here?”

“Indeed not,” Penny assured her. “I haven’t seen him since last night.”

“It’s all right then,” Mrs. Davis said in a more friendly tone. She stooped to examine a ripe melon. “I figured maybe he sent you to find out what became of my husband.”

“Oh, no! Didn’t Mr. Davis return home last night?”

“Not on your life!” the woman answered grimly. “And he won’t be back either—not while Sheriff Daniels is looking for him.”

From Mrs. Davis’ manner of speaking, Penny was convinced that she had been in communication with her husband since the sheriff’s visit. Trying to keep her voice casual, she observed:

“Don’t you think it would be wise for your husband to give himself up? By hiding, he makes it appear as though he actually did set fire to the Preston barn.”

“Clem would be a fool to give himself up now! Why, they’d be sure to hang the fire onto him, even though he wasn’t within a mile of the Preston place.”

“Then couldn’t he prove it?”

“Not a chance,” the woman said with a short, hard laugh. “Clem was framed. He never rode the horse last night, and that black hood was planted in the stable.”

“Does your husband have any enemies?”

“Sure, he’s got plenty of ’em.”

“Then perhaps you can name a person who might have tried to throw blame on your husband.”

“I could tell plenty if I was a mind to,” the woman said significantly. “I’d do it in a minute, only it would make things worse for Clem.”

Penny started to reply, then remained silent as she saw that Mrs. Davis’ gaze had focused upon a section of cornfield which fringed the melon patch. The tall stalks were waving in an agitated manner, suggesting that someone might be moving among them.

“Here are your melons,” Mrs. Davis said nervously, thrusting three large ones into Penny’s hands. “That will be a quarter.”

As the girl paid her, she abruptly turned and hurried toward the house.

“Just a minute, Mrs. Davis,” Penny called. “If you’ll only talk to me I may be able to help your husband.”

The woman heard but paid no heed. Picking up the water bucket, she entered the cabin, closing the door behind her.

“Well, we gained three melons, and that’s all,” Louise shrugged. “What’s our next move?”

“I think Mrs. Davis was on the verge of telling us something important,” Penny declared, her voice low. “Then she saw someone out there in the corn field and changed her mind.”

“I don’t see anyone now,” Louise said, staring in the direction her chum had indicated. “The stalks aren’t even moving.”

“They were a moment ago. Clem Davis may be hiding out there, Lou! Or it could be some of Sheriff Davis’ men watching the cabin.”

“Or an Indian waiting to scalp us,” teased Louise. “Let’s go back to the car.”

Penny shook her head and started toward the corn patch. Reluctantly, Louise followed, overtaking her at the edge of the field.

“Sheriff Daniels!” Penny called through cupped hands.

There was no answer, only a gentle rippling of the corn stalks some distance from them.

“Whoever the person is, he’s sneaking away,” Penny whispered. “Come on, let’s stop him!”

“Don’t be foolish—” Louise protested, but her chum had vanished into the forest of tall corn.

After a moment of indecision she, too, entered the field. By that time there was no sign of Penny, no sound to guide her. Wandering aimlessly first in one direction, then another, she soon became hopelessly lost.

“Penny!” she shouted frantically.

“Here!” called a voice not far away.

Tracing the sound, and making repeated calls, Louise finally came face to face with her chum.

“Such a commotion as you’ve been making,” chided Penny. “Not a chance to catch that fellow now!”

“I don’t care,” Louise retorted crossly. Her hair was disarranged, stockings matted with burs. “If we can get out of this dreadful maze I want to go to the car.”

“We’re at the edge of the field. Follow me and I’ll pilot you to safety.”

Emerging a minute later at the end of the corn row, Penny saw the stable only a few yards away. Impulsively, she proposed to Louise that they investigate it for possible clues.

“I’ve had enough detective work for one day,” her chum complained. “Anyway, what do you hope to discover in an old barn?”

“Maybe I can induce the horse to talk,” Penny chuckled. “Sal must know all the answers, if only she could speak.”

“You’ll have to give her the third degree by yourself,” Louise decided with finality. “I shall go to the car.”

Taking the melons with her, she marched stiffly down the lane and climbed into Leaping Lena. Carefully she rearranged her hair, plucked burs, and then grew impatient because her chum did not come. Fully twenty minutes elapsed before Penny emerged from the stable.

“Sorry to keep you waiting so long, Lou,” she apologized as she reached the car. “See what I found!”

Penny held up a bright silver object which resembled a locket, save that it was smaller.

“What is it?” Louise inquired with interest.

“A man’s watch charm! It has a picture inside too!”

With her fingernail, Penny pried open the lid. Flat against the cover had been fastened the photograph of a boy who might have been ten or twelve years of age.

“Where did you get it, Penny?”

“I found it lying on the barn floor, not far from the place where we picked up the black hood last night.”

“Then it must belong to Clem Davis!”

“It may,” Penny admitted, sliding into the seat beside her chum. “Still, I don’t believe the Davis’ have any children.”

“What will you do with the charm? Turn it over to the sheriff?”

“I suppose I should, after I’ve shown it to Dad,” Penny replied, carefully tying the trinket into the corner of a handkerchief. “You know, Lou, since finding this, I wonder if Mrs. Davis may not have told the truth.”

“About what, Penny?”

“She said that her husband had been framed.”

“Then you think this watch charm was left in the barn to throw suspicion upon Clem Davis!”

Penny shook her head. “No, this is my theory, Louise. Perhaps someone hid the black hood there, and rode Clem’s horse to make it appear he was the guilty person. Inadvertently, that same person lost this watch charm.”

“In that case, you would have a clue which might solve the case.”

“Exactly,” Penny grinned in triumph. “Get ready for a fast ride into town. I’m going to rush this evidence straight to the Star office and get Dad’s opinion.”