“Come and sleep beside me,” she urged. “The next visitor may be a lot worse!”
“I’ll be prepared for the next one,” asserted Linda. “With my revolver, my knife—and a stout stick!”
But though she put all these weapons beside her, Linda had no use for them that night, and both girls slept soundly until the sun wakened them the next morning.
Chapter XXI
A Strange Landing
Flying over the mountains in the bright, calm sunlight was a very different proposition from clearing them in the face of wind and rain, and Linda encountered no difficulty at all as she set out the next morning. Neither she nor Helen had much hope of catching the man who had stolen the bonds and the money, but both girls decided it was worth taking a chance. So long as they had come this far, it would be foolish to turn back without finishing the flight.
They arrived at the Newport News airport a little before ten o’clock, and Linda set herself immediately to the task of finding out where the air-transport company was located. When she had secured this information she stepped back into her autogiro, prepared to fly to the spot. She was not wasting any time now with taxicabs, for wherever she went, she felt sure there would be a landing place large enough for the “Ladybug.”
She had been directed to the shore on the Chesapeake Bay, and here she found hangars and planes and officers. A smiling young man came to greet her immediately.
“Good morning,” said Linda, quickly. “We have come from Chicago to find a man named Edward Tower. I understand that he was sailing to England on an air transport—leaving to-day, perhaps?”
Her heart beat rapidly while she waited for his answer.
The young man nodded.