Linda Carlton, Air Pilot

"We won't go far, Auntie dear," answered the girl. "Just around to the nearest airports, and see if anybody has any information. The practice of landing and taking-off again will be good for us both… And you needn't worry one bit!.. Now, who'll drive us over to our 'Pursuit'?"

"'Pursuit' is right," remarked Maurice. "Your plane has the right name, Linda!"

Louise immediately offered her services, and in less than five minutes the young pilots had washed their faces and were ready to start. Ten minutes later they climbed into the cockpit on the runway of the airport, and, this time with Ralph at the controls, they took off for the nearest airport.

Ralph was delighted to be piloting a plane again, and in his enthusiasm he almost forgot the seriousness of his mission. A king of the air, he thought, and his lips were smiling. But Linda could not forget so easily.

Like most young men, he loved going fast, and as soon as he was high enough, he let the plane out to her maximum speed. Over the clouds they sailed, at a rate of seventy miles an hour, yet they did not seem to be traveling fast. Linda had no sense of danger, yet it was the first flight she had ever made that she did not thoroughly enjoy, for, unlike Ralph, she could not for one moment forget Kitty's tragedy.

Twenty minutes, however, was all that was needed to reach their first port, and Ralph, not quite so skilled or so careful as Linda, made, nevertheless a pretty landing. It was a large field, evidently designed for amateur sport flyers, and there were a number of licensed mechanics in readiness to greet new arrivals.

Ralph lost no time in telling his story to the first man who came forward. Had they any information so far? he inquired.

"Only of a wreck about fifteen miles away," replied the latter. "That may be your man – if, as you say, he is not an experienced pilot."

"Can you give us directions?" put in Linda excitedly.

"Certainly," replied the other, taking a map from his pocket, and indicating the position of the wreck. "We've already sent a doctor and a nurse – and telephoned for an ambulance." Marking the spot, he handed the map to Ralph.

Jumping into the plane at once, Linda took control, for she felt surer of herself than of her companion in an emergency. The boy was so absent-minded, so likely to forget things in his excitement.

Their destination was a field again, but not a large one, this time, and already a small crowd, gathered from passing automobiles, had collected. Here landing was not so easy as in the airports designed for that very purpose. But the girl knew just what she was doing, and she handled the situation with a dexterity that would have brought credit to a far more experienced pilot.

Over against an embankment, its wings smashed to pieces, a plane was lying on its side, mutely testifying to the truth of the mechanic's statement.

"There's the wreck!" cried Ralph, as he and Linda stepped on the ground. "Do you think it's the Waco?"

Grabbing her companion's arm, Linda ran forward eagerly. When they were within fifty yards of it, she knew that it was the very plane they were seeking.

"It is! Oh, Ralph! Even the license number – so I'm sure! Remember? Look! Do you suppose that man was killed?"

"Would serve him right!" muttered the boy, resentfully. "Stealing a necklace, and crashing a plane that wasn't his! But let's go over and have a peep at him – there's the ambulance."

The crowd, which was still gathering, although the field was in an isolated spot, was being held back by a policeman, for the ambulance was ready to start. Ralph dashed forward, anxious to get a look at the thief before it departed.

"Not that we could claim the necklace now," he explained to Linda, whose arm he was holding, "for we haven't any proofs of our ownership. But at least we could warn the cop to look out for it."

"Back! Back!" shouted the officer, for the driver was tooting his horn.

"Oh, please wait a minute!" begged Linda. "Please let me see the man who is inside!"

The policeman regarded the girl doubtfully, but she was so eager in her pleading that he thought perhaps she had a good reason. Perhaps the man inside the ambulance meant something to her; he decided to grant her request.

"Take a look, miss," he agreed. "But be quick about it."

Stepping ahead of Ralph, Linda climbed upon the back step of the car, and peered anxiously into it, past the white-clad interne, to the unconscious figure on the stretcher. Suddenly she started violently, and clung to the door of the ambulance for support. It was incredible, impossible! Her knees shook, her hands fell to her side, and she swayed backward in a faint. In an instant Ralph's arms were around her; he carried her out of the crowd.

The unconscious man in the ambulance was none other than Ted Mackay!

Chapter IX

Suspicions

Someone from the crowd handed Ralph a cup filled with water, and before they had gone half a dozen steps, Linda had recovered consciousness. She dropped down to the ground and stared questioningly about her.

"What was it, my dear?" asked Ralph gently, as he held the water to her lips. "Was the man hurt so horribly?"

"No – it wasn't that," replied Linda slowly, remembering all that had happened. "It was just – oh, Ralph! I hate to tell you!"

"Please tell me, Linda," he begged.

She looked about her for a moment. The ambulance had gone, and the crowd, seeing that the girl was all right, began to withdraw, some to examine the shattered plane, others to go back to their cars parked along the roadside. There was nobody listening now, so she decided to answer Ralph's question.

"It wasn't our thief at all," she said. "It was – Ted Mackay."

"Ted Mackay?" he repeated, as if he could not believe his ears.

"Yes."

"Then how do you explain it? That couldn't have been Mackay we met on that field – Mackay disguised, or anything?"

"No. He wasn't tall enough. And he had black hair. Oh, Ralph, I'm sure of that!"

"Then how do you explain it?"

"I don't explain it," she said weakly.

He said nothing more, but he knew that she was not only terribly disappointed in not being able to trace the necklace, but that she was entertaining grave doubts about Mackay's part in the whole miserable affair. Were he and this thief in partnership, playing a wicked game, and had Ted hired the man because he would not let them know his part in the robbery?

But there was no use talking about that now, for Ralph realized that Linda was almost ready to collapse. Drawing her arm through his, he led her silently back to the Pursuit, and put her into the cockpit, indicating that he would pilot them back to Green Falls. Not a word did she utter during the entire flight homeward; she drooped listlessly back in her seat, with an expression of disappointment and despair on her face. How she wished that she had not come!

No one was waiting for them at the airport, so they took a taxi to Miss Carlton's bungalow. They found the latter on the porch, with only Kitty and Maurice beside her.

"Any news?" demanded the girl, jumping out of the hammock, and rushing down the steps before the taxi had been stopped.

"Some news, yes," replied Linda, while Ralph paid the driver. "But I'm afraid it doesn't mean much. Ralph will tell you all about it."

But the young man was not willing to tell his story until he had asked Miss Carlton to take care of Linda.

"She fainted at the field," he explained. "The hot sun and the crowd, I expect." He did not want to speak of Ted Mackay before her, while she felt so ill. "So if you'll take Linda up to her room, Miss Carlton, I'll tell Kitty what I know – and tell you later."

The words aroused Linda's aunt immediately, and she lost interest in the necklace temporarily. What were a few pearls, anyway, in comparison to her precious girl? She hurried her off to bed, and Ralph turned to Kitty and Maurice.

"You see it was this way," he began, and Kitty stamped her foot in exasperation.

"Don't be so slow, Ralph!" she commanded.

"Why, here comes Linda's father!" interrupted Maurice, as another taxi stopped at the bungalow. "What do you think of that?"