I have never had to jump since," Louise informed her. "But," she continued as they walked around the autogiro, "isn't there really any danger of crashing?"
"You can crash, of course," laughed Linda. "If you steer straight for another plane, or a tree. But tail-spins are practically impossible; they say no matter what happens the autogiro settles to the ground like a tired hen. It's the principle of centrifugal force – it can't fail."
"Oh, yeah?" remarked Louise, hiding a yawn.
"What I want your opinion on, Ted," added Linda, turning to the young man, "is the engine. You know more about engines than I do."
"I'm not so sure of that last," he replied, modestly. "Looks O.K. to me – I've been examining it while you girls chattered."
The salesman, who had been listening to the conversation, suddenly burst into a smile. He had been wondering where he had seen that girl before. Now he knew! Her pictures had been in every newspaper in the country. She was Linda Carlton, of course!
"You're Miss Carlton, aren't you?" he demanded, excitedly. "The girl who flew to Paris alone?"
"Yes," answered Linda, indifferently. She didn't want to talk ancient history now. "This is a P C A – 2, isn't it?" she inquired, to bring the man to the subject of autogiros.
"Yes. Fifteen thousand dollars. I suppose it's not necessary to tell you what instruments it is equipped with – an experienced flyer like yourself can recognize them by a glance into the pilot's cock-pit."
"Yes, I see them. And I had a circular besides… It's complete, all right. The only thing I don't like about it is the separate passenger's cock-pit. My Arrow Pursuit had a companion cock-pit."
"You can always talk to your passenger through the speaking-tube," the salesman reminded her.
"Yes, of course – "
"And nobody you take along now-a-days will be as talkative as I always was on our trips together," Louise observed, with a smile.
"Talkative!" repeated Linda, "All you ever wanted to do was sleep! Every time I looked at you on that flight to Canada, you were peacefully dozing!"
"And she still has a bad habit of dropping off," teased Ted.
"So long as that's the only way I 'drop off,' I'm satisfied," concluded Louise.
In spite of their frivolous talk, Linda had been thinking seriously about the autogiro, and had entirely made up her mind about it.
"I'll take it," she announced. "If you surely approve of it, Ted."
"I do, absolutely."
The salesman looked at her in amazement. Never had he made such an easy sale before. But he did not meet people like Linda Carlton every day!
"Don't you want to try it out?" he suggested. "I can show you how to fly it in a few minutes."
"I have flown one before," she told him. "But I would like to take it up for a few minutes if you don't mind. Am I to have this particular one? I have a certified check in payment."
The salesman blinked his eyes in further consternation. The check right there, the girl ready to take the plane home with her! It was a moment before he could catch his breath.
"Of course," he finally managed to answer. "I'll have her started for you immediately. And – would your friends care to go up with you?"
"Sure!" exclaimed Ted. "We're your best friends, aren't we, Linda? So oughtn't we to be privileged with the first ride?"
"You certainly are!" replied the famous aviatrix, squeezing Louise's hand in her excitement and delight. "Come on!"
It was the Mackays' first flight in an autogiro, and though they were very much crowded in the passenger's cock-pit, they insisted that that only added to the fun. With a sureness which Ted watched in admiration, Linda took off and flew round and round the field, putting the new plane through all sorts of tests, proving conclusively that all the claims for it were well-founded.
Fifteen minutes later they came slowly down to earth, landing on the exact spot from which Linda had taken off.
"Unscramble yourselves!" she cried to her passengers, as she climbed out of the cock-pit. "Let's go pay our bill."
"She's great, Linda!" approved Louise, as her husband helped her out. "I'm for her, even if she is a funny-looking bug."
"Sh!" cautioned Linda, solemnly. "You might hurt her feelings. She's – she's – a lady!"
"Ladybug!" exclaimed Louise, with a sudden burst of inspiration.
"Ladybug is right!" agreed her chum enthusiastically. "You've named her for me, Lou!"
Chapter II
The Aviation Job
"It's marvelous!" exclaimed Linda, as the salesman came to meet her after her test-flight in the autogiro. "Will you have her filled with gas and oil, while I sign the contract? I'll take her with me."
The salesman smiled at Ted Mackay.
"In the same way any other woman would buy a hat," he remarked, to Louise's amusement.
"You found it easy to fly, Miss Carlton?" he inquired.
"Wonderful!" she replied. "So simple that a child could almost do it! It certainly is the plane of the future, or of the present, I should say."
"We'll probably see one perched on everybody's roof within the next five years," teased Louise, although in reality she shared her chum's admiration for it.
While the mechanics gave the autogiro a thorough inspection, the little group strolled to the office to sign the papers and to meet the president of the company.
The salesman introduced Mr. Pitcairn, and added, proudly, "This is the Miss Carlton, of world-wide fame! The only woman who ever flew the Atlantic alone! And I have had the honor, to sell Miss Carlton an autogiro!"
Linda blushed as she shook hands, and her eyelids fluttered in embarrassment. She could never get used to public admiration. Immediately she began to talk about her new possession.
"I want it for every-day flying," she explained. "I think it will be wonderful for that."
"We believe that it is," agreed the older man. "And we are honored indeed, Miss Carlton, that you have chosen it. It will be a feather in our cap."
"Miss Carlton never thinks of things like that," remarked Louise. "But I guess we're glad that she doesn't!"
While Linda signed the necessary papers, and handed her check to the salesman, the president inquired what her plans included now that she had graduated from the Ground School with such success.
"I don't exactly know," she replied. "I want to get some kind of aviation job – I am more interested in the use of planes in every-day life than I am in races and spectacular events, though I understand that these have their place. Of course I haven't found anything to do yet, but I mean to try."
"You expect to give your whole time to flying?" asked the other. He had thought, naturally, that a girl in Linda Carlton's circumstances would just do
