Saboteurs on the River

  CHAPTER 16 _DANGER ON THE RIVER_

  Throwing the door open wide to admit more light, Penny darted into thecabin. Bending over the prisoner, she began to untie the cords whichbound his wrists.

  "I'll have you free in a minute, Mr. Oaks," she encouraged him.

  The cords had been loosely tied. Undoing the knots, she next pulled awaythe gag which covered his mouth.

  "What happened, Mr. Oaks?" she demanded. "Who did this to you?"

  The old watchman sat up, stretching his cramped arms. He did not reply,but watched Penny intently as she loosened the thongs which bound hislegs. Getting up, he walked a step or two across the cabin.

  "Tell me what happened," Penny urged impatiently. "Don't you feel able toexplain?"

  "I'm disgusted," Mr. Oaks returned. "Plumb disgusted."

  "I don't doubt you feel that way," agreed Penny. "This barge is floatingin mid-channel, a hazard to incoming and outgoing vessels. We'll have todo something about it."

  "I'm through with this job! I didn't want it in the first place!"

  "That's neither here nor there," Penny replied, losing patience. "Supposeyou stop grieving over your bad luck for a minute, and explain whatoccurred."

  "Well, it was about midnight when they sneaked aboard."

  "The men who attacked you?"

  "Yes, there were three of 'em. I was in the cabin at the time, reading mynewspaper. Before I knew what was happening, they were on top of me."

  "Did you recognize any of the men, Mr. Oaks?"

  "No."

  "What did they look like?"

  "It was dark and I didn't see their faces."

  "How were they dressed?"

  "Didn't notice that either," Mr. Oaks returned grumpily. "I was too busytryin' to fight 'em off. They trussed me up and then cut the bargeloose."

  "Saboteurs!"

  "Reckon so," the old watchman nodded.

  "Well, what will we do?" Penny asked, scarcely able to hide her growingirritation. "It's still foggy on the river. I've put up signal lights,but an approaching freighter might not see them in time to change hercourse."

  "There's nothing more to be done," Carl Oaks responded with a shrug. "TheCoast Guard boat will come along after awhile. I'm not going to worryabout it--not me! I'm done with this lousy job, and you can tell yourfather so."

  "My father can bear the shock, I think," Penny answered coldly.

  Thoroughly disgusted at the indifferent attitude of the watchman, she ranout on deck. Looking down over the side, she saw Louise waiting anxiouslyin the dinghy.

  "Oh, there you are!" her chum cried. "I thought you never were coming!"

  Penny explained that she had found Carl Oaks lying bound and gaggedinside the deck house. As the old watchman himself came up behind her,she could say nothing about his indifferent attitude.

  "I wondered how you got out to this barge," Oaks commented, gazing downat the dinghy. "You can take me to shore with you."

  "Isn't it your duty to remain here until relieved?" Penny asked.

  "I resigned, takin' effect last night at midnight," Oaks grinned. "I'vehad enough of Riverview. I'm getting out of this town."

  Penny faced the watchman with flashing eyes.

  "My father obtained this job for you, Mr. Oaks. You'll show very littlegratitude if you run off just because you're in trouble again."

  "A man's got a right to do as he pleases!"

  "Not always," Penny corrected. "Saboteurs are at work along thiswaterfront, and it's your duty to tell police what you know."

  "I didn't see the men, I tell you! They came at me from behind."

  "Even so, you may be able to contribute information to the police. In anycase, you'll have to stay here until relieved--"

  "Penny!" interrupted Louise from below. "There's a boat coming!"

  The steady chug of a motor could be heard, but for a moment the swirlingmists hid the approaching vessel. Then a pleasure yacht, with pennantsflying, came into view.

  "It's the _Eloise III!_" Penny cried, recognizing the craft as onebelonging to Commodore Phillips of the Riverview Marine Club.

  Waving their arms and shouting, the girls tried to attract the pilot'sattention. To their relief, the yacht veered slightly from her course,and the engines slackened speed.

  "Yacht ahoy!" called Penny, cupping hands to her lips.

  "Ahoy!" came the answering shout from Commodore Phillips. "What's wrongthere? Barge adrift?"

  Penny confirmed the observation and requested to be taken aboard.Although she was not certain of it, she believed that the _Eloise III_was equipped with a radio telephone which could be used to notify CoastGuards of the floating barge.

  Leaving Carl Oaks behind, the girls rowed to the yacht and were helpedaboard. Commodore Phillips immediately confirmed that his vessel did haveradio-telephone apparatus.

  "Come with me," he directed, leading the girls to the radio room.

  The Commodore sat down beside the transmitting apparatus, quicklyadjusting a pair of earphones. Snapping on the power switch, he tuned tothe wave length of the Coast Guard station. While the girls hovered athis elbow, he talked into the radio telephone, informing the Coast Guardof the floating barge and its position. The message, he explained toPenny and Louise, would be received in "scrambled speech" andautomatically transformed into understandable English by means of anelectrical device.

  "How do you mean?" inquired Louise, deeply puzzled.

  "Nearly all ship-to-shore radio telephone conversations are carried on inscrambled speech," the Commodore replied. "Otherwise, eavesdroppers couldtune in on them and learn important facts not intended to be madepublic."

  "But you spoke ordinary English into the 'phone," Louise said, stillperplexed.

  "The speech scrambler is an electric circuit which automaticallytransposes voice frequencies," the Commodore resumed. "The words are madeunintelligible until unscrambled by a similar device at the receivingstation. For instance, if I were to say 'Mary had a little lamb,' intothis phone, anyone listening in would hear: 'Noyil hob e ylippey ylond.'Yet at the receiving post, the message would be unscrambled to itsoriginal form."

  "I wish our telephone at home was fixed that way!" Penny declared with alaugh. "Wouldn't some of the neighbors develop a headache!"

  Having been informed that a Coast Guard cutter would proceed at once tothe locality, the girls felt relieved of further responsibility. AsCommodore Phillips said that he would stand by with his yacht until thecutter reached the scene, they finally decided to return to shore. Oncewell away from the yacht they raised sail and tacked toward their owndock.

  "I hope the Coast Guard gives Carl Oaks a good lecture," Penny remarked,turning to gaze back at the slowly drifting barge. "Why, he wasn't onebit concerned what might happen to other vessels!"

  "I never did like him," said Louise with feeling. "He complains too much.Was it his fault that the barge was cut adrift?"

  "Not according to his story. Three men attacked him while he was in thedeck house. Of course, he couldn't have been too alert."

  "Carl Oaks wouldn't be!"

  "There was one rather peculiar thing," Penny said slowly. "It neveroccurred to me until now."

  "What's that?"

  "Why, Mr. Oaks' bonds were very loose. If he had tried, I believe hecould have freed himself."

  "That does seem strange," agreed Louise. "You don't think he allowedthose saboteurs to board the barge?"

  Penny brought the dinghy around, steering to avoid a floating log.

  "I wouldn't know," she replied soberly. "But I'm glad we forced Mr. Oaksto wait for the Coast Guard. I hope they question him until they get tothe bottom of this affair."