The morning newspapers carried the story of the fire, as Linda had expected. But she was surprised to see no mention of her own name, or of the terrifying rescue. Mike O’Malley had actually sacrificed that thrilling piece of news because he was too modest to mention his own part in the affair!
But a question which had not occurred to Linda before had been played up in the headlines. “Who,” the newspaper demanded, “was responsible for setting this house on fire?”—A man in disguise was suspected, it said, because a gray wig and beard had been found near the road. And these must have been left there recently, for otherwise they would have been wet from Saturday’s storm!
“Clever Mike!” thought Linda, as she read this deduction. “Now why didn’t we think of that before?”
She and Helen and Mrs. Smalley discussed the question from every angle that morning and decided that the criminal who ran Helen down on purpose was the same man that had set fire to the house. And both Helen and Mrs. Smalley agreed that this must be Ed Tower.
“But do you remember a Mrs. Fishberry, who claims that she took care of Helen, ever since her grandfather died?” Linda asked Mrs. Smalley.
The old lady shook her head.
“It is a lie,” she answered, quietly. “I have always taken care of Helen. And I never heard of any person by that name.”
“She claims to be Mrs. Edward Tower now,” added Linda, telling about the threatened law suit.
But none of these things worried Helen now; she was too much excited over the joy of finding her old nurse and of discovering her grandfather’s will in her favor, to worry much about her uncle, or this new aunt. She wanted to talk about the happiness the future held for her and Mrs. Smalley.
“We’ll get the money,” she said, “and then we’ll buy a house in Spring City, shan’t we, Nana—to be near to the Carltons!”
“Near to Aunt Emily—yes,” agreed Linda. “But I shan’t be in Spring City next winter. I am going to take a job as soon as we get back.”
“A job?” demanded Helen. “Where? What?”
“Flying, of course. Relief work with a lumber company perhaps. I may go to Alaska. But don’t tell Aunt Emily yet, for it isn’t settled.”
“Oh, poor Miss Carlton!” sighed Mrs. Smalley, and added, turning to her charge, “Helen dear, I hope that you don’t ever decide to go in for flying!”
“I only want to go to school,” returned the girl, simply. “With girls of my own age.”
“And thank Heaven that you can now!” exclaimed Mrs. Smalley, happily.
“Which reminds me,” put in Linda, “that we must go to Chicago to collect that money, Helen. Suppose we rest to-day, while I give the ‘Ladybug’ an inspection, and fly to-morrow? Does that suit you?”
It suited the girl perfectly, and accordingly, the following day, Linda and Helen flew across Lake Michigan to Chicago, the aviatrix as usual promising her aunt that she would return before dark. But once again that promise was not to be fulfilled.
Leaving the “Ladybug” at the Chicago airport, the girls took a taxi to the Trust Company which had been mentioned in Henry Adolph Tower’s will. When Linda sent in her card, the Vice-president, a Mr. Hudson, came out himself to meet her.
“How do you do, Miss Carlton?” he said, cordially. “I have read a great deal about you in the newspapers. I am very much honored to meet you.”
Linda blushed; she was always embarrassed when older people showed her such deference. So she hastily told the part of the story that concerned the finding of the will, and produced that document to prove it.
The man examined it gravely.
“You are too late, I am afraid, Miss Carlton,” he said. “We waited all these years, and refused to give Mr. Edward Tower the money because we believed that his father must have left a will. But when we learned that the old house had burned to the ground, we felt sure that there was no longer any hope of finding one. Yesterday morning we handed over all the bonds and money to Mr. Tower.”
“Oh!” gasped Linda in dismay. What a dreadful thing to happen to Helen, after she had built such high hopes! Was she really penniless after all?
“But when Mr. Tower hears of this, perhaps he will give it all back,” said Mr. Hudson, soothingly.
“No, no—he won’t!” cried Helen, miserably. “You don’t know my uncle, Mr. Hudson, or you couldn’t suggest such a thing! He never gave us anything in our lives!”
The bank officer looked surprised.
“But he was supposed to be taking care of you out of the income from the estate,” he protested. “That was the understanding we had, when we gave him the interest every six months.”
“Well, he wasn’t! We almost starved—my nurse and I! If it hadn’t been for a little garden we had—and now and then selling some of grandfather’s books, I don’t know how we should have lived!— Oh, he was cruel—my uncle, I mean! It was he who set fire to the house!” She was speaking rapidly, in jerks, so that it was difficult to understand her.
“You mean you think he actually burned that house down on purpose, so that this will would be destroyed?” inquired Mr. Hudson.
“Yes. Disguised as an old man! Didn’t you see that in the papers?”
“Yes, I do recall it, now that you mention it. If you really think that is the case, you girls must take out a warrant for his arrest, and try to catch him—before he sails for England.”
“England?” repeated Linda. “He is going abroad?”
“Of course,” put in Helen. “He’s running away with the money as fast as he can.”
Mr. Hudson nodded.
“Yes, you may be right, Miss Tower,” he said. “For when I asked him his address—whether it was still the same one we have on our records—he said he couldn’t give me any, because he was going to England, and probably going into air service there.”
Linda stood up.
“There isn’t a moment to be lost!” she cried. “Mr. Hudson, do you happen to know how he was traveling to New York, or wherever it is he is sailing from?”
“Yes, I do. He mentioned the fact that he was flying—going by the first scheduled plane this morning. He said he never used trains.”
“So he’s air minded,” muttered Linda, thinking how much harder that would make things for them.
“I’m afraid you can’t catch him,” said Mr. Hudson. “If I only knew what boat he was taking we could wire——”
“We’re going to catch him!” announced Linda, with that firmness which she so often displayed in a crisis. “We’re flying, too! In my own autogiro! And though Mr. Tower has a start on us, we shan’t have to stop for stations, and passengers!”
“Wait a minute,” urged the officer, seeing that she was determined to carry out her plan. “Let me help you! While you girls get some lunch, I’ll see about obtaining a warrant for Tower’s arrest. And you can telephone your folks at the same time.”
Linda nodded, and pressed the elderly man’s hand gratefully. People were always so good to her—so kind! And, handing him the will for safekeeping, she and Helen rushed off to follow his instructions.
After Helen Tower’s outburst of rage and disappointment over losing the money which she had been counting on receiving, she became absolutely silent. Without a word she followed Linda out of the office to a telephone booth, then to a restaurant across the street from the Trust Company’s building. It was an automat, and Linda thought that the novelty of putting nickels into a slot machine to obtain food might divert Helen’s thoughts from her own troubles. Surely a girl who had lived in the country all her life had never seen anything so unusual as this; surely she would be interested. But Helen showed no enthusiasm at all.
“What do you want for your lunch, Helen?” Linda asked.
“I’m not hungry,” replied her companion, listlessly.
“But you must eat, while we have the chance!”
Tears came up into Helen’s eyes.
“I’m a pauper again,” she said, in a melancholy tone. “I can’t even pay for what I eat.”
“Don’t be silly, dear!” urged Linda, with an effort at cheerfulness. “Don’t forget you have five hundred dollars of that prize money—which you earned yourself! And besides, I think we’re going to catch that man.”
Helen, however, refused to be encouraged.
“Even if we do, he’ll have spent it,” she objected.
“Then he’ll have to pay it back! Or go to prison— But come along, we must get into line with our trays. We’ll choose a regular hot dinner now, and then I’ll buy some sandwiches to tuck into the autogiro for our supper, so we shan’t have to stop on our way, and lose any time.”
In spite of her indifference, the attractive food did make its appeal to Helen, and once she began to eat she found that she was hungry. She even smiled when Linda went back to the slot machines for ice cream and chocolate cake.
It was while the girls were eating their dessert that a familiar figure entered the restaurant. A woman, whom both Linda and Helen had been hoping they would never see again in their lives. It was none other than Mrs. Fishberry!
Helen’s eyes met Linda’s in annoyance.
“I sincerely hope she doesn’t see us,” remarked the latter, giving all her attention to her ice cream.
But this wish was not fulfilled, for the woman noticed them and recognized them immediately. And, glad of a chance to clear herself of her part in the unpleasant affair, she hurried over to their very table and sat down with her tray.
“How do you do?” she said, brightly. “I am so glad that you are with Miss Carlton again, Helen. When I came back to the old house for you on Monday, I wondered where you had gone.”
The old sense of fear came back to Helen, and she reached for Linda’s hand. What was this woman planning to do to her now?
Noticing this gesture, Mrs. Fishberry smiled.
“You needn’t be afraid of me,” she said, reassuringly. “I’m not after you now—in fact, I don’t want you! I’ve broken with Ed Tower.”
“You mean you aren’t married to him?” demanded Linda, thinking at once of the threatening telegram, and of the law suit that was planned.
“No, I’m not—and I’m not going to be!” returned the other, emphatically. “He’s too crooked for me.” She did not add that Tower himself had tired of her, and tried to escape from her first.
“I ran away from him in his own car,” she continued, “while he was setting that house on fire. A crime like that was too much for me.”
“He did set the house on fire?” Linda repeated, excitedly. “We thought so.”
“Linda and I and another girl were in it,” remarked Helen, grimly.
“Oh, my heavens!” exclaimed the woman, aghast at these words. “But you got out?”
“Yes,” replied Linda briefly, as she rose from her seat. “We must go now, Mrs. Fishberry— Oh, I might ask you—I suppose that law suit is off, then, if you are not Mrs. Tower?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And one thing more—just to clear things up in my own mind—did you ever see Helen in your life before your visit to Green Falls?”
“No, I didn’t,” admitted the woman. “That was all Ed’s lie—to get money out of you. Oh, I am innocent—I’ve never done anything bad till I got in his clutches. But he looks like a prince, and smiles like an angel, and he wound me right around his little finger!”
An inspiration came to Linda: perhaps Mrs. Fishberry knew something of Ed Tower’s plans. Perhaps she would be willing to tell, now that she was so angry with him.
“You don’t know where he is now, do you?” she asked, trying to speak casually, as if she were not much concerned.
“No, I don’t!” replied the other, flatly. “And I don’t care! I’m going to clear out of here, and go back to Montana.”
“Mr. Tower didn’t say anything to you about going abroad?”
“Oh, yes, he did. He’s clearing out of the country, the minute he collects that money from his father’s estate. He got some kind of job with an air-transport company at Newport News.”
“Air-transport company!” repeated Linda, in amazement. “But why should he want to get a job, when he had all that money? Does he like work so much?”
“No, but he was afraid to go to England by an ordinary passenger boat, for fear he’d be caught. You know—passports, and all that sort of thing. Nobody but me and the man who got him this job know that he’s going.”
“So if the police look for him, they won’t be able to find him?” concluded Linda, with a twinkle in her eye. What luck it was, to get the very information she wanted—and from a person she had actually tried to avoid!
She held out her hand.
“Shall we part good friends, Mrs. Fishberry?” she asked, pleasantly.
“O.K. with me,” replied the woman, accepting the hand shake with a smile.
The girls were hardly out of the door when Linda grasped her companion’s arm and whistled for joy.
“We’re going to get him now, Helen!” she cried, exultantly. “Think of the time we’ll save by flying straight to Virginia, instead of going around by New York!”
“You believe Mrs. Fishberry was telling the truth?” inquired Helen, doubtfully.
“Oh, yes! Your uncle has let her down—decided that he didn’t want to marry her and share the money with her after all—and she’s sore. She was glad to tell all she knew about him!”
They were walking rapidly, approaching the Trust Company’s building, when Linda suddenly stopped, and frowned.
“Why didn’t I ask Mrs. Fishberry to describe Mr. Tower?” she demanded. “We may not know him if we do see him!”
“I might recognize him,” remarked the other girl. “Though at the present minute, I haven’t the slightest idea what he looks like. But that really doesn’t matter, Linda. If Mr. Hudson gets that warrant for his arrest, all we have to do is ask for him.”
“Maybe,” agreed Linda, trying to be hopeful. “Only I’m afraid that once he got that money, he’d travel under a different name.”
Helen looked dismayed at the idea.
“He would if he could, I suppose,” she said. “But let’s hope that he got this job under his own name—and had to keep it.”
Returning to the office where Linda was to meet Mr. Hudson again, she sat down at a desk to plot out her flight to Virginia. She had expected to follow the regular air line from Chicago to New York, but, of course, this plan was changed now.
“It’s going to be fun, Helen!” she cried, as she bent over the map. As usual the anticipation of a long flight gave her a joyous thrill.
“We’ll fly southeast,” she announced, “and I think I can pass right over Spring City. The only difficult part is the Allegheny Mountains—but I’ve flown over mountains before. You aren’t afraid, are you, Helen?” she asked. “You wouldn’t rather go back to Green Falls, and wait for me there?”
“I should say not!” protested the girl, eagerly. “I love flying, you know that, Linda! And I never get a bit sick.”
“There’s not much danger of that in an autogiro,” replied the capable young aviatrix. “You see we don’t feel air pockets, as people do in other planes—now, let me see—I think we can make Spring City before dark to-night! Wouldn’t it be fun to stay in our own house?”
“I should say it would!” exclaimed Helen, in delight. “But could we get in?”
“Surely. I always carry a key with me—with my other keys, you know. Oh, Helen, that will be fun! And we’ll start early to-morrow morning for Newport News, Virginia.”
“Do you suppose we’ll catch him?”
“I hope so. If he left here this morning, he’d hardly be planning to sail before Friday morning. And I think we’ll arrive some time Thursday afternoon.”
“If everything goes right,” amended the other.
“Yes,” agreed Linda. “If everything goes right. If we don’t run into a storm over the mountains!”
Everything went well with Linda Carlton and Helen Tower on that first lap of their flight in the autogiro from Chicago to Spring City, in Ohio. The weather continued fine all afternoon and the “Ladybug’s” motor droned on in perfect rhythm. It was not yet dark when Linda made her landing in the field behind her own house.
Helen was wildly excited at the idea of seeing the Carlton home; for the time being she had forgotten her terrible disappointment at the loss of her money. In the calm happy hours of the flight her faith in the goodness of the world had been restored. She believed that somehow, some way, Linda Carlton would succeed in the end.
“Why, your place is as big as our old house!” she exclaimed. “All except that extra wing—and the tower. But so different! So beautiful!”
Linda smiled; she too had always admired her charming home.
She unlocked the door, and after they had both washed and eaten some supper which Linda ordered sent in from a delicatessen store, the aviatrix spent the rest of the daylight going over her engine. She wanted everything in perfect shape to start again on their journey at six o’clock the next morning.
She took the opportunity, however, to call her aunt on the telephone, and enjoyed surprising her with the news that she and Helen were sleeping in her own home that night.
When the alarm clock rang at five-thirty the following morning, Linda could not believe that day had really come. Then, as she sleepily crept out of bed, she glanced out of the windows, and saw the reason for the total lack of light. The skies were cloudy!
“Just our luck!” she muttered. “The day we have to fly over the mountains!”
“Hadn’t we better wait awhile?” suggested Helen, sleepily; “to see if it clears up?”
“We daren’t,” replied Linda, gravely. “If we don’t get to Virginia to-day, there won’t be any use of going at all. Mr. Tower will surely be off for England to-morrow.”
At these words Helen became wide awake, and recalled the importance of their flight to her, and she dressed quickly, even insisting upon getting the breakfast, while Linda filled her autogiro with gas and oil from a supply which she kept at home.
While Helen packed sandwiches and filled the thermos bottles with water for their lunch, Linda hunted an old rain coat and some extra clothing from the closets. Her own slicker was packed in the “Ladybug,” but Helen would need something if they ran into the storm.
They made their start about half-past six, before it was actually raining. Linda made good time across Ohio and West Virginia, keeping steadily onward, bearing to the southeast, in spite of the light rain that was falling. Neither girl wanted to land for lunch, so Helen fed Linda sandwiches and water from the passenger’s cockpit. The aviatrix’s one idea was to cross the Allegheny Mountains before the storm grew too intense.
But it was not to be, for as she came to the hills, Linda saw that she was running right into the storm area. All about her was grayness; she could not see land anywhere, and in this mountainous region, her altimeter was not an infallible guide. In the effort to play safe she directed the “Ladybug’s” nose upward, to keep clear of the mountains, but here the wind was intense, sending the rain into their faces, delaying their progress.
Never, she thought impatiently, had she been flying so slowly. It was impossible to make headway in the face of this wind. At this rate, they would be too late; they could not hope to reach the coast before nightfall!
Desperately deciding that she must take a chance for once, she dropped her autogiro several hundred feet. The relief was immediate; the winds were far less intense, and her progress became more rapid. But she must watch carefully, she warned herself; in this obscurity she could not tell how near to the ground she was.
At that moment she was far from the earth, just as her altimeter intimated, for she was flying over a valley. But she could not know that it was a valley—at least not until it was too late! Even to Linda’s watchful eyes the disaster came suddenly. In an instant the mountain seemed to be rushing at her, with the same inevitable force that Ed Tower’s car had run into Helen. With a gasp of horror she shut off her power, praying that the rotors would break the fall. The plane hovered a moment, for it had not been going fast, and began to descend on the side of that mountain. But it was too close to it; a moment later it crashed against the hill, with an impact that threw both girls from their cockpits.
Linda jumped to her feet immediately, unharmed except for some bruises, and dashed over to her companion who was lying in the bushes, still unable to understand what had happened.
“Are you hurt, Helen?” Linda cried, fearfully. How dreadful it was that everything seemed to happen to this poor child! Now, if some bones were broken, in this lonely place far away from doctors and hospitals, there would be little chance for the girl’s recovery. Linda shivered with fear as she knelt down beside her.
But Helen sat up and smiled reassuringly.
“No, I’m all right, Linda,” she said. “But what happened?”
“We bumped into a mountain,” returned Linda, laughing in sheer relief. “It’s this awful weather—I couldn’t see where I was going.”
“Is the ‘Ladybug’ wrecked?”
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t examined her. I was too much scared about you.”
Helen stood up.
“Well, come on, let’s look and know the worst. I guess it’s good-by to my money now.”
Linda did not reply, but dashed back to the autogiro to examine it for damages. The propeller was all right, and the rotor blades—thank goodness—for evidently the “Ladybug” had struck on her side. But one wheel and one wing were damaged.
“It doesn’t look so bad,” remarked Helen, as she watched Linda anxiously. “Can you make it fly again, or shall we have to stay here the rest of our lives?”
Linda laughed good-naturedly.
“Oh, somebody’d rescue us before that. Ralph Clavering, probably—Aunt Emily told him just where we were going. But that isn’t going to be necessary, because I can fix it.”
“Can you really, Linda? Even that broken wheel?” demanded the girl, in awe.
“Yes. I carry an extra wheel and material to mend the wings. But it’s going to take time.”
Helen’s smile faded; she knew what this meant. They would be too late to catch her uncle!
“Well, it can’t be helped,” she remarked, with a sigh of resignation. “We’re lucky that we got out alive.”
Linda looked about her, surveying the landscape. It was a lonely place, with no house anywhere in sight. Trees and bushes covered the mountainside sparsely, and below in the valley a stream was running. But there was no shelter anywhere from the storm.
“I’m going to get right to work,” she announced to Helen, “and you better see what you can do about making a fire. If you go up the mountain farther, under those thick trees, you may be able to find some dry wood. And then we can get warm and make some hot tea for our supper.”
“Supper?” repeated Helen. “It isn’t time for that yet, is it?”
“No, not yet. But I’m afraid I’ll be a good while fixing the ‘Ladybug.’ We’ll have to make the best of it.”
Helen nodded, determined to be a good sport and not to make things any harder than was necessary for Linda. After all, it was for Helen’s sake that the brave young pilot had risked this flight over the mountains in the storm. She would do her part to make the older girl as comfortable as possible.
She spent the rest of the afternoon collecting wood and clearing a dry spot under the trees for their camp fire, and she managed to cook supper from a can of baked beans which Linda had in the autogiro. What light there was—for it was still drizzling a little and the skies were gray—was fading when Linda, tired and dirty, announced that she had completed her task.
“That supper certainly smells good,” she said, as she used a little of their water to wash her hands. “And I’m starved!”
“So am I,” agreed Helen. “Are you really finished, Linda? Do you think the ‘Ladybug’ will fly again?”
“I hope so,” replied the aviatrix, seating herself beside the fire and taking the plate of beans which Helen offered. “My only difficulty will be to get her started. There’s no place for a take-off.”
“I never thought of that. I believed that an autogiro could start anywhere.”
“Well, not quite anywhere. There must be a little runway,” explained Linda. “But I think the two of us together can push her over to that road—at least it’s supposed to be a road, I guess—if we go carefully. Will you help me after supper?”
“Of course,” agreed Helen. “It isn’t much of a road—I was looking at it this afternoon—but at least it’s clear of bushes. But do you really think we can make it?”
“I hope so. There aren’t any trees in the way. If there had been any in the spot where we hit,” she added, “I don’t suppose we should be alive to tell the tale.”
Helen shuddered.
“You do have the most marvelous escapes, Linda!” she remarked. Then she looked grave. “But all on account of me. What a peaceful summer you would have had, if you hadn’t happened to see my accident.”
“My summer has been fine!” Linda assured her. “And I should have been flying somewhere, anyhow—and probably would have met with other adventures. I don’t like things to be slow, you know.”
The girls finished their supper, and as soon as they had cleared up and put out the fire, they started upon their dangerous task of getting the “Ladybug” out of the underbrush. For a time it seemed as if it were going to be impossible, but by digging up some bushes, and removing some rocks in its path, they finally got her started. The difficulty then was to stop her, but Linda carefully applied her brakes, and finally they managed to reach the road.
It had grown dark by the time they had finished, but the rain had ceased and they felt well pleased with their success. Hot and tired and damp with perspiration and the recent rain, Linda sat down on the wet grass for a rest.
“Let’s take a swim, Helen,” she suggested. “I see a stream down in the valley. Then we ought to be able to get some sleep, so long as it’s stopped raining. We can spread our slickers on the ground.”
“Sleep!” repeated the other girl in dismay. “Aren’t we going to fly?”
Linda shook her head.
“I’m sorry, dear,” she replied, gently. “But I’m not going to risk it. I don’t know where we are, and these mountains are too unfamiliar for me to try it on a night like this, particularly when I’m so tired, and I haven’t even tested the ‘Ladybug.’”
Helen nodded; she saw the wisdom of Linda’s decision. They were probably too late now, anyway. This was Thursday night; they must have lost all chance of catching her uncle before he sailed.
The mountain stream was shallow and cold, but it felt good to Linda after her hard afternoon’s work. She waded about until she found a place deep enough to lie down, and here she relaxed with content.
But it was too cold to stay in the water long, and fifteen minutes later, with renewed energy she began to build a new fire, down by the stream, away from the autogiro. By this time her young companion was exhausted; when she made a feeble effort to help Linda with the fire, the latter commanded her to spread out her slicker and go to sleep.
An hour or so later, when Linda’s fire was burning brightly, the clouds dispersed and the stars shone out in the sky. With a contented sigh Linda sat there for a long time, until the fire had burned out, and the mountains looked black and forbidding. She could not help wondering about them; they were so deep and silent in the night. What strange creatures might live there? Were there any dangerous animals prowling about, to molest these two lonely girls? The thought made Linda shiver for a moment, and she rose abruptly to her feet, determined to get her revolver out of the autogiro.
Her sudden movement brought a quick response from the woods. A black, shadowy creature appeared from behind a tree only a dozen feet beyond her, and she involuntarily cried out in terror. Oh, why hadn’t she thought of that revolver sooner? She hadn’t even a stick to protect her if this was a bear or a wolf, sneaking up in a nightly attack in search of food.
Her cry wakened Helen, who shot up from the ground as if she had been hit.
“What is it, Linda?” she demanded, her voice hoarse with terror. “A bear, or a ghost?”
“Neither—” returned the other, vexed with herself for her fear: “It’s—it’s—a deer! And look—Helen—he’s running for his life! He’s much more afraid of us than we are of him!”
Helen sighed in relief, but she still clung to Linda’s arm.
“Come and sleep beside me,” she urged. “The next visitor may be a lot worse!”
“I’ll be prepared for the next one,” asserted Linda. “With my revolver, my knife—and a stout stick!”
But though she put all these weapons beside her, Linda had no use for them that night, and both girls slept soundly until the sun wakened them the next morning.
Flying over the mountains in the bright, calm sunlight was a very different proposition from clearing them in the face of wind and rain, and Linda encountered no difficulty at all as she set out the next morning. Neither she nor Helen had much hope of catching the man who had stolen the bonds and the money, but both girls decided it was worth taking a chance. So long as they had come this far, it would be foolish to turn back without finishing the flight.
They arrived at the Newport News airport a little before ten o’clock, and Linda set herself immediately to the task of finding out where the air-transport company was located. When she had secured this information she stepped back into her autogiro, prepared to fly to the spot. She was not wasting any time now with taxicabs, for wherever she went, she felt sure there would be a landing place large enough for the “Ladybug.”
She had been directed to the shore on the Chesapeake Bay, and here she found hangars and planes and officers. A smiling young man came to greet her immediately.
“Good morning,” said Linda, quickly. “We have come from Chicago to find a man named Edward Tower. I understand that he was sailing to England on an air transport—leaving to-day, perhaps?”
Her heart beat rapidly while she waited for his answer.
The young man nodded.
“There was a transport that left at nine o’clock this morning,” he replied, to both girls’ utter dismay. Only an hour ago! They had lost the race by sixty short minutes!
“Oh!” gasped Linda, sadly, and tears of disappointment came into Helen’s eyes.
The young man seemed to be thinking.
“I can’t recall anyone by the name of Tower,” he said. “And I myself went over the lists.”
Linda’s eyes narrowed.
“Then Mr. Tower must be using another name—just as he used the disguise of an old man—” she added, to Helen. Then, turning to the officer, she explained that she had a warrant for Tower’s arrest.
“There couldn’t be another boat going to England?” she asked.
“No. Air transports aren’t like passenger boats,” he replied, “sailing every few days. There are only a limited number in existence.”
Linda was silent, trying to think of something that she could do. It was the young man who finally made the suggestion which she followed.
“Look here, Miss,” he said, “why don’t you go after the boat? You have an autogiro, haven’t you?”
“Yes—” replied Linda, not knowing what he meant.
“Well, fly out over the ocean till you find them. I’ll show you a picture of the transport, so you can spot it. But you couldn’t miss it anyhow. Then hover over it, and I’ll give you a mail bag to drop down. That’ll be a signal—the Captain’ll clear the deck for you to land.”
“Land on a ship’s deck?” repeated Linda, in amazement.
“Sure. With a ’giro it’s easy—if you know how to manage her. Lt. Melville Pride did it a while ago—maybe you read about it in the papers?”
“No, I must have missed that,” answered Linda. “But did he take off again? I wouldn’t want to go all the way to England.”
“Sure he took off. The crew helped, I believe— But, of course, Lt. Pride is an expert. If you’re a beginner, I wouldn’t advise you to try it.”
Linda looked grave, but Helen burst out laughing.
“I guess you don’t know that this is Miss Linda Carlton!” she announced proudly. “The girl who flew the Atlantic Ocean alone!”
The young man gasped, and held out his hand, which Linda shook cordially.
“I’m honored to meet you, Miss Carlton,” he said. “And, of course, you can land on that ship. Go ahead and do it!”
“I will,” replied Linda, who always made her decisions quickly. “Just let me look at my gas——”
Ten minutes later she took off from the shore, pointing her autogiro out towards the ocean. Her spirits were high; she had never been so excited before. This, she thought to herself, must be the way the pirates of old felt, when they went after a ship!
It was not long before she spotted the ship, for the “Ladybug” made much better time than the transport. Circling about, she gradually descended until she was almost over the ship. Then she leaned out of the cockpit and dropped the mail bag, with a message pinned on it to the effect that she wanted to make a landing.
Confusion immediately arose on the ship’s deck, as Linda could easily see, without even the aid of her glasses. Men and officers hurried to and fro, clearing a large space. They had no way of knowing that their visitor was not some high government official, but only a girl of eighteen!
At last the man who was probably the captain gave her the signal, and Linda descended cautiously, thankful that she had had plenty of practice in coming down on exact spots. Her experience in the Okefenokee Swamp had not been in vain, for she landed with confidence now. It was as pretty a demonstration as the crew had ever seen.
“Pretty neat!” exclaimed the Captain, rushing over to her side. Then, in consternation, he exclaimed, “By George! It’s a girl!”
“Two girls!” corrected Linda, climbing out of the cockpit, and trying not to look embarrassed. How she wished her companion were Dot Crowley, instead of modest little Helen Tower! For Dot would do all the talking, and take charge of everything.
She looked about in confusion at the men who gathered so quickly around her, and she could not distinguish the Captain. Then, all of a sudden, she spied a familiar face. Lord Dudley, amongst all those strangers!
“Miss Carlton!” he exclaimed, in surprise. “Am I the reason we are being honored with this visit?”
Linda laughed and shook her head.
“I’m afraid not, Lord Dudley,” she said, holding out her hand. “But it’s good to see somebody that I know. Now will you please introduce me to the Captain?”
“Certainly,” agreed the man, and he hastened to do the honors.
Cautiously, however, Linda asked to speak with the Captain alone, and he took her into a cabin while she stated her business, asking for a man named Edward Tower, and showing her warrant and a note from Mr. Hudson, stating the facts concerning the will, and the taking of the money and bonds.
The Captain, however, gazed at the papers gravely.
“We haven’t any man by that name,” he stated.
“Then he must be using another name,” Linda replied, desperately. “Oh, he must be here! He just must!”
The Captain looked exceedingly sorry for her, but he explained that he did not see how he could possibly find out. “We haven’t a detective on board,” he added, helplessly.
Linda stood up. She had forgotten Helen, had left her sitting alone in the autogiro. Their only hope now lay in the girl’s recognizing her uncle.
She went back to the deck, where Lord Dudley met her and claimed her as his guest. That he was proud of her, in front of all those officers and men, could not be disputed. He had almost decided to ask her again to marry him.
Together they walked towards the “Ladybug,” from which Helen Tower suddenly leaped.
“Uncle Ed!” she cried, in wildest excitement.
Linda and Lord Dudley looked about them, questioningly.
“You’ve found him, haven’t you, Linda?” demanded the girl, rushing over and grabbing Lord Dudley by the arm. “Hand over my money!” she commanded, dramatically.
Lord Dudley pretended to look puzzled, but beneath it all Linda could see a hidden tinge of fear in his eyes.
“But this is Lord Dudley, Helen—” Linda insisted.
“It’s my uncle Ed Tower!” repeated the girl, emphatically. “I know it. Don’t you remember, Linda—when I saw him before on the Country Club porch, at that tennis match, I said he looked familiar?”
“Why, this is nonsense,” objected the man, trying to keep his voice calm. “I will appeal to the Captain if you think it is necessary, Miss Carlton.”
But the Captain, it seemed, was only too ready to help the girls. Immediately he demanded a search of the man’s belongings; if Lord Dudley was in reality Edward Tower, the money and the bonds must be hidden somewhere in his quarters. The Captain sent three trusted officers to find out.
Linda and Helen remained on deck with the Captain and the man posing as Lord Dudley, and the girls told the story of the finding of the will and the confession of Mrs. Fishberry. Ten minutes later the searchers returned, bringing fifty thousand dollars in bonds, and fifty thousand in cash! There could be no doubt now of the man’s identity.
“You want to arrest Tower, don’t you, Miss Carlton?” asked the Captain, as he put the valuables into her hands. “Even though you got the money?”
Linda looked questioningly at Helen.