Chapter XVII: Under the Canvas

"It begins to look as if my hunch might be correct," Penny told herself. "Unless that truck merely drove into the garage for gasoline or service, things look suspicious!"

She saw Brunner follow the car into the building, carefully closing the doors.

"If everything is honest and above board, why did they use the alley entrance when the other one is far more convenient?" she reflected. "Obviously, Brunner knew the car was coming at exactly ten o'clock too."

Convinced that she was on the verge of important discoveries, Penny settled herself for a long wait. From her chair by the window she could watch both the alley and the main entrance.

A half hour elapsed, then another. At length Penny's patience was rewarded. The alley doors swung open and a heavy truck which was covered over with a canvas top, emerged. The driver wore a cap and his head was bent low. In the semi-darkness of the dimly lighted street Penny could not catch even a glimpse of his face.

"I must follow that truck!" she thought tensely. "If Dad were here he would do it I feel sure! It's the only chance to gain real evidence!"

She waited at the window only long enough to see that the car had turned down Center Avenue. Scribbling a brief message to her father explaining what she intended to do, she left the note where he would find it in the event he returned to the office that night. Then she raced to the street.

By the time she had her roadster started the covered truck had disappeared. However, turning down Center Avenue, Penny caught it at the first traffic light. Satisfied that she would have no trouble in keeping it in view, she slowed down, falling back to a distance which was not likely to arouse suspicion.

Penny had no idea where the chase would lead, although the truck seemed to be driving directly out of the city. From the slow rate of speed at which it traveled, she thought that it must be heavily loaded with cargo.

"If I only knew what was hidden under that canvas cover I might have the solution to the mystery," she reflected. "I think I have it anyway, but I must secure definite evidence."

Penny was fully aware that she had launched herself upon a dangerous enterprise. In some manner Joe Franey had lost track of her completely, and she could no longer count upon his protection. In an emergency she must depend entirely upon her own resources.

Before Penny had traveled many miles out of the city she began to grow alarmed because her gasoline gauge showed that she had scarcely a gallon left. Although she had her purse with her, it contained only a dollar. She could buy about five gallons of fuel, but should the truck lead her much farther into the country, she easily might find herself stranded.

Apparently, the driver ahead faced a similar need for gasoline. At the next filling station he turned in.

Penny determined upon a bold move. At the risk of detection, she too drove into the station.

"This will give me just the opportunity I need to get a good look at that driver!" she thought.

The truck had pulled up alongside of one of the three pumps but as Penny stopped in the shadow where the light from the filling station office would not shine fully upon her, she was disappointed to see that the driver's seat was empty.

"He's gone off somewhere," she told herself. "If only I could be sure he'd be away for a minute or two, I'd peep under that canvas cover and see what it is he's hauling."

Before she could transfer the thought into action, a filling station attendant came to serve her.

"How many?" he inquired.

"Three gallons," Penny said.

While the attendant operated the pump, she looked searchingly about. The driver of the truck was talking with someone inside the office, but his back was turned so that she could not see his face.

"Sixty-three cents," the attendant informed politely. "Shall I look at your oil?"

"It's all right I think," Penny responded, offering the money. The man went inside for change.

"This is my only chance!" Penny told herself.

Like a flash she was out of the roadster. She moved swiftly to the back of the truck, cast a quick glance toward the office, and seeing that she was unobserved, lifted a corner of the canvas cover.

The truck was loaded with automobile wheels.

A sound from the direction of the filling station office caused Penny to wheel. The driver was coming back!

She dropped the canvas flap and melted back into the shadow. She pretended to busy herself with the radiator cap of her own car.

"Everything okay, sir?" the station attendant asked, emerging from the office and addressing the truck driver.

"Yes, what do I owe?"

Penny started as she heard the voice. It was strangely familiar. If only she could see the driver's face!

"Three-forty-two," the attendant informed the trucker, in response to his question.

The driver gave him a bill and waited for his change. For the first time he turned toward Penny. She hastily averted her face, yet looked over her shoulder an instant later to view his.

"It's Jerry Barrows!" she recognized. "Now I understand in what capacity he was employed by Brunner!"

The attendant had returned with the driver's change and likewise her own. He noticed that she had removed the radiator cap from the roadster.

"Need water?" he questioned pleasantly.

"Please," Penny said, very low.

At the sound of her voice, Jerry Barrows turned, but he saw nothing more than Penny's back. Apparently satisfied that he had never seen the girl before, he climbed into his truck.

The attendant had peered down into the radiator of Penny's car.

"It's full to the top," he reported.

"Why, so it is," Penny acknowledged with a self-conscious laugh. "I guess I didn't look very well."

She stepped into the roadster but spent several minutes putting away her change and starting the motor. She did not wish to pull away from the station until after Jerry Barrows had left.

"I intend to find out where he's taking those stolen wheels before I turn back," she decided grimly.

After a seemingly interminable delay, the boy started his truck and pulled out of the station. Penny waited a few minutes longer and then followed.

For some time they traveled over a wide, national highway but presently the truck driver turned into a dirt road which wound in and out through the low hills. Several times Penny was forced to stop her car and wait by the roadside lest she draw too close to the vehicle ahead.

The trail led through a dense forest. Farm houses became farther and farther apart. After awhile they crossed a river, and directly beyond Penny noticed an odd wooden structure which appeared to be a rebuilt sawmill.

The truck turned into a narrow lane which led to the old building. Penny hesitated to follow lest the driver discover that he was being shadowed. She parked her car in a clump of bushes just off the road. Since leaving the main highway she had traveled without headlights.

The truck drew up near the sawmill. Penny could hear the roar of the powerful engine and see the headlight beam. Then the lights were switched off and the sound of the motor became muffled.

"He's driven inside the building," she decided. "Unless I get in there somehow, I'll never discover what is going on."

Penny debated, but in the end curiosity conquered fear. She left the roadster and stealthily made her way toward the sawmill.