Jerry and Penny did not have long to wait before there came a loud crash against the cabin door. The two seamen were trying to break through the flimsy panel.

"Bring a light, Flora," called one of the men.

Penny and Jerry flattened themselves against the closet wall, waiting.

A panel splintered on the outside cabin door, and a heavy tramping of feet told them that the men had entered the room.

"No one in here, Gus."

"It's just as we thought. Flora locked the door and lied out of it."

"I didn't! I didn't!" cried the girl. "Someone else must have done it while I was at the store. The door was unlocked when I went away."

"There's no one here now."

"I--I thought I heard voices while we were coming down the river."

"In this cabin?"

"Yes, just a low murmur."

"You imagined it," the man told her. "But I'll take a look in the closet to be sure."

He walked across the cabin toward the hiding place. Penny and Jerry braced themselves for the moment when the door would be flung open. They had trapped themselves and now faced almost certain capture.

CHAPTER 23 _AT THE HIDE-OUT_

Before the man could pull open the closet door, a booming voice called impatiently from sh.o.r.e:

"Say, are you coming? We have plenty of work ahead of us tonight."

Distracted from his purpose, the searcher turned aside without glancing into the closet. With his companion and the girl, he left the cabin.

Penny and Jerry waited at least five minutes. When all was silent above, they stole from their hiding place. From the window they a.s.sured themselves that the wharf was deserted.

"What do we do now, start after the police?" Penny questioned.

"Let's make certain Atherwald is here first. We can't afford to be wrong."

A path led through the timber. As they followed it, Jerry and Penny saw a moving lantern some distance ahead. They kept it in sight until the three men and Flora disappeared into a cabin.

Stealing on through the darkness, Penny and Jerry crept to the screen door. Peering in, they saw a barren room containing a table, a cook stove and double-deck bunks.

"Get supper on, Flora," one of the men ordered curtly.

"Am I to cook anything for the prisoner?" she asked in a whining voice.

"Not unless he decides to talk. I'll find out if he's changed his mind."

The man who had been called Aaron crossed the cabin to an adjoining room.

He unlocked the door which had been fastened with a padlock, and went inside.

"Atherwald must be in there," whispered Penny.

With one accord, she and Jerry tiptoed across the sagging porch and posted themselves under a high window. Glancing up they saw it contained no gla.s.s, but had narrow iron bars in keeping with a prison chamber.

Jerry lifted Penny up so that she could peep into the room. By the light of the oil lantern she saw a haggard young man sitting on the bed.

Despite a stubble of beard and unkempt hair, she instantly recognized him as the missing bridegroom. She made another observation, one which shocked her. The man's wrists were handcuffed.

"It's Grant Atherwald," she told Jerry as he lowered her to the ground.

"They've treated him shamefully."

Jerry held up his hand as a signal for silence. In the room above the men were speaking and he wished to hear every word.

"Well, Atherwald, have you changed your mind? How about a little supper tonight?"

"How can I tell you something I don't know?" the bridegroom retorted wearily. "Kippenberg never confided any of his secrets to me."

"You know where his gold is hidden!"

"I don't think he ever had any!"

"Oh, yes, he did. When the government pa.s.sed a law that it was illegal to keep gold, Kippenberg decided to defy it. He had over half his fortune converted into gold which he expected to re-convert into currency at a great profit to himself. His plans went amiss when government men listed him for investigation."

"You seem to know all about his private affairs," Grant Atherwald said sarcastically. "Strange that you haven't learned the hiding place of the gold--if there ever was any!"

"It will do you no good to pretend, Atherwald! Either you tell the hiding place, or we'll bring your bride here to keep you company!"

"You wouldn't dare touch her, you fiend!"

"No? Well, unless you decide to talk, she'll share your fate, and I promise you it won't be a pretty one. Now I'll leave you to think it over."

The door closed with a bang.

"We'll have to get the police here right away," Jerry advised Penny in a whisper. "No telling what those scoundrels may try to do to Atherwald. We haven't a moment to waste."

"It would take us hours to bring help here," reasoned Penny. "And if we try to use the motorboat the gang will be warned and flee while we're on our way down the river."

"That's so, but we have to do something. Any ideas?"

"Yes, I have one," Penny answered soberly. "It may sound pretty crazy.

Still, I really believe it would work!"

Hurriedly, she outlined what she had in mind. Jerry listened incredulously, but as the girl explained and elaborated certain details of her plan, his doubts began to clear away.