Chapter XI

The Return of the Flyers

The older people who had gone by boat and taxicab to the Inn at Lake Winnebago arrived early on Saturday afternoon. What was their surprise to be met at the door by Joe Elliston and Sarah Wheeler!

“How did you get here so soon?” demanded Mr. Clavering in amazement. “And did you find the prize?”

The young man flushed.

“No, sir, we never even got started. One of my wheels dug into a sand bank at the take-off, and was slightly damaged. There didn’t seem to be much use waiting to have it fixed, while the others got all that start. So I went back and got my car, and Sarah and I drove.”

Miss Carlton nodded approvingly.

“You certainly showed good sense, Joe,” she remarked. “I have been terribly nervous and worried all afternoon, on account of that frightful storm.”

“Oh, you can be sure that Linda is equal to any kind of weather,” put in Sarah, reassuringly. “If there’s one aviatrix in the world who knows what she’s doing, it’s your niece!”

“I hope so,” commented the older woman. “But it isn’t only Linda I’m worried about—it’s everybody. I shan’t have a happy minute until all seven planes arrive.”

“Then you’ll never have a happy moment, Miss Carlton,” remarked Joe, teasingly. “Because our plane can’t arrive!”

“Well then, six planes,” corrected the other, smiling.

“It’s possible,” observed Mrs. Crowley, “that they may all have been forced down on account of that storm. So they may not get here till morning. I don’t intend to worry until I hear bad news.”

“That’s the idea!” approved Mr. Clavering. “Now how about some iced drinks, and some sandwiches. What’ll it be?”

The whole group, composed of half a dozen older people and the young couple, seated themselves on the beautiful porch overlooking the lake and sipped the cooling drinks with which the maids supplied them at Mr. Clavering’s orders. They had scarcely finished when a taxicab drew up to the Inn and Ralph and the two Keens got out.

“What luck?” demanded everybody at once.

Madge Keen laughingly told the story.

“The only prize we got was a lot of bruises at Columbus, trying to make a landing in too great a hurry, to get out of the storm. Bert smashed the plane, Mr. Clavering.”

“Don’t worry about that,” replied the latter, reassuringly. “The insurance will take care of any damage. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

“Positive.”

“And you, Ralph?”

“I left my autogiro at the Columbus airport,” replied the young man; “because I didn’t want to risk the storm. I knew if I waited it would be too late, for the other four planes had already gone when I arrived.”

“Then Linda and Dot were both flying through that dreadful thunderstorm!” cried Miss Carlton, woefully.

“And Kit and Sue!” added Mr. Clavering.

The party separated to go to their respective rooms to unpack, and half an hour later the young people gathered at the lake in their bathing suits. The storm had completely passed and the sun was shining brightly. Several of the older people joined the group, but both Mr. Clavering and Miss Carlton preferred to wait at the Inn for news of the missing flyers.

It was still early, however—too early to worry about their arrival—and Mr. Clavering was rewarded about five o’clock by the sight of two planes flying one behind the other. Both passed over the Inn, and the passengers leaned out and waved. Although neither Mr. Clavering nor Miss Carlton could make out who they were, the latter knew that neither was Linda. She did not know much about airplanes, but at least she could identify an autogiro when she saw it.

Both planes landed some distance from the Inn, and Mr. Clavering decided to go after the flyers in his car.

“I was afraid there weren’t going to be any planes here at all,” he remarked to Miss Carlton as he left the porch. “It would have been humiliating to have all the pilots come over in cars.”

“Humiliating, perhaps, but very sensible,” returned the other. She watched the sky all the while he was gone and kept looking at her watch. Why, oh, why, must her precious child be the last to arrive?

Kit and Tom Hulbert, Sue Emery and Frank Lawlor returned with Mr. Clavering in a few minutes. They were all in high spirits, obviously unharmed by the storm, but they announced immediately that they had not found the treasure.

“Linda got it, of course,” said Kit. “But she deserves it, and I’m glad.”

Miss Carlton’s face lighted up with joy, not because her niece had won the prize, but because she believed she was safe.

“You have seen Linda?” she asked, eagerly.

Kit shook her head.

“No, Miss Carlton, we haven’t. Nobody has seen her since the storm. But we four got on the wrong track, and got lost, and Dot Crowley did the same thing. We all landed beside a river, where there was a house with the tower, but it wasn’t the right house.”

“Where is Dot?” inquired Miss Carlton.

“Coming. And you see that accounts for everybody except Linda, because Dad told me that the others have already arrived. So Linda must have the prize.”

Miss Carlton groaned.

“I don’t agree with you, Kitty dear,” she said. “It’s more likely that Linda has crashed during that storm, and is stranded—possibly hurt—in some lonely place.”

“Now please don’t worry, Miss Carlton,” urged Kitty, sympathetically. “It’s only six o’clock, and you know Linda is the best flyer of all. Besides, the ‘Ladybug’ is safer than an ordinary plane.”

Mr. Clavering had given orders that the dinner be moved on to seven-thirty, in the hope that Linda might arrive in time. At exactly five minutes after the hour the “Ladybug” came roaring through the skies, and to the amusement of everyone, landed right on the front lawn of the Inn. Trying to smile gayly in spite of her encounter with Mrs. Fishberry and her vision of the strange ghost in the tower, Linda Carlton stepped out.

Everybody ran down the steps to greet her, and her aunt kissed her as if she had never expected to see her again.

“You’re safe!” she cried, with intense relief.

“Get the treasure?” demanded Dot, excitedly.

“Yes,” replied Linda, smiling. “And it’s wonderful, Mr. Clavering!” She dug into her pocket and displayed the thousand dollar check to everyone’s view.

“Whew!” exclaimed Jim Valier. “Congratulations, Linda! And can I go with you next time?”

At his joking words everybody all at once remembered Amy. “What has happened to the child?” demanded several of them at the same time.

Linda looked serious.

“She’s all right,” she hastened to inform them. “But the queerest thing happened. That house must have been her old home, and Mrs. Fishberry was there. She took her away with her.”

Mr. Clavering nodded.

“That isn’t so strange as you might think,” he said. “When I picked out the spot to hide the treasure, I was flying over the country where Dot Crowley said the accident must have occurred. And I selected that house because the tower was so easily visible from the skies.”

“And did you meet Mrs. Fishberry when you hid the treasure?” inquired Linda.

“No. The house was locked up and deserted. So I went to the barn. I thought if anyone should happen along to steal it, that a check like that wouldn’t be of any use to them. I gave my bank a list of the people who might be entitled to cash it, with strict orders to refuse anyone else.”

The banquet and the dance that followed were a huge success; even Miss Carlton had to admit that the treasure hunt had ended wonderfully, without a single real mishap. Moreover, there was no jealousy regarding Linda’s triumph; they all thought that she deserved her good fortune and rejoiced with her. Strangely enough, she herself was the only member of the party who was not entirely happy. She was worried about Amy, and still haunted by the dreadful apparition which she had seen.

She could not bring herself to confide her experiences and her fears to her aunt, who was so timid about everything, but the following day, when the party had scattered for swimming and for golf, she sought Dot Crowley, and took her down to a bench beside the lake, where they could be alone.

She told the other girl of her mistrust of Mrs. Fishberry, and of her dread of what might happen to Amy, in the keeping of that woman. Then she concluded by describing the ghost in the tower.

Dot’s eyes opened wide in amazement.

“It must be a fake, Linda,” she said.

“It can’t be,” replied the other. “Because it _moved_. I saw the hands move, and I’m almost positive the eyes followed me!”

“No wonder the poor girl was so terrified. Remember that first night in the hospital?”

“Yes. The thing frightened me, I can assure you, Dot. And yet I feel that I’ve got to get to the bottom of it all. It fascinates, too, but it terrifies me.”

“What terrifies you, Miss Carlton?” asked a voice behind them.

“You do!” replied Linda, laughingly, as she turned about to see Mike O’Malley grinning at her.

“Well, I didn’t mean to,” he apologized. “But will you forgive me and tell me all about the hunt, and winning that marvelous prize?”

“Of course,” agreed Linda, and she proceeded to relate the story, even including Mrs. Fishberry’s reappearance.

“Did you get her address, when she took Amy away?” he asked.

“No, I tried, but Mrs. Fishberry wouldn’t give it—said she hadn’t a permanent one, only a hotel in Chicago.”

“Shucks!” cried Mike, in dismay. “There’s something queer about this business! That fish is crooked, if I know what I’m talking about. How about that home in Montana she talked about the first time? And why didn’t she mention this place before, if she had a key, and could get in?— Miss Carlton, if you care for Amy, I think you’d better go after her— I’d—like to help you.”

“Yes, I believe you’re right, Mike,” agreed Linda. “Only I don’t know just what to do.”

“Let’s fly over to the place to-morrow,” suggested Dot. “We could go right from here, instead of going home to Green Falls first.”

“It suits me,” agreed Linda. It was just what she was wanting, yet dreading to do.

“May I trail along after you in my Ford?” asked Mike.

“Yes, indeed,” replied Linda. “I’d love to have you. And will you bring some tools, so that we can force our way into that tower, if it is necessary? I suspect trouble there.”

“You’re really going to dare that?” demanded Dot.

“Dare what?” demanded Mike.

Linda and Dot exchanged whimsical glances. “You wait and see,” said Linda. “If we get into that tower, I’ll show you the strangest sight you ever laid your eyes on!”

“Then,” asserted the boy, “we’ll get in, if we have to scale the walls! I’m always out for strange stories for the _Star_.”

“Well, you’ll get one there,” Linda promised, “if you help us get in.”