“Mr. Nordwall has six toll lines out of Delta now,” Salt told the girls jubilantly. “He’s letting us have one of them.”
Carefully the photographer tested the controls of the wire photo machine. He listened briefly to the hum of the motor. Satisfied that everything was running properly, he attached one of the freshly printed pictures to the transmitting cylinder.
“Okay,” he signaled to Mr. Nordwall. “Give us a toll to the Riverview Star.”
Within a few minutes the order came: “Network clear. Go ahead, Delta.”
Salt turned on a switch and the sending cylinder began to revolve. One by one Penny’s pictures were transmitted over the wire.
“Your shots are the first to get out of Red Valley!” Salt told her triumphantly. “Your work’s done now. Better crawl off somewhere and sleep.”
Penny nodded wearily. She was glad to know that the Star would scoop every other paper in the country on the flood story and pictures. Still, for some reason she couldn’t feel very happy about it. As she turned away, Salt called: “Hey, wait! Your father’s on the wire photo phone. He wants to talk to you.”
Penny caught up the receiver eagerly.
“That you, Penny?” a blurred voice asked in her ear. “Congratulations! You came through with flying colors!”
“Guess I was lucky to come through at all,” Penny said slowly. “Some weren’t so fortunate.”