“Following up a hot tip. Think I’ve struck trail of key men. Taking off in boat. Expect to get back by nightfall unless Old Man Trouble catches up with me.”
Mr. Parker looked up from the message, his gaze meeting the frightened eyes of his daughter.
“Oh, Dad,” she said in a tone barely above a whisper, “it’s long after dark now. What do you think has become of Jerry?”
CHAPTER
18
OVER THE DRAWBRIDGE
Wasting no moments in useless conversation, Mr. Parker rented a fast motor boat and prevailed upon Harry Griffith to operate it for him. Guided by the stars and a half moon which was slowly rising over the treetops, the party swung down the river.
Riding with the current, they came before long to the locality where Penny and Jerry had first sighted the two seamen’s cruiser. But now there was no sign of a boat, either large or small.
At a speed which enabled the occupants to scrutinize the shoreline, the searching craft swept on. The river had never seemed more deserted.
“Jerry might have stopped anywhere along here,” Mr. Parker observed. “If he drew the boat into the bushes we haven’t a chance of finding him.”
They went on, coming presently to the Kippenberg estate. As they passed beneath the open drawbridge Penny noted how low it had been swung over the water. A boat with a high cabin could not possibly go through when the cantilevers were down.
Gazing upward, she saw a swinging red light at the entrance to the bridge. A lantern, no doubt, hung there to give warning to any motorist who might venture upon the private road.