“Not exactly. I can’t figure out just why he did come here.”
Rhoda frowned and lapsed into silence. Penny and Louise did not question her further, and a few minutes later recess ended.
The affairs of the Breen family concerned Penny only slightly. Although she kept wondering why Mr. Coaten and his companion were in Riverview, she gave far more thought to the stone which had been dug up on the Gleason farm. Directly after school she proposed to Louise that they drive into the country and interview the farmer.
“I don’t mind the trip,” her chum said, “but why are you so interested in an old rock?”
“Oh, Dad thinks the whole story may be a hoax. I’d like to learn the truth, if I can.”
Mindful that in the past Penny had brought the Riverview Star many an important “scoop,” Louise was very willing to accompany her on the trip. Four-thirty found the two girls at the Gleason farm in conversation with the old farmer.
“I’ve been pestered to death ever since that rock was found here,” he told them somewhat crossly. “There’s nothing new to tell. I was plowing in the south field back of the barn, when I turned it up. I didn’t pay much attention until Jay Franklin come along and said the writing on it might interest the museum folks. He gave me a couple of dollars, and paid to have old man Crocker haul it to town.”
“I didn’t know Jay Franklin had an interest in the stone,” Penny remarked. “You say he gave you two dollars for it?”
“That’s right,” the farmer nodded. “I was glad to have the rock hauled off the place.”
Satisfied that they could learn no more, Penny and Louise inspected the hole from which the stone had been removed, and then drove toward Riverview.