CHAPTER VIII
_The Chief of Police_
Half an hour after the accident, Susie expressed a desire to eat, andLinda hastened to supply her with food. While the girl ate her lunch,the little group discussed their plans.
"Is my bag still in the autogiro?" asked Linda, surveying thedisreputable suit which she had worn for three days. What a relief itwould be to get into clean clothing!
"It was when we left," replied Susie. "If it didn't bounce out when wecrashed.... Linda," she added apologetically, "I'm awful sorry aboutyour plane. I--I--didn't mean to crack it up."
"I know you didn't, Susie. I think it can be repaired, if we can getthe new parts to this forsaken place. Probably we can--by airplane."
Jackson Carter, who had been only half listening to this conversation,interrupted by telling the girls that he and Hal would take care ofthe burying of the criminal. "Unless," he added, turning to Susie, "youwould want to take the body back to your home?"
"We haven't any home," Susie admitted sadly. "And no friends, outsidethe gang.... No, it's better for him to lie here in this swamp--wherehe meant to plant Linda."
The implication was lost to the boys, who did not know the story of thekidnapping, and who thought of Linda as "Ann."
"Then first we'll help you get your bag out of the autogiro, MissCarlton," offered Jackson. "You can go back into one of those little'houses,' and change into clean clothing, if you want to, while weattend to the burying."
"Wait a minute," urged Linda. "I think we ought to decide what we'lldo about tonight. We can't all four get into that canoe, so Susie andI had better stay here, hadn't we? You could wire my aunt for me,couldn't you?"
To Linda's amazement, before either of the boys had a chance to reply,Susie put in a protest.
"It ain't safe for you to be here an hour more than you have to,"she said. "Don't forget there's still three rough guys hot on yourtrail.... No, I'll stay alone, if you leave me some grub, and ablanket. You can come back for me when you bring somebody to fix yourplane." This generous offer came as a complete surprise to Linda; shehad not realized before that this girl had swung over to her side. Whata splendid sign it was! Susie must have decided to cut free from thesecriminals, now that her husband was dead.
"That's great of you, Susie," replied Linda. "And you needn't worrythat I'll ever tell the authorities anything bad about you! I wasafraid I oughtn't to leave you alone--but if you really don't mind----"
The other girl shrugged her shoulders.
"I'll get along O.K. I'm used to being left by myself. But don't stayaway too long."
The arrangements suited the boys perfectly, for they were anxious to beout of the swamp as soon as possible. With fast paddling, they ought tobe able to reach a little town in Florida by dark, where they believedthat they could hire an automobile to take them home.
Fifteen minutes later Linda stepped out from the enclosure, dressedin a pale blue voile--the only dress she carried in her bag, for shehad shipped her trunk to Atlanta, where she had expected to report forwork. The wearing of clean clothing was a pleasure second only to thatof using a comb and a tooth-brush. She felt like a different girl.
If she had seemed pretty to Jackson Carter before, in that disheveledgreen linen suit, she was radiantly beautiful now. Returning from hisgruesome task, he stood still, lost in admiration.
Linda laughed at his amazement.
"Do I look like another girl?" she inquired.
"The same girl--glorified," he answered, with awe.
Having unloaded the canoe of its food and blankets, and assuredthemselves that Susie was able to hobble around with the aid of astick, the three young people pushed off. It was only three o'clock;all these occurrences--the crash, the death of the criminal, hisburial--had taken place in less than two hours!
For some time the boys paddled forward in silence, each of the threeoccupants of the canoe lost in his or her own thoughts. Hal was goingover the exciting events of the last two hours; Jackson was thinkingof Linda--or "Ann"--Carlton, and wondering whether her hiding herhead on his shoulder had meant that she cared for him. Linda's mind,however, was occupied with the immediate future--with the part shemight play in assisting the police to catch those arch criminals whowere still at large.
It was she who first broke the silence.
"What would be the nearest large city to this southern end of theswamp?" she inquired.
"Jacksonville, Florida," replied Hal, immediately. "That's where weboth live."
"Then that's where I want to go," announced Linda. "Have they a goodpolice department?"
"Best in the country," boasted Jackson.... "Miss Carlton," he added,"would you stay at our home while you are in the city?"
"I'd love to," agreed the girl immediately. All through the South,until she had lost her way in the Okefenokee, she had met with thissame southern hospitality, and had found it charming.
Jackson Carter was overjoyed at her acceptance, yet he was a littlefearful of the reception his mother would give to a girl who was sodifferent from all his other friends. Surely, however, the older womanmust see how fine Miss Carlton was, and accept her for her own lovelycharm.
The hours passed swiftly and the daylight was fast fading when the boysfinally informed Linda that she was out of the swamp. With a prayer ofthanksgiving, she gave it one last look, hardly able to believe hergood fortune. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she had been miserablylost in its depths. Now she was free to live again in civilization,untortured by the fears that had held her in such terror for the lastthree days.
Leaving the canoe in a boat-house on the bank of the small stream whichthey had been following out of the swamp, they walked to the nearestvillage and asked for the Post Office. Here Linda made arrangements tosend a wire to her aunt, in which, however, she did not mention thefact that she had been kidnapped.
"Have been lost in Okefenokee Swamp," she wrote. "But not hurt. Wire meat Jacksonville, Fla. Love--Linda."
Her next move was to send for her trunk from Atlanta, and to wire fornew parts for the autogiro, and while the boys looked up a place toeat supper, she bought a Jacksonville newspaper. She hoped there wouldbe nothing in it about her, for she hated so much publicity.
The first item that struck her eye was the announcement of theJacksonville Bank robbery. More than a hundred thousand dollars hadbeen stolen--in cash and securities--by four masked bandits on theafternoon of June twenty-third, and still no trace of them had beenfound.
"That money must be at Black Jack Island," she thought, resolving toget this information to the police early the following day.
She had to go through the paper twice before she found her own name. Itwas only a tiny notice, among the aviation briefs, and copied from anOhio paper--stating the fact that Linda Carlton, world-famous aviatrix,had not been heard from for three days, and asking that the air-portsof Georgia report any sight of her autogiro.
Linda breathed a sigh of relief, as she saw how inconspicuous thisnotice was. For some reason she did not want Jackson Carter or HalPerry to connect her with the famous flyer, and she longed aboveeverything to keep the story of the kidnapping from her aunt's ears.
The boys came back with the information that they had found a place toeat, and took Linda to a little frame house where a widow ran a sort ofrestaurant. The cottage was run-down and out-of-repair, but everythinginside was neat and clean, and the food, though plain, was excellent.
"How long will it take us to get to Jacksonville?" inquired Linda, asthey finished the meal.
"Two or three hours," replied Hal. "Providing we have no mishaps. Why?"
Linda repressed a sigh. She was very tired, and longed intensely forsleep in a real bed. These last two nights in the swamp had taken theirtoll of her vitality.
"If only we had a plane!" she said.
"It wouldn't do me any good," remarked Jackson. "I've never been inone--and I've promised my grandmother I won't fly until I'm twenty-one."
"Oh, I'm so sorry,
" offered Linda, with genuine sympathy. Life withoutflying seemed a dreary thing to her.
The only car which the boys had been able to hire was a dilapidatedFord that looked as if it would hardly last the trip. But it proved tobe better than its appearance; over the lovely hard roads of Florida ittraveled comparatively smoothly. To Linda's amazement, she found whenthey reached Jacksonville that she had slept most of the way.
The short rest had freshened her considerably, and she suddenly decidedto go to the Police Headquarters that night. It was her duty to reportthe crash of her plane, and the death of that criminal. She wishedthat she had thought to ask Susie his real name--she was going to feelrather silly calling him "Slats."
With this purpose in mind, she asked Jackson what time it was.
"Half-past nine," was his reply. "Why?"
"Because I think I ought to report to the Police tonight about thosethieves. I understand that it was a bank in Jacksonville that theyrobbed."
"Which bank?" demanded the boy, excitedly.
"'The First National,' the paper says."
At this information, Jackson Carter dropped back in his seat andgroaned. His mother's bank--where all of her money was kept! The bankof which his uncle was president! This was going to mean trouble to thewhole Carter family.
"Will you please take my bag to your house, and leave the address withme?" asked Linda, not knowing what Jackson was suffering. "I'll take ataxi out to your home, after I see the Chief of Police."
"Yes, yes, of course," agreed the young man, still absorbed in his ownthoughts.
It was a late hour to visit the Chief of Police, but when Lindaexplained her reason to an officer at the City Hall, the latter sentfor the chief immediately.
When Captain Magee came in a few minutes later, Linda was impressedwith his appearance and delighted with his dignified and courteousmanner. She smiled at him confidently; how different he was from thoseofficers of the law with whom she had come in contact in Canada!
"I am going to tell you my whole story, if you will promise not torepeat the part about the kidnapping to the newspapers," she began. "Idon't want my people at home to hear of that--for, after all, it isover now, and I am safe."
"Kidnapping!" repeated the officer. "You don't mean to say that youhave been kidnapped?"
"Yes. My name is Linda Ann Carlton--I am the girl who flew the Atlanticin May." She blushed, for she hated to talk about herself, or to appearto boast about her own exploits, but this time it was necessary. "Herein Jacksonville, among friends, I am going to be known as Ann Carlton,because I want to avoid publicity." Her blue eyes became pleading, andshe asked, in an almost child-like tone, "You won't tell on me, willyou, Captain Magee?"
He smiled. "No, I won't tell. Unless it becomes necessary."
"Thank you so much! Well, to continue: I bought a new autogiro and flewdown here to report to a company in Atlanta about a job spraying crops,and the newspapers printed the route of my flight. Early in the eveningof June 22nd I lost my way over the Okefenokee Swamp, and finallylanded on an island. A plane had been chasing me, as I later learnedafter it landed--or rather crashed--beside mine. The man in it heldme at the point of a gun and compelled me to fly my autogiro to theircamp on Black Jack Island, where I was to be held for a ransom. _Thatman was the chief of the gang of bandits that robbed the Jacksonvillebank._"
She paused a moment for breath, and the Captain leaned forward eagerly.The story, which might have seemed incredulous to an ordinary person,was perfectly believable to him. He was used to the ways of criminals.
"But how did you get away?" he demanded.
"I never should have, if it hadn't been for this bank robbery," sheexplained. "While the men went off, I escaped, and was picked up by acouple of Jacksonville boys in a canoe."
Linda went on to relate the happenings of the afternoon, concludingwith the death of the ring-leader of the gang, whom she knew only as"Slats." She spoke lightly of Susie, showing her merely as a weak pawnin her husband's hands.
The criminals' method of disposing of their stolen valuables wasanother interesting point in her story, and she told Captain Mageeabout the barren island in the ocean.
"Now whether this stuff is still on the island or at the camp," sheconcluded, "I don't know. But I am ready to go and help you find out."
"You mean you are actually willing to go back into that swamp?" theofficer asked. "To show us the way?"
"Of course! That's why I came to you tonight. So that we can makearrangements for tomorrow."
"But it may be very dangerous, Miss Carlton! These men will be armed,and will shoot at sight."
"I'll take a chance. Can we go tomorrow morning? By plane?"
"By airplane?"
"Yes. Any other way would be too slow. They may have escaped already."
"But an airplane will be so much noisier than a boat. They'll hear youcoming."
"We'll have to take that chance." She stood up. "If you will get aplane, Captain Magee--a large one--I will fly it, to save space. Thenwe can take two or three armed guards."
"How do you know that you can fly any plane I happen to get, MissCarlton?" he inquired, incredulously.
"You see, I'm a transport pilot," she explained. "We have to be able tomanage most anything.... Can you send a car out for me to the Carters'home, early in the morning?" She handed the Captain the address.
"Yes. I'll telephone as soon as I can make all the arrangements," heagreed, seeing that he could not change her from her purpose.
Linda thanked him and hurried out to the waiting taxi. It was growinglate, long after ten o'clock, and she was anxious to be in bed.
Jackson Carter himself came to the door when she rang the bell.
"Where is your mother?" she asked, immediately, for there was no signof a hostess inside.
"She is ill," replied the young man. "The bad news about the bank--agreat deal of our money was lost--knocked her terribly. She hasn't toldgrandmother, or it might kill her. So I had the maid get the guest roomready, and hope that you will excuse them both."
Linda nodded; she had no way of knowing that Mrs. Carter had protestedabout entertaining this girl whom Jackson had "picked up" on his canoetrip, and had stubbornly refused to see her. The woman had workedherself into such a state of nerves over her losses and over thisincident that she had actually made herself ill.
"I'm so sorry," said Linda, sympathetically. "If I weren't so tired,I'd go to a hotel, for this is no time for your mother to be botheredwith a guest. But I'll just stay tonight, and leave early tomorrow. I'mflying to the swamp again with the police officers."
"Ann!" cried Jackson aghast, using her name unconsciously. "Don't,please! It's dangerous--you may be killed.... And, and, besides----"
"Besides, what?"
"Besides, it isn't done. You shouldn't go off to lonely places likethat, without an older woman along."
Linda smiled.
"I can't be bothered with social codes at a time like this," she said."I have to do all I can to get that money back. Think of the hundredsof people hurt by that bank robbery--if the bank is forced to close itsdoors! Including your own mother and grandmother! No, I just have togo."
"Let me go instead," he suggested.
"You wouldn't know just where the camp is. It's pretty well hidden, andI know the only spot where a landing is possible. Besides, you can'tfly a plane."
"You mean you will pilot the plane yourself? Your autogiro's broken."
"Oh, it'll be another plane--a hired one. Now please don't argue anymore, Mr. Carter--you sound like my aunt--and let me go to bed. Andwill you ask one of the servants to waken me at seven o'clock?"
"Good night, then, Miss Carlton," he said, almost sorrowfully, for itseemed like the end of what might have been a wonderful friendship forJackson Carter.