"There's something else I want to tell you," added Linda, "that may help to spot him. There is probably a girl with him." Then, rather reluctantly, she told what she knew of Susie, begging the Captain not to punish her too severely if she were found.
"And now," she concluded, "Miss Crowley and I want to do a little scouting ourselves—in the autogiro—and I want to know whether you will lend us a couple of .38s for the undertaking."
The Captain smiled whimsically. What an unusual girl Linda Carlton was! No wonder she had done things no other girl had even tried.
"Of course I will," he said. "Though such a request is rather out of the ordinary——"
"This is an extraordinary occasion," remarked Linda.
"Don't you want a detective to go with you?" he asked.
"No, thank you, we haven't room in the autogiro. Besides, we don't want to waste his time—for it may be only a wild goose chase. But if you will lend us a couple of revolvers, I think we shall be safe."
"Can you shoot?"
"If it is necessary. But I don't think it will be. The girl got to be very friendly with me, after her husband was killed. If I had only gotten to her in time, I think I could have saved her. As it is, she may not have joined the man of her own free will. You see she had been hurt, and was partially helpless. So he could do most anything he liked with her, if he had her alone."