“I doubt it very much,” the editor answered. “I suspect he’ll bluff, and finally let the deal go by default. It will be an easy way out for him.”
“Blake always seems to escape his misdeeds. I wish we could find Ben Bowman ourselves, and bring the two men together. That would be interesting!”
“Finding Ben Bowman would serve many useful purposes,” Mr. Parker said grimly. “But now that I would actually welcome a communication from him, he no longer pesters me!”
Eagerly Penny awaited the hour appointed for her meeting with Clem Davis. Knowing that the man did not obtain enough to eat, she spent considerable time the next afternoon preparing a lunch basket of substantial food. Taking it with her, she waited at the camp site for nearly a half hour. Finally, just as she began to think that the man had failed her, he appeared.
“I’ve brought you some hot coffee,” Penny said, taking the plug from a thermos bottle. “A little food too.”
“Say, that’s swell!” the man murmured gratefully. “My wife slips me a handout whenever she can, but lately the house has been watched so closely, she can’t get away.”
Seating himself at the picnic table, Clem Davis drained the cup of coffee in a few swallows, and greedily devoured a sandwich.
“Now what do you want to know?” he asked gruffly.
Mr. Parker had told Penny exactly what questions to ask. She began with the most important one.
“Mr. Davis, tell me, who is the head man of the Hoods?”