e waiting automobile. But
as three men sprang from behind it with drawn revolvers, her heart sank
within her. Her brave attempt at escape must end in failure.

A stone lay in the road. Penny did not see it. She stumbled, and,
completely exhausted, fell face downward into the dirt.

"Stay where you are!" a cool voice ordered. "Don't move!"

She remained as she was, prone upon the ground. A revolver barked.
There was a flash of fire dangerously close by. An answering bullet
from the opposite direction whizzed over her head.

The three men moved cautiously up the hill. They had their quarry
covered.

"Drop your gun!" came the sharp order.

The taxi driver mutely obeyed. As handcuffs were snapped over his
wrists, Penny hurried forward to view her rescuers. One of the men she
instantly recognized as a detective employed by her father; the other
two she had never before seen.

"How did you get here?" she gasped.

"We've been trailing you all day," the investigator explained as he
deftly searched his prisoner for concealed weapons. "The entire week
for that matter. Your father's orders."

"You mean he's had me shadowed?" Penny demanded indignantly.

"Mr. Nichols was afraid something like this might be attempted."

"I guess it was lucky for me that I was trailed," Penny acknowledged
gratefully. "Otherwise, I'd have been kidnapped."

She watched as the prisoner was led to the waiting car.

"Do you know who he is?" she asked a detective.

"Looks like Angel Face Myers, one of Molberg's boys. Can't be sure
'till we've mugged and finger-printed him at the station."

The three men from the Nichols Agency plied the prisoner with sharp
questions. He maintained a sullen silence.

"I'd guess he was taking Miss Nichols to that abandoned house at the
top of the hill," one of the detectives surmised shrewdly. "I'll stay
here and guard the prisoner while you fellows investigate the place.
Don't let anyone get away from you."

The other two detectives disappeared into the darkness. Twenty minutes
later they returned to report that they had found no one at the old
house, although there was evidence of a hurried departure. The shots
previously fired by the detectives had served as a warning.

Riding back to the city with the handcuffed prisoner, Penny wondered
how faithfully her father's investigators had followed her movements of
the evening. Had they noted her call at the Davis home or the visit
she an