_Searching the Ocean_
Louise and Ted Mackay did not go to the police headquarters that night.
They were too miserable, too discouraged by the outcome of their
excursion to the island. After leaving the plane at the airport, Ted
called Captain Magee on the telephone, and briefly related the results
of their flight.
Supper was a dreary affair for them both. It was only by putting forth
a tremendous effort that they ate at all--in an attempt to stave off
exhaustion. The ice cream, at least, tasted good to Louise, for she was
still very hot.
The worst ordeal of all came after the meal, just as the saddened young
couple were passing through the hotel lobby to take the elevator to
their room. Louise suddenly recognized two familiar figures at the
desk, two men who had just arrived with their luggage. Mr. Crowley and
Mr. Carlton--the fathers of the two unfortunate girls!
The tears which Louise had bravely forced back ever since her collapse
at the discovery of the matchbox on the island, rushed to her eyes
again. How could they ever tell these two men the terrible news?
For an instant she hoped they would not see her or her husband, that
she could at least put off the evil tidings until the morning. But
it was not to be. Linda's father recognized her instantly, and came
quickly towards her.
"Louise!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand. "And Ted! Any news?"
Louise could not answer for the sob that was choking her, and Ted, shy
as he always was, knew it was his duty to explain.
"Bad news, Sir," he said. "We had information this morning that the
girls were stranded on an island in the ocean, and that their autogiro
had been stolen from them. As you probably read in the newspaper, it
was found yesterday.... We--Lou and I--flew to the island where the
girls were supposed to be, this afternoon, and found evidences of their
camp--burnt out fires--but no trace of the girls."
Mr. Carlton looked grave.
"But they may have been rescued," suggested Mr. Crowley, who had the
same optimistic disposition as his daughter.
"Possibly," admitted Ted. "But if they had, wouldn't we have heard? The
whole country is waiting for news of those two brave girls."
"I'm afraid you're right," agreed Mr. Carlton, darkly. "Yes, you must
be right. Foul play----"
"Or the ocean!" put in Louise. "Oh, the cruel, dreadful ocean! If it
couldn't swallow Linda up on her flight to Paris, it had to have its
revenge now!"
"Have you had your dinner, Sir?" asked Ted of Mr. Carlton.
"Yes. On the train. Suppose we get our rooms--I'll ask for a private
sitting-room--and then we can all go up and discuss the matter together
from every angle, and decide upon what is the best thing for us to do."
Louise brightened at this ray of hope.
"Then you're not going to give up yet, Mr. Carlton?" she inquired.
"Never, till we find them--dead or alive. We're going to think of no
news as good news."
Mr. Crowley nodded his approval.
"I have a week's vacation," added Ted, "and I shall be at your service."
"Thank you, my boy," answered Mr. Carlton, gratefully. He was a great
admirer of Ted Mackay, ever since he had recovered from his prejudice
against him because he was the son of a ne'er-do-well.
The new-comers made their arrangements at the desk, and were fortunate
enough to secure a very pleasant suite. Louise and Ted went up in the
elevator with them, and Mr. Carlton ordered coffee to be sent to the
room.
They settled down into the easy chairs and Louise poured the
iced-coffee. The evening was hot, but there were large windows on three
sides of the sitting-room, and a lovely breeze was blowing. Mr. Carlton
brought out cigars and offered one to Ted.
"But I suppose you'd rather have a cigarette," he said, when Ted
refused.
"No thank you, Sir. I never smoke. A great many of us pilots don't. We
want to keep as fit as possible."
Mr. Carlton nodded. Linda had never expressed any desire to smoke, and
he supposed it was for the same reason.
"There are two places where the girls might be," he said slowly, as he
puffed on his cigar. "On another of those small islands, off the coast,
or in some boat--on the ocean. If they had reached the coast, we should
have heard of it."
"A boat!" repeated Louise, with sudden inspiration. "There was that
broken down motor-boat, that the girl and the gangster used to get to
the island! Could Dot and Linda have gone off in that?"
"What boat?" demanded Mr. Carlton and Mr. Crowley, both at once.
Louise explained by repeating most of the story which they had heard
from Susie that morning.
"Funny we didn't think of that before," observed Ted. "Come to
remember, I didn't see any boat this afternoon. Did you, Lou?"
"No, I didn't. And we searched the whole island," she explained to the
older men. "We'd surely have seen it if there had been one."
"This sounds hopeful!" exclaimed Mr. Crowley, joyfully. "If it didn't
have a leak----"
"But didn't you say that it was broken?" asked Mr. Carlton.
"The girl said the engine was broken, but as far as I know, the boat
itself was sound," replied Ted.
"Linda could fix the engine!" cried Louise, almost hysterical in her
relief. For the first time since the finding of the matchbox, she
actually believed that Linda and Dot were still alive.
"We'll work on that theory, anyway," decided Mr. Carlton. "And go out
on the ocean tomorrow."
Before they could discuss their plans any further, the telephone on the
desk interrupted them, and Mr. Carlton was informed that there were two
young men who wanted to see him--Ralph Clavering and James Valier.
"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Mr. Carlton, who had not even known
that the boys had started South. "Yes," he added to the clerk on the
phone, "ask them to come up right away, by all means."
"Who? What?" demanded Louise, eagerly. "Any news?"
"I don't know yet. Ralph and Jim are here."
"They would be," smiled Louise. Linda could never get away from Ralph
Clavering, no matter how far she went.
A minute later the boys appeared, dressed in camping clothes, looking
very unlike the neat, immaculate young men they always appeared to be
at Spring City, or at Green Falls. Even if they took part in athletics
at home, their white flannels were always spotless. But now, except
for the fact that their faces were clean and shaved, they looked like
tramps.
Ralph and Jim were just as much surprised to see Ted and Louise as the
latter were at their visit.
"Where in the world have you been?" demanded Louise, in amazement at
their appearance. "You both look as if you had been ship-wrecked and
lost besides."
"We have," muttered Jim, sinking wearily into a seat, and extending his
long legs in front of him. "Please pardon our slouching, Lou--but we're
dead."
"But where have you been?" repeated Mr. Carlton.
"In the Okefenokee Swamp!" answered Ralph. "And if Lou weren't here,
I'd tell you what it's like, in no uncertain language!"
Mr. Carlton smiled, and yet he was horror stricken. If these boys found
it so dreadful, what must it have seemed like to Linda?
"Tell us about it!" he urged. "But wait, have you had your supper?"
"Yes. We had food along with us. We left the canoe at the edge of the
stream, and taxied back here, because we have rooms in this hotel. They
told us at the desk that 'Miss Carlton's father had arrived,' so we
didn't wait even to change our clothing. We had to get the news of the
girls immediately."
"I'm afraid there isn't much to tell," sighed Louise. "At least nothing
hopeful." Briefly she repeated what she and Ted had been doing all
afternoon, as a result of Susie's capture and story, and she displayed
the matchbox, with the name of Spring City stamped on its lid.
"I recall Linda's getting that from her aunt," remarked Ralph,
dolefully. "She asked for half a dozen boxes, and Miss Carlton got them
right away, so she wouldn't forget."
"Now tell us what you boys have been doing," urged Mr. Crowley. "And
Louise, why don't you pour them some of this iced-coffee? It really is
very refreshing."
Briefly Ralph told his story, aided now and then by Jim. Their second
expedition into the swamp had been as useless as their first, though
they admitted the superiority of a canoe over a motor-boat, if one knew
where to go. But they had become hopelessly lost in a couple of hours,
in spite of their maps, and, as time passed, they became all the more
certain that the girls were not in the swamp. They decided to turn
back, in order to concentrate their efforts on the islands near where
the autogiro had been found.
Susie's story naturally confirmed their suspicions, and they instantly
agreed with Mr. Carlton to abandon all further search of the Okefenokee.
"I believe the thing to do," announced the latter, after serious
contemplation, "is to hire a yacht, and cruise all along the Georgia
and Florida coast. The most reasonable explanation to me is that Linda
and Dot are adrift somewhere in that motor-boat. Either the engine is
broken beyond repair, or the gasoline has given out."
"Or that terrible storm has wrecked them," faltered Louise, who could
not silence her fear of the ocean. "Upset that little boat, and----"
"Don't, Lou!" cried Jim. "Don't even think of things like that, unless
we find an empty boat!"
"I'll try not to," she promised.
"Well, whatever has happened, the ocean is the place for us to be, if
we hope to rescue the girls," concluded Mr. Carlton, "You all agree on
that point?"
Everyone assented, and Ralph and Jim expressed their desire to get into
action immediately.
"We ought to be able to get a yacht tomorrow," continued Mr. Carlton.
"Because of the publicity of this affair someone who has one ready will
probably be glad to rent it to us on the spot. I think I'll go to the
newspaper office tonight, and have the request broadcast by radio."
"Great!" exclaimed Louise, jumping up excitedly. "And can we all go
with you tomorrow, on the cruise, I mean, Mr. Carlton?"
"You can do just as you prefer--go with me, or use your own plane to
fly around over the islands."
"I think that would be the better plan for us, Sir," put in Ted. "And
we can keep in touch with you by signals."
The group separated at last, the older men to call their families by
long-distance, the young people to get a good night's sleep after their
strenuous day. In the morning they re-assembled at breakfast, when Mr.
Carlton announced the good news that he had been offered a yacht by a
wealthy man in Jacksonville.
"He even refused to take any rent for it, much as I urged him to," he
added. "And he's lending us the crew besides. It seems too good to be
true."
"All of which goes to show just how popular Linda is--with everybody!"
explained Louise. "Oh, we simply must find her!"
There were no preparations to be made for the cruise, because the owner
of the yacht assured Mr. Carlton that everything was in readiness, so
by ten o'clock on the morning of July third, the little party, composed
of the two fathers and the two boy-friends of the lost girls stepped
aboard the boat. It was a beautiful little yacht, complete in every
detail. Under any other circumstances the men would have been overjoyed
at the prospect of such a pleasant trip. As it was, they were too
worried to think of anything but Linda and Dot.
"What a marvelous time we could be having if the girls were aboard!"
lamented Ralph. "Dance and play bridge all day, every day, with no
other fellows to cut in on us, and take them away! I say, Jim, we might
even come back engaged if we had a chance like that!"
"Much more likely they'd be so sick of us they'd never want to see us
again!" returned the other, shrewdly. "No--cruising's all right. But
I'd rather be in Green Falls if Linda and Dot were with us."
"Maybe this will teach Linda a lesson," grumbled Ralph. Then he
suddenly remembered her job, with the Spraying Company in Atlanta. He
couldn't pretend to be sorry if she lost it.
The speedy little yacht cruised all day along the coast, while the men
played bridge, and smoked, and ate the most excellent meals, cooked
and served by an efficient staff. But underneath all this comfort ran
an under-current of anxiety, especially towards evening, when darkness
came on, and no sign of the girls had been seen.
Several airplanes had flown over their heads during the day, and once
they saw Ted's plane. Dropping low, Louise waved her handkerchief,
which was the pre-arranged signal to tell them that the flyers had
found nothing, and Ralph waved his in return, conveying the same
information. Should they have anything to report, Ted announced that he
would put his plane through a series of stunts, and, in the case of the
yacht's making a discovery, Jim Valier promised to climb up on the rail.
But the airplane and the yacht passed each other with only a dismal
fluttering of handkerchiefs.
"Something's bound to happen tomorrow," said Jim, as he crawled into
his bunk that night. "It'll be the fourth of July!"
"By Jove! It will!" exclaimed Ralph. "We ought to get some bang-up
excitement!"
But the thing that happened was what they had all been silently
dreading--the fate which only Louise had mentioned, that night in the
hotel sitting-room.
About noon--off the coast of Florida--Jim Valier spotted an overturned
old motor-boat, bouncing helplessly about on the ocean!