CHAPTER 18 INSIDE THE LIGHTHOUSE
Unchallenged, Penny and Louise reached the base of the lighthouse. But as they slowly climbed the iron stairs, their courage fast slipped away.
“What will we say to the keeper?” Louise faltered. “I’ve even forgotten his name.”
“I haven’t,” said Penny. “It’s Jim McCoy. If Mrs. Deline is allowed inside the tower, shouldn’t we have the same privileges?”
“She’s a personal friend.”
“That should make no difference,” Penny argued. “This is government property.”
“Let’s not do it,” Louise pleaded, holding back.
Having proceeded so far. Penny was in no mood to retreat. Quickly, lest she too lose her courage, she rapped hard on the tower door.
Minutes elapsed. Then the heavy oak door swung back and Jim McCoy, the burly keeper, peered out at the girls. His bushy brows drew together in an angry scowl.
“You here again!” he exclaimed.
“Yes,” said Penny, making the word crisp and firm.
“I’ll have to report you if you keep pestering me,” the keeper scolded. “How many times have I told you no visitors are allowed?”
“But you don’t treat everyone the same!” Penny remonstrated. “Mrs. Deline just came here.”
“Mrs. Deline? Who’s she?”
“Why, a woman who stays at the hotel. She came through this door not five minutes ago!”
“You must have imagined it. I’ve had no visitors.”
Penny’s silence said more plainly than words that she did not believe the keeper.
“So you think I’m lying, eh?” he demanded unpleasantly. “Okay, come in and see for yourselves. I’m breaking a rule to invite you into the tower, but maybe then you’ll be satisfied and quite bothering me. We have work to do here, you know.”
The keeper stepped aside so that the girls might enter.
“My living quarters,” he said curtly. “You see, I have no visitors.”
Decidedly ill at ease, the girls gazed about the little circular room. The walls were lined with built-in cupboards. Nearly all of the furniture had been made with a view to conserving space. As Mr. McCoy had said, there were no visitors—no evidence that Mrs. Deline ever had been there.
“Are you satisfied?” the keeper demanded unpleasantly.
“But we were sure Mrs. Deline came here,” Penny stammered.
“There’s been no one today except early this morning when a government inspector paid me a visit.”
Penny did not believe the man but she deemed it wise to appear to do so.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I guess we have made nuisances of ourselves.”
“That’s all right,” the keeper said in a less unfriendly tone. “Kids are kids. Now that you’re here, look around a bit.”
“Oh, thank you,” Louise replied gratefully. “I’ve always wanted to see the inside of a lighthouse.”
“I have some work to do,” Mr. McCoy announced. “The light’s not been operating right and I’m trying to get the mechanism adjusted. I’ll be back.”
He went out, allowing the door to slam hard.
The girls surveyed their surroundings with keen interest. On a table near the window there was a shortwave radio. A circular couch occupied another curving corner of the room.
“What became of Mrs. Deline?” Penny whispered. “She certainly came here.”
“Of course she did! We saw her plain as day!”
“She must be somewhere in the tower. Probably there’s a room above this one.”
Penny tiptoed to the door and tried to open it. To her surprise and chagrin, it would not budge.
“My Great Aunt!” she whispered. “We’re locked in!”
“Maybe the door’s just stuck.” Louise strode across the room to help Penny. Both of them tried without success to open it.
“Let’s shout and pound!” Louise suggested.
“No, wait! I think we’ve been locked in here on purpose.”
“Oh, Penny!”
“Now don’t get nervous. The keeper’s no fool. He’ll have to let us out.”
“But why would he lock us in?”
“Because he’s provoked at us for one reason, Lou. Another, something’s going on here that he doesn’t want us to know about. He and Mrs. Deline may be having a tête-à-tête in the room above.”
“Then let’s listen. Maybe we can overhear their conversation.”
Penny nodded and fell silent. Though the girls listened for a long while, no sound reached their ears.
“This is a nice situation!” Louise fumed. “I think the door locked itself. We ought to shout for help.”
“Goose, a door doesn’t lock itself.”
“This one might have a trick catch.”
“It was Mr. Jim McCoy who accomplished the trick,” Penny said. “Listen! Someone’s coming now.”
Plainly the girls could hear footsteps on the iron balcony outside the door. A moment later they were able to distinguish a murmur of men’s voices. The footsteps moved on and a moment later they heard a door close overhead.
“Another visitor!” Penny announced. “Did you hear what was said, Lou?”
“Couldn’t make out a word.”
“Nor could I. But that voice sounded familiar. I’m sure I’ve heard it somewhere.”
“I had the same feeling, Penny.”
The girls listened intently, hoping to overhear conversation on the floor above. However, the walls of the lighthouse were so thick that not a word reached them. Now and then they thought they heard Mrs. Deline’s high pitched voice.
“Louise, it’s just come to me!” Penny whispered a moment later. “I believe Mr. McCoy’s visitor may be George Emory!”
“The voice did sound a little like his. But why would he come here?”
“Maybe we’ve under-rated George Emory. Why, all this time he may have been trying to get information from us.”
“He did ask us quite a few questions, particularly about your father.”
“And he seemed to know a lot about that outlaw radio station, Lou. Maybe he tried to throw us off the track by suggesting that we watch old Jake Skagway.”
“We certainly fell for it, Penny.”
“We did, if you assume that George Emory is upstairs having a conference with Mrs. Deline and the lighthouse keeper. But we’re not sure.”
“No, we’re not, Penny. One easily can be mistaken in voices.”
Determined to hear more, Penny cautiously climbed up on the radio table, so that her head and ear were close to the ceiling.
“Can you make out anything?” Louise whispered.
Penny shook her head in disgust. After a few minutes she dropped lightly down from the table.
“Walls are too thick,” she announced. “I could hear three voices though. Two were men and the other, a woman.”
“Then Mrs. Deline must be here. The keeper lied about that part.”
Presently the girls heard footsteps again on the iron stairway. They moved to the window, hoping to see whomever was descending from the room above. However, the little round aperture was so situated that it gave a view of only one side of the Point. They could not see the stairway nor the stretch of beach leading to the hotel.
“We’re certainly learning a lot!” Louise said crossly. “I’ve had enough of this. Let’s shout for help.”
“All right,” Penny agreed. “We may as well find out whether or not we’re prisoners.”
Crossing to the heavy oak door, she pounded hard on the panels. Almost at once the girls heard someone coming.
“Don’t let on what we suspect,” Penny warned her companion.
The next moment the door swung open to admit the keeper of the light.
