[Illustration: "What are you doing to this child?" demanded Roy
indignantly.]
THE GIRL AVIATORS' MOTOR BUTTERFLY
BY MARGARET BURNHAM
1912
AUTHOR OF "THE GIRL AVIATORS AND THE PHANTOM AIRSHIP," "THE GIRL
AVIATORS ON GOLDEN WINGS," "THE GIRL AVIATORS' SKY CRUISE," ETC.
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES L. WRENN_
CONTENTS
I. Preparations and Plans.
II. Off on the Flight.
III. Little Wren and the Gipsies.
IV. The Approach of the Storm.
V. Peggy's Thoughtfulness Saves the Farm.
VI. The Girl Aviators in Deadly Peril.
VII. A Stop for the Night.
VIII. Roy Makes an Enemy.
IX. Jimsy Falls Asleep.
X. Peggy's Intuition.
XI. A Mean Revenge!
XII. The Finding of the "Butterfly"
XIII. Prisoners in the Hut.
XIV. What's To Be Done with The Wren?
XV. A Rambunctious Ram.
XVI. An Invitation to Race.
XVII. The Twisted Spark Plug.
XVIII. In Search of a New Plug.
XIX. The Trap.
XX. An Attack in the Air.
XXI. Peggy's Splendid Race.
XXII. Peggy's Generosity.
XXIII. The Moonshiners and the Aëroplane.
XXIV. Mr. Parker's Story.
XXV. The Wren Disappears.
XXVI. Captured by Gipsies.
XXVII. Deliverance.
The Girl Aviators' Motor Butterfly
CHAPTER I.
PREPARATIONS AND PLANS.
"It will be another 'sky cruise,' longer and daintier and lovelier!"
exclaimed Jess Bancroft, clapping her hands. "Peggy, you're nothing
if not original."
"Well, there are automobile tours and sailing trips, and driving
parties--" "And railroad journeys and mountain tramps--" interrupted
Jess, laughing.
"Yes, and there are wonderful, long-distance migrations of birds, so
why not a cross-country flight of motor butterflies?"
"It would be splendid fun," agreed Jess eagerly; "we could take the
_Golden Butterfly_ and the _Red Dragon_ and----" "Don't forget that
Bess Marshall has a small monoplane, too, now. I guess she would go
in with us."
"Not a doubt of it. Let's go and find the boys and see what they say
to it."
"No need to go after them, here they come now."
As the golden-haired Peggy spoke, two good-looking youths came round the
corner of the old-fashioned house at Sandy Bay, Long Island, where the
two young Prescotts made their home with their maiden aunt, Miss Sally
Prescott. One of the lads was Roy Prescott, Peggy's brother, and the
other was Jimsy Bancroft.
"Well, girls, what's up now?" inquired Roy, as both girls sprang to
their feet, their faces flushed and eyes shining.
"Oh, nothing particular," rejoined Peggy, with assumed indifference,
"except that we've just solved the problem of what to do with the
rest of the summer."
"And what's that,--lie in hammocks and indulge in ice-cream sodas and
chocolates?" asked Jimsy mockingly.
"No, indeed, you impertinent person; the young lady of the twentieth
century has left all that far behind her," was Jess's Parthian shot,
"for proof I refer you to our adventures on the Great Alkali."
"Hello! what's this?" asked Roy, holding up a dainty cardboard box,
and giving vent to a mischievous smile.
"Chocolates!" cried Jimsy.
"It _was_ chocolates," corrected Peggy reproachfully.
"And yet shall be," declared Jimsy, producing from some mysterious
place in a long auto coat another box, beribboned and decorated like
the first.
"Jimsy, you're an angel!" cried both girls at once.
"So I've been told before," responded the imperturbable Jimsy, "but
I never really believed it till now."
Peggy rewarded him for the compliment by popping a chocolate into his
mouth.
Gravely munching it, Jimsy proceeded to interrogation.
"And how did you solve the problem of what to do with the rest of the
summer?" he asked.
For answer Peggy pointed to the sky, a delicate blue dome flecked with
tiny cloudlets like cherub's wings.
"By circling way up yonder in the cloudfields," she laughed.
"But that's no novelty," objected Roy, "we've been up 5,000 feet
already, and----" "But we're talking about a tour through cloudland,"
burst out Jess, unable to retain the secret any longer, "a sort of
Cook's tour above the earth."
"Wow!" gasped both boys. "There's nothing slow," added Roy, "in that
or about you two. And, incidentally, just read this letter I got this
morning, or rather I'll read it for you."
So saying Roy produced from his coat a letter closely written in an
old-fashioned handwriting. It was as follows:
"My Dear Niece and Nephew: No doubt you will be surprised to hear from
your Uncle Jack. Possibly you will hardly recall him. This has, in a
great measure, been his own fault as, since your poor father's death,
I have not paid the attention I should to my correspondence.
"This letter, then, is to offer what compensation lies in my power for
my neglect. Having read in the papers of your wonderful flying feats in
Nevada it struck me that you and your young friends might like to pay
me a 'flying trip,' making the excursion via aëroplane.
"We are to have some flying contests in Marysville during the latter
part of the month, and you might care to participate in them. Of course
I expect your Aunt Sallie to accompany you. Hoping sincerely to see you,
I am
"Your affectionate uncle,
"James Parker.
"Marysville, North Carolina."
As Roy concluded the reading the quartet of merry youngsters exchanged
delighted glances. As if by magic here was an objective point descried
for their projected motor flight.
"Well, that's what I call modern magic," declared Jimsy glowingly;
"consider me as having accepted the invitation."
"Accepting likewise for me, of course," said Jess, shaking her black
locks and blinking round, expectant eyes.
"Of course," struck in Peggy affectionately, "the Girl Aviators cannot
be parted."
Just at this moment came a whirring sound from high in the air above
them. Looking up, they saw a dainty green monoplane, with widespread
wings and whirring propeller, descending to earth. An instant later
the machine had come to a halt on the lawn, alighting as lightly as
wind-blown gossamer. In the machine was seated a pretty girl of about
Peggy's age, though rather stouter. In harmony with the color of the
machine she drove, the newly arrived girl aviator wore a green aviation
costume, with a close-fitting motor bonnet. From the beruffled edge of
this some golden strands of hair had escaped, and waved above two
laughing blue eyes.
"Hello, people!" she hailed, as the porch party hastily adjourned and
ran to welcome her, "how's that for a novice only recently out of the
Mineola School?"
"Bess Marshall, you're a wonder!" cried Peggy, embracing her; "the
_Dart_ is the prettiest little machine I've seen for a long time."
"Isn't it a darling," agreed Bess warmly, "but, my! how I had to beg and
pray dad before he would buy it for me. He said that no daughter of his
should ever go up in an aëroplane, much less drive one. It wasn't till I
got him down at Mineola and persuaded him to take a ride himself that he
consented to buying me my dear little _Dart_."
She laid one daintily gloved hand on the steering wheel of the little
monoplane and patted it affectionately.
"It's pretty enough, but it wouldn't fly very far," commented Roy
teasingly, "sort of aërial taxicab, I'd call it."
"Is that so, Mr. Roy Prescott? Well, I'd like you to know that the
_Dart_ could fly just as far and as fast as the _Red Dragon_ or the
_Golden Butterfly_."
"Well, if you wanted to take a trip to North Carolina with us you'd have
an opportunity to test that idea out," laughed Peggy.
"A trip to North Carolina? What do you mean? Are you dreaming?"
"No, not even day-dreaming."
Just then Miss Prescott, her gentle face wreathed in smiles, appeared
at the door.
"Children! children!" she exclaimed, "what is all this? Adjourn your
discussion for a while and come in and have tea."
While the happy group of young fliers are entering the pretty,
old-fashioned house with its clustering roses and green-shuttered
casements, let us relate a little more about the young personages
to whose enthusiastic talk the reader has just listened.
Roy and Peggy Prescott were orphans living in the care of their aunt,
Miss Prescott, the location of whose home on Long Island has already
been described. At school Roy had imbibed the aërial fever, and after
many vicissitudes had built a fine monoplane, the _Golden Butterfly_,
with which he had won a big money prize, besides encountering a series
of extraordinary aërial adventures. In these Peggy participated, and on
more than one occasion was the means of materially aiding her brother
out of difficulties. All this part of their experiences was related in
the first volume of this series, "The Girl Aviators and the Phantom
Airship."
In the second volume, "The Girl Aviators on Golden Wings," a combination
of strange circumstances took our friends out to the Great Alkali of the
Nevada desert. Here intrigues concerning a hidden gold mine provided
much excitement and peril, and the girls proved that, after all, a
fellow's sisters can be splendid companions in fun and hardship. An
exciting race with an express train, and the adventure of the "Human
Coyote," provided stirring times in this story, which also related the
queer antics of Professor Wandering William, an odd character indeed.
Space does not permit to relate their previous adventures in more
detail, but in "The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise" still other interesting
and unusual experiences are described,--experiences that tested both
themselves and their machines in endurance flights.
Of Roy and Peggy's devoted friends, Jess and Jimsy Bancroft, it is
enough to say that both were children of Mr. Bancroft, a wealthy banker,
who had a palatial summer home near to the Prescotts' less pretentious
dwelling. Since we last met Jess and Jimsy their father had allowed them
to purchase an aëroplane known as the _White Flier_. It was in this
craft that Jimsy and Roy had flown over for mail when they made their
entrance at the beginning of this chapter. Of the letter they found
awaiting them we already know.
Jolly, good-natured Bess Marshall had taken up aviation as a lark. She
was a typical specimen of an American girl. Light-hearted, wholesome and
devoted to all sorts of sports, tennis, swimming, golf, motoring and
finally aviation had, in turn, claimed her attention.
And now, having introduced our heroes and heroines of the sky to those
who have not already met them, we will proceed to see how Miss Prescott
receives the startling plans that her young charges are about to lay
before her.