“Get back!” she ordered Mrs. Deline, balancing herself as if to throw.
The woman stopped short, then retreated a few steps. But only for a moment was she frightened.
“Why, you infant, you couldn’t throw a grenade!” she jeered. “You don’t know how. Besides, you haven’t the nerve!”
“Get back!” Penny ordered again. “I warn you.”
Mrs. Deline laughed scornfully and came on.
Even the thought of throwing a hand grenade terrified Penny. She knew that she could not deliberately harm Mrs. Deline or even the men who were mercilessly beating her father and Jerry. Yet she had to do something.
“Maybe I can destroy the rubber boat!” she thought. “It’s far enough away so that no one should be hurt by the explosion.”
Whirling away from Mrs. Deline, Penny faced the sea. Fixing her eyes on her target, the rubber boat at the water’s edge, she hurled the grenade.
“Idiot!” cried Mrs. Deline, flinging herself flat on the sand to protect her face from flying fragments.
Penny did likewise. The grenade dropped with a thud on the sand beside the rubber boat. Her aim had been perfect. But there was no explosion. Belatedly, Penny realized that she had forgotten to pull the safety pin.