“Two men went up there in a plane this morning!” cried Terry excitedly. “Who were they?”
“I can’t say, Miss,” replied Jenkins. “One had red hair and the other's eyes were funny! A queer looking pair of crooks!” Ed Jenkins was fumbling in his pocket. “Here’s a message. I guess it must be for you. The man with the squint said to give it to two girls in a plane. I reckon that’s you!”
Terry ripped open the envelope and read these words scrawled on a scrap of paper: “He laughs best who laughs last!”
“Come on. Prim, let’s go!” Terry’s face flushed, then set in determination. “That’s a challenge! If Joe Arnold thinks I’m through, he’s mistaken!”
But Ed Jenkins was pointing to the mountain, where a few stone huts were visible. “That’s Peter Langley’s mine up there! You can see for yourself there’s no place to land among those peaks!”
But Terry had already started the engine. The propeller was spinning. And with a wave of her hand to the storekeeper, she sent her plane across the field and into the air. Circling for altitude, she pointed straight toward Peter Langley’s mine.
“I believe that man is right,” said Prim a few minutes later, as the hills became more rugged and menacing with their sharp peaks.
Terry flew slowly over the hills, watching for a spot to put her plane down. If Joe Arnold and Bud Hyslop could find a place, surely she could. She brought her plane as low as she dared above the mountains but there was no sign of level ground, and soon she saw little figures running about and waving at her excitedly.
“They’re warning us not to try a landing,” Prim called to her sister. “i’m afraid it’s no use.”
“Then I’ll have to use the parachute! Come over here and take the controls. I’ll have to jump,” cried Terry.