Saboteurs on the River Part 21

"Oh, that same picture has been in the window for months," her chum said discouragingly. "You can't get whipped cream unless you steal it from a cow."

"Well, how about a dish of ice cream then? I'm horribly hungry."

"That's your natural state," teased Louise, pulling her on. "If we stop now, we'll be caught in the test blackout."

"Is there one tonight?"

"Don't you read the papers? It's to be held between nine and ten o'clock.

And it's ten after nine now."

"I think it might be fun to be caught out in one--just so long as it's not the real thing."

"I want to get home before the street lights are turned out," Louise insisted. "In fact, I promised Mother I'd come straight home when the library closed."

"Oh, all right," Penny gave in reluctantly.

The girls began to walk faster for they were many blocks from their own street. Now and then they met an air raid warden and so knew that the time for the test blackout was close at hand.

"Louise!" Penny suddenly exclaimed, stopping short.

"Now what?" the other demanded. "Don't you dare tell me you've left something at the library!"

Penny was staring at a man who only a moment before had come through the revolving doors of the Hotel Claymore.

"See that fellow!" she said impressively.

"Yes, what about him?"

"He's the head waiter at The Green Parrot."

"Why, you're right!" Louise agreed. "For a minute I didn't recognize him in street clothes."

"Let's follow him," Penny proposed as the man started down a side street.

"Maybe we can learn the new location of The Green Parrot."

"Oh, Penny, I told Mother I'd come straight home."

"Then I'll follow him alone. I can't let this opportunity slip."

Louise hesitated, and then, unwilling to have Penny undertake an adventure alone, quickly caught up with her.

"There's no telling where this chase will end," she complained. "That man may not be going to The Green Parrot."

"Then perhaps we'll learn where he lives and police can question him."

As Penny spoke, a siren began to sound. A car which was cruising past, pulled up at the curb and its headlights went off. All along the street, lights blinked out one by one.

"The blackout!" Louise, gasped. "I was afraid we'd be caught in it. Now we'll lose that man, and what's worse, I'll be late in getting home!"

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 bas.e.m.e.nt 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 bas.e.m.e.nt. "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."

For nearly twenty minutes the girls remained in the bas.e.m.e.nt 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."

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.