Hoofbeats on the Turnpike

  CHAPTER 11 _THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN_

  Swift as the wind, the headless horseman approached the narrow bridge.Penny seized Louise's hand, jerking her off the road. The ghost riderthundered past them onto the bridge planks which resounded beneath thesteel-shod hoofs.

  "Jeepers creepers!" Penny whispered. "That's no boy prankster this time!It's the real thing!"

  The thunder of hoofbeats had not gone unheard by those within the wallsof Sleepy Hollow. Lights flashed on in the house. Two men with lanternscame running from the mill shack.

  "Get him! Get him!" screamed a woman's voice from an upstairs window ofthe house.

  The clamor did not seem to disturb the goblin rider. At unchanged pace heclattered across the bridge to its far side. As the two men ran towardhim, he suddenly swerved, plunging his horse across a ditch and up asteep bank. There he drew rein for an instant. Rising in his stirrups, hehurled a small, hard object at the two guards. It missed them by inchesand fell with a thud on the bridge. Then with a laugh that resembled noearthly sound, the Headless Horseman rode through a gap in the bushes andwas gone.

  Louise and Penny ran to the bridge. Half way across they found the objectthat had been hurled. It was a small, round stone to which had beenfastened a piece of paper.

  Penny picked up the missile. Before she could examine it, Mr. Burmastercame running from the house. He had not taken time to dress, but hadthrown a bathrobe over his pajamas.

  "You let that fellow get away again!" he shouted angrily to the twoworkmen. "Can't you ever stay on the job?"

  "See here, Mr. Burmaster," one of the men replied. "We work eight hours aday and then do guard duty at night. You can't expect us to stay awaketwenty-four hours a day!"

  "All right, all right," Mr. Burmaster retorted irritably. Turning towardthe bridge he saw Louise and Penny. "Well, so you're here again?" heobserved, though not in an unfriendly tone.

  Penny explained that she and Louise had attended the barn dance and wereon their way to the Lear cabin.

  "What's that you have in your hand?" he interrupted.

  "A stone that the Headless Horseman threw at your workmen. There's apaper tied to it."

  "Let's have it," Mr. Burmaster commanded.

  Penny handed over the stone though she would have preferred to haveexamined it herself. Mr. Burmaster cut the string which kept the paper inplace. He held it beneath one of the lanterns.

  Large capital letters cut from newspaper headlines had been pasted in anuneven row across the page. The words spelled a message which read:

  "KICK IN HANDSOMELY ON THE HUNTLEY DAM FUND. IF YOU OBLIGE, THE GALLOPINGGHOST WILL BOTHER YOU NO MORE."

  Mr. Burmaster read the message aloud and crumpling the paper, stuffed itinto the pocket of his robe.

  "There, you see!" he cried angrily. "It's all a plot to force me to putup money for the Huntley Dam!"

  "Who do you think the prankster is?" Penny asked.

  "How should I know!" Mr. Burmaster stormed. "The townspeople of Delta maybe behind the scheme. Or those hill rats like Silas Malcom! Then it couldbe Old Lady Lear."

  "Can she ride a horse?" Louise interposed.

  "Can that old witch ride?" Mr. Burmaster snorted. "She was born in asaddle. Has one of the best horses in the valley too. A jumper."

  Penny and Louise thought of Trinidad with new respect. Not withoutmisgiving they recalled that Mrs. Lear had slipped away from the barndance ahead of them. Wisely they kept the knowledge to themselves.

  "I'll give a thousand dollars for the capture of that rascal!" Mr.Burmaster went on. "And if it proves to be Mrs. Lear I'll add anotherfive hundred."

  "Why, not be rid of the Ghost in an easier way?" Penny suggested. "Givethe money to the Huntley Dam Fund."

  "Never! I'll not be blackmailed! Besides, the rains are letting up.There's no danger."

  Penny and Louise did not attempt to argue the matter. The Huntley Damfeud was none of their concern. By the following day they expected to befar from the valley.

  "There's another person who might be behind this," Mr. Burmastercontinued. "A newspaper editor at Hobostein. He always hated me and he'sbeen using his paper to write ugly editorials. I ought to sue him forslander."

  Though the Headless Horseman episode had excited the girls, they weretired and eager to get to Mrs. Lear's. Accordingly, they cut theconversation short and started on down the road. Mr. Burmaster fell intostep walking with them as far as the house.

  "Come to see us sometime," he invited with a cordiality that astonishedthe girls. "Mrs. Burmaster gets very lonesome. She's nervous but shemeans well."

  "I'm sure she does," Penny responded kindly. She hesitated, then added:"I do hope you catch the prankster. Have you considered putting abarricade at the end of the bridge?"

  "Can't do it. When we built this place we had to agree to keep thefootbridge open to pedestrians."

  "Suppose one had a moveable barrier," Penny suggested. "Couldn't yourworkmen keep watch and swing it into place after the Horseman startedacross the bridge? With one at each end he'd be trapped."

  "It's an idea to be considered," Mr. Burmaster admitted. "The onlytrouble is that my workmen aren't worth their salt as guards. But we'llsee."

  Penny and Louise soon bade the estate owner goodnight and went on downthe road. Once beyond hearing they discussed the possibility that Mrs.Lear might have masqueraded as the Headless Horseman.

  "It was queer the way she disappeared from the dance," Penny speculated."Granting that she's a spry old lady, I doubt she'd have it in her topull off the trick."

  "I'm not so sure," Louise argued. "Mr. Burmaster said she was a wonderfulrider. Didn't you think that horse tonight looked like Trinidad?"

  "Goodness, it was too dark to see! In any case, what about the buggy?"

  "Mrs. Lear could have unhitched it somewhere in the woods."

  Penny shook her head. "It doesn't add up somehow. For that matter,nothing about this affair does."

  Rounding a curve, the girls came within view of the Lear cabin. No lightburned, but they took it for granted Mrs. Lear had gone to bed.

  "Let's give a look-see in the barn," Penny proposed. "I want to make surethat our horses are all right."

  "And to see that the buggy is there too," laughed Louise.

  They went past the dripping water trough to the barn and opened thedoors. White Foot nickered. Bones kicked at the stall boards. Pennytossed both horses a few ears of corn and then walked on to Trinidad'sstall. It was empty. Nor was there any evidence of a buggy.

  "Well, what do you think of that!" Penny commented. "Mrs. Lear's not beenhome!"

  "Then maybe Mr. Burmaster's theory is right!" Louise exclaimed, staringat the empty stall. "Mrs. Lear could have been the one!"

  "Listen!" commanded Penny.

  Plainly the girls could hear a horse and vehicle coming down the road. Itwas Mrs. Lear, and a moment later she turned into the yard. Penny swungopen the barn doors. Trinidad rattled in and pulled up short. His sleekbody was covered with sweat as if he had been driven hard.

  Mrs. Lear leaped lightly to the barn floor and began to unhitch thehorse.

  "Well, I'm mighty glad to find you here," she chirped. "Joe brought youhome, didn't he?"

  Penny replied that she and Louise had walked.

  "You don't say!" the old woman exclaimed. "I went down the road a pieceto see a friend o' mine. By the time I got back the frolic was over. Icalculated Joe must have brought you home."

  Penny and Louise offered little comment as they helped Mrs. Lear unhitchTrinidad. However, they could see that the old lady was fairlybrimming-over with suppressed excitement.

  "It's late, but I ain't one bit tired," Mrs. Lear declared as they allentered the house. "There's somethin' mighty stimulatin' about a barndance."

  Penny was tempted to remark that her hostess had spent very little timeat Silas Malcom's place. Instead she remained silent.

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nbsp; The girls went at once to bed. Mrs. Lear did not follow them upstairsimmediately, but puttered about the kitchen preparing herself a midnightsnack. Finally her step was heard on the stairs.

  "Good night, girls," she called cheerfully as she passed their door."Sleep tight."

  Mrs. Lear entered her own bedroom. Her door squeaked shut. A shoe washeard to thud on the floor, then another.

  "I wish I knew what to think," Penny confided to Louise in a whisper."She's the queerest old lady--"

  Louise had no opportunity to reply. For both girls were startled to heara shrill cry from the far end of the hall.

  The next instant their bedroom door burst open. Mrs. Lear, grotesque inold fashioned flannel nightgown, staggered into the room.

  "Why, what's wrong?" Penny asked in astonishment.

  "I've been robbed!" Mrs. Lear proclaimed wildly. "I've been robbed!"