[Illustration: Both girls waved their arms and their coats in the air
as signals of distress.
(Page 214)
]
LINDA CARLTON
AIR PILOT
By EDITH LAVELL
[Illustration]
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING
COMPANY
Akron, Ohio New York
Copyright MCMXXXI
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
Linda Carlton, Air Pilot
_Made in the United States of America_
TO
MY HUSBAND
VICTOR LAMASURE LAVELL
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A DANGEROUS RIDE 7
II. GRADUATION 14
III. HER FATHER'S GIFT 28
IV. SUMMER PLANS 43
V. THE FIRST LESSON IN FLYING 56
VI. WINNING HER LICENSE 69
VII. THE FLIGHT TO GREEN FALLS 81
VIII. THE ROBBERY 92
IX. SUSPICIONS 106
X. IN THE HOSPITAL 114
XI. AN ANXIOUS DAY FOR LINDA 126
XII. THE SEARCH FOR THE THIEF 139
XIII. THE MASQUE BALL 151
XIV. THE FLYING TRIP 160
XV. SUNNY HILLS 171
XVI. THE ACCIDENT 183
XVII. THE LOST NECKLACE 194
XVIII. IN PURSUIT OF THE "PURSUIT" 201
XIX. RESCUED 213
XX. THE RACE AGAINST DEATH 225
XXI. HONORS FOR LINDA 234
LINDA CARLTON, AIR PILOT
CHAPTER I
_A Dangerous Ride_
A blue sports roadster, driven by a girl in a lovely crêpe suit of
the same color, threaded its way through the traffic of Spring City's
streets to the concrete road that led to the aviation field on the
outskirts. Passing the city's limits, the car sped along under the
easy assurance of its competent driver, whose eyes were bluer than
its paint, deeper than the dress that she was wearing. They were
shining now with happiness, for the end of this ride promised the most
thrilling experience of her life. That afternoon Linda Carlton was to
have her first flight in an airplane!
She parked her car outside of the field and locked it cautiously.
Jumping out, she fairly skipped inside the boundary.
A tall, good-looking young man in a flier's suit came from one of the
hangars to meet her.
"Miss Carlton?" he said, extending his hand.
"Yes--Mr. Mackay. You see I'm here--a little early, I expect. You
haven't forgotten your promise?"
His pleasant face darkened, and he looked doubtfully at the sky.
"I'm afraid it may rain, Miss Carlton. We've suspended pleasure trips
for today. But perhaps tomorrow----"
"Oh, no!" she cried in deep disappointment, and the young man believed
that her eyes grew moist. "I can't get away tomorrow, or any other
day this week. You see I'm a senior at school, and I'm just rushed to
death."
"Well, that's too bad," he said, looking again at the sky. "And of
course it may not rain after all. But orders are orders, you know."
The girl looked down at the ground, probably, he thought, to hide the
tears that would come to her eyes. She was so pretty, so serious, so
anxious to go up. It evidently wasn't only a whim with her; she really
wanted to fly--like Amelia Earhart, and Elinor Smith. How he hated to
deny her!
"Isn't there something you could do?" she finally asked. "Take me up as
one of your friends--not as a visitor to the aviation field.... Why,
Mr. Mackay, suppose your sister came to see you today, wouldn't you be
allowed to take her up?"
"Yes," he replied, smiling. "But that would be on my responsibility,
not the school's."
"Then," she pleaded, and she was radiant again with enthusiasm,
"couldn't _I_ be your responsibility?"
He nodded, won over to her wishes.
"If you put it that way, Miss Carlton, I can't refuse! But I'll have to
take you in the plane I'm working on now--making some tests with--and
it isn't the most reliable plane in the world. Not one we use to take
visitors up in."
"But if it's safe enough for you, it's safe enough for me. I'm
satisfied."
"I'm afraid your parents wouldn't be," he objected.
"There I think you're wrong," she asserted. "My father believes
in taking chances. He has always let me do dangerous things--ride
horseback, and drive a car and swim far out in the ocean.... And my
mother is dead."
"Very well, then," agreed Mackay. "Please come over here with me. I
have been trying to fix up an old biplane, and I think I have her in
shape now. But we'll both wear parachutes for precaution."
Her heart fluttering wildly from happiness, but not at all from fear,
Linda accompanied the young flier across the huge field to the runway,
where a biplane was resting in readiness for its test. Mackay put her
into the cockpit, examined the engine again, and the parachutes, helped
her to fasten one of the latter on, in case of an accident, and started
the motor. A minute later the plane taxied forward, faster and faster,
until it rose from the ground.
"Oh!" cried Linda, in a tone of deepest joy, although her companion
could not hear her for the roar of the motor. "Oh, I'm so happy!"
Up, up, up they went, until they reached the clouds, where the
atmosphere seemed misty and foggy. But it did not matter to Linda that
the sky was not blue; nothing could spoil the ecstasy she experienced
in knowing that at last she was where she had always longed to be.
Never for a moment was she the least bit dizzy. The sensation of
floating through the air was more marvelous than anything she had ever
dreamed of.
For some minutes she just allowed herself to dream of the future when
she herself would be in control of a plane, sailing thus through the
skies. Then she remembered with a start that if she ever expected her
ambitions to be fulfilled, it would be necessary to learn how flying
was accomplished. She began to examine everything in the cockpit.
It was too noisy to ask her companion any questions, but she watched
him carefully and tried to figure out what she could for herself. She
identified the joystick, which controlled the plane, and she recognized
the compass and the altimeter, which registered the height--now sixteen
hundred feet--to which they had climbed. All the while she made mental
notes of questions she would ask her pilot when they reached the ground.
Up, up they went until at last they were beyond the clouds, and saw the
bright sunshine about them. It was symbolic to Linda; she resolved that
in after life, whenever she was unhappy or distressed, she would fly on
wings to the clear sunlight above. It was almost as if there she would
actually find God.
She was so happy that it was some time before she noticed the queer
sound the motor was making. Then, glancing questioningly at her
companion, she saw a tight, drawn look about his lips, a ghastly pallor
in his face. Something was evidently wrong! The motor made an uneven
sound, threatening to stall, and the plane went into a tail-spin.
Mackay was frantically leaning forward, doing something she did not
understand.
"Motor's dying!" he cried, as he managed to right the plane. His voice
shook with greater dread than he had ever before experienced. For,
fearless though he was for himself, he was scared to death for the
pretty girl at his side.
What a fool he had been, he thought, to allow her to come! He would
give his own chances of safety that minute if she could be sure of her
life! So young, so sweet, so utterably lovely! A great lump rose in his
throat, as he took another look at his engine. But he was helpless.
Grim with terror, he pointed to her parachute. And then, to his
amazement, he realized how perfectly calm she was!
"You step off first," he said, thankful they both had their parachutes.
"I'll stay with the plane as long as I can."
Never in his life did Ted Mackay go through such a horrible moment as
that instant when Linda Carlton, at a height of two thousand feet,
stepped so bravely from the edge of the plane into the yawning space
below. Even if he himself were killed, he could never know sharper
agony. Yet the girl herself was gamely smiling!
He managed to pilot the plane a little farther, in the hope that when
it did crash, it would not come anywhere near her, and then, when he
could no longer keep it from falling, he stepped off himself.
Down he went, and his parachute opened with perfection, but he, in his
tenseness, thought only of Linda, and of her luck with hers. And he
prayed as he had never prayed before in his life, not even at his most
perilous moments, where death seemed most certain.
No descent ever seemed so slow, so prolonged, but at last he reached
the ground. And there, still smiling at him, was lovely Linda Carlton!