_The Chief of Police_
Half an hour after the accident, Susie expressed a desire to eat, and
Linda hastened to supply her with food. While the girl ate her lunch,
the little group discussed their plans.
"Is my bag still in the autogiro?" asked Linda, surveying the
disreputable suit which she had worn for three days. What a relief it
would be to get into clean clothing!
"It was when we left," replied Susie. "If it didn't bounce out when we
crashed.... Linda," she added apologetically, "I'm awful sorry about
your plane. I--I--didn't mean to crack it up."
"I know you didn't, Susie. I think it can be repaired, if we can get
the new parts to this forsaken place. Probably we can--by airplane."
Jackson Carter, who had been only half listening to this conversation,
interrupted by telling the girls that he and Hal would take care of
the burying of the criminal. "Unless," he added, turning to Susie, "you
would want to take the body back to your home?"
"We haven't any home," Susie admitted sadly. "And no friends, outside
the gang.... No, it's better for him to lie here in this swamp--where
he meant to plant Linda."
The implication was lost to the boys, who did not know the story of the
kidnapping, and who thought of Linda as "Ann."
"Then first we'll help you get your bag out of the autogiro, Miss
Carlton," offered Jackson. "You can go back into one of those little
'houses,' and change into clean clothing, if you want to, while we
attend to the burying."
"Wait a minute," urged Linda. "I think we ought to decide what we'll
do about tonight. We can't all four get into that canoe, so Susie and
I had better stay here, hadn't we? You could wire my aunt for me,
couldn't you?"
To Linda's amazement, before either of the boys had a chance to reply,
Susie put in a protest.
"It ain't safe for you to be here an hour more than you have to,"
she said. "Don't forget there's still three rough guys hot on your
trail.... No, I'll stay alone, if you leave me some grub, and a
blanket. You can come back for me when you bring somebody to fix your
plane." This generous offer came as a complete surprise to Linda; she
had not realized before that this girl had swung over to her side. What
a splendid sign it was! Susie must have decided to cut free from these
criminals, now that her husband was dead.
"That's great of you, Susie," replied Linda. "And you needn't worry
that I'll ever tell the authorities anything bad about you! I was
afraid I oughtn't to leave you alone--but if you really don't mind----"
The other girl shrugged her shoulders.
"I'll get along O.K. I'm used to being left by myself. But don't stay
away too long."
The arrangements suited the boys perfectly, for they were anxious to be
out of the swamp as soon as possible. With fast paddling, they ought to
be able to reach a little town in Florida by dark, where they believed
that they could hire an automobile to take them home.
Fifteen minutes later Linda stepped out from the enclosure, dressed
in a pale blue voile--the only dress she carried in her bag, for she
had shipped her trunk to Atlanta, where she had expected to report for
work. The wearing of clean clothing was a pleasure second only to that
of using a comb and a tooth-brush. She felt like a different girl.
If she had seemed pretty to Jackson Carter before, in that disheveled
green linen suit, she was radiantly beautiful now. Returning from his
gruesome task, he stood still, lost in admiration.
Linda laughed at his amazement.
"Do I look like another girl?" she inquired.
"The same girl--glorified," he answered, with awe.
Having unloaded the canoe of its food and blankets, and assured
themselves that Susie was able to hobble around with the aid of a
stick, the three young people pushed off. It was only three o'clock;
all these occurrences--the crash, the death of the criminal, his
burial--had taken place in less than two hours!
For some time the boys paddled forward in silence, each of the three
occupants of the canoe lost in his or her own thoughts. Hal was going
over the exciting events of the last two hours; Jackson was thinking
of Linda--or "Ann"--Carlton, and wondering whether her hiding her
head on his shoulder had meant that she cared for him. Linda's mind,
however, was occupied with the immediate future--with the part she
might play in assisting the police to catch those arch criminals who
were still at large.
It was she who first broke the silence.
"What would be the nearest large city to this southern end of the
swamp?" she inquired.
"Jacksonville, Florida," replied Hal, immediately. "That's where we
both live."
"Then that's where I want to go," announced Linda. "Have they a good
police department?"
"Best in the country," boasted Jackson.... "Miss Carlton," he added,
"would you stay at our home while you are in the city?"
"I'd love to," agreed the girl immediately. All through the South,
until she had lost her way in the Okefenokee, she had met with this
same southern hospitality, and had found it charming.
Jackson Carter was overjoyed at her acceptance, yet he was a little
fearful of the reception his mother would give to a girl who was so
different from all his other friends. Surely, however, the older woman
must see how fine Miss Carlton was, and accept her for her own lovely
charm.
The hours passed swiftly and the daylight was fast fading when the boys
finally informed Linda that she was out of the swamp. With a prayer of
thanksgiving, she gave it one last look, hardly able to believe her
good fortune. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she had been miserably
lost in its depths. Now she was free to live again in civilization,
untortured by the fears that had held her in such terror for the last
three days.
Leaving the canoe in a boat-house on the bank of the small stream which
they had been following out of the swamp, they walked to the nearest
village and asked for the Post Office. Here Linda made arrangements to
send a wire to her aunt, in which, however, she did not mention the
fact that she had been kidnapped.
"Have been lost in Okefenokee Swamp," she wrote. "But not hurt. Wire me
at Jacksonville, Fla. Love--Linda."
Her next move was to send for her trunk from Atlanta, and to wire for
new parts for the autogiro, and while the boys looked up a place to
eat supper, she bought a Jacksonville newspaper. She hoped there would
be nothing in it about her, for she hated so much publicity.
The first item that struck her eye was the announcement of the
Jacksonville Bank robbery. More than a hundred thousand dollars had
been stolen--in cash and securities--by four masked bandits on the
afternoon of June twenty-third, and still no trace of them had been
found.
"That money must be at Black Jack Island," she thought, resolving to
get this information to the police early the following day.
She had to go through the paper twice before she found her own name. It
was only a tiny notice, among the aviation briefs, and copied from an
Ohio paper--stating the fact that Linda Carlton, world-famous aviatrix,
had not been heard from for three days, and asking that the air-ports
of Georgia report any sight of her autogiro.
Linda breathed a sigh of relief, as she saw how inconspicuous this
notice was. For some reason she did not want Jackson Carter or Hal
Perry to connect her with the famous flyer, and she longed above
everything to keep the story of the kidnapping from her aunt's ears.
The boys came back with the information that they had found a place to
eat, and took Linda to a little frame house where a widow ran a sort of
restaurant. The cottage was run-down and out-of-repair, but everything
inside was neat and clean, and the food, though plain, was excellent.
"How long will it take us to get to Jacksonville?" inquired Linda, as
they finished the meal.
"Two or three hours," replied Hal. "Providing we have no mishaps. Why?"
Linda repressed a sigh. She was very tired, and longed intensely for
sleep in a real bed. These last two nights in the swamp had taken their
toll of her vitality.
"If only we had a plane!" she said.
"It wouldn't do me any good," remarked Jackson. "I've never been in
one--and I've promised my grandmother I won't fly until I'm twenty-one."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," offered Linda, with genuine sympathy. Life without
flying seemed a dreary thing to her.
The only car which the boys had been able to hire was a dilapidated
Ford that looked as if it would hardly last the trip. But it proved to
be better than its appearance; over the lovely hard roads of Florida it
traveled comparatively smoothly. To Linda's amazement, she found when
they reached Jacksonville that she had slept most of the way.
The short rest had freshened her considerably, and she suddenly decided
to go to the Police Headquarters that night. It was her duty to report
the crash of her plane, and the death of that criminal. She wished
that she had thought to ask Susie his real name--she was going to feel
rather silly calling him "Slats."
With this purpose in mind, she asked Jackson what time it was.
"Half-past nine," was his reply. "Why?"
"Because I think I ought to report to the Police tonight about those
thieves. I understand that it was a bank in Jacksonville that they
robbed."
"Which bank?" demanded the boy, excitedly.
"'The First National,' the paper says."
At this information, Jackson Carter dropped back in his seat and
groaned. His mother's bank--where all of her money was kept! The bank
of which his uncle was president! This was going to mean trouble to the
whole Carter family.
"Will you please take my bag to your house, and leave the address with
me?" asked Linda, not knowing what Jackson was suffering. "I'll take a
taxi out to your home, after I see the Chief of Police."
"Yes, yes, of course," agreed the young man, still absorbed in his own
thoughts.
It was a late hour to visit the Chief of Police, but when Linda
explained her reason to an officer at the City Hall, the latter sent
for the chief immediately.
When Captain Magee came in a few minutes later, Linda was impressed
with his appearance and delighted with his dignified and courteous
manner. She smiled at him confidently; how different he was from those
officers of the law with whom she had come in contact in Canada!
"I am going to tell you my whole story, if you will promise not to
repeat the part about the kidnapping to the newspapers," she began. "I
don't want my people at home to hear of that--for, after all, it is
over now, and I am safe."
"Kidnapping!" repeated the officer. "You don't mean to say that you
have been kidnapped?"
"Yes. My name is Linda Ann Carlton--I am the girl who flew the Atlantic
in May." She blushed, for she hated to talk about herself, or to appear
to boast about her own exploits, but this time it was necessary. "Here
in Jacksonville, among friends, I am going to be known as Ann Carlton,
because I want to avoid publicity." Her blue eyes became pleading, and
she asked, in an almost child-like tone, "You won't tell on me, will
you, Captain Magee?"
He smiled. "No, I won't tell. Unless it becomes necessary."
"Thank you so much! Well, to continue: I bought a new autogiro and flew
down here to report to a company in Atlanta about a job spraying crops,
and the newspapers printed the route of my flight. Early in the evening
of June 22nd I lost my way over the Okefenokee Swamp, and finally
landed on an island. A plane had been chasing me, as I later learned
after it landed--or rather crashed--beside mine. The man in it held
me at the point of a gun and compelled me to fly my autogiro to their
camp on Black Jack Island, where I was to be held for a ransom. _That
man was the chief of the gang of bandits that robbed the Jacksonville
bank._"
She paused a moment for breath, and the Captain leaned forward eagerly.
The story, which might have seemed incredulous to an ordinary person,
was perfectly believable to him. He was used to the ways of criminals.
"But how did you get away?" he demanded.
"I never should have, if it hadn't been for this bank robbery," she
explained. "While the men went off, I escaped, and was picked up by a
couple of Jacksonville boys in a canoe."
Linda went on to relate the happenings of the afternoon, concluding
with the death of the ring-leader of the gang, whom she knew only as
"Slats." She spoke lightly of Susie, showing her merely as a weak pawn
in her husband's hands.
The criminals' method of disposing of their stolen valuables was
another interesting point in her story, and she told Captain Magee
about the barren island in the ocean.
"Now whether this stuff is still on the island or at the camp," she
concluded, "I don't know. But I am ready to go and help you find out."
"You mean you are actually willing to go back into that swamp?" the
officer asked. "To show us the way?"
"Of course! That's why I came to you tonight. So that we can make
arrangements for tomorrow."
"But it may be very dangerous, Miss Carlton! These men will be armed,
and will shoot at sight."
"I'll take a chance. Can we go tomorrow morning? By plane?"
"By airplane?"
"Yes. Any other way would be too slow. They may have escaped already."
"But an airplane will be so much noisier than a boat. They'll hear you
coming."
"We'll have to take that chance." She stood up. "If you will get a
plane, Captain Magee--a large one--I will fly it, to save space. Then
we can take two or three armed guards."
"How do you know that you can fly any plane I happen to get, Miss
Carlton?" he inquired, incredulously.
"You see, I'm a transport pilot," she explained. "We have to be able to
manage most anything.... Can you send a car out for me to the Carters'
home, early in the morning?" She handed the Captain the address.
"Yes. I'll telephone as soon as I can make all the arrangements," he
agreed, seeing that he could not change her from her purpose.
Linda thanked him and hurried out to the waiting taxi. It was growing
late, long after ten o'clock, and she was anxious to be in bed.
Jackson Carter himself came to the door when she rang the bell.
"Where is your mother?" she asked, immediately, for there was no sign
of a hostess inside.
"She is ill," replied the young man. "The bad news about the bank--a
great deal of our money was lost--knocked her terribly. She hasn't told
grandmother, or it might kill her. So I had the maid get the guest room
ready, and hope that you will excuse them both."
Linda nodded; she had no way of knowing that Mrs. Carter had protested
about entertaining this girl whom Jackson had "picked up" on his canoe
trip, and had stubbornly refused to see her. The woman had worked
herself into such a state of nerves over her losses and over this
incident that she had actually made herself ill.
"I'm so sorry," said Linda, sympathetically. "If I weren't so tired,
I'd go to a hotel, for this is no time for your mother to be bothered
with a guest. But I'll just stay tonight, and leave early tomorrow. I'm
flying to the swamp again with the police officers."
"Ann!" cried Jackson aghast, using her name unconsciously. "Don't,
please! It's dangerous--you may be killed.... And, and, besides----"
"Besides, what?"
"Besides, it isn't done. You shouldn't go off to lonely places like
that, without an older woman along."
Linda smiled.
"I can't be bothered with social codes at a time like this," she said.
"I have to do all I can to get that money back. Think of the hundreds
of people hurt by that bank robbery--if the bank is forced to close its
doors! Including your own mother and grandmother! No, I just have to
go."
"Let me go instead," he suggested.
"You wouldn't know just where the camp is. It's pretty well hidden, and
I know the only spot where a landing is possible. Besides, you can't
fly a plane."
"You mean you will pilot the plane yourself? Your autogiro's broken."
"Oh, it'll be another plane--a hired one. Now please don't argue any
more, Mr. Carter--you sound like my aunt--and let me go to bed. And
will you ask one of the servants to waken me at seven o'clock?"
"Good night, then, Miss Carlton," he said, almost sorrowfully, for it
seemed like the end of what might have been a wonderful friendship for
Jackson Carter.