Chapter XI
Prisoners
When the shot of the gun rang through the woods, the startled girls heard scampering feet behind them, and knew that the animal, whatever it was, had been frightened away. Again they had had a marvelous escape, for they might have been wounded by the unseen hunter's gun. What irony it would have been, to jump from an airplane in parachutes, only to be killed by a human hand!
Desperately they clung to each other, satisfied now by the answering call that there would be more shots until they were located. Rescue was surely at hand; the question now arose: what sort of human being had them at his mercy?
They remained motionless, waiting for their fate, as the footsteps came nearer. At last they were able to distinguish the shaggy outline of a man in a fur coat.
"Who's there?" he called.
Both girls breathed a sigh of relief, as they heard the words in English. Surely they were safe now!
"Two girls – from a wrecked airplane… Lost," replied Linda.
"Oh, can you give us shelter, please?" begged Louise.
The stranger came towards them, and they looked into the face of a middle-aged man, rough and hard, but civilized.
"Yes. You can come into my lodge… This is a cold night to be lost in these northern woods."
"Dreadful!" shivered Louise. "We thought we were done for."
"What happened to your plane?"
"We sprung a leak in our gas tank. We had to jump, and it went up in flames."
"Too bad," muttered the man.
Nothing more was said for a few minutes, and the girls walked painfully on, guided by their companion. At last they came to a small cabin, with an oil lamp lighted inside. It looked like Heaven to Linda and Louise.
"I'll give you some food, and let you have the place for the night," offered the man, generously. "I was going off anyhow."
"Oh, no!" protested Linda. "We mustn't drive you out in the cold!" And, seeing that the cabin had two rooms – a living-room and a kitchen, she immediately added, "We can easily sleep in the kitchen."
"No, I expect to be out all night anyway." He went out into the kitchen and made them some hot coffee, and fried bacon and produced crackers and a can of beans.
"Nothing in my life ever tasted half so good!" cried Louise, gratefully, as she ate ravenously, while her host stood there a moment watching both of the girls.
"Now tell me," he said, "what you two young ladies were doing flying a plane up here on the border in the dead of winter?"
"We've been to Canada," explained Linda, "to visit a Convent where some nuns make this lovely lace-work." She took her handkerchief out of her pocket, and showed it to the man, though she realized it would not be possible for him to appreciate it. "My father buys this, and sells it again."
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the man, significantly, opening his eyes and his mouth wide, knowingly. "I see."
"What do you see?" asked Louise, sharply.
"Nothing – nothing," he muttered. "I must be off – I have to get in touch with a man I know tonight – across the woods." His tone changed abruptly. "I don't want you girls to stir from here till I get back! You understand?"
"You mean you want us to go on eating all night?" remarked Louise, ignoring the seriousness of his tone. The coffee had made her feel good; she wanted to laugh and joke.
"No. I mean you're not to leave the cabin, till I get back in the morning."
"We won't!" Linda assured him. "Nothing could induce us to, in all this cold. We'd never find our way, and besides, we want to pay for our lodging. Can you – could you find a way to get us to a train tomorrow?"
"I'll take care of you," he replied, with a queer smile, but neither Linda nor Louise noticed. They were too tired now for anything but sleep.
As soon as he was gone, they decided to turn in. There was only one narrow cot in the cabin, but there were three blankets, and they knew they would not mind sleeping in close quarters. It was so good to be warm, and fed, alive!
Linda was the first to awaken the following morning, and for a moment, as she looked about her at the unfamiliar surroundings, she could not recall where she was. The strange little hut, with the big stone fireplace, where now only ashes remained of last night's fire, the crude couch on which she and Louise were huddled so close together, the trophies about the unfinished walls. And outside the icy windows, a desolate country, covered with snow.
"Hurry up, Lou!" she cried, waking her companion. "Let's get washed up before that man comes back! Funny, we never thought to ask him his name!"
"We were too tired," replied the other girl, rubbing her eyes. "Honestly I never was so nearly dead in my life."
"It was because we saw no hope of resting. Just going on and on – or freezing. How do your feet feel this morning?"
"Terrible!" Louise leaned over and examined them. "They're dreadfully swollen. I'll never be able to walk, and how can we get to civilization if we don't?"
"Maybe our friend will dig up some horses. Or an airplane. If there is any place to land."
"An airplane!" repeated Louise, as she laboriously, started to pull on her stockings. "Linda, do you feel very terrible about losing the Arrow?"
"Of course I'm dreadfully sorry, but I think I should be ungrateful if I thought too much about that – after our lucky escape. Besides, I feel pretty certain I'll get another one now. If Daddy can pull out of his business troubles, we can order that Bellanca."
The girls finished their dressing and set the room to rights, so that everything would be comfortable and neat when their host returned. Then they started a fire in the fireplace with some kindling and logs that were in readiness, and proceeded to the kitchen, to clear up their supper dishes, and to cook some breakfast. Fortunately there was plenty of food, and they enjoyed their hot meal. But they were not so ravenous as they had been the night before.
"I wish that man would hurry," remarked Linda, as she put the clean dishes away. "I'd like to get somewhere to wire Ted. When he didn't get a telegram last night, he probably thought something had happened to us, and maybe he'll send out a searching party today."
"That's true," agreed Louise. "Good old Ted!.. But what about your Aunt Emily? Do you think she will worry?"
"Not yet. Because she didn't expect us to wire every night. She probably thinks we're visiting some friends in Plattsburg."
They went back to the living-room, and settled themselves comfortably before the open fire, enjoying the warmth and cheer of the blaze. Linda's wrist-watch, which was still going in spite of its fall through the air, proclaimed it to be ten o'clock when a knock finally sounded at the door.
She sprang up and unfastened the bolt. It was their rescuer, with another man, also in a fur coat. Two horses stood outside, covered with blankets.
"How are you today?" asked the owner of the cabin, genially.
"Just fine!" replied Linda, gayly. "Thanks to your hospitality!"
"Meet Sergeant Bradshaw," said the man rather brusquely, as he and his companion stepped inside and closed the door. "Your names – ?"
"Linda Carlton and Louise Haydock," replied the former.
"Well, Sergeant," explained their host, turning to the other man, "these are the young ladies… But, as I told you, they've lost their plane now, so they'll probably tell you they are ready to reform."
"Reform?" repeated Louise, thinking that the man was teasing them. But he was not smiling; and his companion was regarding them with a most scornful expression.
"They'll reform all right," sneered the latter. "Under lock and key!"
For the first time a shiver of fear crept over Linda. Was their rescuer bad, after all? Did he mean to kidnap her and her chum?
"What do you mean?" demanded Louise, in a tone of challenge.
"What I say!" thundered the sergeant, displaying his badge. "I arrest you two young ladies as smugglers! I am going to take you both to jail!"
"Smugglers?" repeated Linda, aghast.
"Yes. You know all about it. Don't look innocent! We've had wind for over a month of the fact that a plane was taking something from Canada to Plattsburg, but we just found out last week what it was – _French lace_! And a girl has been flying it!"
Instantly both Linda and Louise understood what had happened. They were being arrested for Bess Hulbert's crime!
"But neither of us is the girl you're after – the girl that's guilty!" protested Louise. "That girl flew a gray Moth!"
"Yeah? And how do we know your plane wasn't a gray Moth? How are you going to prove that? And didn't you admit you'd just come from that Convent, and didn't you show my friend Marshall here, some of the goods?"
"But those are our own things!" cried Louise. "Bought in Columbus, Ohio!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, I don't happen to believe that… What I do know, is you didn't stop at the border for the regular search, did you?"
"We didn't know you had to… We didn't even know the border when we came to it," remarked Linda, bitterly.
"No? Well, you can tell that to the judge!" replied the sergeant, with a smirk. "I guess you don't even know yet whether you're in the U.S. or not?"
"No, as a matter of fact, we don't."
"Innocent little things!" he sneered, sarcastically. "Rats! What's the use of wasting time? Come on!"
"Won't you even listen to our story?" begged Linda.
"You can save it for the judge! We've got a couple of horses out here, and we're each taking one of you along. Get your coats on – and hustle!"
Meekly Linda did as she was told, biting her lips to keep back the tears, but Louise was furiously angry.
"You just wait!" she sputtered. "You'll make a public apology for this, when our fathers hear about it."
"Listen to the little spit-fire!" drawled the sergeant, in a nasty tone. Then, turning to the other man, "Listen, Marshall, I don't think we better try to take these two girls on our horses – especially this little cat here." He pointed rudely at Louise. "She might scratch! And it's none too easy traveling in this kind of weather… Their trial won't come up for a month or so, anyway, so we might as well lock 'em in here as anywhere till we see fit to get 'em. You don't need the cabin, do you?"
"No, I can go over with Hendries."
"Well, the windows are barred. Besides, if they tried to escape, they would only get lost, and freeze or starve to death. Suppose we leave 'em here to think over their crime, and maybe after a few days or so, they'll be more ready to confess."
"But we have to wire our folks!" cried Linda, in dismay.
"You ought to have thought of that before you tried your tricks. If it's your father you're working for, he knows what to expect. Smuggling's serious business, young woman!"
"But we didn't – "
"So I've heard you say before, but lady, that don't get you anywheres with me… Marshall, you go and get wood and see that there's enough oil and water and food to last about four days. I'll stay here and watch 'em till you get back."
Linda and Louise did not believe anyone could be so cruel, so inhuman as this man – not even willing to listen to their story. But he was so entirely convinced of their guilt, that he probably thought he was justified. After all, the punishment wouldn't have been too severe if he had caught the right person – Bess Hulbert. But how unfair it was for them!
"Won't you please send my father a telegram?" begged Linda, with tears in her eyes.
"Are you ready to confess?" countered the sergeant.
"We can't confess what we haven't done!" she protested.
"Then your father will have to wait. He'll know in about four days, when we bring a plane to take you away."
"Oh!" gasped Linda, realizing the horrible anxiety this decision would cause so many people dear to herself and Louise. Dropping down on the couch, she buried her head in her hands, and did not look up again until the men had gone, and locked and barred the door from the outside. Then she broke into uncontrollable weeping, and Louise, clasping her arms about her, cried too.
"There is only one redeeming thing about it," said Louise, after a moment. "We're together."
"If we weren't," sobbed Linda, "I think we should lose our minds!"
But already Louise was looking about, trying to figure out some means of escape.
"The thing that makes me maddest," she remarked, "is the delay in catching Bess Hulbert. She'll probably make a get-away before we can notify your father."
"I don't think so," answered Linda, sitting up and resolutely drying her eyes. "Don't forget, Bess thinks we probably went up in flames with the Arrow. And when nothing is heard of us for five days, she'll be positive… No, my bet is that she'll go right on with her smuggling and stealing Daddy's business."
Her companion admitted that she was right. And all they could do was sit here and wait for those horrible men to return!
It was a problem of course, how to amuse themselves, for there was no radio, or music of any kind, and there were no books on the shelves. When they had gotten over their first despair, they tried putting their wits together and manufacturing some sort of occupation. And they thought of various things, of giving each other exercises, and playing guessing games, making up new recipes for the ingredients that were in the kitchen store-closet.
But, try as they did to be cheerful, the hours dragged, and four days stretched out as interminably before them.
Chapter XII
Waiting for News
As Linda had surmised, her aunt did not expect her to wire every night, unless something happened, so when December twenty-ninth passed without any message, the latter naturally supposed that the girls were still at Plattsburg with friends. Heretofore, the older woman had known all of her niece's companions, but since Linda had gone away to school, her circle had naturally widened. Miss Carlton frowned when she recalled that she had neglected to ask the names of the girls Linda and Louise intended to visit.
When she heard nothing from them again on the morning of the thirtieth, she grew anxious and called Mrs. Haydock on the telephone.
"I don't want to alarm you, Miss Carlton," answered Louise's mother, "but I am afraid something has happened."
"Why? What makes you think so? Because we haven't heard from them since the twenty-seventh?"
"Not only that," replied Mrs. Haydock. "But I put in a long distance call for Ted Mackay – Louise said they would keep him informed of their whereabouts, in case they had any difficulties – and I got the message that he had gone to Canada in search of two missing flyers!"
"Canada!" repeated Miss Carlton, aghast. "That couldn't be our girls! They were going to New York."
"So I understood. But they may have gone on to Canada… Well, let us hope that Ted flew up to search for someone else. All we can do is wait."
"Oh, those dreadful airplanes!" wailed Miss Carlton, hysterically. "I wish they had never been invented… Well, I'll call my brother," she concluded, for she had no idea what to do.
That, of course, was the difficulty everybody met – every one of Linda Carlton's and Louise Haydock's friends at Spring City, when the news got around that the girls were lost. Nobody knew where they were; nobody had any way of helping find them.
Anxiety for them spread over the little town where they were so popular. Particularly at the Flying Club, where their most intimate friends were gathered that afternoon to play bridge or to dance, as the mood seized them. A skating party which had been planned by Dot Crowley and Jim Valier had to be canceled on account of a heavy snow the night before. Even now the storm was still raging, reminding them all the more of their two friends with the open Arrow.
Dot Crowley, however, resolutely decided to be hopeful, to make an effort to dispel the gloom that threatened to engulf them all.
"No use weeping till we hear that something has happened," she said, as she turned on the radio. "I'd stake a good-sized bet on Linda and Lou! Haven't they always come through with flying colors?"
"If they're still _flying_ colors, or anything else, they're all right," remarked Jim Valier, lazily stretching his legs out toward the blazing fire. But, lazy though he always appeared, he was ready to help Dot in her valiant effort to be cheerful.
"They'll be home yet – in time for the New Tear's Eve party!" she asserted, with conviction. "I'm not going to lose faith."
"I'm not either," added Kitty Clavering, who was usually so timid, but who had a deep admiration for Linda Carlton. "I think Linda is one of the cleverest girls I ever met."
Everybody agreed with her, and somehow they all suddenly felt optimistic. The bridge tables were brought out, the couples began to play and dance in the intervals when they were "dummies." Everybody seemed happy again – everybody except Ralph Clavering. Off in a corner he was smoking a cigarette in doleful silence.
Dot, who still felt the responsibility for the atmosphere of the party, went over to cheer him up.
"What's the matter, Ralph?" she asked half teasingly, half sympathetically.
"Nothing," he muttered, with a frown that plainly said, "let me alone!"
"I know, though," persisted Dot, seating herself beside him. "You haven't any partner for the New Year's Eve dance!"
"Well, I'm not asking you," he replied, rudely.
"You know it wouldn't be any use!" retorted Dot, her chin in the air. "I'm going with Jim."
"O.K. with me." He continued to smoke in silence.
"Well, buck up!" she advised, patting his shoulder. "Linda may fly home any minute."
"Here comes a plane now!" cried Kitty, jumping up and rushing to the window. "Why, it's our own Moth!"
Everybody dashed to the window, to see Bess Hulbert make her landing, and three or four of the boys slipped into their overcoats to go out and help her put it into the hangar. But Ralph sat stolidly gazing into the fire.
Five minutes later, Miss Hulbert, her cheeks glowing and her eyes flashing with excitement, came into the room.
"Welcome to our famous flyer!" cried Kitty, turning off the radio.
"What's weather to her!" laughed Joe Elliston, admiringly.
"All in the day's work," replied Miss Hulbert.
"Tell us where you've been," urged Kitty.
"Up to the Great Lakes," replied the aviatrix, vaguely. "I bought my own gas and oil, but I feel I owe the Club ten dollars for the use of the plane… I – I'll pay myself!"
They all smiled, for Bess Hulbert was still treasurer of the club.
"Don't be silly!" protested Kitty. "You're a member of the club."
"But I was using the plane for business – not for pleasure."
"Just what is your business, Miss Hulbert?" inquired Ralph.
The girl colored; she did not like his tone. It was a bitter blow to her pride that this rich young man had never fallen for her charms.
"Fish!" she replied mockingly. "Poor fish!"
Everybody laughed, not knowing whether she was serious or not, and this time the joke seemed to be on Ralph.
"You didn't see Linda or Louise – in the course of your trip, did you?" asked Dot Crowley.
"Linda – Louise – ?" Miss Hulbert was stalling for time.
"Yes. The two girls who fly in an Arrow Pursuit. They've been missing for two days and Miss Carlton and Mrs. Haydock are almost crazy. We're all worried too, only we try not to be."
"Too bad," murmured Miss Hulbert. "But they really shouldn't be flying in this sort of weather. They haven't had the experience."
"How else would they get it?" demanded Ralph, brusquely.
"Short trips," answered Bess. "It's foolish people like them who do harm to aviation. Make the public think it's so dangerous."
"How do you know they went on a long trip?" questioned Kitty, innocently.
"Oh – er – I don't. I only supposed they did."
"Yes, we're all afraid of that. They were last heard of from Plattsburg – the twenty-seventh."
"And this is the thirtieth," remarked Bess, absently. "I wonder if that wreck that was reported in the early afternoon papers could have been their plane."
"What wreck?" demanded everybody at once.
"The charred wreck of a plane was found by an aviator named Ted Mackay. Up on the border, between New York state and Canada."
"Ted Mackay!" repeated Dot. "That's Linda's friend – the one who rescued her before."
"Well, he didn't rescue her today," asserted Bess. "There were no bodies in the plane. But then it was almost completely destroyed."
At this gruesome remark, Kitty immediately burst out crying, and even Dot Crowley could find no reason to be hopeful any longer, and wiped the tears from her eyes. Oh, it was dreadful to think of their two lovely friends as dead! Worse still, for them to meet death in such a horrible way!
"It may not have been their plane," Bess reminded her companions, although in her heart she felt sure that it was. "Or, even if it is, they might still be alive, if they had the nerve to use their parachutes."
"They had plenty of nerve!" responded Dot. "But even if they jumped, it isn't likely they'd still be alive in this terrible weather."
"If they were, we should probably have heard from them," said Ralph, glumly.
Nobody spoke for some time; resuming of the games was out of the question now. Finally, to break the silence, and to have something to do, Kitty rang the bell for the club matron to serve tea and sandwiches.
Over the tea-cups a low murmur of conversation finally arose, but it was all in a gloomy undertone. Nothing could have been more depressing than the atmosphere in that room – until the door was suddenly flung open by a small boy – Louise Haydock's brother.
"Whoopee! Whoopee!" he shouted, throwing his hat straight into Ralph Clavering's tea-cup. "The girls are alive and safe!"
"Linda? Louise?" cried everybody at once. In the excitement all eyes were upon the boy; nobody noticed that Bess Hulbert's face went ghastly white.
"Yeah! Ted Mackay wired just now. He found them on the Canadian border, locked up in a cabin!"
"Locked up? Kidnapped?" demanded Ralph.
"No. Locked up by law. They have to go to jail."
"Jail?"
"It's some joke!" exclaimed Jim Valier.
"No. Honest!" protested the boy. "They're being held for some crime they didn't commit. Smuggling, or something!"
"Oh, they probably brought a bottle of Canadian wine into the United States," laughed Ralph. "They'll just have a little fine to pay – "
"But Linda doesn't drink – or Lou either!" asserted Dot. "I know they wouldn't think of such a thing."
"Well, so long as they're safe, it'll be an easy matter for them to get free," said Ralph, more relieved than anyone realized. "Why, they may be back in time for the New Year's Eve dance!"
"Not a chance," answered the boy, with a vehement shake of his head… "Don't forget the Arrow is a thing of the past – they've got to come home by train. Besides, they can't start till Dad and Mr. Carlton get up there to bail 'em out!"
"I wish they had the Moth," sighed Kitty. "If it were only decent weather, Bess could go get them."
Miss Hulbert was horrified at such a suggestion, but she managed to cover her consternation with a smile.
As soon as the excitement died down the party began to break up. But Bess Hulbert continued to sit before the fire, thinking deeply, trying to decide what to do.
So the law had gotten wind of the fact that smuggling was going on, by a girl in an airplane! And had arrested Linda Carlton and Louise Haydock, thinking them guilty. She smiled in a nasty, superior way. What a joke it was on those two upstarts! But her mouth grew grim again; it was only a question of time now, before the officers discovered the right person, before she too was brought to justice. And she wouldn't get off so easily as these two others… No, there was only one thing for her to do – and that was to leave the country, before anybody thought of accusing her of this crime, or of the more serious one of damaging Linda's plane…
Lucky thing, she thought, that she had already made some money out of the business! But how she wished she had more!
Kitty Clavering, who was the only person still left at the club, came over and put her arm around Bess, attempting to pull her to her feet.
"What's the matter, Bess?" she asked, noticing that the other girl did not respond to her embrace.
"Lots of things, Kitty," replied Bess, soberly. "I've had some pretty bad news today… Of course I didn't say anything about it in front of the others, especially when I found you all so worried about your young friends."
"Well, we don't have to worry about them any more! So I can give all my thoughts to you… Come on home with me, and tell me about it!" urged the younger girl. She did not add that she wanted to hear about Lieutenant Hulbert, whom she had not seen for over a month.
"Oh, all right," agreed Bess, without any enthusiasm. "For a little while… But I must get back to my hotel. I'll have to go to New York tonight."
Kitty did not question her any further until they were alone in her pretty boudoir, Bess relaxing on the chaise longue, Kitty in the flowered chintz chair.
"Now tell me, my dear," repeated Kitty, sympathetically.
"Well," Bess began slowly, "it's about business. I was joking this afternoon, of course, but the fact is I've been going into something pretty deep – and – and – I'm going to lose. Fail, in other words… And the worst of it is – I'll have to go to England to get some money, if I can. My brother and I are English, you know."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" cried Kitty. To the rich young heiress, poverty seemed terrible. And Bess had mentioned her brother – was it possible he had lost money too? Was that the reason he was staying away from her? She put the question to her friend.
"Yes," lied Bess, for she knew that this would draw more sympathy from Kitty, and the latter might even offer to lend her some money. "Yes, I was investing Bob's money, and lost that too."
"How terrible!" Kitty got up and went over beside the older girl. "If I could only help you, dear – financially, I mean."
Bess's eyelids narrowed. This was just what she was hoping for!
"That's good of you, Kit – but I really couldn't accept it!"
"But as a loan? Oh, please! I'd love to!"
"Well – " Bess paused, as if she would need a great deal of persuasion. "My idea would be to borrow enough to order a big plane, and fly the Atlantic and win that twenty-five thousand dollars. Then I could pay you and my brother both back at once."
"And bring glory to our Flying Club!"
"Yes, of course… But Kitty, have you any idea what a good plane costs? I'm afraid you couldn't raise so much money, could you?"
"About how much?" asked Kitty, vaguely. She was thinking of Bob Hulbert now, wondering whether she couldn't write and tell him she understood why he was staying away from her, and urging him to come back.
"Well, novices like your two friends would probably expect to pay about twenty thousand dollars for their plane… But I wouldn't have to have that kind. Because, even if I did win the prize, it would hardly pay me… No, I wouldn't pay more than eight or ten thousand for mine… But you could never raise that much, could you, Kit?"
The girl shook her head.
"I'm afraid not… Only by getting a loan on my pearl necklace. Do you suppose that could be done, Bess?"
"Of course it could. But not here in Spring City. We'd have to go to New York."
"I can't go to New York. I'm dated up for a dance tonight."
"I think I could manage it myself," said Bess. "If you care to trust me, and will give me a note authorizing the loan."
"I'll be only too glad to," agreed Kitty, and she produced the necklace and immediately sat down to the desk to write the letter.
So, three hours later, Bess Hulbert stepped into the Pullman for New York, carrying not only the precious pearls, but all of the Flying Club's money as well, which she had pretended to forget to hand over to Kitty.
"And now," she said triumphantly to herself, "let the United States courts try to catch me if they can!"