“My father, who publishes the Star, believes that someone may be perpetrating a hoax.”
“A what?” Crocker asked, puzzled by the word.
“A joke. He thinks that some clever person may have faked the writing on the two stones.”
“Well, I didn’t have nothing to do with it,” Truman Crocker declared, his tone unpleasant. “I hauled the rock for Jay Franklin and that’s all I know about it. Now go away and don’t pester me.”
“We’re the same as absent right now,” Penny laughed, retreating to the doorway. “Thanks for your splendid cooperation.”
“What’s that?”
“Never mind, you wouldn’t understand,” Penny replied. “Goodbye.”
A safe distance from the shack, the three girls expressed their opinion of the old stonecutter’s manners.
“He acted as if we were suspicious of him,” Louise declared. “Such a simple fellow!”
“It never once entered my head that Crocker could have any connection with the hoax, assuming that the writing isn’t genuine,” Penny said. “But now that I think of it, why wouldn’t he be a logical person to do such a trick?”