Signal in the Dark Page 24

  CHAPTER 23 _ESCAPE BY NIGHT_

  Fearful for Salt, Penny and her father ran down the tracks toward therailroad trestle. Scrambling and sliding down the slippery embankment,they saw Salt lying in a heap near the edge of the creek.

  Webb, his ankle injured, was trying to hobble toward a corn field justbeyond the railroad right of way.

  "Get him! Don't let him escape!" Salt cried, raising himself to hisknees.

  Although alarmed for the photographer who appeared to have been injuredby his leap, Penny and her father pursued Webb. Handicapped as he waswith an injured ankle, they overtook him by the barbed wire fence.

  Already badly battered from the fight, and bruised as a result of hisfall from the train, the man put up only a brief struggle as Mr. Parkerpinned him to the ground.

  "Quick!" the publisher directed Penny. "See what you can do for Salt. Hemay be badly injured."

  The photographer, however, had struggled to his feet. He stoodunsteadily, staring down at his torn clothing.

  "Are you all right?" Penny asked anxiously, running to his side.

  "Yes, I'm okay," he said, gingerly touching a bruised jaw. "Boy! Is thatlad a scrapper? Did you see me push him out of the boxcar?"

  "We certainly did, and we were frightened half to death! We thought youwould be killed."

  Hobbling over to the fence, Salt confronted his assailant. Webb's facewas a sorry sight. His nose was crimson, both eyes were blackened and hislip was bleeding.

  "You may as well come along without making any more trouble," Mr. Parkertold him grimly. "Professor Bettenridge has been taken into custody, andthe entire fraud has been exposed."

  "I figured that out when I heard the mine go off," the man returnedsullenly. "Okay, you got me, but I was only carrying out orders. I workedfor Professor Bettenridge, but any deals he made were his business, notmine."

  "That remains to be seen," replied Mr. Parker. "We'll let you talk to thesheriff. Move along, and no monkey business."

  Having no weapon, Salt and the publisher walked on either side of theprisoner, while Penny brought up the rear.

  "You don't need to hang onto me," he complained bitterly. "I ain't goingto try to escape."

  "We're sure you won't," returned Salt, "because we'll be watching youevery step of the way."

  At first, as the four tramped down the tracks toward the station, theprisoner showed no disposition to talk. But gradually his curiositygained the better of him. He sought information about ProfessorBettenridge's arrest, and then tried to build up a story that wouldconvince his captors he had only been an employee hired on a weeklybasis.

  "I suppose you know nothing about the _Snark_ either," Penny observedbitterly. "After Ben Bartell and I pulled you out of the river, yourepaid us by stealing his watch."

  To her astonishment, the man reached in his pocket and gave her thetimepiece.

  "Here," he said gruffly, "give it back to him. I won't need it where I'mgoing."

  "Why did you take the watch when it didn't belong to you?" Penny pursuedthe subject. "Especially after Ben risked his life to pull you out of theriver."

  "Oh, I don't know," the man answered impatiently. "I needed a watch, so Itook it. Quit askin' so many questions."

  "Why were you pushed off the _Snark_?" Penny demanded, refusing toabandon the subject.

  She did not expect Webb to answer the question as he had refused toexplain at the time of his rescue. To her surprise, he replied grimly:

  "They tried to get rid of me. We had a disagreement over a job theywanted me to pull."

  "What job was that?" Mr. Parker interposed.

  "Dynamiting the Conway Steel Plant."

  The words produced a powerful effect upon the publisher, Salt, and Penny.At their stunned silence, Webb added hastily:

  "You understand, I didn't do it. They got sore because I refused to pullthe job."

  "Why, that doesn't make sense," Penny protested. "Evidently, you aremixed up on your dates, because the Conway Plant explosion took placebefore the night we rescued you from the water."

  "Sure, I know," the man muttered, trying to cover his slip of tongue."They were afraid I'd squawk to the police and that was why they pitchedme overboard."

  "Who pulled the job?" Salt asked.

  "I don't know. Someone was hired to set off the explosion."

  Webb's story was accepted but not believed. Penny knew from previousexperience that the man was more inclined to tell a lie than the truth.Convinced that he might have been implicated in the explosion, shesuddenly recalled his visit to the office of Jason Cordell. Could hiscall there have any hidden significance?

  "You're a friend of Mr. Cordell's, aren't you?" she inquired abruptly.

  The question caught Webb off guard. He gave her a quick look but answeredin an indifferent way: "Never heard of him."

  "I'm certain I saw you in his office," Penny insisted.

  Realizing that his loose talk was building up trouble for himself, Webbwould say no more. At the sheriff's office, he repeated practically thesame story, insisting that he had been hired by Professor Bettenridge ona wage basis, and that he was in no way implicated in the plot to defraudMr. Johnson.

  "Your story doesn't hang together," Mr. Parker said severely. "Naturallyyou knew that the professor's machine was worthless?"

  "Not at first," Webb whined. "He only told me he wanted a mine explodedat a certain time. It was only by chance that I learned he intended tocheat Mr. Johnson."

  "Considering the conversations I overheard between you and the professor,that is a little hard to believe," Penny contributed.

  "It might go a little easier with you, if you come through with thetruth," a deputy sheriff in charge of the office, added. "Anything youwant to say before we lock you up?"

  Webb hesitated a long while, and then in a subdued voice said: "Okay, Imay as well tell you. Sure, I knew the professor and his wife werecrooks. They offered me a split on the profits if Johnson bought thesecret ray machine."

  "Where did you obtain your mines?" Salt asked curiously.

  "I don't know," Webb answered, and for once spoke the truth. "ProfessorBettenridge had a friend hooked up in a munitions plant who supplied himwith a few which were defective."

  "Now tell us the truth about the _Snark_," Penny insisted. "You saidthose men were mixed up in the dynamiting of the Conway Steel Plant. Wasthat one of the professor's jobs?"

  "No, he had nothing to do with it."

  "His car was in the vicinity of the plant on the night of the explosion."

  "It was just accident then," Webb maintained. "He had nothing to do withit."

  "Then you do know the persons involved?"

  "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Webb said sullenly. "Why not goto the _Snark_ and get information first hand if you want it."

  It was evident the man would reveal no more, so the deputy sheriff lockedhim up. Within a few minutes Professor Bettenridge and his wife werebrought in, and although they indignantly demanded release, they too wereplaced in jail cells.

  Mr. Johnson who had accompanied Major Bryan to the sheriff's office,seemed rather stunned by the events which had transpired. He shookPenny's hand and could not praise her enough for exposing the professor'strickery.

  "What a fool I was," he acknowledged. "His smooth talk hypnotized me.Why, I might have paid a large sum of money to him, if it hadn't been foryou. Now I shall prosecute charges vigorously."

  The wealthy man tried to press money upon both Penny and Salt, whosmilingly refused to accept it. They assured him that knowing theprofessor's trick had failed was ample reward.

  By the time Penny, her father and Salt finally reached the Parker home itwas nearly midnight. Somewhat to their surprise, Mrs. Weems was stillwaiting up.

  "I'm so glad you came!" she exclaimed, before they could explain what hadhappened. "Nearly an hour ago someone telephoned, asking for Penny. Ithink the message
may be important."

  "Who was it?" Penny asked.

  "A man named Edward McClusky."

  "The river diver!" Penny exclaimed. "What did he want, Mrs. Weems?"

  "At first he wouldn't tell me, saying he had to talk to you personally.However, I finally persuaded him to trust me with the message. He said:'Tell Miss Parker that her friend Ben Bartell went aboard the _Snark_last night and hasn't been seen since.'"