Her breath began to come with increasing difficulty. She could run no faster.
At the foot of the hill Penny noticed an automobile without headlights. She was sure it had not been parked there a few minutes earlier when the cab had passed. Had some of Rap Molberg's men followed the taxi? In that event, she was running straight into another trap.
Penny had no choice but to continue toward the 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.
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.
"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."