Swamp Island Part 42

"Tony," Penny made one last appeal, "if you're back there in the dark, please come out. Don't you understand? You were a hero tonight--you saved the day by popping out of the bushes at just the right moment. Please don't fail me now."

The leaves were stirring again. Then, to Penny's joy, the branches parted. Grinning sheepishly, Tony shuffled out.

"You call-a me?" he grinned.

"Oh, Tony!" Penny seized his arm and held fast. "We've practically torn out the lining of our lungs, trying to find you! Come on! You're going back with us!"

"Not to Immigration mens!"

"Oh, don't worry about that now, Tony! My father has a little influence and he'll help you all he can. Besides, you're almost certain to win a portion of the reward offered for Danny Deevers' capture."

"Money no good if they send-a me back to Italy!" Tony said stubbornly.

"Want-a stay in America. I work-a hard. Go to school!"

"I think perhaps it can be arranged," Penny promised recklessly. With Salt's help, she kept steering the boy toward the boat. "After all you've done tonight, Immigration authorities couldn't be hard-hearted enough to refuse you citizens.h.i.+p."

Tony allowed himself to be persuaded and entered a boat with Penny and other members of the party. After a long and tiring but uneventful trip through the swamp, the Hawkins' farm finally was reached.

At the farmhouse, Mrs. Hawkins and her husband were being held prisoners by other policemen. Also waiting were the Widow Jones and Trapper Joe Scoville, whom she had summoned.

"Praises be! The police got to ye in time!" the widow exclaimed, giving Penny's hand an affectionate squeeze. "If harm had befallen ye this night, I never would have fergiven myself fer having taken ye into the swamp."

"Maybe what happened'll teach ye a lesson, but I got m' doubts,"

interposed the old trapper with a chuckle. "Wimmin is mighty stubborn critters!"

As Mrs. Hawkins and her husband were led out of the house, the woman caught sight of her two sons handcuffed to officers. "Hod! c.o.o.n!" she screamed hysterically.

She tried to break away from the policemen who held her, and would have attacked Danny Deevers had they not restrained her.

"Ye'r the one who got us into this mess!" she accused the convict. "I hope they lock ye up fer the rest o' y'er life!"

Much later, after all the prisoners had been confined in Riverview jail, Mr. Parker and Penny obtained custody of Tony. Arrangements were made so that the lad might remain in the Parker home while Immigration officials considered his case.

The Italian boy proved to be a perfect guest. Not only did he help about the house and yard, but he never overlooked an opportunity to improve his education. Many a time Penny or her father came upon him in the library, reading a book.

"If he doesn't get to stay, it will be a crime!" the girl declared. "Oh, why doesn't the Immigration department reach a decision?"

Despite Penny's fretting, weeks dragged on and still Tony's case hung fire. Many telegrams went back and forth between Riverview and Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C. So involved did the affair become that even Mr. Parker began to lose hope the boy could be kept in America.

But at last word came that the last bit of red tape had been cut. A high immigration official had ruled that although it was irregular, Tony might remain in Riverview, providing someone would guarantee his support.

Mr. Parker willingly signed the necessary papers. A job next was in order, but this Penny easily arranged through Mark Fiello, the hamburger shop man.

As for Danny Deevers, the convict promptly was returned to prison, and the stolen $50,000 turned over to the Third Federal Bank.

In due time, Ezekiel, c.o.o.n, Hod and Mrs. Hawkins were convicted on charges of harboring a fugitive from justice. At their trial, evidence also was introduced, showing they had operated a still illegally.

For many days the _Riverview Star_ carried front page stories of the happenings. Penny wrote several of the articles, while others carried Jerry's byline.

"The best part of all is that with Danny behind bars, you'll no longer be in danger," the girl remarked one day to the reporter. "He really was out to get you."

"I suppose so," Jerry agreed, "but I never was much worried. Danny's real motive in coming back to Riverview was to recover the hidden $50,000.

Running into me--and particularly you--proved his undoing."

In days that followed, Penny drove many times to the swamp to see Mrs.

Jones and Trapper Joe. Both rejoiced that Danny Deevers and the Hawkins family could cause no more trouble.

One afternoon as the girl paid the widow a long call, they fell to talking over their swamp experiences.

"It was mighty excitin' out there--you and me in the boat," Mrs. Jones recalled. "Now that it's all over, I hain't ashamed to say I was plenty skeered we'd never git out o' the swamp alive."

"So was I," grinned Penny.

"Revenooers was in yesterday to smash up Ezekiel's still."

"They were!"

"Yep, and they got track o' that trucker who was in so thick with the Hawkins boys." The widow sighed and pulled aside a kitchen curtain to gaze thoughtfully toward the swamp. "Well, I reckon the last bit o'

evil's been driv' away from Black Island. From now on, the land'll jest lie there and belong to the wind and the rain."

"And to us," Penny added softly.

The widow nodded as her gaze lingered long on the fringe of towering pines. "One o' these days, when the spirit moves us, we'll go back there," she promised. "The swamp always belongs to them that loves it!"