Mildred A. Wirt

“ Safely out of sight of the island, the couple found themselves in a labyrinth of floating hyacinths with no clearly defined channel. The Widow Jones tried a half dozen of them, each time being forced to return to a point she could identify as their starting place.
“Penelope, I can’t seem to find the main channel,” she confessed at last. “’Pears like we’re lost.”
“Oh, we can’t be!” Penny exclaimed. “We must get back quickly!”
“I’m a-tryin’ hard as I kin,” the widow said doggedly.
“Let me paddle for awhile,” Penny offered. “Your ankle is hurting and you’re tired. Just tell me which way to go.” ”

“ Louise listened a moment and retreated toward the boat.
“Someone is here on the island,” she whispered nervously. “Let’s leave!”
All afternoon the girls had floated through the outer reaches of the swamp without seeing a single human being. Now to hear voices in this isolated area was slightly unnerving even to Penny. But she was not one to turn tail and run without good reason.
“Why should we leave?” she countered, careful to keep her voice low. “We have a perfect right to be here. They’re probably fishermen from Riverview.” ”

“ Penny asked eagerly.
The old guide gazed at her quizzically as he dipped his paddle. “Hain’t ye had enough o’ the swamp after today, young’un?”
“When that old boar came for me, I told myself if ever I got safely away, I’d never come again. But that was only a passing impulse. Black Island interests me.”
“It’s the most dangerous part of the swamp.”
“Because of wild animals, you mean?”
[134]
“There’s lots wuss things than animals,” said the old guide soberly.
“For instance?”
Trapper Joe ignored Penny’s question. Becoming as one deaf, he propelled the skiff with powerful strokes. ”

“ HELP FROM TONY
Through the leaves, Penny saw a fairly large clearing. Three men, Ezekiel Hawkins and his two sons, were squatted about a big hardwood fire over which was a large copper cooker.
A pipe extended above the cover, connected with a series of coils immersed in a barrel of cold water.
“A still!” the girl whispered. “They’re making alcohol here and selling it in the city! That’s what those containers held that were trucked away!”
“Make-a the stuff every day,” volunteered Tony. “I watch—sometimes I steal-a the lunch. They very mad but no catch.” ”

“ Now and then, from the audience of newspapermen out front, came an occasional ripple of laughter or clapping of hands as they applauded a speaker.
“Sounds pretty dull,” thought Penny. “Guess it’s lucky Dad cooked up the shooting stunt. If everything goes off right, it should liven things up a bit.”
Wandering on down a hall, she came to one of the dressing rooms. Stacked against the outside wall were hundreds of freshly printed newspapers ready for distribution.
Penny flipped one from the pile and read the headline: “REPORTER SHOT IN ARGUMENT WITH ELECTRICIAN!” ”

“ Penny corrected with a grin. “See those beautiful Cherokee roses growing over there on the island point? They’re nicer than anything we have.”
“Also harder to get.”
[2]
Louise craned her neck to gaze at the wild, tangled growth which rose densely from the water’s edge.
“Remember,” she admonished, “when Trapper Joe rented us this boat his last words were: ‘Don’t go far, and stay in the skiff.’”
“After we gather the flowers, we’ll start straight home, Lou. We’re too near the edge of the swamp to lose our way.” ”

“ As word spread through the office that Jerry had received a threat from the escaped convict, reporters gathered to read the telegram and comment upon it.
“Great stuff!” exclaimed Editor DeWitt, thinking in terms of headlines. “Riverview Star reporter threatened by Danny Deevers! We’ll build it up—post a reward for his capture—provide you with a bodyguard.”
“But I don’t want a bodyguard,” Jerry retorted. “Build up the story if you want to, but skip the kindergarten trimmings.”
“You ought to have a bodyguard,” DeWitt insisted seriously. “Danny Deevers is nobody’s playboy. He may mean business. ”

“ If you give yourself up, they might be lenient with you.”
“They send-a me back,” Tony said stubbornly. “I stay right-a here!”
“To starve? You’re hungry now, aren’t you?”
“Sure. But in Italy I hungry many times-a too.”
“Tony, we’ll talk about this later,” Penny sighed. “Right now, I want to learn what’s going on here at the island. Know anything about it?”
“Sure,” the boy grinned. “Know plenty.”
“Then suppose you tell me, Tony.”
“I show-a you,” the boy offered.
Avoiding the leafy tunnel, he led Penny in a half circle through another section of dense thicket. ”

“ Mr. Parker signaled Jerry to row back out of range. “We’ve trapped ourselves between two fires!” he muttered in disgust. “Ezekiel stayed here on purpose to guard the channel while the others make their getaway.”
“Danny could be captured easily if only we could get word to Salt and the police,” Jerry added.
Penny and her father nodded gloomily. Salt, they knew, would follow their trail into the swamp as soon as police reached the Hawkins’ farm. But Ezekiel from his point of vantage, would fire upon them before they realized they were running into danger. ”

“ Jerry stepped into the dressing room to make the change. Penny, while waiting, wandered back to the stage wings to talk to Salt. However, the photographer had gone out front and was busily engaged taking pictures of visiting celebrities.
After a few minutes, Penny went downstairs again. Jerry was nowhere to be seen.
The door of the dressing room stood slightly ajar. Penny tapped lightly on it, calling: “Get a move on, Jerry! You’re slower than a snail!” ”

“ However, dark shadows were deepening to blackness when the boat finally came into water open enough to permit use of the motor. Propelled by the engine, the skiff presently approached Lookout Point.
“Let’s paddle from here,” proposed Penny. “Ezekiel and his sons may be out of the swamp by this time. We don’t want them to see us or guess where we’ve been.”
Mrs. Jones shut off the motor and with a tired sigh, offered the paddle to Penny. The channel now was plainly marked and easy to follow, even in semi-darkness. Whenever the girl hesitated, the widow told her which way to steer. ”

“ Watching the oncoming boat for a moment, Louise said: “It’s Joe all right, and he’s coming fast. Something must be wrong.”
Soon the guide brought the skiff alongside the sagging boardwalk.
“I heard a shot and started back,” he explained. “I sure am glad to see both o’ ye safe.”
Before Penny could do so, Louise told Joe what had befallen her chum.
“Ye could have been kilt by that old boar,” he said soberly. “It was the package o’ meat that drew them rooters to the tree. They hain’t likely to attack a human lest they’re half starved.” ”

“ Had the bearded stranger really been Ezekiel Hawkins, and if so, with whom had he talked? The chance that the second man might have been Danny Deevers seemed slim, but it was a possibility.
When the car finally reached Riverview, Penny dropped Louise at the Sidell home and drove on to her own residence.
As she entered her own house, Mrs. Weems, the Parker family housekeeper, met the girl in the living room archway.
“Oh, Penny, where have you been!” she exclaimed. “Your father has telephoned twice. He’s waiting for you now at the newspaper office.” ”

“ As Penny and Salt slid onto stools in front of the counter, he turned toward them to ask briskly: “What’ll it be, folks?”
“Now Mark, don’t give us the professional brush off,” Salt joked. “Make mine a hamburger with everything on.”
[87]
“And mine with everything off—especially onions,” added Penny.
“Two hamburgers coming right up,” chuckled Mark, flattening twin hunks of ground meat on the grill. “I giva you good beeg ones. One-a with, and one-a without. Haven’t seen you folks in a long while. How you been?”
“Pretty well, Mark, until tonight,” replied Penny. “May we use your phone?” ”

“ As the boat drifted on, she watched stolidly.
“Never did like that woman,” Mrs. Jones commented when the skiff had rounded a bend. “She’s got sharp eyes, and she don’t approve ’cause we’re goin’ inter the swamp together.”
“Why should she care?” Penny asked.
“I wonder myself.”
“I’ve noticed that she always seems to be watching the entrance channel into the swamp,” Penny said thoughtfully. “Perhaps she is the one who taps out those signals!”
“Signals? What do you mean, young’un?”
Penny told of the strange pounding noises she had heard during her previous trip through the swamp. ”

“ Penny rapidly told of Danny’s flight into the swamp with the stolen money.
“If Mrs. Jones reaches a phone, police should get here any minute!” she added.
“In the meantime, we can’t let those men escape!” Mr. Parker exclaimed. “Salt, you stay here and wait for the police. If they don’t come in ten minutes, go after them!”
“Sure, Chief!”
“Jerry, you come with me,” the publisher directed, untying the boat at the dock. “We’ll try to keep those men in sight and mark the way for police to follow.” ”

“ The other doesn’t go much of anywhere—just on to the swamp.”
“Any houses on the swamp road?” Salt inquired.
“An old trapper has a place up there, and the Hawkins’ farm is on a piece. Closest house from here is the Widow Jones’.”
“How far?”
“Oh, not more than three—four miles.”
“Mrs. Jones drives a car?” Salt asked casually.
“Her?” The filling station man laughed. “Not on your life! She has an old rattle-trap her husband left her when he died, but she doesn’t take it out of the shed often enough to keep air in the tires.” ”

“ Weems!”
Leaving an exhausted housekeeper behind, the girl made a quick trip to the downtown newspaper office.
As she reached the building, newsboys were on the streets crying the first edition, just off the press.
Upstairs, in the newsroom, reporters were relaxing at their desks, taking a few minutes’ “breather” between editions.
Swinging through the entrance gate, Penny created a slight stir. At one of the desks under a neon light, Jerry Livingston, pencil behind one ear and hair slightly rumpled, tapped aimlessly at the keys of a typewriter. ”

“ Louise declared, stepping out on the dock. “Bones is gone for good, I guess.”
She quickly told the old trapper what had happened on the island. He listened attentively, making no comment until she had finished.
“’Pears like you must have run afoul of Ezekiel Hawkins,” he said then. “Leastwise, he’s the only one hereabouts with a grizzly red beard.”
“Is he a crook or a fugitive from the law?” Penny demanded.
“Not that nobody ever heard of. Ezekiel and his two boys, Hod and Coon, tend purty much to their own business. But they don’t go fer strangers hangin’ around.” ”

“ The police evidently are hot on Deevers’ trail, but if they don’t get him, he may try to seek revenge. It’s odd he turns up today—and those men talking in the swamp—”
Louise’s eyes opened wide. “Penny, you don’t think Danny Deevers could have taken refuge in the swamp!”
“It’s possible. Wouldn’t it be a good hideout?”
[18]
“Only for a very courageous person,” Louise shivered. “At night, all sorts of wild animals must prowl about. And one easily could be bitten by a poisonous snake and could die before help came.”
“I’m not saying Danny Deevers was on the island today, Lou. But it’s a thought. ”

“ Penny remarked, “who is the woman on the farm just above here?”
“At the edge of the swamp? That’s the Ezekiel Hawkins’ place.”
“Not the farm of that bearded man we met today!”
“Reckon so.”
“We stopped there for a drink and talked to a tall, dark-haired woman. She was rather short with us.”
“That would be Manthy, Ezekiel’s wife. She’s sharp-tongued, Manthy is, and not too friendly. Works hard slavin’ and cookin’ fer them two no-good boys of hers.”
Penny and Louise asked no more questions, but again saying goodbye to Trapper Joe, went on down the dusty road. ”

“ Jerry positively identified him after studying the photograph a minute. “I don’t recognize the driver of the car.”
“We’re almost sure he’s one of the Hawkins’ boys,” Penny declared. “You know, the swamper we told you about.”
Jerry nodded. “In that case, putting the finger on Deevers should be easy for the police. The Hawkins family could be arrested on suspicion. Like as not, Deevers is hiding in the swamp just as Penny suspected!”
“If he is, it won’t be easy to capture him,” commented Salt. “They say a man could hide there a year without being found. ”

“ Jerry asked anxiously.
“Let’s back-track to the farm and await police. It’s the only thing we can do.”
[188]
As a lull came in the firing, Jerry shoved off and rowed rapidly back toward Lookout Point. All crouched low in the boat, but no shots were fired at them.
“They’re satisfied we’ve turned back,” Mr. Parker said. “That was what they wanted.”
However, as Lookout Point loomed up, the party was disconcerted to see a tall, lean figure silhouetted there.
“Stay where ye be, or I’ll fire!” the man shouted. “If ye try to pass, I’ll sink ye’r boat!”
“It’s Ezekiel!” Penny whispered. ”

“ A fast drive over the bumpy sideroad brought the girls to the main paved highway. Much later, as they neared Riverview, Penny absently switched on the shortwave radio.
A number of routine police calls came through. Then the girls were startled to hear the dispatcher at headquarters say:
“Attention all scout cars! Be on the alert for escaped convict, Danny Deevers alias Spike Devons. Five-feet nine, blue eyes, brown hair. Last seen in state prison uniform. Believed heading for Riverview.” ”

“ Whar be ye from and what do you want?”
Salt told of their search for Jerry, carefully describing the reporter.
“Hain’t seen anyone like that,” the Widow Jones said at once. “No one been by on this road since sundown ’cepting old Ezekiel Hawkins.”
“By the way, do you drive a car?” Salt questioned.
“Not if I kin keep from it,” the widow retorted. “Cars is the ruination o’ civilization! Last time I tried to drive to town, backed square into a big sycamore and nigh onto knocked all my teeth out!”
“So you sold your car?” Salt interposed. ”