Chapter IX
Followed
Linda and Louise went up to their room at the hotel naturally supposing that their presence was unknown to Bess Hulbert.
It happened, however, that she was to hear about them at the desk.
When Bess left her brother in the lobby, she went straight to the clerk and asked for her key. It was a fine day, promising a fine night; she decided to leave for New York as soon as she had packed her bag. But the information caused her to change her mind.
"Do you happen to know the young lady flyers, Miss Smith?" inquired the clerk, for Bess had registered as "Anna Smith" at the hotel.
"What young ladies?" she asked, carelessly.
"Two girls who just flew in from New York. Mighty attractive ones, too!" He examined the register. "Linda Carlton and Louise Haydock."
"Hm!" mumbled Bess, wonderingly. What could have brought them up here to Plattsburg?
"I've heard of them," she replied. "How long are they staying?"
"Just over night. Going over to Montreal in the morning, I believe."
Bess was silent a moment, thinking rapidly.
"I guess I'll stay here over night, after all," she concluded. "Night flying isn't so good, if you don't have to do it."
"Wise young lady!" observed the clerk. "If you want to meet these girls, they're still out there in the dining-room, eating. I know flyers always like to get together – for 'ground flying,' as Lindbergh calls it."
"I don't care much about meeting those particular girls," replied Bess, scornfully. "They're only beginners – I dare say this is their first real flight. Yet the way they talk you'd think they had been pilots for years… No, thank you. I guess I'll go up now, and take a rest. Will you have my dinner sent up to my room?"
She disappeared into the elevator, and when Linda and Louise came out of the alcove, they thought she had gone back to New York. When they stopped at the desk the clerk made no mention of "Miss Smith" because she had spoken so contemptuously of these young girls.
"What's your idea of a way to spend our time here?" asked Louise, as they unpacked their bags. "It's only five o'clock; we can't go to bed yet."
"Let's look for 'Hofstatters' in the phone book," suggested Linda. "Just for fun, because we probably shan't learn anything, but it wouldn't do any harm."
"O.K. with me. I'm glad his name isn't Smith or Jones, then it wouldn't be so easy."
Louise opened the telephone book on the small table beside the bed, and searched diligently.
"I've found three," she announced a minute later. "Amos, Charles, and Mary. But what shall we say when we call?"
"Say we come from the firm of J. W. Carwein, New York City – it'll be the truth, because we have just come from there – and we want to know when he will have another box of lace-work to sell."
"Great!" approved Louise, smiling at the joke. "And if we should happen to locate the man, what shall we do? Make an appointment?"
"Of course! He would have to tell us exactly where he got the goods, and if he isn't telling the truth and is smuggling them in from Canada, we can have him arrested… But we'll never meet luck like that!"
"I speak for Amos," said Louise. "I like the name. Besides, nobody with a name like that from the Bible could be crooked."
"And Mary ought to be out of it," remarked Linda. "Though of course she might have a son or a brother."
They took a few minutes to write down exactly what they would say, and began calling the numbers. But without success – that is, until they came to Mary. Amos Hofstatter grew angry, believing it was another wrong number, and shrieked that he had never heard of anybody named Carwein. Charles Hofstatter, identifying Louise's voice as that of a young girl, tried to make a date with her, but she scornfully replied, "Act your age!" and hung up with a bang.
Linda took the telephone to give the last call, the number listed for Mary Hofstatter.
A rather feeble voice answered.
"Who? What did you say?" the woman, evidently elderly, asked.
Linda repeated her message.
"You want my son?" she guessed. "You are Miss Smith?"
"No," replied Linda, firmly. "But we are from Carwein and Co., linen importers, and we want to see him."
"Oh – I – don't know where he is," stammered the other, nervously. "Miss Smith knows. Anna Smith. Ask her."
"But where is Anna Smith?" persisted Linda.
"I don't know anything about it at all!" protested the woman. "Good-by!"
Linda turned excitedly to Louise. "We're on the right track," she said. "But imagine locating an Anna Smith, North America!" She shook her head hopelessly.
"It wouldn't do much good anyway," remarked her chum. "This Hofstatter is probably some weak fellow, who will do anything for money. Our best plan is to strike out for the Convent."
"What do you say if we cut out the stop at Montreal altogether?" asked Linda, studying her map. "This Convent is between Montreal and Quebec, and I don't see why we shouldn't fly straight to it. We'll save a lot of time."
"Time is precious," agreed Louise. "But remember what Ted said, about inquiring at the Montreal airport for a landing place."
"I know, but we can't always do what Ted says. We're not beginners now, Lou. And I'm sure there will be a good place – the country is so open."
"O.K. with me. If tomorrow is a clear day, as it looks as if it is going to be, we can fly low enough to watch the ground pretty closely."
"Then it's settled," concluded Linda. "Give me ten minutes with this map, and I'll be finished. Then we can go to the movies, and buy a paper so that we'll have the weather prediction for tomorrow."
The next four hours passed pleasantly for the girls, and they stopped at a drug-store on their return from the early show at the theater, to buy a sandwich and some hot chocolate, which was all the supper they wanted. By ten o'clock their lights were out and they were fast asleep.
Soon after breakfast the following day, which was bright and sunshiny, Linda and Louise returned to the airport and took off into the bright blue sky. Everything seemed favorable; they had no idea that only a few hundred yards behind them a plane was following them, a plane whose pilot had no love for Linda Carlton or Louise Haydock.
"You didn't bring any coffee, did you?" asked Louise, as they sped on over the frozen country, glimpsing the St. Lawrence as they passed.
"No," returned her companion. "Only some sweet chocolate, matches and about three cans of baked beans, which I always carry. I've read a lot about making fire without matches, but if we ever have another experience like that one last summer, and come down in a lonely spot, I want matches. And something to keep us from starving."
Even in the companion cockpit, which was one of the nicest features of the Arrow Pursuit, conversation was rather difficult, and the girls only talked occasionally. Sometimes they would press each other's fingers just as a joyous signal of their pleasure in flying together.
It was Linda who first noticed the plane behind her.
"See what kind it is, Lou – if you can," she advised.
"Can't very well," replied the other, attempting to lean out and peer through her glasses. But it was too far away to identify.
"Hope it's not a thief or anybody like that," remarked Linda, recalling the other time a plane had followed them, in order that the pilot might steal Kitty Clavering's necklace.
"Don't worry!" returned Louise. "We haven't anything like pearls with us today!"
"You have your earrings! And besides, we must have a couple of hundred dollars between us."
But the plane had disappeared again, and the girls gave their attention to the country beneath them, flying low enough to watch the children on their sleds, and the skaters on the frozen lakes. The winter sports looked so inviting that both Linda and Louise wished they could stop and join in.
"Maybe we can do that tonight," exclaimed Louise. "If we get back to Montreal safely."
"Aunt Emily wouldn't approve," Linda reminded her.
"Your Aunt Emily doesn't approve of any of this! But anyway, it's all in a good cause."
"And we've gotten along fine so far…"
For some miles farther they watched the ice-covered lakes and the snow-covered ground, and the thick trees that dotted the landscape. The vastness of the woods was a little terrifying; Linda shivered when she thought what it would be like to be lost in them, at this time of the year. Their supplies might last them a day – after that they would certainly perish… She pulled herself sharply from such gruesome thoughts; a pilot was always in a certain amount of danger, and had no right to brood upon it. Prepare for the unexpected, yes – and then forget it!
It was still early in the afternoon when they sighted the Convent. Large and picturesque, like those of the old world, as typical of French Canada as most of Quebec. Linda gave a cry of Joy.
"I'll have to circle awhile," she shouted to Louise, "till I can find a spot without trees for a landing. But I am sure there must be one – away from these hills."
Soon she was rewarded, for there proved to be a very good place – flat, even ground, covered with only a coating of snow.
Both girls were a little timid about the reception they might get. Were these nuns, living their quiet lives, used to airplanes, or would they resent the noise, breaking in upon their meditations and work? Trembling a little, but remembering their fondness for her Aunt Emily, Linda brought out her handkerchief which they had made, in readiness to show it to them as proof of her identity. Then she and Louise started towards the Convent, which was the distance of perhaps two city blocks away.
Before they had gone a half of the distance, they saw children running towards them from over the hill, children probably from the village beyond. The girl stopped, smiling.
"Candy! Candy!" cried the youngsters, and Linda went back to the plane and dug out their supply of chocolate and handed it over to them.
"It was sort of nice to see those kids," remarked Louise, as they again started towards the Convent. "Somehow they make it seem more alive. Oh, Linda, I do hope we don't interrupt the nuns at a service!"
But she need not have worried, for as soon as the girls entered the building they saw a group in a big room, engaged with their needles. What an opportune time to come!
"You do the talking, Lou!" urged Linda. "You always know what to say better than I do."
One of the sisters came forward and smiled.
"Welcome!" she said in French. "Come over to the fire and warm yourselves."
Fortunately, both girls had studied this language, and understood what she said. Gratefully they walked over to the old-fashioned stone fireplace, where a frugal fire of fagots was burning, and a kettle, hanging on a crane, was singing and bubbling.
"Merci, beaucoup!" replied Louise, to let the good woman know that she understood her, and appreciated her offer.
"Has anything happened?" asked the sister, still in French.
"Happened? Why?" returned Louise.
"You were here yesterday, and bought everything that we had made. The Mother Superior told us."
"But we weren't here yesterday!" protested Louise.
"Yes. In an airplane."
Linda and Louise looked at each other knowingly. It must have been Bess Hulbert – in the Moth! That would explain her presence in Plattsburg. They were sure of it now.
"That was somebody else," explained Linda. "Did you see her?"
"No, we did not see her. The Mother Superior saw her. Instead of sending a man, she said Mr. Carlton thought we would prefer a lady. And she paid more – and gave the little village children candy. Oh, she is good! We are starting a little school for the village children."
What Louise wanted to say was "She is an impostor!" but she could not think of the French word for "impostor," and besides, what was the use of telling all this to these simple-hearted sisters? Instead, she asked for the Mother Superior.
"She is away, visiting a sick friend, in Quebec. She will not be back until tomorrow."
Louise sighed; there was nothing they could do now. But they had found out what they wanted; it was Bess Hulbert who was smuggling the goods into the country, and stealing Mr. Carlton's business. It would be an easy thing now to catch her and have her arrested.
"We must go now," said Louise. "Before it gets dark."
"Oh, but have something to eat!" urged the sister. "Some tea and biscuits."
Seeing that these good women might be hurt if they refused, the girls accepted the invitation and sat down to the simple meal. It was plain, but good, and they discovered that they were very hungry, for they had not eaten since breakfast.
"Now let us show you over the Convent," offered another, and while they accompanied several of the nuns about the old, meticulously neat rooms, they heard the roar of a plane, making a landing not far away. Immediately Linda glanced out of the window, to see whether her Arrow was safe, and she saw another plane landing quite near. But before the girls left the Convent, the latter had disappeared.
"Now back to Montreal for the night – and then hot foot after Bess Hulbert!" cried Linda, as she started the motor. "If we accuse her of being a smuggler, and she promises to stop, and leave Daddy alone, we won't have to have her arrested."
"But first," qualified Louise, "we must _catch_ Bess Hulbert!"
Chapter X
The Arrow in Flames
Although no definite results had yet been accomplished, Linda and Louise felt when they left the little French Convent in Canada that they were on the way to victory. All that was necessary now was to get in touch with Linda's father, who, through his lawyer and detectives, would bring Bess Hulbert to justice.
The facts as they saw them were surprisingly clear and simple, and could not fail to convince the police.
First of all, the firm of J. W. Carwein had declared that they had bought the goods in the belief that they were made in the United States.
Secondly, the firm had been deceived. The goods were not made in this country, but in Canada, as the girls had just proved by their visit to the Convent.
Thirdly, they had been bought by a girl in an airplane, who represented herself as an agent of Mr. Carlton.
The only missing link in the chain was the actual proof that the girl in the airplane was Bess Hulbert.
Yet all the evidence pointed that way: her visit to Plattsburg, her taking the Moth to Canada, her conversation with her brother, at the hotel, in which she referred to her business as dangerous and liable to end in disgrace, and finally her interest in Linda's handkerchief a month or so previous.
Surely no one would doubt such evidence as this! But if the police refused to arrest Miss Hulbert, it would be easy enough to send a picture to the Convent for identification. That would prove everything conclusively.
So both girls felt certain, as they stepped into the Arrow, that they had been successful, that they were about to save Mr. Carlton's business. And this fact meant joy to themselves. Now they could plan again on their flight across the Atlantic; now it would surely be safe to put in the order for the Bellanca which Linda had set her heart upon having.
"Let's don't bother to go back by way of Montreal," said Linda, exultantly, as she started the motor and taxied along the frozen field. "Let's head straight for Spring City!"
"But do you know the way?" inquired Louise, as the plane rose into the air.
"Yes, I guess so. I have a map – oh, not the kind Ted makes, but good enough. We'll fly across country, and stop when we get tired."
"But it's getting dark, Linda," objected her companion.
"We can't help that, Lou! It would be getting dark anyway, even if we were headed for Montreal."
"But this is strange country. So many woods, too. A forced landing would be terrible, Linda."
"Who said anything about a forced landing?" laughed the other girl. She felt thrilled and exhilarated; the cold, fresh air against her cheeks whipped them to a lovely color, and her eyes were shining. She was in the mood for adventure tonight. But when she realized that her chum was dubious, she decided to go easy. Perhaps Louise was tired.
"Lou dear," she shouted, "if you're nervous, we'll go to Montreal, and put up for the night. Say the word – but say it quickly!"
"No! No! I'm for the quickest way home. And I have a lot of confidence in you, Linda."
"You better have, if you mean to cross the ocean with me. We'll have to get used to night flying, Lou, if we hope to succeed!"
"I know," agreed the other, as she settled down into her seat to try to keep warm.
Darkness came on, but the sky was cloudless, and the stars shone out brilliantly. Linda kept her eye on her chart, but although she did not tell Louise, she was not sure where they were. Had they crossed into New York state – were they flying in the northern part, or were they still in Canada? Her goal was Syracuse; she hoped to reach it before midnight.
The trees were still thick everywhere, and they were flying about fifteen hundred feet high. All of a sudden, without any warning, the engine missed and sputtered, and stopped dead!
Louise, who for the last five minutes had been peacefully dozing, awoke with a start at the abrupt cessation of noise. Just as a Pullman traveler will sleep while a train is moving, and wake up at a station, so the silence affected Louise. It was positively uncanny.
"What's the matter, Linda?" she whispered, hoarsely.
"Out of gas," replied the pilot, grimly.
"Then – then – " She clutched her companion's arm, desperately – "Then we jump?"
Before Linda could reply, the motor took hold again.
"No! Not yet!" she shouted, above the welcome noise. "I have turned on the reserve supply – it's good for about twenty minutes. We'll try to land."
She circled about and came lower, but the prospect was disastrous. Nothing but woods! Trees everywhere! She remembered bitterly the occasion when her father had presented her with the Arrow, as a graduation gift, and had remarked shrewdly that she would get to hate trees. How right he was!
But she must not lose track of the time – the precious twenty minutes that might be all that were left to her in this world. Louise, with the glasses, was peering down towards the ground. But there were no lights, no towns, no signs of civilization anywhere. Nothing but trees.
When only eight minutes remained, Linda decided in desperation to climb again. If they were to use their parachutes successfully, they must attain a comfortable height.
The ascent only served to make Louise more panic-stricken. She grabbed Linda's arm, and held to it like a death-clasp.
"Where are you going, Linda?" she shrieked. "Are you crazy?"
Linda shook her head. It was surprising how calm she felt.
"Get ready to release your parachute," she commanded. "When we get high enough, we are going to jump. Have you your flashlight handy?"
"Yes. All right, Linda." Her voice shook with emotion.
"It'll be all right, Lou dear! I've jumped before – it isn't bad. And you've been taught just what to do."
At four thousand feet up in the air, Linda gave her the signal, and Louise stepped out over the right side of the plane.
Then Linda turned the nose of the Arrow up, and stepped off herself, falling about a hundred feet, head downward, before she pulled the rip-cord which opened the parachute, and jerked her into an upright position. Off to one side of them, the plane was falling rapidly, in a series of spirals; for a moment Linda had the tense fear that it might strike her companion or herself. Holding out her flashlight, and watching the ground below, she floated gently away from the plane, landing finally in a clearing perhaps fifty yards away from Louise.
"Lou, are you safe?" she shouted, gasping.
"O.K.!" was the laughing reply, that brought a warm surge of relief to her heart.
With the aid of their flash-lights the girls disentangled themselves from their cords, and ran towards each other. Suddenly they stopped; a blaze of light flashed in the sky, and they saw the beloved Arrow in flames!
"Oh, poor Linda!" cried Louise, rushing to her chum in sympathy. "What rotten luck!"
Tears came into the young aviatrix's eyes, and she hugged her chum tightly in her grief. It was as if she had lost a very dear friend. For a breathless moment they watched the blazing plane, fearful lest it would drop on them, or set the woods on fire. But gradually the light died, and what was left of the Arrow dropped to the ground at least a mile away.
"I guess we're lucky at that," Linda finally said, shivering.
"I was sure we'd be killed," Louise admitted. "It seems so much worse to have an accident at night – so much more terrifying."
They stood still for a moment and looked about them. A light covering of snow was on the ground, and on the leafless branches of the trees. In every direction the woods stretched out in desolation. The girls had not the faintest idea where they were.
"Oh, I'm so cold!" complained Louise. "If only we had a fire!"
"My matches!" remarked Linda, regretfully. "My matches that I packed so carefully! A whole box… Well, next time I'll see that they are in my pocket. Lucky we have our flash-lights – and no sprained ankles. Come on, Lou, we must walk, or we'll freeze to death."
"But where are we going?"
"Anywhere – to keep warm with the exercise, and maybe happen on some hut or house. We daren't sleep tonight, Lou! Oh, if, we only had those blankets!"
"And those baked beans!"
"Shucks!" exclaimed Linda. "Why didn't I think to throw some stuff out before we left the plane! All the mail carriers do. If they have to jump, they drop their mail bags first."
"Too late now to think of that. But wasn't it lucky we had something to eat at the Convent?"
"It surely was. I wish we had eaten twice as much."
With their arms tightly linked together, the girls were pressing forward now at an even pace, as if they had cheerfully made up their minds to walk all night long. Sometimes they would step into thick piles of dried leaves, but otherwise the ground was hard, except for an inch or so of snow. Often they encountered ice, and their feet grew numb with the cold.
Louise, who had not wanted Linda to take the unknown course, had said nothing about the cause of the accident, for fear of hurting her chum's feelings. But Linda's mind had been busily working on the explanation ever since the tank went dry.
"Lou," she said finally, as they walked on through the darkness, "I think I have the explanation."
"What explanation? How to get out of these woods?"
"No, no. Of the reason why our gas ran out. I should have had enough to get to Syracuse. But do you remember hearing a plane land near to ours, while we were in the Convent?"
"Yes, of course. We both saw it."
"Well, do you know what I believe? I think that was Bess Hulbert, in the Flying Club's Moth – and it was she who was following us all the way to the Convent."
"Linda!" cried Louise, in amazement. "But how could she ever know we were here? Not that I'd put it past her – but how could she possibly find out, or guess what we were up to?"
"I don't know, except that she may have seen us – or our names on the hotel register at Plattsburg. People who are committing crimes are always on the watch, you know, expecting to be caught."
"How could she ever dump out our gas, in so short a time?"
"She didn't. She put a little hole in the gas tank, probably, so that the gas would leak out slowly. That would be a much meaner thing to do than to cut a strut, or injure the propeller, because either of those things would keep us from going up in the air without discovering it, and we wouldn't learn our danger from a leak without flying a while. Besides, whatever happened would happen when we were some distance away – so that she couldn't possibly be blamed! And it would be too late to do anything."
"The sneak!" denounced Louise, feeling almost hot for a second in her anger. "You're right, Linda – I'm sure you are! But really, it was intended murder!"
"Probable murder – if we couldn't make a landing or jump. But she thinks we are so inexperienced that we couldn't do either… Yes, I really believe Miss Hulbert thinks we're dead now!"
"And won't she get fooled!" exulted Louise. "Once we get back to civilization, we'll do plenty to her!"
"If we get back to civilization," said Linda, with the first note of despair creeping into her voice. Their feet were so cold, they began to ache dreadfully, and the woods were as dense and as hopeless as when they first began to walk. They slackened their pace, until Louise's feet fairly seemed to drag. She stopped abruptly.
"I just can't go on, Linda," she sighed. "My feet hurt so terribly!"
"I know," answered her companion, sympathetically. "We might take off our shoes and rub them with snow. But if we once stop, we'll never be able to start again – and then we'll surely freeze."
It was a gruesome alternative; they looked at each other in dismay.
"Let's go very slowly, and hang on to each other," urged Linda. "The night can't last forever, and the sunshine will bring warmth."
"It's the longest night I ever knew," said Louise, drearily. "But morning will be worse, because we'll be that much hungrier."
Linda pressed her hand; there was no use trying to cheer the other girl with hopes, that she was in no mood to believe. So they went on doggedly.
For perhaps half an hour they continued in silence; then once again Louise stopped abruptly, her hand rigid in Linda's. There were footsteps behind them!
"A bear!" she whispered, in fright.
Pulling her cautiously aside, Linda broke off a stick from a tree, and turned about to face the enemy. There was no use trying to run – why they could hardly hobble. And in the darkness, what hope was there of finding a tree to climb?
To her intense amazement, she saw nothing, and she dared not turn on her flashlight. Tensely she waited, until a shot rang out in the woods and broke the stillness of the night. A gun at least meant a human hand, and both girls immediately let out a piteous cry of "Help!"
"Yo – ho!" came the welcome, answering reply!