"The house is located on a main road though, and as a tourist hotel, should pay."

Conversation languished, and a few minutes later, Penny dropped the man at his own home. Although she refrained from speaking of it to Louise, she neither liked nor trusted Jay Franklin. While it had been his right to eject the Breens from the tourist camp for non-payment of rent, she felt that he could have afforded to be more generous. She did not regret the impulse which had caused her to settle the debt even though it meant that she must deprive herself of a few luxuries.

After leaving Louise at the Sidell house, Penny drove on home. Entering the living room, she greeted her father who had arrived from the newspaper office only a moment before. A late edition of the Star lay on the table, and she glanced carelessly at it, inquiring: "What's new, Dad?"

"Nothing worthy of mention," Mr. Parker returned.

Sinking down on the davenport, Penny scanned the front page. Immediately her attention was drawn to a brief item which appeared in an inconspicuous bottom corner.

"Here's something!" she exclaimed. "Why, how strange!"

"What is, Penny?"

"It says in this story that a big rock has been found on the farm of Carl Gleason! The stone bears writing thought to be of Elizabethan origin!"

"Let me see that paper," Mr. Parker said, striding across the room. "I didn't know any such story was used."

With obvious displeasure, the editor read the brief item which Penny indicated. Only twenty lines in length, it stated that a stone bearing both Elizabethan and Indian carving had been found on the nearby farm.

"I don't know how this item got past City Editor DeWitt," Mr. Parker declared. "It has all the earmarks of a hoax! You didn't by chance write it, Penny?"

"I certainly did not."

"It reads a little like a Jerry Livingston story," Mr. Parker said, glancing at the item a second time.

Going to a telephone he called first the _Star_ office and then the home of the reporter, Jerry Livingston. After talking with the young man several minutes, he finally hung up the receiver.

"What did he say?" Penny asked curiously.

"Jerry wrote the story, and says it came from a reliable source. He's coming over here to talk to me about it."

Within ten minutes the reporter arrived at the Parker home. Penny loitered in the living room to hear the conversation. Jerry long had been a particular friend of hers and she hoped that her father would not reprimand him for any mistake he might have made.

"Have a chair," Mr. Parker greeted the young man cordially. "Now tell me where you got hold of that story."

"Straight from the farmer, Carl Gleason," Jerry responded. "The stone was dug up on his farm early this morning."

"Did you see it yourself?"

"Not yet. It was hauled to the Museum of Natural Science. Thought I'd drop around there on my way home and look it over."

"I wish you would," requested the editor. "While the stone may be an authentic one, I have a deep suspicion someone is trying to pull a fast trick."

"I'm sorry if I've made a b.o.n.e.r, Chief."

"Oh, I'm not blaming you," Mr. Parker a.s.sured him. "If the story is a fake, it was up to DeWitt to question it at the desk. Better look at the rock though, before you write any more about it."

As Jerry arose to leave, Penny jumped up from her own chair.

"I'd like to see that stone too!" she declared. "Jerry, do you mind if I go along with you?"

"Glad to have you," he said heartily.

Before Penny could get her hat and coat, Mrs. Maud Weems, the Parker housekeeper, appeared in the doorway to announce dinner. She was a stout, pleasant woman of middle-age and had looked after Penny since Mrs.

Parker's death many years before.

"Penny, where are you going now?" she asked, her voice disclosing mild disapproval.

"Only over to the museum."

"You've not had your dinner."

"Oh, yes, I have," Penny laughed. "I dined on chicken at the Dorset Tourist Camp. I'll be home in an hour or so."

Jerking coat and hat from the hall closet, she fled from the house before Mrs. Weems could offer further objections. Jerry made a more ceremonious departure, joining Penny on the front porch.

At the curb stood the reporter's mud-splattered coupe. The interior was only slightly less dirty, and before getting in, Penny industriously brushed off the seat.

"Tell me all about this interesting stone which was found at the Gleason farm," she commanded, as the car started down the street.

"Nothing to tell except what was in the paper," Jerry shrugged. "The rock has some writing on it, supposedly similar to early Elizabethan script.

And there are a few Indian characters."

"How could such a stone turn up at Riverview?"

"Carl Gleason found it while he was plowing a field. Apparently, it had been in the ground for many years."

"I should think so if it bears Elizabethan writing!" Penny laughed. "Why, that would date it practically in Shakespeare's time!"

"It's written in the style used by the earliest settlers of this country," Jerry said defensively. "You know, before we had radios and automobiles and things, this land of ours was occupied by Indians."

"Do tell!" Penny teased.

"The natives camped all along the river, and there may have been an early English settlement here. So it's perfectly possible that such a stone could be found."

"Anyway, I am curious to see it," Penny replied.

The car drew up before a large stone building with Doric columns.

Climbing a long series of steps to the front door, Penny and Jerry entered the museum through a turnstile.

"I want to see the curator, Mr. Kaleman," the reporter remarked, turning toward a private office near the entrance. "I'll be with you in a minute."

While waiting, Penny wandered slowly about, inspecting the various display cases. She was admiring the huge skeleton of a dinosaur when Jerry returned, followed by an elderly man who wore spectacles. The reporter introduced the curator, who began to talk enthusiastically of the ancient stone which had been delivered to the museum that afternoon.

"I shall be very glad to show it to you," he said, leading the way down a long corridor. "For the present, pending investigation, we have it stored in the bas.e.m.e.nt."

"What's the verdict?" Jerry inquired. "Do museum authorities consider the writing authentic?"

"I should not wish to be quoted," Mr. Kaleman prefaced his little speech.