Guilt of the Brass Thieves Part 20

She was answered only by complete silence. Then a plank creaked. The prowler was stealing stealthily toward the girls!

"Pop!" shouted Sally at the top of her lungs, groping to find a light switch.

Before she could illuminate the room, a man brushed past the two girls.

Penny seized him by the coat. A sharp object pierced her finger. She was thrust back against the wall so hard that it knocked the breath from her.

The man twisted, and jerking his coat free, dashed up the stairs.

"Pop!" Sally called again.

Captain Barker, armed with revolver and flashlight, came out of his cabin. By this time, Sally had found and turned on the light switch.

"A prowler!" she cried. "He ran up on deck."

"Stay below!" ordered the captain. "I'll get him!"

Penny and Sally had no intention of missing any of the excitement. Close at Captain Barker's heels, they darted up the companionway to the deck.

To the starboard, the trio heard a slight splash, then the sound of steady dipping oars.

"Someone's getting away in a rowboat!" Sally cried.

Captain Barker ran to the railing. "Halt!" he shouted. "Halt or I'll fire!"

The man, a mere shadow in the mist arising from the river, rowed faster.

Captain Barker fired two shots, purposely high. The man ducked down into the boat, and a moment later switched on an outboard motor, which rapidly carried him beyond view.

"Did you see who the fellow was, Sally?" the captain demanded wrathfully.

"No, it was too dark. Do you think he got away with the money in the safe?"

Fearing the worst, the trio descended to an office room adjoining the pa.s.senger lounge. A chair had been overturned there, but the door of the safe remained locked.

"You girls must have surprised him before he had time to steal the money," Captain Barker declared in relief. "No harm done, but this is the first time in six years that anyone tried to sneak aboard the _Queen_.

We'll have to keep a better watch from now on."

As the girls turned to leave the cabin, Sally saw that Penny was looking at the third finger of her right hand.

"Why, you're hurt!" she cried.

Penny's hand was smeared with blood which came from a tiny pin-p.r.i.c.k wound on the finger.

"It's nothing," she insisted.

Sally ran to a cabinet for gauze, iodine and cotton. "How did it happen?"

she asked.

"I tried to stop the prowler. As I grabbed his coat, something stuck my finger. It must have been a pin."

The wound was superficial and did not pain Penny. Sally wrapped the finger for her, and then after Captain Barker had said he would remain up for awhile, they returned to bed.

Throughout the night there were no further disturbances. At dawn the girls arose, feeling only a little tired as the result of their night's adventure. They had time for a quick swim in the river before breakfast and disgraced themselves by eating six pancakes each.

"The crew will be coming aboard soon," Sally said, glancing at her watch.

"I usually sweep out the lounge and straighten up a bit before we make our first pa.s.senger run."

Penny, who had nothing to do until Jack could come to take her back to the island, eagerly offered to help. Armed with brooms and dust rags, the girls went below.

In the doorway, Penny paused, staring at the overhead beam.

"Why, Sally," she commented in astonishment. "What did you do with the lantern trophy? Take it down?"

"No, it's still there."

Alarmed by Penny's question, Sally moved past her, gazing at the beam.

Where the bra.s.s lantern had hung, there now was only a neatly severed chain.

"Why, it's gone!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wasn't it here last night when we went to bed?"

"Of course."

"Then it was stolen last night!"

Dropping broom and dustpan, Sally brought a chair and inspected the chain. Obviously it had been cut by sharp metal scissors.

"That prowler who came aboard last night must have done it!" she exclaimed angrily. "Oh, what a mean, low trick!"

As the full realization of what the loss would mean came to her, Sally sank down on the chair, a picture of dejection.

"I'm responsible for the trophy, Penny! I'll be expected to produce it before the final race. Oh, what can we do?"

"Why do you suppose the thief took the lantern and nothing else?"

"Someone may have done it for pure spite. But I'm more inclined to think the person came aboard to steal our money in the office safe. The lantern hung here in a conspicuous place and he may have taken it on impulse."

Intending to notify Captain Barker of the loss, the girls started up the companionway. Abruptly, Penny paused, her attention drawn to an object lying on one of the steps. It was a circular badge with a picture and a number on it. No name. Such identifications, she knew, were used by many industrial plants.

"Where did this come from?" she murmured, picking it up.

The face on the badge was unfamiliar to her. The man had dark, bushy hair, sunken eyes and prominent cheekbones.

Sally turned to examine the identification pin. "Why, this badge came from the Gandiss factory!" she exclaimed, and studied the picture intently.

"Did you ever see the man before?"

"I can't place him, Penny. Yet I know I have seen him somewhere."

"The man should be easy to trace from this picture and number. When I caught hold of his clothing last night, I must have pulled off the pin.