Penny began to kick off her shoes.
“No!” shouted her father, divining her purpose. “No! It’s too dangerous!”
Penny did not heed2 for she knew that if the persons in the car were to be saved it must be by her efforts. Her father could not swim well and Harry3 Griffith was needed at the wheel of the motor boat.
Scrambling4 to the gunwale, the girl dived into the water. She could see nothing. Groping her way to the overturned coupe, she grasped a door handle and turned it. All her strength was required to pull the door open. Her breath was growing short now. She worked faster, with frantic5 haste.
[159]
A hand clutched her own. Before she could protect herself she felt the man upon her, clawing, fighting, trying to climb her shoulders, upward to the blessed air.
His grasp was loose. Penny ducked out of it but held fast to his hand. She braced6 her feet against the body of the car and pushed. They both shot upward to the surface.
Griffith and her father lifted the man out of the water into the motor boat.
“Have to go down again,” Penny gasped7. “There may be others.”
She dived once more, doubling herself into a tight ball, and giving a quick, upthrust of her feet which sent her straight to the bottom. She swam into the car and groped about on the seat and floor. Finding no bodies, she quickly shot to the surface again. Her father pulled her over the side, saying curtly8: “Good work, Penny.”
The victim she had saved seemed little the worse for his ducking. With Griffith’s help he had divested9 himself of his heavy coat and was wringing11 it out.
Penny had obtained no clear view of the man, nor did she ever, for just at that moment, Jerry raised himself to a sitting position. He stared at the bedraggled one and pointed12 an accusing finger.
“That’s the fellow!” he cried in an excited voice. “The one I was telling you about—”
[160]
The man took one look at Jerry and gazed quickly about. By this time the motor boat had drifted close to shore. Before anyone could make a move to stop him, the man hurled13 himself overboard. He landed on his feet in shallow water. Splashing through to the shore, he scuttled14 up the steep bank and disappeared in the darkness.
“Don’t let him get away!” shouted Jerry. “He’s the same fellow I saw in the woods!”
“You’re certain?” asked Mr. Parker doubtfully.
“Of course! If you think I’m out of my head now, you’re the one who’s crazy! It’s the same fellow! Oh, if I could get out of this boat!”
Griffith brought the craft to shore. “I’ll see if I can overtake him,” he said, “but he’s probably deep in the woods by this time.”
The boatman was a heavy-set man, slow on his feet. Penny and her father were not surprised when he came back twenty minutes later to report he had been unable to pick up the trail.
“The overturned car may offer a clue to his identity,” Mr. Parker said, as they started up the river once more. “The police will be able to check the license15 plates.”
“I wonder what the man was doing at the estate?” Penny mused16.
She groped her way toward the cabin, thinking that she would divest10 herself of some of her wet garments. Suddenly she stopped short.
[161]
“Dad, that fellow took off his coat!” she exclaimed. “He must have left it behind!”
“It’s somewhere on the floor,” Harry Griffith called to her.
Penny found the sodden17 garment lying almost at her feet. She straightened it out and searched the pockets. Her father moved over to her side.
“Any clues?” he asked.
Penny took out a water-soaked handkerchief, a key ring and a plain white envelope.
“That may be something!” exclaimed Mr. Parker. “Handle it carefully so it doesn’t tear.”
They carried the articles into the cabin. Mr. Parker turned on the light and took the envelope from his daughter’s hand. They were both elated to see that another paper was contained inside.
Mr. Parker tore off the envelope and flattened18 the letter on the table beneath the light. The ink had blurred19 but nearly all of the words could still be made out. There was no heading, merely the initials: “J. J. K.”
“Could that mean James Kippenberg?” Penny asked.
The message was brief. Mr. Parker read it aloud.
“Better come through or your fate will be the same as Atherwald’s. We give you twenty-four hours to think it over.”
[162]
“How strange!” Penny exclaimed. “That man I pulled out of the water couldn’t have been James Kippenberg!”
“Not likely, Penny. My guess would be that he had been sent here to deliver this warning note. Being unfamiliar20 with the road, and not knowing about the dangerous drawbridge, he crashed through.”
“But James Kippenberg isn’t supposed to be at the estate,” Penny argued. “It doesn’t make sense at all.”
“This much is clear, Penny. Jerry saw the man talking with the two seamen21, and they all appear to be mixed up in Grant Atherwald’s disappearance22. We’ll print what we’ve learned, and let the police figure out the rest.”
“Dad, this story is developing into something big, isn’t it?”
He nodded as he moved a swinging light bulb slowly over the paper, hastening the drying process.
“After the next issue of the Star is printed, every paper in the state will send their men here. But we’re out ahead, and when the big break comes, we may get that first, too.”
“Oh, Dad, if only we can!”
“Count yourself out of the case from now on, young lady,” he said severely23. “You scared the wits out of me tonight, risking your life to save that no-good. Now shed those wet clothes before you come down with pneumonia24.”
He tossed her an overcoat, a sweater and a crumpled25 pair of slacks which Griffith had found under one of the boat seats. Leaving the cabin, he closed the door behind him.
Penny did not change her clothes at once. Instead, she sat down at the table, studying the warning message.
“‘Better come through,’” she read aloud. “Does that mean Kippenberg is supposed to pay money? And what fate did Atherwald meet?”
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1
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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4
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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6
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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7
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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9
divested
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| v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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10
divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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12
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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14
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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18
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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19
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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21
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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pneumonia
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| n.肺炎 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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