  The girls had been away from Spring City for ten days when Mr. Carlton, Linda’s father, returned from his trip abroad and arrived at his sister’s home, expecting, naturally, to see his daughter. “Hello, Emily!” he exclaimed, walking in as he so often did, without any notice, and kissing his sister nonchalantly, as if he had been absent a week instead of six months. “Where’s Linda?” “Hollywood,” was his sister’s reply. “No!” exclaimed the man, in a tone of deepest disappointment. It had always been a matter of extreme satisfaction to him that Linda had never been carried away by the lure of fame and fortune, and accepted a motion-picture contract. “Don’t look so horrified, Tom!” laughed Miss Carlton. “I only wish she were safely acting for the movies. Instead of that, she’s chasing wildly around Mexico after a couple of criminals.” “Mexico!” “Yes. And I’m so afraid of bandits there.” “Now, Emily, you’re judging Mexico by the movies. That sort of stuff has gone out long ago. Mexico City is as civilized as New York.” “Mexico City—yes. But that isn’t where Linda’s telegram is from, and that isn’t where she’ll be. Trust her to find some lonely wilderness! Oh, I’m so worried. In fact, I’m packing now to go out to Los Angeles.” Her brother sat down and lighted a cigarette. “You might as well tell me the story,” he said. Miss Carlton made it as brief as possible and showed her brother the telegrams she had received thus far. The man listened quietly, more worried than he cared to admit to his sister, but then and there he decided to go with her. He would have preferred to fly by the commercial air-line, in order to save time, but since Miss Carlton stubbornly refused to get into a plane, he agreed to take the fast train on which she had already engaged passage. A few hours later, just as they were about to leave the house, a very excited young man rushed into the living-room, without even waiting to ring the doorbell. It was Ralph Clavering, who always had the right to come and go as he pleased. “I’ve just heard the news about Linda and Dot!” he exclaimed. “And so Jim Valier and I are flying to the coast in my autogiro immediately.” “What news?” demanded Miss Carlton, turning pale. Did he know more than she did—and had something terrible happened to her darling niece? “About chasing off to Mexico. Dot’s mother showed me the telegrams. Believe me, I’m scared this time. Those girls may be dead by now.” “Now—now—Ralph, please be a little more tactful!” urged Mr. Carlton. “Don’t scare my sister to death with your gloomy conjectures.” “I’m scared to death myself,” muttered the boy, sullenly. “That’s why I’m going. There’s nobody out there to help her—not even Ted Mackay, or that young reporter that saved her from burning to death. I’ve got to go!” “Of course, that’s fine of you,” agreed Mr. Carlton. “But don’t get all worked up about it. I’m betting on Linda and Dot every time!” “How about your college work?” questioned Miss Carlton. “I can’t be annoyed with classes when my best girl’s in danger,” replied Ralph. “And Jim feels the same way about Dot.” “We’re just ready to go too,” announced Miss Carlton. “But not by plane.” Ralph smiled; he did not need to be told that. And so that morning in early October four people departed from Spring City to go to the rescue of those two daring young fliers, who never expected help from anyone. When the news came that Linda and Dot had safely reached Honolulu, Ralph and Jim had already arrived at the Los Angeles airport, and Miss Carlton and her brother were well on their way to the West. Their train had stopped at Santa Fe for a few moments, and newsboys were shouting the story. “Two girls fly the Pacific!” they screamed. “All about the flight to Hawaii!” Mr. Carlton looked at his sister. “Could it be Linda and Dot?” he demanded. Miss Carlton nodded. “Of course. They would. I knew it. The Pacific Ocean would be too much of a temptation to Linda, once she was out here. I’ve been fearing it all along.” “But you don’t have to fear it any longer—if it really is they who did it. It’ll be over by now—and the danger past.” He stepped to the platform and bought a paper. And, sure enough, his daughter’s and Dot’s pictures stared at him from the front page. There was no hiding his pride now. His eyes shone with happiness; he looked like a small boy who sees his favorite pitcher win a baseball game. “Look! Look! Emily!” he cried, as he came back to her chair. “Read what it says for yourself!” And she noticed that his hands were actually shaking. A wave of pride and admiration surged over Miss Carlton as she read about the two dauntless girls. The first of their sex to make this flight over the gigantic ocean—from the United States to Hawaii. They had evidently made up their minds in a hurry, and had not told anyone except the people at the airport from which they took off. But the feat had evidently not been accepted so casually by others, for already, they read, the girls were being feted. Entertained by the Governor of Hawaii—a reception planned in their honor—and five thousand dollars apiece to be presented to them! “And to think we came out to rescue them!” laughed Miss Carlton. “I wonder what Ralph and Jim will think of this news,” remarked her brother. “Ralph will probably be jealous because he didn’t make the flight with Linda—instead of Dot. But Jim will just be filled with admiration.” “I like Jim,” observed Mr. Carlton. “Yes, so does everybody,” agreed his sister. “He’s so good-natured, even if he is lazy. But he’s really true-blue, all the way through. And if Dot marries him, she’ll certainly keep him stepping.” “Do you still want Linda to marry Ralph, Emily?” inquired the other. “I remember how excited you were at her graduation, because he had evidently fallen so hard for her. With all his wealth and social position.” The woman smiled a little and shook her head. “I’ve learned my lesson, Tom,” she said, “in this year and a half since Linda’s been out of school. I had expected her to have a year of parties—to ‘come out,’ you know—and then marry some nice young man. But Linda has plans of her own, and I realize now that I might as well save my time as to try to arrange anything for her.... And, as for wealth and social position—well, they simply mean nothing in her life. Besides, she doesn’t need them; I can see that. Linda could go anywhere, be accepted at Court, if she wanted to, because of what she has accomplished herself.” “I’m glad you’ve got so much sense, Emily! Lots of women of your age wouldn’t see that at all.” “I didn’t at first. But I do now. And so I think, when she marries, it must be somebody as big as herself. It won’t be Ralph Clavering—unless he does cave-man stuff, and actually kidnaps her.” “Even then, she’d probably find a way to escape. She always does get out of the most difficult situations.” “Yes. When Linda marries, I think it will be love at first sight—on the spur of the moment, just as she evidently decided to take this flight to Hawaii. It will seem to her to be the one, the only thing to do—and she’ll do it. I’m sorry, for I’d love a big wedding for her—she’d make such a beautiful bride—but I’m not going to count on it.” Mr. Carlton nodded approvingly. Like most men, he couldn’t see the use of the big fuss a formal wedding entailed. But though he knew Linda was tremendously interested in aviation, he didn’t want her to miss the happiness that marriage would bring her. His own had been blissfully happy during its short duration, until his wife died at her baby daughter’s birth. “Yes, Linda will decide for herself,” he muttered. “I only hope that the man will be worthy of her.” “He couldn’t be. No mere man could possibly equal Linda,” remarked Miss Carlton. “How you love to tease, Emily!” retorted her brother. “But I guess you’re right at that.” The rest of the journey seemed longer than ever, now, to the impatient couple who longed to be with the girls to celebrate their great triumph with them. Never did a train seem to move so slowly. But at last it arrived at Los Angeles, about seven o’clock of the night on which Linda and Dot came down in the wilds of Oahu, at the cabin of their enemies. “We’ll take a boat to Honolulu tomorrow,” announced Miss Carlton. “I only wish we could take it right away—if there were only one sailing.” From out of the crowd on the platform two young men, hatless and sun-burned, edged their way toward the Carltons. Both were tall, so that they could easily be seen above the heads of the other people around. “Greetings, Miss Carlton!” called Ralph Clavering, before he had even reached them. “We’ve got bad news.” “Bad news!” repeated Mr. Carlton, in consternation. “But we read in the papers that the girls arrived safely in Honolulu!” “Yes. They did, sir. But they’re lost again!” Miss Carlton seized Ralph’s arm, to steady herself, and looked into his face. “You’re not joking, Ralph? You wouldn’t—joke about a thing like this?” Her voice was trembling. “Indeed I’m not, Miss Carlton,” replied the boy, earnestly. “I’m worried sick.” Mr. Carlton, however, looked less troubled than his sister. “No, I know you’re not joking, Ralph,” he said. “But you probably are exaggerating. You always see the black side of everything. You and my sister are just alike.... But let’s go over here and sit down, and suppose Jim tells us the story.” They went to one of the waiting-rooms in the station and sat down together, Miss Carlton struggling hard to get herself under control. Suppose Linda had taken it into her head to fly back—and she and Dot were now lost at the bottom of the Pacific! Suppose—But Jim was already explaining. “Well, we don’t know much that you haven’t read in the papers,” he began. “The girls went to the dinner and the reception in their honor last night, and were staying at the Governor’s mansion. We were going to sail for the island this morning, but there was no boat till tomorrow, so we called them on the telephone. “That was about eleven o’clock this morning, and we were told that they were still asleep. We phoned again at one, and they had gone out. “So we sent a couple of telegrams and waited. We asked them to call our hotel here at Los Angeles. But by seven o’clock there was no message, and we sort of got mad. At least, Ralph did. I thought maybe they had too much to do, but Ralph thought some new bird like that Englishman Linda fell for last summer was taking her time, and he resented it. “But I persuaded him to give them another chance, and we phoned again. This time the Governor himself talked to me. And he was really scared. “It seems Linda and Dot had gone to the airport right after they got up about noon, and had taken the Sky Rocket for a flight—” “The Sky Rocket?” interrupted Mr. Carlton. “Has Linda a new plane?” “Temporarily—yes. The Ladybug is here at Los Angeles.... But that’s another story.... Well, anyhow, the girls promised to be back early, for a dinner that had been planned in their honor but they haven’t been heard from!” “Murdered! Attacked by some half-breeds, of course!” cried Miss Carlton. “And no man with them to protect them!” “Nonsense, Emily!” returned her brother. “They probably ran out of gas—or damaged a wing. Or had a missing spark-plug. Linda will fix that, and those two girls will show up tomorrow morning.” “I wish I could think that, sir,” said Ralph. “Gosh, if I only had my bug over there on that island! But I haven’t the nerve to fly it.” “No, don’t!” pleaded Miss Carlton. “It would only add another disaster to our troubles. No, we’ll sail together tomorrow morning.” “In the meanwhile, let’s go to our hotel and wash and have dinner,” suggested Mr. Carlton. “Then things may look brighter. I positively refuse to worry till I have just cause!” “Wise man!” commented Jim Valier, as he picked up Miss Carlton’s bag. So the little group had dinner together at the Ambassador, waiting all the time tensely for news. But none came. And the newspapers duly reported the story that the dinner for two famous aviatrixes had been postponed! |
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