Swamp Island Part 13

"Say, he musta been the one that asked me about the fare to the swamp!"

At the pair's look of intense interest, the cab driver added: "I was waitin' here for a fare when some ladies came out of the hospital. I pulled up and took 'em aboard. Just then this young feller comes out.

"He didn't seem to notice I had my cab filled, and says: 'How much to take me to Caleb Corners?'"

"Caleb Corners?" Penny repeated, having never heard of the place.

"That's a long ways out, almost to the swamp. I says to him, 'Sorry, buddy, but I got a fare. If you can wait a few minutes I'll be right back and pick you up.'"

"What did Jerry say?" Salt asked.

"He said he wanted to get started right away. Reckon he picked up another cab."

Thanking the driver for the information, Penny and Salt retreated a few steps for a consultation.

"If Jerry started for the swamp at this time of night he must be wacky!"

the photographer declared. "That knock on the head must have cracked him up and he doesn't know what he's doing!"

"Why would he start for the swamp? Maybe he remembers what I told him about seeing a stranger there today, and in his confusion, has an idea he'll find Danny Deevers!"

"Jerry can't have had much of a start, and we know he headed for Caleb Corners! I'll go after him."

"We'll both go," Penny said quickly. "Come on, let's get the car."

Before they could leave the hospital steps, the receptionist came hurrying outside.

"Oh, I'm glad you're still here!" she said breathlessly, looking at the photographer. "Aren't you Mr. Sommers?"

"That's me," agreed Salt.

"A telephone call for you."

"Say, maybe it's Jerry! Wait here, Penny. I'll be right back."

Salt was gone perhaps ten minutes. When he returned, his grim expression instantly informed Penny that the call had not been from Jerry.

"It was from my friend in the Motor Vehicle Department," he reported. "He traced the license number of the car that was in the accident."

"How did he know you were here, Salt?"

"Telephoned the office, and someone told him to try the hospital."

"Who owns the car, Salt?"

"A woman by the name of Sarah Jones, Route 3, Crissey Road.

"Crissey Road! Why, that's out near the swamp, not far from Trapper Joe's place! I recall seeing the name on a signpost when Louise and I were out there this afternoon."

"All roads lead to the swamp tonight," Salt commented. "I'm worried about Jerry. I called the office and he hasn't shown up there."

"Then he must have started for Caleb Corners! Salt, we're wasting time!"

"We sure are," he agreed. "Let's go!"

The press car had been parked in a circular area fifty yards from the hospital. Salt and Penny ran to it, and soon were on their way, speeding into the night on a deserted, narrow road.

CHAPTER 9 _THE WIDOW JONES_

Caleb Corners scarcely was a stopping point on the narrow, dusty, county highway.

By night the crossroads were dark and gloomy, unlighted even by a traffic signal. To the right stood a filling station, and directly across from it, a little grocery store, long since closed for the day.

Salt turned in at the filling station, halting the press car almost at the doorway of the tiny office.

Inside, a young man who was counting change at a cash register, turned suddenly and reached for an object beneath the counter. As Salt came in, he kept his hand out of sight, regarding the photographer with suspicion.

"Relax, buddy," said Salt, guessing that the station owner feared robbery. "We're from the _Riverview Star_ and need a little information."

"What do you want to know?" The young man still kept his hand beneath the counter.

"We're looking for a friend of ours who may have come out here a few minutes ago in a taxi."

"No cab's been through here in the last hour," the filling station man said. "This is a mighty lonesome corner at night. I should have closed up hours ago, only I'm expecting a truck to fill up here."

"Why not put that gun away?" Salt suggested pointedly. "We're not here to rob you. Do we look like crooks?"

"No, you don't," the man admitted, "but I've been taken in before. This station was broken into three times in the past six months. Only two weeks ago a man and woman stopped here about this same time of night--they looked okay and talked easy, but they got away with $48.50 of my hard earned cash."

"We really are from the _Star_," Penny a.s.sured him. "And we're worried about a friend of ours who slipped away from the hospital tonight. He was in an accident and wasn't entirely himself. He may get into serious trouble if we don't find him."

Her words seemed to convince the filling station man that he had nothing to fear. Dropping the revolver into the cash drawer, he said in a more friendly tone:

"I guess you folks are on the square. Anyway, you wouldn't get much if you robbed the till tonight. I only took in $37.50. Not enough to pay me for keeping open."

"You say a cab hasn't been through here tonight?" Salt asked impatiently.

"There's been cars through, but no taxi cabs."

"Where do these roads lead?"

"One takes you to Belle Plain and on to Three Forks. 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'."