Often at the ground school she had been compelled to land on a given spot—such as a square of canvas; it was no wonder that she now felt sure of herself. A moment later she came down on the very mark that she had selected.
"Pretty neat!" exclaimed Worth, in admiration.
Linda turned off the engine and prepared to get out of the plane. But the Sergeant stopped her.
"You stay in here, Miss Carlton!" he ordered. "This is no place for a girl."
"But I have to show you where the camp is," she protested.
"Then show us from here! And remember, too, that you are our pilot. If anything happened to you, we couldn't get out of this swamp."
Linda saw the reasoning in this last argument, and agreed to remain inside of the cabin until she should be summoned. She sat there tensely, while the three men advanced cautiously towards the trees at the center of the island.
They had not gone more than a dozen yards when a shot rang out from behind a tree, and a bullet whizzed past over their heads. A cry burst from Linda's lips, then an exclamation of relief at the assurance that her companions were unhurt.
"So they're still here!" she thought, excitedly, clasping her hands so tightly together that they grew numb with the pressure. "Oh, if the men only get them without being shot!"
The officers' pistols replied rapidly to the shot from the thieves, in such quick succession that Linda could almost imagine that she was in an actual war zone. But the volley lasted only a moment, for the thieves were short of bullets since "Slats'" disappearance, and before anyone was hurt, "Beefy" and "Jake" surrendered to Sergeant Worth.