The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (129 page)

“Bessie, the cow, must be fed.”

“Then go feed her,” Wessler snapped. “Just get out of my sight.”

The girls could not hear what Old Noah said in reply. However, a medley of animal sounds beneath the deck, led them to believe that the master of the ark had gone into the lower part of the ship to care for his animals.

“I wish he’d come here,” said Penny. “Maybe we could get the idea over to him that we’re being held prisoners.”

“Not a chance of it.”

“Those men evidently intend to allow him the run of the ark so long as he suspects nothing,” Penny mused. “Say, I know how we might bring him here!”

“How?”

“By stirring up the birds. Then Old Noah would get excited and try to break in.”

“And what would that accomplish?”

“Probably nothing,” Penny admitted, sighing. “Wessler is armed. Noah couldn’t overpower two men, even if he were inclined to do it.”

“All Noah thinks about is the coming flood. With another rain in the offing, he’ll confine his worries to how he can attract more people to his ark.”

“Lou! Maybe that’s an idea!”

“What is?” Louise inquired blankly.

“Why, perhaps we can bring help by means of Old Noah and his message bottles!”

“Perhaps you know what you mean, but I am sure I don’t!”

“Do you have a pen or a pencil with you, Lou?”

“I might have a pencil.” Louise searched in the pockets of her jacket, and finally brought forth a stub with a broken lead.

“We can fix that so it will write,” Penny declared, chewing away the wood.

“I still don’t understand what you have in mind.”

“This is my idea,” Penny explained. “You know that whenever it rains Old Noah starts tossing message bottles into the river.”

“True.”

Penny groped her way across the room to the box which stood by the porthole. “Well, here are the bottles,” she said triumphantly. “What’s to prevent us from writing our own messages? We’ll explain that we are held prisoners here and appeal for help.”

“How do you propose to get the bottles overboard?”

“I’ll think of a scheme.”

“Even if the bottles did reach the water, one never would be picked up in time to do any good,” Louise argued. “It’s a bum idea, Penny.”

“I guess it isn’t so hot,” Penny acknowledged ruefully. “Anyway, why not try it just to keep occupied? It’s deadly sitting here and brooding.”

“All right,” Louise agreed.

The girls removed corks from several bottles and by means of a bent hairpin, removed the papers already inside them. Although they had no light, Penny and Louise scribbled at least a dozen messages. Carefully they recorked every bottle, replacing it in the box.

“I’m going to put my cameo pin inside this one,” Penny said, unfastening a cherished ornament from her dress. “Someone might see it and open the bottle.”

“We’ll likely hear from it about next Christmas,” her chum responded.

Becoming weary of writing messages, Penny decided to stir up a bit of action. Moving from box to box, she aroused the sleeping birds. Her final act was to jerk the covering from Polly’s cage and playfully pluck the tail feathers of the startled creature.

“Noah! Noah!” the parrot croaked. “Heave out the anchor! Help! Help!”

“Keep it up, Polly,” Penny encouraged, rocking the cage.

The parrot squawked in righteous rage and the other birds chirped excitedly. In the midst of the commotion, a heavy step was heard on deck. Noah, finding the door to the bird room locked, shook it violently.

“Unbolt this door!” he shouted. “Unlock it, I say, or I will break it down!” And he banged with his fists against the flimsy panel.

“What’s coming off here?” demanded another voice, that of Wessler. “Have you gone completely crazy?”

“I want to know why this door is locked!” Noah said wrathfully. “Unlock it or I will break it down!”

Completely aroused, the old man backed away as if to make a running attack. Wessler drew his revolver, but Noah paid not the slightest heed.

“Let me get at my birds!” he cried. “Stand back!”

“Better humor him,” Breneham said uneasily. “Unless you do, he’ll arouse the countryside.”

Wessler returned the revolver to its holster beneath his coat. “Calm down, Grandpa, calm down,” he tried to soothe the old man. “No one is going to hurt your precious birds.”

“Then open that door!”

“Go ahead,” Wessler directed his companion. “If he makes any more trouble we’ll lock him in with the girls.”

“There are no doors on this ark strong enough to hold me,” said Noah. “Open it I say!”

The command was obeyed. The old man stumbled across the threshold and began to murmur soothing words to the birds. At first he did not see Penny and Louise. Finally observing them, he spoke rather absently:

“Good evening, my daughters. I am happy that you have come again to my ark, but I am afraid you have disturbed my birds.”

Penny chose her words carefully for Wessler and his pal stood in the cabin doorway.

“The birds do seem excited for some reason. No doubt they’re alarmed by the approaching storm.”

“Yes, yes, that may be it,” Old Noah murmured. “And the porthole is covered. That should not be. I will fix it.”

Pushing past the two men, Old Noah went outside the cabin to jerk away the canvas covering. He came back in a moment, bearing a sack of bird seed.

“Upstairs!” Wessler tersely ordered the girls.

In crossing the room, Penny deliberately stumbled against the box of blue corked bottles.

“With another storm coming up, I suppose you’ll be throwing out more of your messages,” she said jokingly to Noah.

Penny had hoped that the suggestion might presently cause the old man to dump the contents of the box into the water. She neither expected nor desired that he would attempt the task in the presence of the two saboteurs. However, Old Noah immediately dropped the sack of bird seed and strode over to the box of bottles.

“Yes, yes, I have been neglectful of my duty,” he murmured. “With the Great Flood coming, I must warn the good people of Riverview. I shall bid them seek refuge here before their doom is sealed.”

Old Noah selected a half dozen bottles and started to heave them through the porthole. Before he could do so, Wessler blocked the opening.

“Just a minute, Grandpa,” he said. “What’s in those bottles?”

“Messages which I wrote with my own hand,” Old Noah replied earnestly. “Would you like to read them, my son?”

“That’s exactly what I intend to do,” said Wessler.

With a suspicious glance directed at Penny and Louise, he reached into the box and selected one of the corked bottles.

CHAPTER 24

A MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE

Failing easily to retrieve the message in the bottle, Jard Wessler smashed it against a wall of the ark. Picking up the folded paper, he flashed his light across the writing.

“‘The hour of the Great Deluge approaches,’” he read aloud. “‘Come to my ark and I will provide shelter and comfort.’”

Penny and Louise relaxed. The message was one that Old Noah had written. Unless Wessler opened another bottle he would not suspect that they were the authors of other messages pleading for help.

“Stand back and allow me to throw my bottles into the stream!” Old Noah cried angrily. “Even though you are a guest aboard my ark, your actions are not pleasing.”

“Go ahead, Grandpa,” Wessler said with a shrug. “Heave out your bottles if it will keep you happy.”

As Old Noah began to toss the bottles out of the porthole, Wessler again ordered Penny and Louise from the cabin.

“Upstairs!” he said, giving them a shove toward the stairway.

Penny glanced quickly toward shore. The gangplank had been raised, but the distance was not great.

As if reading her mind, Wessler said: “I wouldn’t try to make a leap for it if I were you, little lady. Behave yourself, and you’ll be set free before morning.”

Penny and Louise were forced to go upstairs to the third floor of the ark. Although Old Noah’s living quarters were more comfortable than the bird room, they provided less privacy. Wessler and his companion remained on the floor, and not a word could the girls speak without being overheard.

Old Noah soon appeared. In a much better mood, he chatted with the two men. Finding them uncommunicative, he picked up his banjo and began to sing spirituals to its accompaniment. His voice, as cracked as the fingers which strummed the strings, drove Breneham into a near frenzy.

“There’s a limit to what a guy can stand,” he said meaningly to Wessler.

“It won’t be much longer now,” the other encouraged, glancing at his watch.

“Why can’t we pull the job now and get out?”

“Because the car won’t be waiting for us. Everything’s got to move on schedule.”

As the night wore on, a light rain began to fall. Wessler and his companion went frequently to the windows, seemingly well pleased by the change of weather.

The ordeal of waiting was a cruel one for Louise and Penny. Although they knew that Old Noah had tossed their messages into the water, they held scant hope that any of the bottles would be found that night. While searching parties might continue to seek them, it was unlikely that they would be released in time to prevent the destruction of the Seventh Street Bridge.

Another hour elapsed. Wessler looked at his watch and spoke to his companion.

“Well, I’m shoving off! When you hear the explosion, lock ’em up in the bird room, and make for the shack. The car will pick you up.”

“Good luck, Jard,” Breneham responded.

Wessler went out the door, closing it behind him. The girls heard him lower the gangplank into place, and then his footsteps died away.

Penny gazed at Louise in despair. They both knew that Jard Wessler had gone to dynamite the Seventh Street Bridge. Although they were not certain of the plan, they believed that he intended to use Sara Ottman’s boat which doubtlessly would be loaded with explosives.

Breneham began to pace the floor nervously. Suddenly he halted by a porthole, listening. The girls too strained to hear.

“Someone’s out there in the trees!” Breneham muttered. “This ark is being watched! Noah, stick your head out the window and ask who it is! And no tricks!”

Old Noah did as ordered.

“Hello, the ark!” shouted a voice which Penny thought belonged to Jerry Livingston. “Are you alone there, Noah?”

“Tell him yes,” prodded the saboteur. “Say that you are just going to bed.”

“But my son, that would be a base falsehood,”Noah argued. “I have no intention of retiring—”

Penny, quick to divine that Breneham’s attention was diverted, rushed to another window. In a shrill voice she screamed for help.

Breneham sprang toward Penny, intending to fell her with a blow. Louise began to shout. Realizing that he had been betrayed, Breneham jerked open the door and leaped from the high deck into the stream.

“Get him! Get him!” shouted Penny to the group of men on shore.

Breneham swam a few feet and then waded toward the far side of the stream.

“Oh, he’s going to get away!” Louise murmured, watching anxiously from a porthole.

As the saboteur scrambled up the bank, two men rose from their hiding places in the tall bushes and grasped him by the arms.

“It’s Dad!” cried Penny gleefully. “And your father too, Louise!”

Thrilled by the manner in which their release had been accomplished, the girls ran out of the cabin. Crossing the gangplank, they saw that the rescue party was comprised of Mr. Parker, Mr. Sidell, Jerry Livingston, several men who were strangers, and Sara Ottman.

“I found your message in the bottle!” she greeted the girls excitedly.

“Not really?” demanded Penny.

“I was in the little cove just below here, guarding my boat,” explained Sara. “I intended to get back earlier to relieve you girls, but I was detained at the police station. Anyway, while I waited at the bend, wondering what to do, a swarm of corked bottles came floating downstream.”

“Old Noah threw out a box full of them,” chuckled Louise. “So you read our message, asking for help, Sara?”

The older girl nodded. “Yes, one of the bottles drifted ashore. Usually I don’t bother to read the message, but this time I did.”

“How were you able to bring help here so quickly?” asked Penny.

“Actually I didn’t. Although I didn’t realize it until a few minutes ago, your parents have been dreadfully worried about you girls. When Bill Evans telephoned them, they came here to search.”

“I know,” nodded Penny. “Dad was here earlier in the evening. The saboteurs tricked him into leaving.”

“I didn’t see him at the time,” Sara resumed her explanation. “Penny, your father returned home, but when he learned you were not there, he organized a searching party. Just as the men reached Bug Run once more, I found your message. I gave it to Mr. Parker and—well, you know the rest.”