[Illustration: He looked as if he meant to hit her, and Linda
recoiled in terror.
(Page 50)]
LINDA CARLTON'S
ISLAND ADVENTURE
By EDITH LAVELL
[Illustration: Linda and airplane]
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING
COMPANY
Akron, Ohio New York
Copyright MCMXXXI
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
Linda Carlton's Island Adventure
_Made in the United States of America_
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
I _The "Ladybug"_ 7
II _The Aviation Job_ 25
III _Kidnapped_ 40
IV _Captive_ 56
V _Escape_ 71
VI _The Enemy in the Autogiro_ 85
VII _The Smash-Up_ 96
VIII _The Chief of Police_ 107
IX _Two Prisoners_ 123
X _Susie Disappears_ 138
XI _The Island in the Ocean_ 158
XII _The Money-Bags_ 172
XIII _The Broken Motor-Boat_ 182
XIV _Searching Parties_ 194
XV _The Empty Island_ 209
XVI _Searching the Ocean_ 224
XVII _On to Cuba_ 237
XVIII _Luck for Ted and Louise_ 251
XIX _The Return_ 263
XX _Conclusion_ 275
LINDA CARLTON'S
ISLAND ADVENTURE
CHAPTER I
_The "Ladybug"_
"There's a young lady here to see you, Linda," announced Miss Emily
Carlton, coming into her niece's room the morning after the latter's
return from the St. Louis Ground School. The girl had just graduated,
winning both commercial and transport licenses, and, besides that, she
was registered as the only feminine airplane mechanic in the country.
"Who is she, Auntie?" inquired Linda, rubbing her eyes and peering out
the window into the lovely June sunshine. What a wonderful day! Too
beautiful to spend on the ground! But she sighed as she recalled that
at the moment she did not possess a plane.
"A reporter, I believe," replied the older woman. "Miss Hawkins, from
the 'News'."
"But I haven't done anything to get into the newspapers," objected
Linda.
"My dear child, you don't have to! Aren't you the only girl who ever
flew the Atlantic alone? That's enough to keep you in the spotlight
forever."
"But I don't like spot-lights," Linda insisted, starting to dress.
"Couldn't you get rid of her, Auntie?"
Miss Carlton shook her head.
"I tried to, dear. But she wouldn't go. She wants to know your summer
plans. I told her you'd probably just spend a quiet vacation with me at
Green Falls, where we were last year. But she didn't believe me. She
said you weren't the type to take your vacations quietly."
Linda laughed.
"I guess she's right, Aunt Emily."
The latter looked troubled. She had been trying for a year--ever
since Linda's father had given her an Arrow Pursuit bi-plane for
graduation--to keep the girl out of the air as much as possible, but
she had not succeeded. The Carltons were comfortably well-off, and it
was Miss Carlton's wish that Linda go in for society, and make a good
marriage. But though Linda enjoyed occasional parties as much as any
normal young person, she had a serious purpose in life, to make flying
her career just as a young man would.
"You won't go to Green Falls--with all the rest of the crowd?" asked
Miss Carlton, anxiously.
"I can't, Aunt Emily. I--I--can't spare the time. I am trying to get a
job."
"A job? But you don't need money. Your father's business is dong
nicely----"
"Oh, it isn't the money I want," interrupted the girl. "It's the
experience."
Linda finished dressing and came down stairs to meet the young woman
who was waiting for her. The latter insisted that she eat her breakfast
while they talked.
"Honestly, I haven't done a thing interesting to the world since
my ocean flight!" Linda said. "Except win my licenses, and all the
graduates' names have already been listed in the papers."
The reporter smiled at her as if she were a child.
"My dear girl," she explained, "you are front-page news now, no matter
what you do. You are Queen of the Air, and will be until some other
woman does something more daring than your flight to Paris alone. So
everything you do interests the public. Naturally they want to know
what you are planning for the summer. Flying to South America, or
Alaska? And what kind of plane do you intend to buy next, since you
sold your Bellanca in Paris?"
Linda yawned, and fingered her mail--a great pile of letters beside her
plate. Invitations, mostly from the younger set in Spring City, for she
was very popular.
"I'm afraid I don't know yet," she replied, simply.
"Maybe if you read your mail--" suggested the reporter.
"She is to be a bridesmaid at Miss Katherine Clavering's wedding next
week," supplied Miss Carlton, entering the dining-room. As usual,
social events were all-important to her, especially affairs with the
Claverings, the richest people in Spring City. Katherine, or "Kitty,"
as her friends all called her, was to be married to Lt. Hulbert of
the U. S. Flying Corps, and her brother Ralph made no secret of his
devotion for Linda. If he had had his way, they would have been
married last Christmas, and aviation jobs would be out of the question
for Linda Carlton at the present time.
The girl searched through her mail rapidly, and picked out a letter
which interested her above all others. It was from the Pitcairn
Autogiro Company in the East.
As she read it, her blue eyes lighted up with enthusiasm, and she
examined the enclosed circular with excited interest, completely
forgetting her visitor.
The reporter waited patiently for a minute or two.
"Well, what's it all about, Miss Carlton?" she finally inquired.
Linda looked up at her as if she were startled, and suddenly remembered
her caller. She handed her the circular.
"I am going to buy an autogiro," she announced, with decision.
"A what?" demanded her aunt, thinking Linda referred to some kind of
automobile. "A new car?"
The reporter smiled.
"A flying bug?" she demanded.
Miss Carlton gasped in horror. A bug! What would her niece be up to
next?
"Linda!" she exclaimed.
"It's a plane, Aunt Emily," the girl explained. "You ought to like it.
It's the very safest kind there is. In the eight or nine years since it
was invented, nobody has been killed with one."
Miss Carlton looked doubtful.
"No airplane is safe," she remarked.
"This isn't an airplane. It's an autogiro."
"But it flies?"
"Of course."
Linda showed her the picture. It was indeed a queer looking object,
with its wind-mill-like arrangement on top, and its absence of big
wings. As the reporter had observed, its appearance was very like a
huge bug.
"They do say it's unusually safe," corroborated the latter. "You'll
have to take a ride in it, Miss Carlton."
"Not I!" protested the older woman. "Firm earth is good enough for
me.... No, it looks dangerous enough to me."
Linda smiled; she could never convince her aunt of the joy of flying,
or of the minimum risk, if one were a careful pilot. She was glad that
her father was more broad-minded; if he weren't, she would still be on
the ground.
"And where will you go with your Flying Bug, Miss Carlton?" asked the
reporter, tapping her pencil on her note-book.
"Not on any long flight," replied the girl, to her aunt's relief. "My
aim is to get some sort of aviation job."
"What would you like to do?"
"Anything connected with planes. I prefer flying, but I'd be satisfied
at the beginning with ground work.... If you will write down your
telephone number, Miss Hawkins, I will call you up when I have decided
definitely just what my plans will be."
"Thank you very much!" exclaimed the other girl, rising. "I think
you are a peach, Miss Carlton. Some celebrities are so mean to us
reporters."
"I'm afraid I'm not a real celebrity," laughed Linda. "I'll be
forgotten by the public this time next year. I sincerely hope that more
and more girls and women will be doing things in aviation, so that my
little stunt will seem trivial. That is progress, you know."
Scarcely had the visitor gone before Miss Carlton was begging Linda to
open her other letters.
"The Junior League picnic is tomorrow," she said. "And Dot Crowley is
giving a luncheon in honor of Kitty Clavering.... There are probably a
lot more things, too...."
Rather listlessly Linda opened her letters. It was not the same, she
thought, without Louise to share everything. Louise Haydock--Louise
Mackay now--had been her chum all through school, where they were so
inseparable that they were always referred to by their friends as the
"double Ls." The other girl's marriage had meant a sharp break to
Linda, for the Mackays had moved to Wichita, Kansas, where Ted was
employed as a flyer.
As if Miss Carlton understood her niece's thoughts, she remarked that
Louise was coming for Kitty's wedding.
Linda's eyes shone with joy.
"Flying?" she inquired, as a matter of course.
"Yes. She and Ted are arriving some time tonight. Mrs. Haydock called
up, and asked me to tell you."
Linda could not read her mail for a few minutes, so intense was her
happiness at this splendid news.
"Ted can go with me to see about the autogiro!" she exclaimed. "I do so
want his opinion!"
"Go where?"
"To Philadelphia, where the Pitcairn Company is located."
Again Miss Carlton looked annoyed, almost shocked.
"You don't mean to say you'll take time to fly to Philadelphia, with
all your engagements?"
Linda nodded.
"I'll be here for the wedding, Aunt Emily. Don't worry about that. But
nothing else is particularly important."
Miss Carlton groaned. What could you do with a girl like Linda? You
might as well have a boy!
The mail was finally opened and sorted, and Linda dutifully went to a
dinner dance at the Country Club that evening with Ralph Clavering. But
she was tense all evening, for she was hoping every moment that Louise
would arrive.
About midnight the young couple dashed in, radiant in their happiness.
To everyone's amusement Louise flew into Linda's arms in the middle of
the dance floor.
"How do you get that way?" demanded Ralph, pretending to be angry. "As
if it isn't enough to endure every fellow in the room tapping me when
I'm dancing with Linda, without having girls do it too!"
But the double Ls scarcely heard him. They were so enraptured at seeing
each other again.
"I'm going to stay a week!" announced Louise. "Luckily, Ted has some
business in Philadelphia and New York, and he'll be flying back and
forth."
"Philadelphia!" exclaimed Linda. "Isn't that great! Can we go with him
there?"
"Of course we can, if you don't mind a squeeze. The plane isn't very
big," explained Louise. "But then, we're not fat. Ted'll be tickled to
death to have company--he hates flying alone. But why do you want to go
to Philadelphia, Linda?"
"To buy an autogiro!"
"You always were crazy about those things. Remember the time you gave
up a dance to fly one?"
"I certainly do. And you wouldn't go with me."
"Well, there was a reason," laughed Louise, making no secret of her
admiration for her husband.... "I think Ted'll go day after tomorrow,"
she continued. "We thought we'd enjoy resting a day, and taking in the
Junior League picnic."
"Fine!" agreed Linda. "That will give everybody a chance to see you.
Besides, Aunt Emily would die if I missed that affair. Remember the one
last year. Didn't we have fun?"
"We certainly did," smiled Louise, reminiscently. "But it seems like
more than a year ago--so much has happened."
"I wasn't even flying then," observed the other.
"And I hadn't met Ted!"
"You're a real bride, Lou!" returned Linda, affectionately. "But you're
just the same old dear!"
The following day was just as delightful as it had been the previous
year, and the picnic another success. To Linda it was all the more
enjoyable, because of the novelty of seeing her old friends again after
the separation caused by a year at the school in St. Louis.
Ted went along with Louise, and entered into all the sports, just as
if he had been born and brought up with the crowd in Spring City.
Moreover, he was delighted at the prospect of having the two girls go
with him the next day, and appeared almost as enthusiastic about the
autogiro as Linda herself.
The weather continued perfect, and the three happy young people took
off from Spring City the following morning. An excellent mechanic
himself, Ted always kept his plane in tip-top condition, and it was
a rare thing indeed for him even to encounter a minor accident. This
flight proved no exception; straight and swift through the June skies
he flew to the field outside the city of Philadelphia where the
autogiros were on display.
"You really expect to buy one today, Linda?" asked Louise, as she
climbed out of the plane.
"Yes--if Ted gives his approval," replied the capable aviatrix. She had
always had the greatest confidence in this young red-haired pilot, who
had taken her on her first flight, and who had saved her and his wife
from disaster upon two occasions.
"Are you sure that it can go fast enough to suit you, Linda?" asked Ted.
"It can travel a hundred and twenty-five miles an hour, and that ought
to satisfy me. If I were entering any air-races, I'd want a special
racing plane anyhow, for the occasion. But I'm not going out for
races. I want to take a job, and I think an autogiro will be the most
convenient plane I can have, to take with me anywhere I want to go. I
shan't have to depend on big fields for landing."
"Right-o," agreed the young man.
They walked across the field and were shown a model by an enthusiastic
salesman. As the reporter had said, it did look like a flying bug, with
its odd wind-mill-like rotor on top, and its small stub-like wings,
which were there mainly to mount the lateral controls or ailerons.
"It isn't so pretty as the Arrow," remarked Louise.
"Handsome is as handsome does," returned Linda. "If we'd had an
autogiro that time in Canada, when our gas leaked out, a forced landing
wouldn't have been disastrous."
"Why?"
"Because the rotor takes care of that, after the engine is dead,"
explained Linda. "An autogiro can come down vertically at a slower rate
than we did with our parachutes."
"I'll never forget how scared I was that time we jumped off," remarked
her companion. "You know, it's one thing to see other people do it--in
the air, or at the movies--and its something else to step off into
space yourself. That all-gone feeling!"
"I don't mind it any more now--it doesn't seem any worse than dropping
ten stories in an elevator. But I know what you mean."
"Well, I have never had to jump since," Louise informed her. "But," she
continued as they walked around the autogiro, "isn't there really any
danger of crashing?"
"You can crash, of course," laughed Linda. "If you steer straight for
another plane, or a tree. But tail-spins are practically impossible;
they say no matter what happens the autogiro settles to the ground like
a tired hen. It's the principle of centrifugal force--it can't fail."
"Oh, yeah?" remarked Louise, hiding a yawn.
"What I want your opinion on, Ted," added Linda, turning to the young
man, "is the engine. You know more about engines than I do."
"I'm not so sure of that last," he replied, modestly. "Looks O.K. to
me--I've been examining it while you girls chattered."
The salesman, who had been listening to the conversation, suddenly
burst into a smile. He had been wondering where he had seen that girl
before. Now he knew! Her pictures had been in every newspaper in the
country. She was Linda Carlton, of course!
"You're Miss Carlton, aren't you?" he demanded, excitedly. "The girl
who flew to Paris alone?"
"Yes," answered Linda, indifferently. She didn't want to talk ancient
history now. "This is a P C A--2, isn't it?" she inquired, to bring the
man to the subject of autogiros.
"Yes. Fifteen thousand dollars. I suppose it's not necessary to tell
_you_ what instruments it is equipped with--an experienced flyer like
yourself can recognize them by a glance into the pilot's cock-pit."
"Yes, I see them. And I had a circular besides.... It's complete,
all right. The only thing I don't like about it is the separate
passenger's cock-pit. My Arrow Pursuit had a companion cock-pit."
"You can always talk to your passenger through the speaking-tube," the
salesman reminded her.
"Yes, of course----"
"And nobody you take along now-a-days will be as talkative as I always
was on our trips together," Louise observed, with a smile.
"Talkative!" repeated Linda, "All you ever wanted to do was sleep!
Every time I looked at you on that flight to Canada, you were
peacefully dozing!"
"And she still has a bad habit of dropping off," teased Ted.
"So long as that's the only way I 'drop off,' I'm satisfied," concluded
Louise.
In spite of their frivolous talk, Linda had been thinking seriously
about the autogiro, and had entirely made up her mind about it.
"I'll take it," she announced. "If you surely approve of it, Ted."
"I do, absolutely."
The salesman looked at her in amazement. Never had he made such an easy
sale before. But he did not meet people like Linda Carlton every day!
"Don't you want to try it out?" he suggested. "I can show you how to
fly it in a few minutes."
"I have flown one before," she told him. "But I would like to take it
up for a few minutes if you don't mind. Am I to have this particular
one? I have a certified check in payment."
The salesman blinked his eyes in further consternation. The check right
there, the girl ready to take the plane home with her! It was a moment
before he could catch his breath.
"Of course," he finally managed to answer. "I'll have her started for
you immediately. And--would your friends care to go up with you?"
"Sure!" exclaimed Ted. "We're your best friends, aren't we, Linda? So
oughtn't we to be privileged with the first ride?"
"You certainly are!" replied the famous aviatrix, squeezing Louise's
hand in her excitement and delight. "Come on!"
It was the Mackays' first flight in an autogiro, and though they were
very much crowded in the passenger's cock-pit, they insisted that
that only added to the fun. With a sureness which Ted watched in
admiration, Linda took off and flew round and round the field, putting
the new plane through all sorts of tests, proving conclusively that all
the claims for it were well-founded.
Fifteen minutes later they came slowly down to earth, landing on the
exact spot from which Linda had taken off.
"Unscramble yourselves!" she cried to her passengers, as she climbed
out of the cock-pit. "Let's go pay our bill."
"She's great, Linda!" approved Louise, as her husband helped her out.
"I'm for her, even if she is a funny-looking bug."
"Sh!" cautioned Linda, solemnly. "You might hurt her feelings.
She's--she's--a lady!"
"Ladybug!" exclaimed Louise, with a sudden burst of inspiration.
"Ladybug is right!" agreed her chum enthusiastically. "You've named her
for me, Lou!"