“Why, Mrs. Deline apparently has been at the lighthouse again. What’s she doing now?”
The widow had paused. Carefully she gazed up and down the deserted shore, but she did not see Penny and Louise who were hidden from view by a sand dune. However, by raising up slightly, they could see her plainly.
Mrs. Deline carried a package of considerable size under her arm. Seemingly satisfied that no one was at hand to observe her actions, she moved swiftly to one of the sand dunes near the drift fence. As the girls watched in amazement, she dug a deep hole and buried the package. Her work completed, she carefully brushed sand over the spot and obliterated her own footprints one by one.
“What was the idea of that?” Louise asked in bewilderment.
“That’s what I want to know!” Penny muttered. “We’ll wait until she leaves and then find out the contents of that package!”
But Mrs. Deline did not immediately go away. Instead she sat down in the sand close by. The girls could not see very well but they thought she was writing something on the skirt of her white suit.
“Why is she doing that?” Louise asked in bewilderment.
“I’ll bet a cookie she’s writing down the location of what she hid in the sand dune!” Penny speculated. “That’s so she can find it again!”
“But why write it on her skirt? And why should she hide anything here on the beach?”
“Because she’s a spy!” Penny declared triumphantly. “I’ve been suspicious of her from the first!”