She opened the paper and read the directions. This time they were more difficult. This was to be the finish!
“Fly northwest, past Beaver Dam to Fox River. Follow the river, west, then north, to Lake Waupin. Continue about ten miles, looking for a large old house of gray plaster, with a flat roof and a tower. Land in a field behind this, and search the barn. Treasure is hidden in the barn. It is in bright red wrapping.”
Reading the words over her shoulder, Amy gasped in excitement.
“Those words are familiar, Linda. I—I know the Fox River! I’m sure I do.”
Linda, who had completely forgotten the mystery about the girl in the excitement of the morning, gazed at her in surprise.
“But you are supposed to come from Montana,” she said. “You couldn’t have come this far.”
“I don’t know,” replied the perplexed girl. “But I do know these names are familiar.”
All the while the skies grew darker than before, the thunder sounded nearer and nearer, and Linda became more fearful. Was she acting foolishly, in defiance of her aunt’s dearest wishes? But how she hated to give up, now that she had come this far!
Suddenly another plane swooped down from the skies with an awful speed that sent a shiver through Linda’s body. It was going to crash, she felt sure; the pilot could not control it. She pulled Amy back into the hangar, and watched her autogiro nervously. Would it be hit by that speeding plane, hit and dashed to pieces, too?
But miraculously the descending plane passed over the “Ladybug” and hit the ground with a thump, bouncing high into the air—seeming to hover a breathless second—then turning a pancake. It was all Linda could do to restrain a scream, and Amy cried out in fright.