"Why, it's Walter Crocker's automobile!" Penny thought in amazement.

"How did it get here?"

CHAPTER VIII

The Toy Lantern Clue

Penny stood staring at the car. She knew she could not be mistaken.

It was the same automobile which Walter Crocker had upset in the ditch.

She had last seen it there when she and her father had gone after Mrs.

Masterbrook.

"I suppose Walter Crocker might have instructed his uncle to bring the car here," Penny mused. "But it seems very odd. Old Herman didn't want me to tell anyone about seeing his nephew here. I wonder----"

The girl's thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sound of a car coming up the lane. Glancing out the barn doors Penny saw Herman Crocker arrive in his battered old automobile. He parked beside her own car.

"Of course he'll know I am here," Penny told herself. "I must act as if I've noticed nothing out of the way."

She slipped out of the barn without being observed. As she approached the house, Old Herman climbed from the car, holding fast to Rudy's chain. The hound began to growl and tried to get away from his master.

"Good evening, Mr. Crocker," said Penny pleasantly. "I don't seem to be very popular with your dog."

"I thought that was your car standing here in the lane," replied Mr.

Crocker gruffly. "Did I see you coming from the barn?"

"I had started that way," said Penny. "Then I heard your car coming."

Mr. Crocker seemed to relax.

"What's wrong down at the cottage now?" he asked in the tone of one who had deeply suffered.

"Nothing at all, Mr. Crocker. I came to ask if I might buy some fresh eggs."

"I don't make a practice of selling them," the man frowned.

"Then I suppose I'll have to drive in to town."

"Maybe I can let you have a dozen this time."

Mr. Crocker started toward the house but as Penny followed he turned and said pointedly:

"I'll bring them out to the car."

Penny had hoped that she would have an opportunity to speak with Perry.

She wished to warn the boy to say nothing about her plan to help him escape from the house. She could only hope that he would be wise enough to remain silent concerning her presence near the barn.

Mr. Crocker did not unlock the front door. Instead he went around to the back porch and from a box which was stored there, counted out a dozen eggs into a paper sack. He returned to the car.

"How much do I owe you, Mr. Crocker?" asked Penny.

The man named a price fifteen cents above the town market. She paid it without a protest.

"How is your grandson, Perry?" Penny asked casually as she prepared to drive away.

Mr. Crocker glanced at her sharply but the girl's face disclosed only polite interest.

"Oh, the boy's fine," he answered gruffly. "He's somewhere around the place."

Penny said goodbye and drove away without disclosing that she knew Perry had been locked in the house during his grandfather's absence.

Such treatment seemed nothing short of cruel to her. She could not understand why the townspeople would show such indifference to the lad's fate unless they were unaware of existing conditions.

Upon reaching the cottage, Penny drew her father aside and reported everything she had learned.

"You're sure that the boy told the truth about having no food?" the detective inquired.

"I can't be absolutely certain," Penny admitted. "I've never been inside the house."

"Always there are two sides to every question," Mr. Nichols said slowly. "Folks around here with the exception of Mrs. Masterbrook, seem to think that Crocker isn't a bad sort."

"I'm positive he's not the right person to have entire control of a child, Dad."

"That may be. However, he gave the boy a home when no one else came forward to take him in."

"How do you account for Walter Crocker's car being in Herman's barn?"

"I don't see anything so mysterious about that, Penny. They are relatives. Walter probably asked Herman to have the car hauled there until he came back from the city."

"How do we know he ever went to the city, Dad?"

"What?" asked Mr. Nichols blankly.

Penny repeated her question.

"You're not hinting that something may have happened to Walter Crocker?"

"Yes, I am, Dad. Herman Crocker is a sinister character."

"In your imagination."

"In any one's imagination," Penny said firmly. "We know that Walter Crocker came here to collect money from Herman. That old man is a miser. What would be more natural than to have the nephew conveniently disappear?"

"Penny, you've been reading entirely too many wild stories."

"Dad, you are laughing at me!"

"Pardon me, but I can't help it," smiled the detective. "Herman Crocker is an eccentric character but I don't think he's quite as black as you paint him."