“Of course! If you think I’m out of my head now, you’re the one who’s crazy! It’s the same fellow! Oh, if I could get out of this boat!”
Griffith brought the craft to shore. “I’ll see if I can overtake him,” he said, “but he’s probably deep in the woods by this time.”
The boatman was a heavy-set man, slow on his feet. Penny and her father were not surprised when he came back twenty minutes later to report he had been unable to pick up the trail.
“The overturned car may offer a clue to his identity,” Mr. Parker said, as they started up the river once more. “The police will be able to check the license plates.”
“I wonder what the man was doing at the estate?” Penny mused.
She groped her way toward the cabin, thinking that she would divest herself of some of her wet garments. Suddenly she stopped short.
“Dad, that fellow took off his coat!” she exclaimed. “He must have left it behind!”
“It’s somewhere on the floor,” Harry Griffith called to her.
Penny found the sodden garment lying almost at her feet. She straightened it out and searched the pockets. Her father moved over to her side.
“Any clues?” he asked.