CHAPTER 21 THE CARDBOARD BOX

While Penny and Louise were puzzling over the strange writing found inside the jade charm, Mrs. Deline appeared in the doorway of the bath house. Barely in time to escape detection, the girls hid the tiny elephant and the paper in the sand.

Mrs. Deline crossed the beach to speak to the girls. Her hair was damp and stringy, her face pinched and blue from cold.

“Here’s your suit!” she snapped, slapping the wet garment into the sand at Penny’s feet. “I hope you enjoyed the swim! I’m sure I didn’t.”

Turning her back, the widow marched to the hotel.

The moment Mrs. Deline had disappeared into the white brick building, Penny dug the jade elephant and paper from the sand.

“Let’s get dressed,” she urged Louise. “We’ve no time to waste.”

So thrilled were the girls over what they had accomplished that they could talk of nothing else. Penny felt that by obtaining the jade elephant she had proven her case.

“You thought I was only jealous of Mrs. Deline,” she told Louise triumphantly as they dressed in adjoining booths. “Now what do you say?”

“That you’re a genius!” Louise praised. “Mrs. Deline certainly is mixed up in some shady business.”

Once dressed, the girls wrapped the jade elephant in a handkerchief and carried it to the hotel. Jerry was nowhere to be found, and a bellboy told Penny that her father had gone for a walk.

“Perhaps we can work the message out ourselves,” Penny suggested hopefully. “Let’s try.”

In their hotel room, the girls spent an hour attempting to decipher the strange jargon of letters appearing on the paper. At the end of that time. Penny tossed aside her pencil in disgust.

“This is a job for an expert,” she declared. “I certainly don’t classify as one.”

The telephone jingled. Penny answered it and was delighted to hear Jerry’s familiar voice. He was down in the lobby and had been told that the girls wished to see him.

“We certainly do!” Penny answered gaily. “Hold everything! We’ll be with you in a jiffy.”

The elevator being entirely too slow, the girls raced down the stairs. Breathlessly they started to tell Jerry what they had learned.

“Not here!” he said quickly. “Let’s go outside where we won’t be overheard.”

Once out in the open with no one close by, Jerry lent an attentive ear to Penny’s tale of their afternoon adventure. He did not have much to say in return, but he studied the jade green elephant and the paper with deep interest.

“You don’t think it’s anything?” Penny asked in disappointment.

“On the contrary, it may be something of very great importance,” he returned soberly. “I’ll take this to Headquarters. We have an expert on codes who should be able to break it in a short while.”

The girls hoped that Jerry would invite them to accompany him, but he did not do so. Instead he said:

“Penny, you were telling me that Mrs. Deline had buried a package in the sand. Any luck in finding it?”

“Not a bit.”

“You don’t think that she went back there and dug it up herself?”

“We didn’t see any footprints.”

“How did you mark the place?”

“By a stick that someone removed.”

“Not a very reliable way to take observations,” Jerry remarked. “Ever try the clock system?”

The girls looked blank.

“For example,” Jerry illustrated, “imagine that the landscape is like the face of a clock. Now what do you see on the hour of two?”

“I don’t get it,” Louise complained.

“Oh, I do!” laughed Penny. “A big tree!”

“That’s right,” agreed Jerry. “And at the hour of six?”

“Why, a signboard!” chuckled Penny. “At the hour of seven there’s a big sand dune!”

“If you picture things in your mind as if they’re on the face of a clock it’s much easier to remember and keep them in proper proportion. Now, using that same system can you recall anything more about the place where Mrs. Deline buried the package?”

“Not very much,” Penny admitted. “I didn’t take notations at the time.”

“Speaking of signboards, I remember one,” Louise said thoughtfully. “It was a long distance back from the beach, slightly to the right. A cigarette advertisement.”

“That’s right!” agreed Penny.

“Perhaps that will help some,” Jerry said. “We’ll have to find the package.”

“Then you believe Mrs. Deline is an Enemy Agent?” Penny asked eagerly.

“I’ve thought so for quite a while now,” Jerry admitted. “I didn’t say it for fear of building up your hopes. Anyhow, we’ve got to work quietly in this business.”

“Poor Dad,” Penny murmured, “I’m afraid it will break him up to learn the truth. Do you say I should tell him right away, Jerry?”

“Why not?” Jerry demanded, his eyes amused. “Your father may have a few things to break to you too, Penny.”

“Meaning what?”

“I’ll let your father do his own talking,” Jerry said, getting up from the hotel bench. “Have to go now.”

“Wait!” Penny pleaded. “You’ve not told us anything. Do you think Mrs. Deline has been aiding that flier who escaped from a Canadian prison camp?”

Jerry deliberately let the question pass. “Listen!” he said urgently. “I may not see you girls again until after dinner. Want to help me tonight?”

“Doing what?” Penny asked.

“I want you to lead me to the place where Mrs. Deline buried that package.”

“We’ll do our best.”

“Then if I don’t see you earlier, meet me here at nine o’clock. It should be dark by that time.”

“We’ll be here,” Penny promised, her eyes glowing.

At dinner that night the girls told Mr. Parker of their appointment to meet Jerry. Penny would have explained about the package, but before she could do so, Mrs. Deline joined the group. Mr. Parker immediately invited her to dine with them. To the annoyance of Penny and Louise she accepted with alacrity.

The girls fully expected that Mrs. Deline would make some reference to the incident of the afternoon. Instead she avoided the subject, talking of her experiences in China and the Orient. Despite their prejudice, Penny and Louise were compelled in all honesty to acknowledge to themselves that the widow was a brilliant, entertaining conversationalist.

Over the coffee cups Mrs. Deline spoke casually of a play which was showing at the local theatre. Before Penny could say a word, Mr. Parker had suggested that he buy tickets for the night’s performance.

“I’d love to go,” Mrs. Deline accepted instantly.

“Good!” Mr. Parker, approved. “I’ll get four tickets.”

“Two,” Penny corrected grimly. “Louise and I already have an appointment.”

“That’s so,” Mr. Parker recalled belatedly.

Mrs. Deline looked so pleased that Penny was sorely tempted to abandon the meeting with Jerry. Only the realization that the task ahead was vitally important, kept her silent.

At eight o’clock Mr. Parker and Mrs. Deline left the hotel for the theatre. With an hour to kill, Penny and Louise were very restless. They read the evening paper and watched the clock.

“Here’s an interesting news item,” Penny remarked, indicating a brief story on an inner page of the paper. “It says an enemy submarine was sighted not many miles from here—just off the coast.”

“Did they get it?” Louise inquired absently.

“I guess not. The story doesn’t say, except that the air patrol dropped bombs.”

“Wonder what a single sub was doing so close here?” Louise speculated. “Oh, well, we’ve nothing to fear.”

A clock chimed the hour of nine. On the first stroke, the girls arose and hastened to keep their appointment with Jerry. The night was closing in dark. Along the shore no lights were showing for the dim-out was rigidly enforced at Sunset Beach.

“Where’s Jerry?” Penny asked as they reached the bench where they had promised to meet him. “Hope he didn’t forget.”

Ten minutes elapsed. Penny was examining the luminous dial of her wrist watch when someone came striding down the gravel path.

“Hello,” Jerry greeted the girls. “Sorry to have kept you waiting. All set for adventure?”

“Lead on!” Penny laughed.

Taking each of them by an elbow, Jerry guided the girls down the deserted beach. Twice they passed guards who merely stared and allowed them to pass unchallenged.

“Any news about that code?” Penny questioned as they walked along.

“It’s a tough one to break,” Jerry replied briefly. “Experts have been trying to take it apart ever since I left you girls this afternoon.”

“Then it really is something?” Penny asked, scarcely daring to hope.

“It certainly is,” Jerry replied heartily. “We’re pretty sure now that Mrs. Deline is mixed up in a bad business. But we can’t act until we know absolutely.”

“This will be a horrible shock to Dad,” Penny remarked. “He’s at the theatre with Mrs. Deline now.”

“At least she’s out of the way, so there’s no chance she’ll see us at work,” Jerry commented. “Think you can find the place to dig?”

Penny had marked it well in her mind, but at night everything looked different. After some uncertainty, the girls agreed upon the dune where the package had been buried.

“With the tide low we’ll have plenty of time,” Jerry said. “Well, let’s go! Was the package buried deep?”

“Not more than a foot,” Penny supplied.

“Then if it’s here, we’ll find it. Let’s block this area off and cover it systematically.”

For an hour the trio toiled. Twice one of the beach guards passed by and Penny was surprised that he paid no heed to what they were doing.

“Orders!” Jerry chuckled. “You didn’t think we could come out here and prowl around without questions being asked? The guard was tipped off. He’ll help us by whistling if anyone comes this way.”

Louise, who had been industriously digging, gave a low cry.

“Find something?” Jerry demanded.

“I’m not sure. I think so.”

The next instant Louise lifted a small package from its sand tomb. Before Jerry could warn her, she had torn apart the pasteboard cover.

“Why, it contains pencils!” she exclaimed in disgust. “Pencils!”

Jerry leaped to her side. One glance and he took the box from her.

“Those objects may look like pencils,” he drawled. “But take it from me, they’re a bit more deadly.”

Penny had moved close. She and Louise stared in awe at the collection.

“Bombs,” Jerry explained briefly. “One of these little pencils contains enough explosive to blow us all to Kingdom Come!”