"And it looks like Walter Crocker's car!" Penny cried in alarm. "Quick! We've no time to lose!"
The girls darted to Mr. Nichols' automobile and lifted up the rumble seat. While Susan anxiously watched the road, Penny climbed up and peered into the bottom of the car.
"Susan, they're here!" she squealed in delight.
"And so is Walter Crocker," Susan muttered in an undertone. "He's looking right this way."
With her back turned to the approaching automobile, Penny deftly slipped the package of letters into the front of her dress. She pretended to keep on searching in the bottom of the car.
"Act as if everything is perfectly natural," she warned Susan in a whisper.
Mr. Crocker stopped his car with a jerk and sprang out. He glanced suspiciously at the girls as he came toward them.
"Oh, how do you do, Mr. Crocker," Penny said, climbing slowly down from the rumble. "Dad just drove in a minute ago. I was looking for your letters."
"Are they there?" the man asked sharply.
"Perhaps you ought to look," Penny replied, avoiding Susan's glance. "I had just started to search when you drove up."