Linda Carlton, Air Pilot
Chapter I
A Dangerous Ride
A blue sports roadster, driven by a girl in a lovely crêpe suit of the same color, threaded its way through the traffic of Spring City's streets to the concrete road that led to the aviation field on the outskirts. Passing the city's limits, the car sped along under the easy assurance of its competent driver, whose eyes were bluer than its paint, deeper than the dress that she was wearing. They were shining now with happiness, for the end of this ride promised the most thrilling experience of her life. That afternoon Linda Carlton was to have her first flight in an airplane!
She parked her car outside of the field and locked it cautiously. Jumping out, she fairly skipped inside the boundary.
A tall, good-looking young man in a flier's suit came from one of the hangars to meet her.
"Miss Carlton?" he said, extending his hand.
"Yes – Mr. Mackay. You see I'm here – a little early, I expect. You haven't forgotten your promise?"
His pleasant face darkened, and he looked doubtfully at the sky.
"I'm afraid it may rain, Miss Carlton. We've suspended pleasure trips for today. But perhaps tomorrow – "
"Oh, no!" she cried in deep disappointment, and the young man believed that her eyes grew moist. "I can't get away tomorrow, or any other day this week. You see I'm a senior at school, and I'm just rushed to death."
"Well, that's too bad," he said, looking again at the sky. "And of course it may not rain after all. But orders are orders, you know."
The girl looked down at the ground, probably, he thought, to hide the tears that would come to her eyes. She was so pretty, so serious, so anxious to go up. It evidently wasn't only a whim with her; she really wanted to fly – like Amelia Earhart, and Elinor Smith. How he hated to deny her!
"Isn't there something you could do?" she finally asked. "Take me up as one of your friends – not as a visitor to the aviation field… Why, Mr. Mackay, suppose your sister came to see you today, wouldn't you be allowed to take her up?"
"Yes," he replied, smiling. "But that would be on my responsibility, not the school's."
"Then," she pleaded, and she was radiant again with enthusiasm, "couldn't I be your responsibility?"
He nodded, won over to her wishes.
"If you put it that way, Miss Carlton, I can't refuse! But I'll have to take you in the plane I'm working on now – making some tests with – and it isn't the most reliable plane in the world. Not one we use to take visitors up in."
"But if it's safe enough for you, it's safe enough for me. I'm satisfied."
"I'm afraid your parents wouldn't be," he objected.
"There I think you're wrong," she asserted. "My father believes in taking chances. He has always let me do dangerous things – ride horseback, and drive a car and swim far out in the ocean… And my mother is dead."
"Very well, then," agreed Mackay. "Please come over here with me. I have been trying to fix up an old biplane, and I think I have her in shape now. But we'll both wear parachutes for precaution."
Her heart fluttering wildly from happiness, but not at all from fear, Linda accompanied the young flier across the huge field to the runway, where a biplane was resting in readiness for its test. Mackay put her into the cockpit, examined the engine again, and the parachutes, helped her to fasten one of the latter on, in case of an accident, and started the motor. A minute later the plane taxied forward, faster and faster, until it rose from the ground.
"Oh!" cried Linda, in a tone of deepest joy, although her companion could not hear her for the roar of the motor. "Oh, I'm so happy!"
Up, up, up they went, until they reached the clouds, where the atmosphere seemed misty and foggy. But it did not matter to Linda that the sky was not blue; nothing could spoil the ecstasy she experienced in knowing that at last she was where she had always longed to be.
Never for a moment was she the least bit dizzy. The sensation of floating through the air was more marvelous than anything she had ever dreamed of.
For some minutes she just allowed herself to dream of the future when she herself would be in control of a plane, sailing thus through the skies. Then she remembered with a start that if she ever expected her ambitions to be fulfilled, it would be necessary to learn how flying was accomplished. She began to examine everything in the cockpit. It was too noisy to ask her companion any questions, but she watched him carefully and tried to figure out what she could for herself. She identified the joystick, which controlled the plane, and she recognized the compass and the altimeter, which registered the height – now sixteen hundred feet – to which they had climbed. All the while she made mental notes of questions she would ask her pilot when they reached the ground.
Up, up they went until at last they were beyond the clouds, and saw the bright sunshine about them. It was symbolic to Linda; she resolved that in after life, whenever she was unhappy or distressed, she would fly on wings to the clear sunlight above. It was almost as if there she would actually find God.
She was so happy that it was some time before she noticed the queer sound the motor was making. Then, glancing questioningly at her companion, she saw a tight, drawn look about his lips, a ghastly pallor in his face. Something was evidently wrong! The motor made an uneven sound, threatening to stall, and the plane went into a tail-spin. Mackay was frantically leaning forward, doing something she did not understand.
"Motor's dying!" he cried, as he managed to right the plane. His voice shook with greater dread than he had ever before experienced. For, fearless though he was for himself, he was scared to death for the pretty girl at his side.
What a fool he had been, he thought, to allow her to come! He would give his own chances of safety that minute if she could be sure of her life! So young, so sweet, so utterably lovely! A great lump rose in his throat, as he took another look at his engine. But he was helpless.
Grim with terror, he pointed to her parachute. And then, to his amazement, he realized how perfectly calm she was!
"You step off first," he said, thankful they both had their parachutes. "I'll stay with the plane as long as I can."
Never in his life did Ted Mackay go through such a horrible moment as that instant when Linda Carlton, at a height of two thousand feet, stepped so bravely from the edge of the plane into the yawning space below. Even if he himself were killed, he could never know sharper agony. Yet the girl herself was gamely smiling!
He managed to pilot the plane a little farther, in the hope that when it did crash, it would not come anywhere near her, and then, when he could no longer keep it from falling, he stepped off himself.
Down he went, and his parachute opened with perfection, but he, in his tenseness, thought only of Linda, and of her luck with hers. And he prayed as he had never prayed before in his life, not even at his most perilous moments, where death seemed most certain.
No descent ever seemed so slow, so prolonged, but at last he reached the ground. And there, still smiling at him, was lovely Linda Carlton!
Chapter II
Graduation
"Thank Heaven you're safe!" cried Ted Mackay, as he disentangled
