of it.”

As the car rolled into the building, Mattie shouted loudly to a stoop-shouldered man who was busy in the rear office: “Hey, Sam! Look after this customer, will you?”

Sam Burkholder slouched over to the car and began to unscrew the radiator cap. Penny and Louise assumed that the man must be Mattie’s husband, but a remark to that effect was corrected by Salt.

“Sam is Mattie’s partner,” he explained in an undertone. “It’s hard to tell which one of them is boss of the place.”

Losing interest in the pair, Penny and Louise climbed out of the coupe. They had noticed a cafe next door and thought they might go there for a cup of hot coffee.

“Go ahead,” Salt encouraged. “I’ll stay here until this job is finished, and join you.”

As the girls let themselves out the garage door, a truck pulled up in front of the cafe. They would have given it no more than a casual glance had not the driver alighted. He was a short, ruddy-faced man with a missing front tooth which made his facial expression rather grotesque. Without glancing at the girls, he entered the restaurant.

“That man!” exclaimed Louise. “Haven’t we seen him somewhere?”

“We have indeed,” agreed Penny grimly. “He’s the same driver who refused us a ride. Let’s march in there and give him a piece of our minds!”

CHAPTER 3 AN UNPLEASANT DRIVER

CHAPTER

3

From outside the lighted cafe, the girls could see the truck driver slouched at one of the counter stools.

“I’m willing to go inside,” said Louise, “but why start a fuss? After all, I suppose he had a right to refuse us a ride.”

“We might have frozen to death!”

“Well, he probably didn’t realize we were lost.”

“I wish I had your charitable disposition,” Penny said with a sniff. “He heard me shout, and he drove away just to be mean.”

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