Saboteurs on the River by Mildred A. Wirt

Author:Mildred A. Wirt [Wirt, Mildred A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Detective, Young Adult, Fiction
Published: 2011-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

15

A DRIFTING BARGE

Upon hearing the shrill notes of the air raid siren, the man whom Penny and Louise followed, quickened his step. Hastening after him, the girls turned a corner and came face to face with an air raid warden.

“Take shelter!” he ordered sternly. “The closest one is across the street—the basement of the Congregational Church.”

Penny started to explain, but the warden had no time to listen. Waving the girls across the street, he watched to see that they actually entered the shelter.

“I guess he thought we weren’t very cooperative,” Louise remarked as they followed a throng of persons downstairs to the basement. “These blackout tests really are very important.”

“Of course,” agreed Penny. “It’s a pity though that our friend, the waiter, couldn’t have been sent into this same shelter. Now we’ll lose him.”

[121]

For nearly twenty minutes the girls remained in the basement until the All Clear sounded. As they returned to the street level, lights were going on again, one by one. Pedestrians began to pour out of the shelters, but the girls saw no one who resembled the waiter.

“We’ve lost him,” sighed Penny. “I guess we may as well go home.”

“Let’s hurry,” urged Louise who was glad to abandon the pursuit. “Mother will be worried about me.”

At the Sidell home, Penny turned down an invitation to come in for a few minutes. As she started on alone, she paused and called to her chum who was on the porch: “Oh, Lou, how about a sail early tomorrow morning?”

“Isn’t the river too high?”

“It was dropping fast this morning. The current’s not so strong now either. Let’s get up bright and early.”

“How early?” Louise asked dubiously.

“Oh, about seven o’clock.”

“That’s practically the middle of the night,” Louise complained.

“I’ll come by for you at a quarter to seven,” Penny said, as if the matter were settled. “Wear warm clothes and don’t you dare keep me waiting.”

[122]

The next morning heavy mists shrouded Riverview’s valleys and waterfront. Undaunted by the dismal prospect, Penny proceeded in darkness to the Sidell home. There, huddling against the gate post, she whistled several times, and finally tossed a pebble against the window of Louise’s room. A moment later the sash went up.

“Oh, is it you, Penny?” her chum mumbled in a sleepy voice. “You surely don’t expect to go sailing on a morning like this!”

“The fog will clear away just as soon as the sun gets up. Hurry and climb into your clothes, lazy bones!”

With a groan, Louise slammed down the window. Ten minutes later she appeared, walking awkwardly because she wore two pair of slack suits and three sweaters.

“Think we’ll freeze?” she inquired anxiously.

“You won’t,” laughed Penny, giving her a thermos bottle to carry.

By the time the girls reached the dock, the rising sun had begun to scatter the mist. Patches of fog still hung over portions of the river however, and it was impossible to see the far shore.

“Shouldn’t we wait another hour?” Louise suggested as Penny leaped aboard the dinghy.

“Oh, by the time we get the sail up the river will be clear,” she responded carelessly.

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