"No. Another airplane—I had noticed it before—landed soon after we came down. The pilot walked over and asked us if we were in trouble."
"And you stupids told him all about the fifty-thousand-dollar necklace!" cried Louise, in disgust.
"No, we didn't! We were smart enough to know that wouldn't be wise. We thought we knew him, though—we had seen him at the Spring City Flying School. But we did tell him we had lost a necklace, and he said he had picked something up. As a matter of fact, we had noticed him stoop over."
"And you took it and thanked him, and never looked inside!" cried Kitty.
"I'm afraid you're right," admitted Ralph. "We thought he was a friend, following us for our protection, at the orders of the school."
"Well, then, why was he following you?" demanded Kitty, incredulously.
"He must have overheard us talking about the necklace," answered Linda slowly, for she was trying to think the thing out. "Yes—that is what I believe he was doing all the time, Ralph. Now I remember—the day we got our licenses!"
"You mean you went around the school shouting the news that you were carrying pearls to Green Falls in an airplane?" asked the unhappy girl.
"Of course not! Only the men at the bank—the safe-deposit vault—really knew about it. And of course they're absolutely trustworthy! Except maybe this one man—who was fixing his car outside the aviation field. We never thought he was listening—why we couldn't even see him!"