_The Smash-Up_
The robbery which was so carefully planned by the gang of thieves
who had kidnapped Linda Carlton, was highly successful. One of the
largest banks in Jacksonville was entered just before closing time on
the afternoon of June 23rd by four masked robbers, who calmly took
thousands of dollars in cash and securities, and escaped to a waiting
car, without being identified or caught.
By a secret route these men suddenly disappeared--whither, no one but
Linda and Susie knew. By midnight they were back again in the swamp,
and by dawn they had reached Black Jack Island.
Exhausted from their journey, three of the men dropped down on their
cots and fell instantly asleep. The fourth--Susie's husband--stopped to
look into his wife's tent.
Flashing the light inside, he peered through the doorway. There was
Susie, sleeping peacefully on her cot. But the other bed was empty!
"Susie!" he yelled in alarm. "Where's Linda?"
The girl awakened abruptly, and sat up, blinking her eyes at the
unexpected light. For a moment she could not think what he meant. Then
she remembered her prisoner.
"She's gone," she replied. "Beat it this afternoon."
"How?" he demanded roughly, coming over and shaking her by the arm.
Susie winced, and pulled herself free.
"You leave me alone!" she warned him. "How do I know how Linda got
away? Could I run after her?"
"No, but you might 'ave watched her!" snarled Slats. "Didn't I tell you
to?"
"Watching wouldn't keep her here," retorted Susie.
"Is her Bug still there?" he inquired.
"Yeah. I hobbled over and took a look myself."
"Oh, you did, did you?" Then, worn out and disappointed, Slats started
to swear.
Susie sat still, regarding him with contempt. How vulgar such language
sounded, when you actually stopped and listened to it! She did not
realize it at the time, but just the few hours which she had spent with
Linda Carlton had given her a new view-point. Or rather, had brought
back her training as a child, before she had "gone bad."
When the man's anger had spent itself in violent words, he began to
wonder how on earth Linda could have escaped.
"No human being could get far in this here bog, without a boat or a
plane!" he exclaimed. "She must be around here somewhere."
"Why don't you go look for her!" demanded Susie, with a sneer. She was
beginning to be glad that Linda had gotten away.
Her husband turned on her savagely.
"Look a here, Susie, if you helped that kid to get away--!" He held up
his fist threateningly. "I'll make you sorry! Give you a dose of the
medicine I was saving for Linda!"
"What do you mean?" she demanded, trembling.
"This gun!" he replied.
"Well, I didn't," she hastened to assure him. "Linda slipped off when I
wasn't watching.... But do you mean you were going to shoot Linda?"
"Sure, you fool! That's what kidnappers always do. Bait the big fish
till they get the cash, then kill the victim, and ship the corpse. If
we sent Linda back alive, she'd have us in the Pen in no time. Our
game'd be up."
Susie shivered; she had not realized that the men had any intention of
going to that end. True, Slats had once killed a bank messenger, but
Susie always excused him on the ground of self-defense. "Hard-boiled"
as she was, the idea of shooting an innocent girl like Linda Carlton
was too much for her to approve. She felt suddenly sick with the horror
of it all.
Slats sat down for a moment on the empty cot, while he thought things
over. Linda Carlton must not escape to tell the world of her experience
and to give such accurate descriptions of the gang that they would have
to be caught. Aside from the matter of the ransom which the kidnapping
ought to bring them, they dared not let her go. The case called for
immediate action.
"Can you fly that Bug, Susie?" he demanded, abruptly breaking the
silence.
"I guess so," replied the girl. "They say they're easier than
airplanes."
"O.K. Then we're off. Get dressed as quick as you can."
"But Slats," protested Susie, rubbing her injured ankle, "don't forget
I've been hurt!"
"Rats!" was his unsympathetic reply. "Get busy. I'll be getting the
gas, and some grub. We'll need coffee--and a lot of it."
Distasteful as the plan was, Susie could do nothing but obey. But she
was feeling very miserable as she ate her breakfast, very sorry for
the "poor, brave kid," as she called Linda, very resentful against her
husband.
The latter helped her down to the autogiro and put her into the pilot's
cock-pit, where she sat for some minutes examining the controls. The
dawn had changed into daylight, and the swamp was beautiful in the
early morning sunrise. But, like Linda Carlton, Susie did not even
notice it.
Impatient at the delay, her husband demanded, "Got the idea how to run
her?"
"Sure," she replied, listlessly. "Start her up and climb in.... Where
do you want to go!"
"Circle all around--flying low, so that we can spot the kid if she's
here. If we don't see her in the water, we'll stop at some of the
islands, and look there. She can't 'ave got out of this swamp."
"O.K.," agreed Susie.
Without much difficulty the girl ran the autogiro along the edge of
the island until it rose into the air. It was easy enough to keep it
flying; the test would come when she had to make a landing. But Susie
decided never to worry about anything until the time came. Luck was
usually with her; her only serious crash had been the one of two days
previous, and, after all, there was a reason for that.
Slats, who spurned learning how to fly, because he considered his a
master-mind, above such practical work, was, nevertheless, enjoying the
ride. He congratulated himself upon his own cleverness in securing this
new plane for the gang.
"Like her, Susie?" he shouted, through the speaking-tube.
The girl nodded, indifferently.
"You can have her!" he announced, proudly, as if he were giving her a
costly present of his own purchasing.
Susie drew down the corners of her lips in scorn, but made no reply.
Didn't he realize that she would never dare fly this autogiro where
anyone could see her? That the police all over the country would be on
the look-out for this very plane? She was understanding for the first
time that money was not much use without freedom.
As she sat in the cock-pit, silently thinking things over, she made
up her mind not to try to help Slats in his search. She would have to
continue to guide the plane, of course, for she never for one moment
forgot the pistol that her husband kept ready to enforce his orders
with. But she would not attempt to spot Linda, nor would she inform him
if she did happen by chance to see the girl. No; it would be better to
let "the poor kid" die by natural causes in the swamp than for her to
be killed by Slats in cold-blooded murder.
Over the trees and tropical plants of the swamp they continued to
fly, until the sun rose directly overhead, and they knew that it was
noon. All the while Slats kept his eyes glued to the ground, without
any success. Not a sign of human life did he see. Movements in the
swamp--yes--snakes and birds, and even an alligator--but no girl! Yet
he felt sure that even if Linda were hiding, she would come out at the
sound of the plane, for by this time she would realize that escape was
impossible. Driven by the pangs of hunger, she would have to surrender
to her fate. But noon passed, and they found no trace of her.
Perhaps she was dead by this time, the man thought bitterly--killed by
a snake, or drowned in the treacherous water! He would not mind that,
if he could only find her dead body. Without it, without the assurance
that she was not still at large, he dared not seek a reward. What a lot
of money he would be losing!
"We'll land on an island, and have some grub," he shouted to his
companion. "Fly south to 'Soldiers' Camp.'"
"O.K.," replied the girl, beginning to doubt her ability to make a
landing. But she was afraid to disobey--and besides, they had to come
down sometime.
After that things happened with a rapidity that must have startled the
peaceful bird-life in the Okefenokee Swamp. Approaching the island,
Susie and her husband spotted the carefree picnic at the same moment,
and the former made a sudden, sharp turn in the hope of hiding the
sight from Slats. At the same instant, he took out his pistol and fired
at the group--at Linda in particular--missing her only because of
Susie's rapid change of the position of the plane.
The sharp angle had its effect upon the pilot; she lurched over,
striking her injured ankle against the rudder, swerving the plane
violently to the other side. Panic-stricken, she tried to right the
plane, but she had not even throttled the engine down to a landing
speed. The inevitable crash followed. With an impact that was
frightful, the autogiro headed for a tree with relentless speed, struck
it and bounced thirty feet into the air.
By some miracle Susie, crouched as she was in the cock-pit, was not
thrown out, but her husband, who had not taken the precaution to
wear a safety-belt, was bounced wildly into the air, and landed,
face-downward, on a rock.
During all this excitement, Linda and her companions stood tensely
rooted to the spot, the girl gripping Jackson Carter's hand as if he
were her one support. As the crash came, she dropped her head on his
shoulder and moaned aloud, totally unconscious of the fact that the
young man was still little more than a stranger to her.
A cry from Susie aroused her to the fact that the girl was still alive.
Ignoring the man who had brought about the catastrophe by his hasty
shot, all three young people rushed to Susie's aid.
The plane was only partially turned over; the rotor and the wheels were
injured, and the nose smashed, but it did not look to Linda as if there
had been any serious harm to the engine. Susie's head was cut, and two
teeth were knocked out, but apparently no bones had been broken. Very
carefully the boys lifted her from the cock-pit and laid her on the
ground.
"I have a first-aid kit in the canoe," said Hal, immediately. "I'll get
it and fix up this cut. It doesn't seem awfully deep."
"Does it hurt very much, Susie?" asked Linda, offering her a drink of
water.
"Not as much as my ankle. And my poor mouth! Without these teeth! My
looks are ruined!"
"No, they're not," answered Linda, comfortingly. "Any good dentist can
fix you up so nobody will ever know the difference."
Still no one said anything about the man who was lying so silently
on the rock a dozen yards away. It was Hal Perry, returning from the
canoe, who made the announcement which they had all been secretly
expecting.
"The man with the gun is dead," he said, quietly, not knowing how Susie
would take the news.
"So he got his at last," muttered the latter, with a certain grim
satisfaction. "Nobody--not even his widow--is goin' to shed a single
tear!"