"I was. Till his mother snubbed me—and he even doubted that I was a nice girl, just because I was traveling about alone. Then, when you introduced me, he wanted to be friends. Naturally I was hurt."
"I don't blame you! But Mrs. Carter is terribly old-fashioned."
While they were talking they had been slowly advancing towards the beach. Suddenly Linda spied a pile of articles near the spot where the autogiro had taken off.
"Look, Dot!" she cried. "There's our stuff on the shore! The basket! My over-night bag—and I guess that other box is my tool kit, that I always keep in the plane! Come on!"
Breathlessly they dashed down to the shore and found that their belongings had indeed been tossed out of the autogiro.
"This proves that Susie's our friend!" cried Linda, hopefully. "She must have done this."
"Fine friend—to steal the plane!" returned Dot. "She didn't have to go with that man!"
"Maybe not.... I'm afraid I can't understand her," mourned Linda. "Half good, and half bad——"
"Don't worry about Susie," urged her companion. "We have enough to think about for ourselves.... Still, it is nice that we eat tonight. Aren't we lucky to have that food?"
Dot's forced cheerfulness brought their wretched plight back to Linda. How selfish she had been, to drag this other girl into this wretched business, when she came South to enjoy a holiday!