Hoofbeats on the Turnpike Part 8

"But why did he say I could do good in the valley?" Penny speculated.

"Evidently he thinks I'll influence my father to write something in the _Star_."

"Against Burmaster perhaps," nodded Louise. "Everyone we've met seems to dislike that man."

The girls clattered over a little log bridge and rounded a bend. Giant trees arched their limbs over the pike, creating a dark, cool tunnel.

Penny and Louise urged their tired horses to a faster pace. Though neither would have admitted it, they had no desire to be on the turnpike after nightfall.

"Listen!" Louise commanded suddenly. "What was that sound?"

Penny drew rein to listen. Only a chirp of a cricket disturbed the eerie stillness.

"Just for a minute I thought I heard hoofbeats," Louise said apologetically. "Guess I must have imagined it."

Emerging from the long avenue of trees, the girls were slightly dismayed to see how swiftly darkness had spread its cloak on the valley. Beyond the next turn of the corkscrew road stood a giant tulip tree. Riding beneath it, Penny stared up at the gnarled limbs which were twisted in fantastic shapes.

"There was an old tulip tree in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow," she murmured in awe. "And it was close by that the Headless Horseman appeared--"

"Will you please hush?" Louise interrupted. "I'm jittery enough without any build-up from you!"

Some distance ahead stretched a long, narrow bridge with a high wooden railing. By straining their eyes the girls could see that it crossed a mill pond and led in a graceful curve to a rambling manor house of clapboard and stone.

"Mr. Burmaster's estate!" Louise exclaimed.

"And it looks exactly as I imagined it would!" Penny added in delight. "A perfect setting for the Galloping Hessian!"

"Too spooky if you ask me," said Louise with a s.h.i.+ver. "Why would anyone build an expensive home in such a lonely place?"

The girls rode on. A group of oaks, heavily matted with wild grapevines, threw a deeper gloom over the road. For a short distance the dense growth of trees hid the estate from view.

Suddenly the girls were startled to hear the sharp, ringing clop-clop of steel-shod hoofs. Unmistakably, the sound came from the direction of the long, narrow bridge.

"There! I knew I heard hoofbeats a moment ago!" Louise whispered nervously. "Maybe it _is_ the Headless Horseman!"

"Be your age!" chided Penny. "We both know there's no such thing--"

The words died on her lips. From somewhere in the darkness ahead came a woman's terrified scream. Frightened by the sound, Bones gave a startled snort. With a jerk which nearly flung Penny from the saddle, he plunged on toward the bridge.

CHAPTER 6 _GHOSTS AND WITCHES_

His ears laid back, Bones plunged headlong toward the gloom-shrouded bridge. Pins shook from Penny's head, and her hair became a stream of gold in the wind. She hunched low in the saddle, but could not stop the horse though she pulled hard on the reins.

As she reached a dense growth of elder bushes, a man leaped out to grasp the bridle. Bones snorted angrily and pounded the earth with his hoofs.

"Oh, thank you!" Penny gasped, and then she realized that the man had not meant to help her.

"So you're the one who's been causing so much trouble here!" he exclaimed wrathfully. "Get down out of that saddle!"

"I'll do no such thing!" Penny retorted. She tried to push him away.

Louise came trotting up on White Foot. Her unexpected arrival seemed to disconcert the man for he released Bones' bridle.

"What's he trying to do?" Louise demanded sharply, pulling up beside her chum.

Before Penny could find tongue, another man, heavily built, came running across the narrow bridge. His bald head bore no covering and the long tails of his well-cut coat flapped wildly in the wind.

"You let that rider get away, Jennings!" he cried accusingly to the workman. "Did you see him ride across the bridge and then take a trail along the creek bed?"

"No, I didn't, Mr. Burmaster," the workman mumbled. "I heard hoof beats and came as fast as I could from the grist mill. The only rider I saw was this girl. There's two of 'em."

"We have a perfect right to be here," Penny declared. "We were riding along the pike when we heard hoofbeats, then a scream. My horse became frightened and plunged down this way toward the bridge."

"I'm sorry I grabbed the bridle, Miss," the workman apologized. "You see, I thought--"

"Your trouble, Jennings, is that you never think!" cut in the owner of Sleepy Hollow curtly. "You never even saw the rider who got away?"

"No, sir. But I'll get the other workmen and go after him."

"Don't waste your efforts. He was only a boy--not the man we're after."

"Only a boy, sir?"

"The scamp clattered a stick against the railing of the bridge just to frighten my wife. Mrs. Burmaster is a very nervous woman."

"Yes, sir," replied the workman rather emphatically. "I know, sir."

"Oh, you do?" Mr. Burmaster asked, his tone unfriendly. "Well, get to the house and tell her there's no cause to scream to high heaven. The boy, whoever he was, is gone."

"I'll tell her," the workman mumbled, starting away.

"And mind, next time I order you to watch this road, I mean watch it!"

the estate owner called after him. "If you don't, I'll find another man to take your place."

As Mr. Burmaster turned toward the girls, they obtained a better view of his face. He wore gla.s.ses and his cheeks were pouchy; a hooked nose curved down toward a mouth that was hard and firm. Yet when he spoke it was with a surprisingly pleasant tone of voice.

"I must apologize for the stupid actions of my workman," he said to Penny. "He should have known that you were not the one we are after."

"Not the Headless Horseman?" Penny asked, half jokingly.

Mr. Burmaster stepped closer so that he could gaze up into the girl's face. He scrutinized it for a moment, and then without answering her question said: "You are a stranger to the valley."

"Yes, we are."

"Then may I ask how you knew about our difficulties here at Sleepy Hollow?"

Penny explained that she had seen the estate owner's advertis.e.m.e.nt in the _Hobostein Weekly_. She did not add that it was the real reason why she and Louise had made the long trip from Riverview.