Penny opened the door of the cabin only to close it quickly. She and Jerry both had heard men’s voices very close to the boat.

“It’s too late,” she whispered. “Those men have come back.”

“Not the girl?”

“No, they’re alone. But we’re in a trap. What shall we do?”

“We could make a dash for it. If we have to fight our way out, Salt will be there to help.”

“Let’s stick and see what happens, Jerry. We’re after information. We must expect to take a chance in order to get it.”

Jerry had been thinking more of Penny’s safety than his own. But thus urged, he turned the key in the lock, bolting the door from the inside.

A low rumble of voices reached the couple as they stood with ears pressed against the panel. But they were unable to distinguish words. Then presently, one of the seamen moved close to the companionway.
[178]

“I’ll get it, Jake,” he called. “It’s down in the cabin.”

Jerry and Penny kept quiet as the man turned the door knob. He heaved angrily against the panel with his shoulder.

“Hey, Jake,” he shouted, “what’s the idea of locking the door?”

“I didn’t lock it.”

“Then Flora did.” Muttering under his breath, the seaman tramped back up on deck.

Perhaps ten minutes elapsed before Penny and Jerry heard a feminine voice speaking.

“That must be Flora,” whispered Penny. “What will happen when she tells them that she didn’t lock the door?”

The voices above rose louder and louder until the two prisoners were able to distinguish some of the words. Jake berated the girl as stupid while his companion showered abuse upon her until she broke down and wept.

“I never had the key,” they heard her wail. “I don’t know what became of it. You always blame me for everything that goes wrong, and I’m good and sick of it. If I don’t get better treatment I may tell a few things to the police. How would you like that?”
[179]

Jerry and Penny did not hear the response, but they recoiled as a loud crashing sound told them the girl had been given a cruel push into a solid object. Her cry of pain was drowned out by another noise, the sudden clatter of the motor boat engine.

Penny and Jerry gazed at each other with startled eyes.

“We’re moving,” she whispered.

Jerry started to fit the key into the door lock, only to have Penny arrest his hand.

“Let’s stay and see it through,” she urged. “This is our chance to learn the hide-out and perhaps solve the mystery of Atherwald’s disappearance.”

“All right,” the reporter agreed. “But I wish you weren’t in on this.”

From the tiny window of the cabin, he and Penny observed various landmarks as the boat proceeded downstream. Perhaps half an hour elapsed before the cruiser came to the mouth of a narrow river which emptied into the Kobalt. From that point on progress became slow and often the boat was so close to shore that Penny could have reached out and touched overhanging bushes.

“I didn’t know this stream was deep enough for a motor boat,” Jerry whispered. “We must be heading for a hide-out deep in the swamp.”

“I hope Salt has sense enough to call Dad and the police,” Penny said with the first show of nervousness. “We’re going to be a long way from help.”
[180]

The boat crept on for perhaps a mile. Then it stopped, and Penny assumed they had reached their destination. Gazing out of the window again, she saw why they were halted. A great tree with finger-like branches had fallen across the river, blocking the way.

“Look, Jerry,” she whispered. “We’ll not be able to go any farther.”

“Guess again,” the reporter muttered.

Penny saw then that one of the men had left the boat and was walking along shore. He seemed not in the least disturbed by the great tree and for the first time it dawned upon her that it served a definite purpose.

“Lift ’er up, Gus,” called the man at the wheel of the boat.

His companion disappeared into the bushes. Several minutes elapsed and then Penny heard a creaking sound as if ropes were moving on a pulley.

“The tree!” whispered Jerry, his eyes flashing. “It’s lifting!”

Very slowly, an inch at a time, the great tree raised from the ............