“Do you suppose we’ll catch him?”
“I hope so. If he left here this morning, he’d hardly be planning to sail before Friday morning. And I think we’ll arrive some time Thursday afternoon.”
“If everything goes right,” amended the other.
“Yes,” agreed Linda. “If everything goes right. If we don’t run into a storm over the mountains!”
Chapter XX
Flying Over the Mountains
Everything went well with Linda Carlton and Helen Tower on that first lap of their flight in the autogiro from Chicago to Spring City, in Ohio. The weather continued fine all afternoon and the “Ladybug’s” motor droned on in perfect rhythm. It was not yet dark when Linda made her landing in the field behind her own house.
Helen was wildly excited at the idea of seeing the Carlton home; for the time being she had forgotten her terrible disappointment at the loss of her money. In the calm happy hours of the flight her faith in the goodness of the world had been restored. She believed that somehow, some way, Linda Carlton would succeed in the end.
“Why, your place is as big as our old house!” she exclaimed. “All except that extra wing—and the tower. But so different! So beautiful!”
Linda smiled; she too had always admired her charming home.
She unlocked the door, and after they had both washed and eaten some supper which Linda ordered sent in from a delicatessen store, the aviatrix spent the rest of the daylight going over her engine. She wanted everything in perfect shape to start again on their journey at six o’clock the next morning.