“Please, sir, our dog is lost in the underbrush,” she began. “We can’t leave without him—”
“Git!” the man repeated. As he started toward her, Penny saw that he carried a gun in the crook of his arm.
CHAPTER
2
ALERTING ALL CARS
Penny was no coward; neither was she foolhardy.
A second look at the bearded stranger, and her mind telegraphed the warning: “This man means business! Better play along.”
The man fingered his gun. “Git goin’ now!” he ordered sharply. “And don’t come back!”
In the boat, Louise already had reached nervously for the oars. She wet her fingers and whistled for Bones, but the dog, off on a fascinating scent, had been completely swallowed up by the rank undergrowth.
“Ye heard me?” the stranger demanded. “I be a patient man, but I hain’t speakin’ agin.”
Penny hesitated, half tempted to defy the swamper.
“Let Bones go,” Louise called. “Come on.”