The stairway was dark, the footing uncertain. In her nervousness, Penny stumbled. Clutching the handrail, she clung to it a moment until she had recovered balance. But in that interval the clock had kept striking, and she was no longer sure of the count.
“It must be eleven,” she thought, running up the remaining steps. “The next stroke will be the last.”
Penny reached the great bell just as the clapper struck against the metal. The sound was deafening.
“Now!” she thought excitedly. “This is the moment, and I dare not fail!”
Balancing herself precariously, Penny raised a hammer high above her head. With all her strength she brought it down hard against the bell.
CHAPTER
23
A TRAP SET
To Penny’s sensitive ears, the sound which resulted from the hammer blow, seemed weak and lacking in resonance. She sagged back against the iron railing, feeling that she had failed.
“That was swell!” a low voice said in her ear. “A perfect thirteenth stroke!”
Turning around, Penny saw that Jerry Livingston had followed her into the belfry.
“Did it really sound all right?” she inquired anxiously.