Part 16 (1/2)
”Oh, I'm removing discoloration from a stone,” Mr. Crocker answered.
”Don't touch the sacking. Leave it alone.”
”What do you do with the rock after you finish working on it?” Louise asked, crossing the room to stand beside Penny.
”I sell it,” Mr. Crocker returned briefly. ”I have work to do, and I'm waiting to get at it.”
”Oh, we didn't mean to interrupt you,” Penny apologized. ”The truth is, we came here to ask you about that stone you hauled for Jay Franklin. Do you think the writing on it is genuine?”
”Sure it is. Anyone who knows anything about stones could tell it had been lying in the ground for years.”
”The aging couldn't have been faked?”
”Say, what is this?” Crocker demanded, scowling. ”What are you trying to get at?”
”My father, who publishes the _Star_, believes that someone may be perpetrating a hoax.”
”A what?” Crocker asked, puzzled by the word.
”A joke. He thinks that some _clever_ person may have faked the writing on the two stones.”
”Well, I didn't have nothing to do with it,” Truman Crocker declared, his tone unpleasant. ”I hauled the rock for Jay Franklin and that's all I know about it. Now go away and don't pester me.”
”We're the same as absent right now,” Penny laughed, retreating to the doorway. ”Thanks for your splendid cooperation.”
”What's that?”
”Never mind, you wouldn't understand,” Penny replied. ”Goodbye.”
A safe distance from the shack, the three girls expressed their opinion of the old stonecutter's manners.
”He acted as if we were suspicious of him,” Louise declared. ”Such a simple fellow!”
”It never once entered my head that Crocker could have any connection with the hoax, a.s.suming that the writing isn't genuine,” Penny said. ”But now that I think of it, why wouldn't he be a logical person to do such a trick?”
”He's far too stupid,” Louise maintained. ”Why, I doubt that he ever went through eighth grade in school. Likely he never even heard of Elizabethan writing.”
”All true,” Penny conceded, ”but couldn't someone have employed him? If he were told to carve a rock in such and such a manner, I'm sure he could carry out instructions perfectly. He knows more about such work than anyone in this community.”
”Oh, Penny, you're quite hopeless!” Louise laughed. ”Just let anyone rebuff you, and immediately you try to pin a crime on him!”
”I'm not accusing Truman Crocker of anything--at least not yet. All the same, those two stones were found quite close to his shack. The Gleason farm isn't more than three-quarters of a mile away.”
”Why should Mr. Crocker be interested in playing such a joke?” Rhoda inquired dubiously. ”Or for that matter, any other person?”
”I can't figure it out,” Penny acknowledged. ”If the stones are fakes, one would judge them to be the creation of a rather brilliant practical joker.”
”Are you sure you didn't do it yourself?” Louise asked teasingly. ”After all, you were the one who found the second stone, so that throws suspicion on you!”