Guilt of the Brass Thieves Part 19

Skillfully bringing the _Cat's Paw_ alongside the anch.o.r.ed _Queen_, she shouted for her father to help Penny up the ladder. Making the smaller craft secure for the night, she followed her to the deck.

"What's cooking, Pop?" she asked, sniffing the air.

"Catfish," the captain answered as he went aft. "Better get to the galley and tend to it, or we may not have any supper."

The catfish, sizzling in b.u.t.ter, was on the verge of scorching. Sally jerked the pan from the stove, and then with Penny's help, set a little built-in table which swung down from the cabin wall, and prepared the remainder of the meal.

Supper was not elaborate but Penny thought she had never tasted better food. The catfish was crisp and brown, and there were French fried potatoes and a salad to go with it. For dessert, Captain Barker brought a huge watermelon from the refrigerator, and they split it three ways.

"It's fun living on a ferryboat!" Penny declared enthusiastically as she and Sally washed the dishes. "I can't see why you ever would want to work in a factory when you can live such a carefree life here."

The remark was carelessly made. Penny regretted it instantly for she saw the smile leave Sally's face.

"I worked at the factory because I wanted to help make airplanes, and because Pop can't afford to give me much money," she explained quietly.

"It was all a mistake. I realize that now."

"I'm sorry," Penny apologized, squeezing her hand. "I didn't mean to be so stupid. As far as your discharge is concerned, you'll be cleared."

"How?"

"Mr. Gandiss has detectives working on the case."

"Detectives!" Sally gave a snort of disgust. "Why, everyone in the plant knows who they are!"

After dishes were done, the girls went on deck. Protected from the night breezes by warm lap rugs, they sat listening to the lallup of the waves against the _River Queen_. Captain Barker's pipe kept the mosquitoes away and he talked reminiscently of his days as a boy on the waterfront.

Presently, the blast of a motorboat engine cut the stillness of the night. Sally, straightening in her chair, listened intently.

"There goes Jack again!" she observed, glancing at her father. "To the Harpers', no doubt."

The light of the boat became visible and Sally followed it with her eyes as it slowly chugged upstream.

"I was right!" she exclaimed a moment later.

Penny's curiosity was aroused, for she knew that Jack absented himself from home nearly every night, and that his actions were a cause of worry to his parents. "Who are the Harpers?" she inquired.

"Oh! they live across the river where you see those red and blue lights,"

Sally said, pointing beyond the railing. "The house stands on stilts over the water, and is a meeting place for the sc.u.m of the city!"

"Sally!" her father reproved.

"Well, it's the truth! Ma Harper and her no-account husband, Claude, run an outdoor dance pavilion, but their income is derived from other sources too. Black market sales, for instance."

"Sally, your tongue is rattling like a chain!"

"Pop, you know very well the Harpers are trash."

"Nevertheless, don't make statements you can't prove."

Sally's outspoken remarks worried Penny because of their bearing upon Mr.

Gandiss' son. "You don't think Jack is mixed up with the Harpers in black market dealings?" she asked.

"Oh, no!" Sally got up from the deck chair. "He goes there to have a good time. And if you ask me, Jack ought to stop being a playboy gra.s.shopper!"

Captain Barker knocked ashes from his pipe and put it deep in his jacket pocket. "The shoe pinches," he told Penny with a wink. "Sally never learned to dance. I hear tell there's a girl who goes to the Harper s.h.i.+ndigs that's an expert at jitter-bugging!"

"That has nothing to do with me!" Sally said furiously. "I'm going to bed!"

Captain Barker arose heavily from his chair. "How about the day's pa.s.senger receipts?" he asked. "Locked in the cabin safe?"

"Yes, we took in more than two hundred dollars today."

"That makes over five hundred in the safe," the captain said, frowning.

"You'll have to take it to the bank first thing in the morning, I don't like to have so much cash aboard."

Going to the cabin they were to share, Sally and Penny undressed and tumbled into the double-deck beds. The gentle motion of the boat and the slap of waves on the _Queen's_ hull quickly lulled them to sleep.

How long Penny slumbered she did not know. But toward morning she awoke in darkness to find Sally shaking her arm.

"What is it?" Penny mumbled drowsily. "Time to get up?"

"s.h.!.+" Sally warned. "Don't make a sound!"

Penny sat up in the bunk. Her friend, she saw, had started to dress.

"I think someone is trying to get aboard!" Sally whispered. "Listen!"

Penny could hear no unusual sound, only the wash of the waves.

"I distinctly heard a boat grate against the _Queen_ only a moment ago,"

Sally pulled on her slacks and thrust her feet into soft-soled slippers which would make no sound. "I'm going on deck to investigate!"

Penny was out of bed in a flash. "Wait!" she commanded. "I'm going with you!"

Dressing with nervous haste, she tiptoed to the cabin door with Sally.

Stealing through the dark corridors to the companionway, they could hear no unusual sound. But midway up the steps, Sally's keen ears heard movement.

"Someone is in the lounge!" she whispered. "It may be Pop but I don't think so! Come on, and we'll see."

CHAPTER 13 _THE STOLEN TROPHY_

Hand in hand the two girls tiptoed to the entranceway of the lounge.

Distinctly they could hear someone moving about in the darkness, and the sound came from the direction of a small cabin which the Barkers used as an office room.

"Pop!" Sally called sharply. "Is that you?"