Penny sagged weakly against the railing of the Eloise. Now that she knew the bridge would be saved, she felt completely exhausted from the long period of suspense.
“Wessler can’t be the only one involved in this plot,” she heard her father say. “There must be others.”
“Oh, there are!” Penny cried, recovering her strength. “Carl Oaks is a member of the outfit! He’s waiting at a shack not far from the ark. And Burt Ottman is held a prisoner there!”
“Burt!” Sara exclaimed in horror. “Oh, why didn’t you tell me!”
“In the excitement it just passed out of my mind,” Penny confessed. “I forgot about everything except saving the bridge!”
Once more Commodore Phillips busied himself on the radio telephone, this time contacting Riverview police. Before he left his desk he learned that a squad had been dispatched to the shack in the woods. Likewise, a message soon came from the Coast Guard station, informing him that Jard Wessler had been captured.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see Burt,” Sara declared, anxiously pacing the deck. “He may be seriously hurt.”
To ease the girl’s mind, Commodore Phillips put the entire party ashore not far from the entrance to Bug Run. Hastening through the woods, Mr. Parker and the young people reached the shack only a few minutes after the arrival of police.
“What became of Carl Oaks?” the newspaper owner asked a sergeant. “Did you get him?”
The policeman indicated a downcast figure who sat handcuffed inside the patrol car. Oaks, he explained, had been captured without a struggle.