Part 28 (2/2)

Early afternoon saw Mr. Parker and his daughter at the outskirts of Bryan where two large blue and red show tents had been set up. A band played, and townspeople were pouring past the ticket-taker, an Indian who wore the headdress of a chieftain.

”It looks rather interesting,” Penny remarked wistfully.

Mr. Parker stripped a bill from his wallet and gave it to her.

”Go buy yourself a ticket,” he said, smiling. ”I'll meet you here by the entrance in an hour.”

”Don't you want to see the show, Dad?”

”I've outgrown such foolishness,” he rejoined. ”I'll find the publicity agent and have my little talk with him.”

The enticing sound of tom-toms and Indian war whoops caused Penny to forget her desire to meet the show's publicity man. Saying goodbye to her father, she bought a ticket and hastened into the big top. For an hour she sat through a very mediocre performance, consisting in the main part of cowboy and Indian horseback riding. The concluding event, a tableau, depicted an attack by redskins upon an early English colony settlement.

It was all very boring, and Penny left in the middle of the performance.

Mr. Parker was not waiting at the entrance way. Loitering about for a time, she inquired of a workman and learned that her father was in one of the small tents close by. The flap had been rolled back, permitting her to see a sharp-faced man of thirty who sat at a desk piled with papers.

”Is that the show's publicity agent?” she asked the workman.

”Yep, Bill McJavins,” he answered. ”He's sure put new life into this outfit. We've been packin' them in ever since he took over.”

Within a few minutes Mr. Parker joined Penny and from the expression of his face, she immediately guessed that his interview had not been very successful.

”I take it that Bill McJavins didn't break down and confess all?” she inquired lightly.

”He denied any connection with those stones found in Riverview,” Mr.

Parker replied. ”But in the next breath he admitted he knew all about them and intends to capitalize on the story.”

”Just how will it help the show?”

”From what McJavins told me, I gather the program includes an historical pageant.”

”That would be a flattering name for it.”

”In the pageant, Indians attack a white settlement. A beautiful maiden escapes, and chisels on a stone tablet an account of the ma.s.sacre--then she, too, succ.u.mbs to the tomahawk.”

”You seem to know more about the show than I,” Penny laughed. ”Anyway, I'm glad to learn how it came out!”

”It's my guess that McJavins hopes to profit by a tie-up between the stone writing of the pageant and the finding of similar rocks near Riverview. It's a cheap trick, and the hoax would have been exposed a long time ago if museum authorities were awake!”

Neither discouraged nor too much elated by the results of the trip, Mr.

Parker and Penny returned to Riverview. It was exactly noon when they reached the newspaper office.

”I trust you plan to attend school this afternoon,” the editor reminded his daughter. ”By lunching downtown you'll have plenty of time to get there.”

Loitering about the newsroom as long as she dared, Penny crossed the street to have a sandwich at a quick-lunch cafe. As she reached the restaurant she observed a familiar figure coming toward her.

”Rhoda Wiegand!” she exclaimed. ”Aren't you going in the wrong direction?”

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