CHAPTER XVII
_Enemies_
The day of Linda Carlton's flight to Birmingham, Alabama, was warm andspring-like. It was only a false spring, to be sure, the kind thatsometimes comes suddenly in February, making everyone long to be out ofdoors. How lucky for her, she thought. If it would only last a coupleof days!
Nancy Bancroft was already at the school when Linda arrived, alert andeager for the trip. She had just received her private pilot's licensea few days previous, but she did not expect to attempt to guide theautogiro. Nevertheless, she would be company for the more experiencedaviatrix.
Half an hour's instruction was all that Mr. Eckers considerednecessary, and before nine o'clock the girls took off for the South.Linda couldn't help singing for joy. The autogiro was so much fun!
"Dad's going to buy me a plane," Nancy informed her companion. "Assoon as I get home next week."
"Next week?" repeated Linda.
"Yes. I'm leaving the school as soon as we get back. I have my license,you know--that's what I wanted."
Linda was silent, thinking of Mr. Eckers' remark about girls the daybefore. Yes, he must be right, their ambition usually ended with thegovernment's permission to fly.
"I'll miss you dreadfully, Nance!" was all she said.
"You must fly to New York often," urged the other.
The country over which the girls were flying was beautiful and the airdelightful. As they went farther south, they recognized real evidencesof spring in the foliage. The little plane hummed gayly on, with nevera disturbance in its sturdy motor. Linda was exceedingly happy.
Noon-time came, and they ate their sandwiches and drank the coffeewhich Linda's kind-hearted landlady had insisted upon providing, butthey did not stop. Everything was going so wonderfully that they hatedto break the spell. At this rate they ought to reach Birmingham longbefore dark.
It was about two o'clock that they met with a strange adventure. Flyingalong at an even rate, high enough to span the woods that loomed aheadof them, there suddenly appeared, out of nowhere it seemed, what thegirls thought to be a formation of airplanes.
"Go carefully!" warned Nancy. "Don't forget that awful accident a whileago, when several planes were flying in formation!"
Linda curved to the side, but the planes seemed to be flying straightat her.
"They haven't any sense at all!" she cried, in exasperation, nowseriously fearing disaster.
On they rushed, till a cold fear gripped Linda's heart. Try as shemight, she couldn't get out of their way! It was all like a dreadfuldream, when something menacing rushes inevitably towards you, yet youare powerless to stop. Then, in a flash, Linda perceived what theformation was.
Eagles! Great, huge, ominous birds, traveling through the air with thespeed of machines. Involuntarily, she reached for her gun.
"No use!" shouted Nancy, in terror. "Too many of them!"
Realizing the truth of Nancy's words, Linda did the only thingpossible: swiftly, almost recklessly, she landed on the ground,expecting to be dashed upward again, or the plane turned over, pinningher and her companion beneath. But miraculously, nothing disastroushappened; the autogiro had come down vertically and stopped. That,then, was the wonder of this marvelous little machine! Had it been anyother kind of plane, the girls would surely have been injured--andpossibly killed!
They had landed in a small clearing between the trees. Shutting off herengine, Linda turned, gasping, to her friend.
"Would you ever believe, a thing like that if you read it?" shedemanded.
"The landing--or the birds?" inquired Nancy, still breathless withexcitement.
"I really meant the birds, for I knew that the autogiro was wonderful.I've seen them land and take off before, though of course I never triedanything like this."
"Well, I did read about big birds bothering pilots one time--in anewspaper, I guess. But I didn't think much about it."
They waited quietly for a while until they felt calm again. The birdshad flown on immediately; there was nothing to prevent their takingup their journey again. Ordinarily Linda would have been apprehensiveof a take-off in so small a space, but after her landing, she feltconfident. The autogiro rose instantly, almost vertically, and theywere on their course again.
"I'm going to get Dad to buy me an autogiro!" Nancy announced. "Thishas decided me."
"Me too!" agreed Linda.
"But you'll have a big Bellanca!" Nancy said. "Lou told me you put inthe order."
"I may not have, after we try that ocean trip," returned the othergirl. "We may be ship-wrecked and picked up by some boat----"
"So long as you are picked up, it'll be O.K.... Oh, Linda, I think youare just marvelous!"
"Thanks, Nance. But I don't deserve the praise yet. Wait till I earnit."
Only a short distance stretched between them and Birmingham now,and Linda covered it in record time. Safe and sound she brought theautogiro down on the airport before four o'clock in the afternoon.Turning it over to the authorities, and giving her instructions aboutthe other plane, which was to be ready the following day, Lindasummoned a taxi and asked to be driven to the best hotel.
The rest of the day was their own, and the girls enjoyed it thoroughly,eating a luxurious dinner, and attending a show afterward. Ontheir way home from the theater, Nancy asked more questions aboutLinda's proposed trans-Atlantic flight, and the latter told hereverything--even to the story of the enemy whom she and Louise mostfeared: Bess Hulbert.
"But I don't see why you should worry about her," said Nancy. "Shewouldn't dare come back to the United States again."
"I'm not so sure of that. Now that some time has passed, she'll thinkeveryone's forgotten about her crimes."
"I hope not," replied Nancy, optimistically.
Little did the girls think, as they discussed Bess Hulbert, thatevening, that they would run into her the following day, just as Lindawas fearing might happen at some time or another.
It all happened suddenly, at the field of the airplane constructioncompany in Nashville, Tennessee, where Linda had delivered the secondplane without any mishap.
She had just received the president's signature on the delivery card,and was about to summon a taxi, when the man made a generous suggestion.
"If you girls can wait till tomorrow," he told them, "I can haveyou taken north by plane. We are making a delivery at Springfield,Illinois, and St. Louis isn't much out of the way."
"That will be fine!" exclaimed Linda, gratefully. "Because we both havegrown to hate trains. They crawl so."
"Worms instead of birds," remarked Nancy, thinking of the dangerousmistake they had made the previous day.
"Besides," added Linda, "we will get there so much more quickly, eventhough we had thought something of taking a sleeper."
"O.K. Then I will introduce you to your pilot, and you can make yourarrangements." He turned to a mechanic who was standing by. "Joe, getMiss Mason to come over here." Then, to the girls he explained, "Yourpilot happens to be a young lady--one of our saleswomen."
Nancy and Linda both smiled rather proudly. It was nice to find thatwomen were everywhere taking their places in aviation.
The false name was misleading; Linda had not a suspicion that "MissMason" was Bess Hulbert, although she remembered later that the girlhad masqueraded in Plattsburg as "Anna Smith." But the moment the girlcame toward them, Linda recognized her, and had the satisfaction atleast of seeing her turn deathly pale.
Noticing Linda's gasp of astonishment, Nancy turned to herquestioningly.
"It's Bess Hulbert!" she whispered, hoarsely.
"What's that?" demanded the president of the corporation.
"Nothing," answered Linda. "Only--Mr. Harris--we--we've changed ourminds about flying back to St. Louis. We'll go by train."
"But why?" demanded the man, as Miss Hulbert came nearer. "Pardon me,but is it something personal? You know Miss Mason, perhaps?"
"To Miss Carlton's sorrow!" was Nancy's quick and bitter retort. "Ithink you had
better hear all about the kind of woman you have in youremploy!"
"No! No!" protested Bess Hulbert, who was now near enough to hear theslur, and who appeared desperately frightened. "Give me a chance totalk to Miss Carlton alone. I don't know this other person!"
At a loss to know what to say, the man looked helplessly at Linda.
"No. Perhaps we had better go," decided Linda.
"Please give me a chance!" begged Bess. "Ten minutes--alone." Shelooked imploringly at Mr. Harris, who nodded immediately, and startedtowards the building.
Bess reached for Linda's arm, and clung to it desperately, as a beggarmight appeal for alms.
"I know what you think of me," she said. "But I'm so sorry, sofrightfully sorry! Won't you have mercy on me--let bygones be bygones,if I give you my word of honor I've reformed?"
Receiving no reply, she continued excitedly: "It's true that I triedto snatch your father's business, but oh, I was desperate! If youcould know what it is to be poor--to have an ambition to fly, and notbe able to fulfill it! Oh, Miss Carlton, you ought to understand whatthe longing is! Suppose you didn't have a father to buy you a plane!Remember, I had to fly an old Jenny from the Army, while you pilotedan Arrow Sport!"
"But you wrecked my Arrow," Linda reminded her.
"Yes. In a fit of jealousy. I'm sorry. Oh, please believe that I amtruly sorry now! And if you let me go ahead without showing me up, andif I can win that prize for the flight to Paris, I'll buy you a newplane. Honest I will! I'll give you a written promise!"
"But why should I make it possible for you to win the prize, when MissHaydock and I want to win it ourselves?" countered Linda.
"To be sporting! Oh, won't you please! You see, I now owe KittyClavering ten thousand dollars, and I can never repay her unless I win.I've got a job here, but it would take me years to save that much....If you throw me into prison, I'll never get out of debt. It will ruinmy life."
"Didn't you try to ruin Linda's life?" put in Nancy.
"No--only the plane. I didn't mean to kill you, Miss Carlton! I'm notso bad as that! I'd never do anything like that again--I've learnedmy lesson, living these months in a constant dread of arrest anddisgrace.... Maybe you haven't heard that my brother is engaged toKitty Clavering," she added, changing the subject. "But he could nevermarry her if I brought a terrible disgrace on the family!"
In the face of these arguments and entreaties, Linda was silent. Neverin her life had she been confronted with such a momentous decision.
"When do you plan to fly across the ocean?" she asked, stalling fortime.
"April. Early in the month, I hope."
"With another girl?"
"No. Alone."
"No mechanic--no navigator with you?"
"No. I'm relying a lot on luck."
"That's a bad idea. You better get somebody to help you."
Bess Hulbert's eyes lighted up with joy.
"You are going to let me go?" she cried, snatching Linda's hand inrelief. "Oh, you angel!"
"I'm not sure yet," replied Linda. "I'll have to talk it over withLou--Miss Haydock. After all, she has a right to some say in thematter.... But meanwhile, my friend and I do not care to go by planewith you to St. Louis."
"You won't trust me! Even now, when you have my confession--when I tellyou I've reformed?"
"Sorry," replied Linda, coldly. "But a burnt child dreads the fire. SoI don't feel like risking it.... Now, if we decide to let you off, itis just as you said, because of the sport of the thing--to give you achance to compete for the big honor. But Miss Haydock and I could neverreally trust you again."
Bess Hulbert sighed; she was slowly but surely learning that dishonestydid not pay.
"You are going to tell Mr. Harris?" she asked.
"No, I guess not," replied Linda. "That wouldn't do us any good....We want to get to a hotel now, and look up our trains, and change ourclothing. Can you get us a taxi?"
"Certainly," replied Bess, meekly. How different she was from thehaughty girl they had met at the Flying Club in the fall! "And whenshall I hear definitely from you?"
"If we decide to take any steps against you, we'll inform the officialsthis week, and you'll hear from them. But I wouldn't run away thistime--you have an even chance of getting free, if you stick to the job.And, if you hear nothing before the tenth of March, say, you can goahead with your plans."
"Thank you! Thank you!" cried the older girl, rushing off to do as shewas told.
The taxi appeared in a few minutes, and when Nancy and Linda werefinally alone, the former regarded her friend with wonder andadmiration.
"You're actually going to let her go, aren't you, Linda!" she asked.
"What do you think?" asked the other.
Nancy shrugged her shoulders. "You're doing the big thing, ofcourse, but I don't believe in your place I could do it. I'd want myrevenge.... Anyhow, I don't really think she'll win that prize."
"What makes you say that?"
"Not enough preparation. Not a good enough plane--she's spending lessthan ten thousand dollars, apparently.... And, well, it just wouldn'tbe right."
Linda laughed, but she knew that Nancy was absolutely loyal to her.