To her surprise, the first passenger to step aboard was Miss Hardy, the supervisor of nurses at Good Samaritan. Jane was genuinely glad to see her, for it had been through Miss Hardy she had received the opportunity to join the stewardess service.
The Coast to Coast was five minutes ahead of schedule and Jane and the supervisor had a chance to visit. Miss Hardy explained that she was going to Chicago for a part of her vacation and had finally managed to make up her mind to fly.
“Perhaps I’d better say my brother convinced me,” she smiled. “I’ve been in Omaha a week. He’s a regular aviation fan and comes out to the field two or three times a week to watch the night planes come in. After he dragged me along, I began to feel that I wasn’t afraid to make the trip.”
“You’ll enjoy every minute of it,” Jane assured her, “and I’m especially delighted that your first trip is with me. Slim Bollei, one of the most skilled pilots on the line, is at the controls today. That means you’ll have a smooth, comfortable trip. Once in a while a cross wind gives the passengers a little trouble, but travel is unusually comfortable today.”
“You’ve certainly attracted national attention,” said Miss Hardy. “I’ve read of your exploits on several occasions, once when the bandit plane tried to abduct that wealthy New York woman and again when you flew to some small town with a supply of much needed serum.”
“It wasn’t done for publicity’s sake,” said Jane, “but the public and the newspapers aren’t used to stewardesses on planes and when they do anything out of the ordinary, that’s news.”
Departure time came and Jane saw that Miss Hardy was settled comfortably, in a chair next to a window, and halfway back on the right side of the plane. Miss Hardy looked older and her eyes appeared tired. She must have had a hard year with the new classes of girls at Good Samaritan, thought Jane.
They roared off the field, flashed over the muddy Missouri, and then struck out across the rolling farm land of western Iowa. The country was fresh, with the green of the pastures contrasting sharply against the black of the corn fields, in which the first spears of the new stalks were starting to peep through the top soil.
Several times on their swift flight over Iowa, Jane stopped to talk with Miss Hardy, who appeared to be enjoying the trip immensely. It was a non-stop hop from Omaha that afternoon and almost before they knew it, the graceful craft was settling down on the Chicago field.
“I’ve enjoyed the trip so much I’m going in and make my reservation for the return flight,” said Miss Hardy, as Jane helped her out of the plane.