Francine stopped short.
“What do you know about it?” she demanded quickly. “Maybe we could work together after all.”
Penny laughed as she bent down to strap on her skis.
“No, thanks,” she declined pleasantly. “You once suggested that a clever reporter finds his own answers. You’ll have to wait until you read it in the Star!”
CHAPTER
8
A CODED MESSAGE
Penny sat in the kitchen of Mrs. Downey’s lodge, warming her half frozen toes in the oven.
“Well, how did you like the skiing?” inquired her hostess who was busy mixing a huge meat loaf to be served for dinner.
“It was glorious,” answered Penny, “only I took a bad spill. Somehow I missed the turn you told me about, and found myself heading for a barbed wire fence. I jumped it and made a one point landing in a snowbank!”
“You didn’t hurt yourself, thank goodness.”
“No, but an old man with a shotgun came out of the woods and said ‘Scat!’ to me. It seems he doesn’t like skiers.”