For a long, long while, until the storm had almost wasted its fury, there was no stirring of life about the plane. At last a brown jacketed arm appeared and Brent slid from the front cockpit. He had landed on his face when he fell from the plane, and now with difficulty he got to his feet. Stumbling in the darkness he felt his way to the cockpit in the rear where Gale was.
The plane had crashed in a forest and now as Brent tried to extricate Gale from the wreckage of the plane he could not. The limb of a tree which had been torn off by the impact of the plane lay squarely across the fuselage, effectively pinning Gale in her seat. Vainly Brent pulled and tugged at the limb, but he could not move it. Queer pains were shooting through his shoulder and he felt strangely lightheaded.
Brent stepped back and leaned heavily against a tree while he tried to see through the darkness. He must get help! There was nothing else to do. He took a few steps away from the wreck and saw faintly in the distance the flickering of a light. He started toward it, determined to make as fast time as possible. The ground was muddy, and he could not see where he was going. Several times he stumbled into muddy holes and fell headlong over low lying logs.
Once when he thought he had come quite a distance he stopped. The light was gone. On each side of him was nothing but darkness. Undaunted, Brent spurred himself on. The thought of Gale behind him lent him fortitude. He didn’t know how many hours it was since they had crashed. He should have reached that light by this time. Unless—the thought gave him pause. Suppose it had been a car on a road in the distance. It might not have been a house after all! After a brief rest he continued on his way. Sooner or later he must come to civilization!
Chapter XI
THE SEARCH
At the corner bus-stop the yellow and green vehicle emitted eight young people who immediately scattered in different directions to their homes. Phyllis went off with David and Janet, while Carol went in the opposite direction with Madge and Peter Arnold. Valerie and Bruce walked slowly toward Gale’s house. It was their intention to see why she had not appeared at the airport and also to discover if she knew where Brent Stockton was.
As they stopped at the Howard gate they met Mr. Howard just arriving from the opposite direction.
“How was the air-meet?” were his first words.
“Marvelous!” Valerie declared.
“Did Mr. Stockton’s plane win the race?” he asked next as he latched the gate after the three of them.