That Claude Harper was searching for them, the girls did not doubt. But though he knew someone had been peering in the window, they were hopeful he had not actually seen them. Huddling beneath the sail in the bottom of the boat, they nervously waited.
The man came farther out on the pier, the boards creaking beneath his weight. At any instant the girls expected to have the sailcloth jerked from their heads. However, Harper’s attention was diverted as Sweeper Joe came out of the house.
“Find anyone?” the factory worker asked.
“No, but tracks lead to the window. Someone’s been spying.”
“Kids probably.”
“I don’t know about that,” Claude Harper returned gruffly. “I’d feel a lot safer if we didn’t have all that stuff in the basement. What’s our chances of getting rid of it tonight?”
“We can’t do it. Tomorrow or next night maybe. Arrangements have got to be made, and if we try to push things, we’ll end up in a jam.”
The voices faded away, though not entirely. Presently daring to peep from beneath the canvas, Penny saw that the two men had seated themselves on the rear steps of the house at the edge of the river and within plain view of the tied-up boat.
“We’re in a nice position now!” she whispered to Sally. “Suppose they sit there until they decide to leave in this boat?”
“We’ll be caught. We’re the same as trapped now unless they go back into the house.”