Penny resisted as Sally tried to push her back into bed. “You don’t understand!” she protested. “Sweeper Joe, Claude Harper, and Clark Clayton are expecting to make their get-away tonight. They’re the ones who have been stealing brass from the Gandiss factory. It’s all cached in the basement of the Harper house—or was unless they’ve dumped it.”
“Penny, are you straight in your head? You know what you’re saying?”
“I certainly do! I went there this afternoon. When I learned too much, they tried to hold me prisoner. I escaped by the river—hid in the grass patch. But they followed me there, and were about to get me, when the River Queen steamed by.”
“I did see two small boats there. Just before you shouted I wondered what they would be doing at this time of night.”
“Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton have been dumping the stolen brass! Unless police stop them before they dispose of it all, not a scrap of evidence will be left! All those men expect to leave town tonight!”
“Thank heavens, we have a ship-to-shore radio telephone!” Sally cried, thoroughly aroused. “I’ll have Pop call the police right away!”
She bolted out the cabin door.
Every muscle and joint in Penny’s body ached, but there was no time to think of her misery. Her own clothes could not be put on. Searching in Sally’s wardrobe, she found a sweater and a skirt, and undergarments she needed. By the time her friend returned, she was dressed.
“Penny, you shouldn’t have gotten up!” Sally protested quickly.
“I can’t afford to miss the excitement,” Penny grinned. “Hope you don’t mind lending me some of your clothes.”