Penny was quick to seize upon the remark. “Sabotage?” she questioned.
“That’s what we think,” the ranger nodded. He poured two cups of steaming, black coffee. “Fact is, enemy agents have made quite a few attempts to set fire to our forests. Nearly always they’re caught, but that doesn’t mean we dare let up our vigilance.”
Penny ate every morsel of the food, praising the ranger highly for his cooking ability.
“I wish Dad could have had some of this fish,” she added. “He went down to Sunset Beach for supplies and for some reason hasn’t returned.”
“I’ll have to be on the road myself,” the ranger declared, getting up from the ground. “I’m due in town at twelve o’clock and it’s nearly that now.”
“You’re driving to Sunset Beach?”
“Yes, want to ride along?”
Penny debated briefly. “Wait until I get my coat,” she requested. “It’s lonesome here alone. Anyway, I want to learn what’s keeping Dad.”
The park road had dried considerably, but even so the car skidded from side to side until it reached the paved highway. At Sunset Beach, the ranger dropped Penny off at the postoffice. Rather at a loss to know what to do with herself, she wandered about the half-deserted streets in search of her father. He was not at any of the stores, nor did inquiry reveal his whereabouts.
“Perhaps he’s sunning himself on the beach,” she thought.