Part 14 (2/2)

CHAPTER 10 _LOCKED IN THE CABIN_

Penny hesitated, and as the call was repeated, went slowly back toward the cabin. She could see no one.

”Up here!” shouted the voice.

Glancing toward the second story windows, Penny saw a girl standing there, her face pressed to the pane.

”Peter Jasko's granddaughter!” thought Penny. ”And she must have seen me decorating the place with ski tracks.”

However, the other girl was only concerned with her own predicament. She smiled and motioned for Penny to come directly under the window.

”Can you help me get out of here?” she called down.

”You're not locked in?” inquired Penny in astonishment.

”I certainly am! My grandfather did it. He fastened the door of the loft.”

”How long have you been there?”

”Oh, not very long,” the girl answered impatiently, ”but I'm sick of it!

Will you help me out of here?”

”How?”

”Grandfather always hides the key to the outside door in the woodshed. It should be hanging on a nail by the window.”

Penny hardly knew what to do. It was one thing to annoy Peter Jas...o...b.. making a few ski tracks in his yard, but quite another to antagonize him in more serious ways. For all she could tell, he might have locked the girl in the cabin as a punishment for some wrongdoing.

”Does your grandfather often leave you like this?” she asked dubiously.

”Always when there's snow on the ground,” came the surprising answer.

”Oh, please let me out of this hateful place! Don't be such a goody-good!”

To be accused of being a ”goody-good” was a novel experience for Penny.

But instead of taking offense she laughed and started toward the woodshed.

”On a nail by the window!” the girl shouted after her. ”If it isn't there look on the shelf by the door.”

Penny found the key and came back. Taking off her c.u.mbersome skis, she unlocked the front door and stepped inside the cabin. The room was rather cold for the fire had nearly gone out. Despite a bareness of furniture, the place had a comfortable appearance. Snowshoes decorated the walls along with a deer head and an out-dated calendar. There was a cook stove, a homemade table, chairs, and a cot.

”Do hurry up!” called the impatient voice from above. ”Climb the steps.”

At the far end of the room a rickety, crudely constructed ladder ascended to a rectangular trap door in the ceiling. Mounting it, Penny investigated the fastening, a stout plug of wood. She turned it and pushed up the heavy door. Instantly, it was seized from above and pulled out of the way.

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