_The Ground School_
"I certainly don't care for that woman!" announced Louise emphatically,
as she got into Linda's roadster.
"Miss Hulbert?" inquired her chum.
"Yes. You might think she were the one and only queen of the air! And
it's all so silly. Imagine Lindbergh or Amelia Earhart talking like
that!"
"Still, she has a lot of experience on all of us," admitted Linda. "But
I don't believe what she says about ground schools. Why, Ted Mackay----"
"Have you heard from him lately, Linda?"
"About a week ago. He wants us to go to a school in St. Louis, where he
says they give a most thorough course."
"Sure it isn't because that will be near Kansas City--where he is?"
teased Louise.
"Oh no, I wouldn't believe that of Ted. He is seriously interested in
my career--yours too, for I told him that you might go with me."
"Might!" repeated Louise, settling back in her seat to enjoy the ride,
for it was a lovely day, and there was no top over the car. "Nobody
could stop me now--after this afternoon! We're going to beat Bess
Hulbert to it, and get that prize!"
"Lou, if we only could! You know how I've talked of flying the ocean
before. Are you still game?"
"Absolutely! But we wouldn't dare take a chance in your Pursuit, would
we?"
"No, of course not. What I'd like to get is a Model J Bellanca--it's
made especially for that purpose. Take off early next May--the very day
Lindy flew, if the weather happens to be right."
"Where would we ever get the money for such a plane?" asked Louise,
incredulously. "It would cost thousands of dollars."
"Yes, I know. I talked to Daddy this morning, and if he decides to let
me try it, he won't mind the money. But don't breathe a word of this to
anybody! I wouldn't want Miss Hulbert to hear of it; she'd only make
all manner of fun of us."
"Suppose she should get that prize," remarked Louise. "Can you imagine
her in Paris, Linda? Representing American Girlhood! Why, it might
start a war with the French!"
"Now, Lou, you're exaggerating too much. She isn't as disagreeable as
all that."
"She is. She's even worse. But of course I won't say a word about our
plan, except to mother and dad. And maybe I won't work hard at school,
to get my own license!"
"That's the spirit!" approved Linda, as she stopped the car at her
chum's house.
"Linda! Look how low that plane's flying!" exclaimed the other, as the
girls got out of the car. "And look at the way she's tilting!"
"The pilot must be crazy! Why, that's only a few hundred feet up. Come
on, Lou, something is likely to happen! Let's get into the house."
Instinctively Linda pushed Louise towards the porch, but with a quick
glance about, she saw her chum's brother in the next yard, playing with
a group of children. Unmindful of her own danger, and the velvet dress
she was wearing under her lovely fall coat, she dashed over the hedge
and dragged the children into the house.
Nothing happened, however; when she came outside she noticed that the
plane was climbing again. With a sigh of relief she went back to
Louise.
"That was our friend Miss Hulbert," announced the latter, scornfully.
"Doing some stunts for our benefit."
"No! Not really?"
"Absolutely. She waved to me!"
"She certainly doesn't show much judgment. Besides, it's unlawful."
"Let's sue her!"
"Now, Lou! You are positively vindictive. And all because she made fun
of my flying." But Linda gave her chum a hug; it was so comforting to
feel her entire loyalty.
"All right, then let's forget her.... Can you stay for dinner, Linda?"
"No thank you, Lou--I'm afraid not. Daddy's home, and he may leave any
minute. You know I told you he's in business now in New York."
"Yes, it seems funny, doesn't it? I never could imagine your father in
business. What do you suppose made him do that?"
"Restlessness, I think, and the fact that he can't ride any more.
Besides, he told me the ranch doesn't pay, so I guess he has to try
something else."
"Well, if you will have airplanes, and expensive courses----" teased
Louise.
"Oh, but just wait! We'll be ten-thousand-dollar-a-year women when we
finish our education, Lou. It's going to be a good investment."
"I certainly hope so.... Well, so long. I'll call you up tomorrow and
we'll go shopping for our overalls."
Linda drove off, and arrived just in time for dinner. Her aunt, it
seemed, had been impatiently awaiting her return, for she had learned
from Linda's father that he had given his consent to the ground school
course.
"I simply can't understand you, Linda," she said when they were at the
table. "When you could be having the time of your life this winter!
With all the gayety here--and even this new flying club. Why you should
want to go off to a school where you will have to mess up your hands
with grease and machinery, and practically live in overalls, is beyond
me."
"I know, Aunt Emily--I guess I do seem queer. But to me it's just the
_only_ thing to do. There's something inside me that makes me feel as
if nothing else is so important--for me." Her eyes shone with ardor.
Mr. Carlton watched her admiringly.
"There isn't anything so great in this world," he said slowly, "as a
splendid enthusiasm--a purpose in life. If I were a fairy god-mother,
and could give a child only one gift, it would be that. Emily, we
should bow down before it in admiration, and thank Heaven that Linda is
so different from most of the young people today--still in their teens
and bored with life."
"Oh, thank you, Daddy!" cried the girl. How wonderful it was to be
understood!
"But imagine having her away from home all winter!" moaned Miss
Carlton. "Or do you think I should close this house and go and board in
St. Louis?"
"No, Emily, that won't be necessary," replied Mr. Carlton. "It would be
a shame to take you away from your friends. Besides, Linda will have
her Arrow. I see no reason why she shouldn't fly home every week-end,
if she isn't too tired, or too busy."
"Yes, that will be lots nicer," agreed Linda. "Because then we'll have
real Thanksgiving and Christmas just the same as ever. Can you picture
those holidays in a boarding-house?"
Miss Carlton looked relieved, but she still disliked the whole idea.
She raised another objection.
"Think of Linda alone in a big city like St. Louis," she said. "She's
too young----"
"I'm eighteen now," Linda hastened to remind her. "I couldn't try to
qualify for a transport license if I weren't. Besides, I won't be
alone, and I won't be in a big city. The school is quite far out of St.
Louis, and Louise expects to go with me."
"Well, that is better, I must say," admitted her aunt, rather
grudgingly.
"And you could go out with the girls, Emily," suggested her brother,
"and see that they are established in some nice home, with a motherly
woman who will look after them. I think the Y. W. C. A.'s keep lists
like that, of eminently respectable people, who need to take boarders."
"That is a good idea."
"Then it's all settled?" asked Linda, excitedly. "When can I start?"
"Next week, I guess," replied her father. "If that is convenient to
you, Emily."
So, with no further opposition, Linda set herself to the pleasant task
of getting ready. The next day she accompanied her father to the bank
where he deposited the bonds in a safety-deposit box in her name, and
opened an account for her. One of these thousand-dollar bonds she
reluctantly turned over to Kitty, for although she liked the idea of a
flying club for Spring City, she wondered whether she weren't helping
to finance her rival on that trip from New York to Paris. But with
Harry Smith on the finance committee, she felt somehow safe. He would
not willingly allow the club to spend its money for such purposes.
By the tenth of October, everything was in readiness, for Ted Mackay
had secured application blanks and mailed them to the girls, and
promised to be on hand when they arrived at the school. So, with their
suit-cases stuffed with overalls and flyers' suits, they stepped into
the Arrow and took off.
The day was so lovely and the country so beautiful that more than
once Linda regretted the fact that her aunt had insisted upon going
by train. It would have been such a wonderful chance to show her how
safe, yet how fascinating air travel could be. Without the faintest
disturbance they flew straight to the school where Ted Mackay had also
made arrangements for them to keep the Arrow.
He was the first person they saw when Linda brought the plane down. He
was standing there near a hangar, his helmet off, his red hair shining
in the sunlight, and grinning at them delightedly. Beside him was an
older man, probably one of the instructors.
As soon as the girls got out of the cockpit, he was beside them,
introducing his companion to them.
"This is Mr. Eckers," he said. "He is crazy to meet two girls who want
to be mechanics. He never heard of one before."
"Yet we're quite human," laughed Louise. "Almost normal, I think."
"Well, you see," explained Eckers, "we have several young ladies
here who are studying to be pilots--even commercial and transport
pilots--but we never had a mechanic of your sex before. But that's no
reason why you shouldn't succeed."
"I'm not so good myself," remarked Louise. "And I may not take that
course after all, because I'm not even any kind of pilot yet. But I'd
like to see a man who knows more about the inside of his car than Miss
Carlton does. She takes it apart as easily as most girls make fudge."
"Oh, Lou----" protested Linda, blushing, but Ted changed the subject by
asking them about their trip.
After a few preliminaries, such as going into the office and meeting
the secretary and a couple of the other instructors, and signing up for
their doctor's examination, the girls bade Ted good-by, and took a taxi
for the station where they were to meet Miss Carlton.
It was amusing to find that the train was late, whereas they had
bettered their own schedule in the airplane. It arrived at last,
however, and Miss Carlton hurried anxiously forward, as usual expecting
that something had probably happened to her niece. She was relieved to
find both girls well and happy.
"We might as well all go to a hotel tonight," she suggested, "and have
a good dinner, and take in a picture afterwards. There can't be any
rush about your finding your boarding-house, is there?"
"Only that we begin work tomorrow," replied Linda. "We must be there at
nine o'clock for our examinations."
"My, but you are in a hurry!" the older woman remarked. "When I was a
girl, fun always came first."
"But it is all going to be fun, Aunt Emily!"
"Still, we might as well have the dinner, and take in an early show,"
put in Louise. "Miss Carlton would rather stay over night, anyway,
wouldn't you?"
"Yes, of course. And suppose I look up the boarding-house tomorrow,
while you're at school. You'd trust to my judgment?"
"Oh, Auntie, we'd be delighted!" cried Linda, giving her hand a
squeeze. "If you don't mind, it would save us a lot of time!"
The evening, therefore, was spent just as Miss Carlton desired, dining
at the best hotel in St. Louis, going afterwards to the most expensive
theater in a taxi. But the girls got to bed early, and left a call for
seven o'clock the following morning.
The school was so much bigger, so much more organized than the
little one at Spring City that Linda felt lost at first. After their
examinations they made out a roster with one of the instructors, and
here they decided to part.
Louise felt that after all, she wasn't particularly fitted to become
a mechanic, and she would rather spend her time actually flying, so
that perhaps by the end of the term she might win a limited commercial
license. Linda, who had always kept an air-log with the Pursuit--a
record of her flights and the number of hours in the air--would not
need much more time to complete her two hundred hours solo flying that
was part of a transport pilot's requirements. And while Louise was
taking only the general course about airplanes, Linda would study plane
structure and rigging, control systems, motors, and everything that had
to do with the repair of aircraft. It was a big program; the thought of
it was breathtaking. But, as Linda's instructor informed her, she would
go step by step, advancing each day a little.
After that the days flew by all too quickly. The girls liked the house
where Miss Carlton had established them, a neat little cottage that was
owned by a widow, who lived alone with her two children, and it was
near enough to the school for them to walk to and from it each day.
They would rise early, eat a hearty breakfast and take their lunch
with them, remaining away all day. After supper they were usually too
tired to go anywhere; they would sit around the open fireplace in the
living-room with the family, Louise reading a novel, Linda continually
poring over some book about aviation. Once or twice Ted Mackay flew
over to see them, and took them to dinner and to a show, usually
bringing one of his friends with him. But they were too much absorbed
to be lonely.
Before they scarcely realized it, the Thanksgiving holiday was upon
them, and, leaving their overalls and their flyers' suits at St. Louis,
they took off in the Arrow for their first visit back to Spring City.