Guilt of the Brass Thieves by Mildred Augustine Wirt (unputdownable books txt) 📕

prevent splashes, she waded in a wide half-circle. Then quickly she back-tracked, this time making not a sound. Slipping into the dense growth just beside the trail she had made, she breathlessly waited.

The boat came into view. Taking a deep breath, Penny ducked under water. Opening her eyes, she could see the blurred, dark bottom of the craft moving slowly toward her, so close she could have reached out and touched it.

Her breath began to grow short. The boat barely seemed to move. Penny’s lungs felt as if they were ready to burst, but still she remained under water.

Then the men had passed, and she dared raise her head for an instant to gulp in air. The boat reached the end of the trail through the grass that Penny herself had made. There it halted, as Sweeper Joe and his companion, realizing they had lost their quarry, debated their next move.

“She was here a minute ago!” Sweeper Joe growled. “I caught a glimpse of her clothes, and saw the grass move. Where did she go?”

“She must have doubled back.”

With difficulty the men turned the boat around and rowed toward Penny again. When she dared wait no longer, she submerged again.

They passed her and she came up for air. A water snake slithered through the grass, almost touching her hand.

Startled, Penny leaped backwards, making an ugly, loud splash in the water. Slight as was the sound, it told the men where she hid. Turning in the boat, they saw her through the grass, and bore toward her again.

By this time, Penny actually enjoyed the desperate game of hide and seek, for so far, the advantage had been hers. She stood watching the boat until it came very close.

Then she dived, coming up directly underneath the craft. Getting her shoulder squarely under one side, she raised up, and with an ease that surprised her, upset the boat.

The two men went sprawling into the water. Unable to swim, they made animal noises and clutched desperately at the grass for support. But as their feet found solid footing, they started furiously toward Penny. Taking her time, and deliberately seeking deeper water, she waded away.

“That will hold them for a few minutes,” she thought gleefully. “I’ll get out of this jungle now, and swim ashore.”

One more the girl’s hopes were rudely dashed. As she reached the edge of the grass area, she was disconcerted to see another rowboat approaching from the direction of the Harper place. With shadows deepening on the water, she could not at first distinguish the man. Then she recognized Claude Harper.

“He must have come home, and Ma sent him here to help capture me!” she thought. “If I swim out now, I’ll certainly be caught.”

Crouching down so that her nose was just above the water, she waited. Claude Harper rowed on, resting upon his oars when perhaps ten yards away.

“Joe!” he called.

There was an answering shout from the center of the grass patch.

“That gal’s somewhere close by!” Sweeper Joe shouted in warning. “She upset our boat. Stay where you are, and see that she doesn’t slip past you!”

Thus warned, Claude Harper began to survey the grass patch intently. He looked hard at the place where Penny stood. She was certain he had seen her, but after a moment, he turned slightly, and his eyes roved on.

As she hesitated, not knowing what to do, Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton, who had bailed out their boat, came paddling out to meet Harper. Wet and plastered with mud, they had lost one of the paddles.

“If you ain’t sights!” Harper cackled upon seeing them. He slapped his thigh in glee. “You look like a couple o’ stupid mud turtles!”

“Fool!” rasped Sweeper Joe. “Don’t you have sense enough to figure what will happen if that girl gets away from us?”

“You ain’t goin’ back to no job at the Gandiss factory. Nor Clayton neither!”

“It’s a lot more serious than that!” Joe snapped. He guided the boat alongside Harper’s craft. “Why do you think I took that job in the first place, and spent better than two years studyin’ the Gandiss factory layout? I lined up the employes we could get to go along with us, got everything organized—and now this gal has to bust up the show just as the profits begin to roll in!”

“Better pipe down,” Harper warned curtly. “She can hear you, and so can everyone else on the river.”

“What’s the difference?” Joe argued in disgust. “We’re through. I’m gettin’ out of this town tonight!”

“Me with you,” added Clark Clayton. “Ever since Gandiss put detectives on the job, I figured the game was gettin’ too dangerous.”

Now it was Claude Harper who lost his temper. “Hold on,” he said warningly. “It’s all right for you guys to blow town, but what about me and the wife?”

“You can do what you please,” Joe retorted.

“We got your brass cached in our basement. If the cops should find it there, we’d take the rap.”

“Get rid of it.”

“That’s a lot easier said than done. Besides, that brass is worth a tidy sum o’ money.”

“Then why not sell it tonight?” Joe proposed suddenly. “If we can get it to the junkman who has a place across from the factory, he’ll pay us a good price. We can complete the deal, and still get out of town before midnight.”

“That’s okay for you,” Harper argued, “but Ma and I own property here, and we got a good business.”

“It was your stupid wife’s stocking business that got us into this jam!” Clark Clayton snarled.

“I ain’t talkin’ about that. I mean our dance hall. We clean up about a hundred bucks every Saturday night.”

“You should have thought about that before you went in with us,” Joe retorted. “You knew the risks you were taking. Anyway, this mess was your wife’s making.”

A silence fell, and then Clark Clayton said: “We ain’t gettin’ nowhere. We got to decide what we’re goin’ to do, and we got to make sure that gal don’t get out o’ this weed patch until we’ve arranged our escape.”

In whispers, the men conferred. Though Penny strained her ears, she could not catch a single word. However, a plan satisfactory to the three seemed to have been formulated, for presently, the two boats separated.

Sweeper Joe and Clark Clayton paddled off, heading for the pier at the Harpers’. The other man remained in his rowboat, unquestionably detailed to keep watch of the grass patch and prevent the girl’s escape.

To amuse himself, he began to call out to her, though he could not see her or know where she was.

“You think you’re a clever one!” he taunted. “But you jest wait! We’ll get you out o’ there, and when we do, you ain’t goin’ to like it!”

Lest a movement of the grass or a splash betray her, Penny remained perfectly still. Shadows deepened on the river for night was fast coming on. Her muscles became stiff and cramped. The wind chilled her to the very bone, and the water which at first had not seemed unbearably cold, made her teeth chatter and dance. Each minute became an hour as the torture increased.

“I’ll have to do something,” she thought desperately. “I can’t endure this much longer.”

CHAPTER
20
A DESPERATE PLIGHT

In the rowboat, Claude Harper slowly patrolled the area, keeping an alert watch for the slightest movement amid the grass. Once as a crane arose from the dense growth into the darkening sky, he focused a flashlight beam on the spot.

“He’s prepared to stay here half the night if necessary,” Penny thought, shivering.

She could think of no means of escape. When it became completely dark, she might be able to swim away without being detected. But long exposure in cold water had weakened her, and she was none too certain of her ability to reach shore.

Her absence at the island surely must have been noticed by this time, she reasoned. Why was not a boat sent in search of her?

“I hope they don’t assume I am staying with Sally for the night,” she worried.

Penny’s thoughts were momentarily distracted as she heard indistinct voices from the direction of the Harper dock. Lights had been turned on in the house and basement.

“Those men are getting rid of the stolen brass,” she reasoned. “If they try to sell it to Heiney, they still may be caught.”

Presently the motorboat moved away from the Harper dock, its engine laboring. The craft was sunk low in the water as if from a heavy load.

The boat did not turn down stream as Penny expected. Instead, it crossed the river at right angles, stopping in mid-stream at the deepest part of the channel. There the engine was cut off.

“Now what?” thought Penny.

Claude Harper likewise seemed puzzled by the action, for he turned to stare, muttering to himself.

Though Penny could not see what the men were doing aboard the boat, she heard a loud splash as something heavy was dropped overboard.

“The fools!” Claude Harper exclaimed. “The fools!”

Another splash and still another followed. Then the boat turned and came toward the grass patch. Claude Harper hailed the men with an angry exclamation.

“You idiots! After all the risk we’ve taken, you dump our profits in the river!”

“Keep your shirt on!” Sweeper Joe retorted. “It was the only thing to do. Glowershick just phoned from town.”

“What’d he have to report?”

“Nothing good. You know that junk shop where we arranged to sell our stuff? Where the owner offered us a higher price than any other place in town?”

“Well?”

“He was a dick, planted there by old man Gandiss himself. They’ve already got wind of who’s in on the deal.”

“Then if we try to sell the brass anywhere else, we’ll be pinched.”

“You’re catching on, Harper.”

“Have you dumped all the stuff in the river?”

“It will take two more trips at least. And there’s the brass lantern to get rid of,” Joe added. “As soon as the job is done, Clark and me are gettin’ out of the city.”

“What are Ma and me gonna do?” Harper whined. “We’ve got property here.”

“That’s up to you,” Joe snapped. “If it wasn’t for the gal you’d be safe enough. Seen anything of her?”

“Nary a sign.”

“She may have slipped away under water. The gal swims like an eel.”

“I don’t think she got away. I been watchin’ like a hawk.”

“She’s sure to spill everything, and she’s seen plenty,” Joe muttered. “Even though the cops don’t find any evidence, they could make it plenty tough for you and the missus.”

“We got to leave town,” Harper admitted. “After takin’ all this risk and bein’ all set to cash in big, it’s a dirty break. It ain’t fair.”

“Squawkin’ won’t do no good,” Joe said shortly. “The question is, what are we goin’ to do about the gal?”

“We got to make sure she won’t carry no tales until we’re safely out of town.”

“Then we’ll have to flush her out of this bird nest,” Joe decided. “There’s a way we can do it.”

The manner in which she was to be caught, soon became apparent to Penny. Systematically, the men began to flatten all of the grass with their paddles and oars. Foot by foot, she retreated. Their strategy was discouragingly clear. The flattened grass no longer offered protection. Soon it all would be level with the water, and she would have no screen.

So cold that her limbs were nearly paralyzed, Penny considered giving herself up. In any case, the outcome would be the same. The only other recourse was to scream for help, and hope that someone along the shore would hear her and investigate.

With only the Harper house close by, the prospect that anyone would come to her aid was practically nil.

Angered at not finding the girl, Harper and his companions swung their paddles viciously. Penny retreated further, still reluctant to abandon freedom.

Then far downstream, she saw the River Queen,