Once free of the line which held it, the seaplane started drifting along parallel with the beach. Jane scrambled back to the pilot’s cockpit after pulling the canvas off the motor. Guardedly she turned on the light over the dash. Some of the instruments were unfamiliar, but it was a standard control plane. Her heart leaped for she knew she would be able to fly it.
“What are we going to do now?” asked Sue.
“Wait for dawn.”
“But that will be hours.”
“We can’t risk a takeoff in the night,” replied Jane. “Make yourselves as comfortable as you can. At least we’re on our way.”
Through the night they drifted, the current keeping them just offshore. With the first light, Jane saw they were at least three miles from the cabins. In a few more minutes their absence would be discovered.
“Wake up,” she told Sue and Jackie. “We’re starting home.”
Jane primed the motor and snapped the starter switch. The motor failed to catch and she primed it again, this time successfully. The trim plane shook as the propeller spun in the early morning light.
In order to take off into the wind, Jane was forced to turn the plane toward the cabin. Then she opened the throttle, gritted her teeth and held the stick hard. The seaplane leaped forward, skimming the tiny waves. It shook itself free and Jane knew they were a step nearer home.
They passed close enough to the beach to see Bardo and his two fellow kidnapers run from the cabin. Then Jane banked the seaplane and sped southward. Where they were headed she could only guess, but they were one their way.