Completely mystified by her father’s remarks, Penny waited for him to explain.
“Don’t you get it?” he asked, waving his hand toward the big signboard. “The finding of those stones bearing Elizabethan and Indian writing was perfectly timed! It’s all a publicity stunt for the coming show!”
“How could it be?” Penny questioned, scarcely able to accept her father’s theory. “I found one of the rocks myself. I know I wasn’t hired by any Indian show!”
“It was pure luck that you stumbled into the stone, Penny. If you hadn’t, someone hired by the Indian show would have brought it to light.”
“But where does Jay Franklin figure in, Dad? You don’t think he’s connected with the publicity scheme as you call it!”
“Franklin wouldn’t have sufficient imagination to pull off a stunt like that,” Mr. Parker declared. “No, he may actually believe in the authenticity of the stones. At any rate, he saw an opportunity to make a little money for himself and seized it.”
“Why should an Indian show go to the trouble of having stones carved and planted in various fields? It doesn’t make sense.”
“The resulting publicity should draw state-wide attention to the show, Penny. It’s just the sort of idea which would appeal to a clever publicity agent. Every newspaper in Riverview except the Star has fallen for it, giving columns of space to the story.”
“I still don’t see how the show will gain. Its name never has been mentioned in connection with the finding of the stones.”
“Of course not, Penny. That would be too crude. But at the proper time, the publicity agent will twist all of the stories to his own purpose.”