Twelve hours overdue at Harbor Grace!
Then it was that Terry took her plane into the clouds to think out a way to help. What could she do?
Her white face told how much she cared for those two young friends, her father’s first student flyers. At the thought that there might be two more names added to the long list of missing aviators, Terry’s heart sank with fear. She could see Allan’s tall figure, his clear blue eyes and his thatch of unruly blond hair. Terry never knew how dear Allan was to her until that report had come, “Missing!” And Syd Ames had been like a brother to her. She liked this boy with the laughing brown eyes. His fun-loving disposition had saved them from utter despair at times, when everything was going wrong. A groan escaped Terry’s lips as she thought of these boys who might at that very moment be lying crushed and needing help.
But Terry had not come aloft to moan over the imaginary fate of her friends. She knew they must have had an accident or they would have reached the airport long before this. They might be injured.
What could she do?
What would her father, Dick Mapes, have done if he had not been crippled and left helpless by a fall in his plane, two years ago?
“Why Dad would go out and find them!” she exclaimed to herself. “And that’s what I’ll do. I’ll go to Newfoundland and look for them.”
This decision was natural for the daughter of a flyer. And the idea once fixed in her mind Terry did not waste time in further plans. She put her plane into a fast dive. The girl found it hard to come down in her usual way. She wanted to do reckless things. Take chances! But Terry was well trained by her father. She took the long dive with open throttle. She straightened out, banked and spiralled but not for a second did she take a chance with her plane. She would need Skybird to help her in her search.
As she headed toward the flying field she remembered with satisfaction that she had just overhauled her plane the previous day. It seemed that, even then, she must have known that it would be needed. As soon as she put in a supply of gas and oil, it would be ready for the long trip north.
Terry set her plane down neatly on the field in front of the hangar. Skybird settled down like a great seagull with outspread wings. Stepping lightly over the cowling, Terry ran to the veranda of the cottage adjoining the flying field where Dick Mapes sat in a wheel chair. His face was deathly pale, stern and drawn with suffering. His hands opened and then clutched at the arms of his chair, nervously.