Voice from the Cave

"Mrs. Weems, what can be delaying Dad? He promised faithfully to be home by three o'clock and it's nearly five now. Unless we start soon we'll never get to Sunset Beach tonight."

Penny Parker, in blue slacks and a slightly mussed polo shirt, gazed disconsolately at the over-loaded automobile standing on the gravel driveway of the Parker home. Aided by Mrs. Weems, the family housekeeper, she had spent hours packing the sedan with luggage and camping equipment. Though the task long had been finished, Mr. Parker failed to arrive.

"Your father is a very busy man," Mrs. Weems responded to the girl's question. "No doubt he's been held up at the office."

"Then why doesn't he telephone? It's driving me crazy to wait and wonder."

Penny's freckled little face twisted into a grimace of worry. For weeks she and her father, editor-owner of the Riverview Star, had planned a vacation camping trip to the nearby seashore resort, Sunset Beach. Twice the excursion had been postponed. Penny, who knew well her father's habit of changing his mind, was fearful that even now something would cause another vexing delay.

"I'm going to call the Star office this minute!" she declared, starting for the house.

Mrs. Weems busied herself gathering up loose odds and ends that had blown about the yard. She was cramming waste paper into a box when Penny banged out the door, her eyes tragic.

"I couldn't reach Dad!" she announced. "He left the office more than an hour ago."

"Then he should have been home before this," Mrs. Weems agreed.

"Something's happened. Maybe he's been run down by a car--"

"Now Penny, stop such wild talk," the housekeeper interrupted sternly. "You know better."

"But Dad was struck by an automobile last winter. What else could delay him?"

"A dozen things," Mrs. Weems replied. "Probably a business engagement."

"In that case, wouldn't he have telephoned me?"

"Perhaps not. Now do stop fretting, Penny. Your father will be here before long."

"He'd better be," Penny said darkly.

Sitting down on the stone step by the door, she scuffed the toe of her tennis shoe back and forth in the gravel. Mrs. Weems who had cared for the girl ever since the death of Mrs. Parker, gazed at her sternly.

"Now do stop grieving!" she chided. "That's no way to act just because you're impatient and disappointed."

"But I've been disappointed three times now," Penny complained. "We planned on starting early and having a picnic lunch on the road. Dad promised faithfully--"

A car drove up to the curb at the front of the house. Penny sprang hopefully to her feet. However, it was not her father who had arrived. Instead, her chum, Louise Sidell, alighted and came running across the yard.

"Oh, I'm glad I'm not too late to say goodbye to you, Penny!" she cried. "How soon are you starting?"

"I'd like to know the answer to that one myself. Dad hasn't put in an appearance. He was due here at three o'clock."

"Why, I saw him about twenty minutes ago," Louise replied, turning to inspect the over-loaded sedan. "My, how did you accumulate so much luggage?"

Penny ignored the question to ask one of her own. "Where did you see Dad, Lou?"

"Why, riding in a car." Louise's dark eyes sparkled mischievously as she added: "With a beautiful brunette too."

"You're joking."

"I am not. Your father was riding with Mrs. Deline. She's a widow, you know, and has lived in Riverview less than a month."