CHAPTER III

Tropic Storm

High above the sapphire mirror of the Caribbean, Terry kept her plane in a southwesterly course. The sun was a pitiless ball of flame that sent out long fingers of fire. It was tropic weather.

Above them Allan's plane was soaring ahead now. The sight of Joe Arnold at Havana had made them fear an attack, and the four flyers were watching to see whether a third plane was following them.

Leaving the islands behind they flew out over the sea, a great expanse of deep blue and purple water.

Suddenly Prim called to her sister. "Look Terry, there's land over there, away to the left."

"Yes, I see," answered Terry. But she was watching the horizon with anxious eyes. That dark purplish mass looked to her like a low-lying cloud. There was something unnatural about it. Its color was changing rapidly to a reddish hue.

"I don't like the looks of it, Prim," called Terry. "See how the light is changing."

A reddish haze had spread over the whole sky, the sun appeared like a great disc of hot metal. The sight was weird and menacing.

"What's the matter, Terry? Is it a storm?" Prim asked.

"Yes, a tropic storm. We've got to race it. Where are the boys?" Prim leaned over the cowling and strained her eyes to the sky, but that strange and terrifying haze had blotted out the other plane. Terry circled and banked in an effort to find their friends. Then, opening the throttle wide, the girl sent her plane straight before the storm. It was her only chance. If she could out-race that storm, she would be saved.

Sending her plane ahead and in a gradual rise, the girl tried to get above the haze. These tropical storms often covered only a small area, but very soon she realized that the cloud was coming on and rising faster than her plane.

Below them the sea was still visible, a dull lead color now with greenish tipped white-caps. The wind had not reached the plane yet and the girls hoped that they might be able to keep ahead of the tempest.

Then it came, first with a gust that made the little ship bob and dance about. Terry knew this was only the beginning. The storm was upon them! The next deep breath of the hurricane would threaten their lives with its fury. Terry held her plane to the only course she dared to take. She was racing for dear life!

The throb of the motor told that the engine was being strained to the limit of its power. There was no time to lose. If the girls were to escape destruction, they must take that chance.

When the full force of the tempest struck the plane, it was tossed about like a straw in the wind. Under less experienced hands than Terry's the plane would have crashed. Terry could feel the craft being shaken as if a mighty hand had taken it in its grip, as the gusts of wind struck vicious blows at the wings.

Terry's grim face was set with determination. But her hand on the stick showed no sign of her fear, it did not tremble or lose its power to control. She was glad now that her father had insisted on training her in all the stunts of the air, for there was no possible position that her plane would take that Terry had not put it into deliberately above her own flying field, and brought it out safely.

But this was altogether different. There she had _put_ the plane into those dangerous positions, now she was being _forced_ into them and she never knew what was coming next.

Terry knew the danger she was in but she felt no panic. Every nerve was tingling, every sense alert. She knew she was doing her best. Her head was clear, her hand was steady and she kept the little plane, climbing, ever climbing.

The girl felt that _Skybird_ was fighting for life, with what seemed like human intelligence. It shuddered and shook and it seemed to try to right itself after a gust of angry wind.

Prim clung to the cowling, terrified yet fascinated as she watched her sister. At times it seemed as if the plane had turned clear over, as if it were going down in a tail spin, but the next moment Terry would bring it up for a second. It was a big fight.

"She'll win," thought Prim. "She's wonderful!"

Only for a second did Terry lose hope of victory. There was a sputtering of the engine that her trained ear heard. It sent a chill to her heart. Her hand shook. She gave a frantic glance back to see if Prim had heard that menacing sound. And that one look showed her a clear space in the dark masses.

The storm was passing. Terry held to the controls, praying that the engine would hold out until the wind ceased.

Suddenly Terry was able to put her plane into a steep climb that brought her above the storm. Coming out of that black cloud Terry saw Allan's plane ahead of her. She followed it, her heart singing for joy. A mist came to her eyes as she realized that it was only by a miracle that both planes had gone through the storm and survived.

Terry signalled with the wings of her plane and was answered in the same manner. She followed Allan's lead, hoping that her engine would not go back on her. At intervals she heard a sputter that terrified her, but now the sky was clearing. She felt hopeful.

Allan finally headed east. This was strange. Terry looked at her compass and a frown came to her face. What was Allan doing? He was going far out of his way. At last she understood. Away in the distance was an island. He was going to land. She wondered if he were having engine trouble.

Terry did not dare to open her throttle wide. Any extra strain might be her undoing. But, as she neared the small island the plane ahead banked, circled and signalled, then went into a dive for landing on the far side of the island.

Terry tried to follow but the engine was sputtering once more. She made a long dive which brought her amphibian into the water at the near side of the island. There was a broad strip of sand and Terry sent her plane cutting through the spray on to the beach.

"We're safe!" cried Prim as she nimbly stepped from the cockpit, followed by her sister. "Wasn't that an awful storm?"

"It's just luck that we're alive. Now let's go over and see the boys. It looks as if they might be having engine trouble, too," replied Terry.

After making fast their plane by a rope to a palm tree at the water's edge, the two girls scrambled up over the rocky ridge to the low summit. The island was narrow at this end and soon they were looking straight down upon a sheltered cove where the boys had landed and saw the amphibian floating on the water. A launch shot out from the shore and when it reached the plane, several bundles were dropped into the boat by the aviator, who then got out of the plane and was taken ashore.

The girls looked at each other, distress on their faces.

"We've followed a plane, but it's the wrong one!" cried Terry. "What a stupid thing to do! Prim, how can you ever trust me again?"

"But _I_ thought it was Allan and Syd, too," replied Prim. "Never mind, these men will help us fix our plane and we'll be off in an hour or two."

With a wave of his hand the aviator started upward toward the summit where the girls stood.

"He seems to be friendly," commented Terry. "But let's wait here to greet him. How he'll laugh when I tell him that I thought I was following another plane." The girls waited at the summit until the stranger came up the winding trail. As they heard his footsteps Terry moved forward to speak, then grabbed Prim's arm with a nervous grip. The man had come out on the summit and was staring at them with a triumphant grin. His eyes were glittering with a fierce and cruel light that made the cast in his eye more pronounced. It added to the sinister look in his face. The man facing them was Joe Arnold!

A moment later the girls gasped with dismay for their old enemy, Bud Hyslop, came shambling up the trail.

"Well, look who's here!" said Bud and added sarcastically, "this _is_ a pleasant surprise!"

But Joe silenced his rough-neck follower with a scowl and a low snarl. "Don't get funny. Shut up!"

Joe Arnold, with menace in his voice, addressed the girls, "Why did you come here?" he demanded. "What do you want?"

Terry stammered for a second then answered: "I was having trouble with my engine after that storm and I knew I'd have to come down, so I followed you here."

Joe stared at the girl and shrugged his shoulders. "That sounds fishy to me. I think you're trying to spy on me. What brought you away down here?"

"We're on a vacation," answered Terry. "We are on our way to the Canal Zone."

Joe Arnold watched the girls contemptuously. "I don't believe you!" he said. "I think you came here to watch me." Suddenly he turned to Bud. "Go on down there and see what's the matter with Terry's plane."

"But I'd rather fix my own plane. I'm used to it and can fix it in a minute. I know exactly what's the matter."

"No! Let Bud go as I told him! You stay here!" There was a note of command that frightened the girls. Prim touched Terry's arm and said softly. "Careful Terry, don't make him angry."

Terry gave her sister a grateful smile. She turned to Arnold and asked pleasantly. "Did you get into that storm?"

"No, I knew too much to let that happen. I saw your plane go into it and thought you were done for," he answered.

"How did you avoid it?" asked Terry.

"I was flying high, fifteen thousand feet. It never touched me. The storm was all below me. I'm used to these hurricanes and I can usually guess about how far the storm extends."

"I tried to get above it, but I didn't go far enough." Terry was watching Joe's face while she was talking. Would he guess that she was carrying an important paper for Peter Langley? Would she be able to keep it hidden where he could not find it?

Now it was safely sewn once more in the lining of her flying coat but that was not a good hiding place if he thought to search her.

A sudden shout from the harbor sent Joe Arnold hurrying down the trail. Then he turned back. "Stay right where you are," he ordered the girls. On second thought he said. "No, go on down the trail ahead of me."

"But I don't want to go!" flared Terry.

"If you're wise you'll do as I say!" Without another word he thrust the girls ahead of him toward the beach.

Terry went without any further argument. For suddenly it had occurred to her that she might learn something of Joe Arnold's schemes if she pretended, to be friendly with him and didn't make him angry.

At the harbor a gang of blacks were loading a boat, preparing to take it to the plane. Pedro, the chief was over six feet tall, wore only a loin cloth and looked half savage. This giant was watching his men, who were working for Joe Arnold. Pedro seemed to have a few words of English but he spoke to his men in a mixture of Spanish and his own language.

"What terrible looking savages!" whispered Prim. "They look as if they might be cannibals."

Terry laughed to conceal her fear. "I could even stand having a cannibal around if I were sure that Allan and Syd had come through the storm. They were flying higher than we were but I'm afraid they weren't high enough, even then."

Terry was looking about her taking stock of the camp, which was composed of mud huts, and several shacks that had evidently been built recently. On the trail loomed a tall, weathered rock. Terry was pointing out to her sister a great crevice in this stone and explaining the formation of that wide fissure when Joe Arnold turned and saw her. His face flushed angrily. He gave a final order to the black leader and then signalled the girls to precede him up the trail.

"This is no place for you, after all. I shouldn't have brought you down here where those savages could see you. They belong to a fierce tribe of natives living in the clearings in the jungle. Pedro, the chief, that big fellow, lives in one of my mud huts down there, so you'd better keep away." Joe Arnold was nervous and stammered as he talked.

As they reached the summit once more Terry took a good look at him, and saw that he was agitated.

"Evidently there is something down there that he doesn't want us to see," whispered Terry to Prim as soon as she could do so without Joe hearing her. "When I was interested in that big fissure in the rock, he was scared stiff. I'd like to find out what he's got down there that he doesn't want me to see. I'm going to find out! Just watch me!"

"Please don't, Terry! What do you care about his affairs? We've got troubles enough as it is. How are we ever going to get away from here? How will we fly to Peru with Dad's papers? My head is whirling with problems and all I want to do is to get out of this jam as quickly as possible." Prim ceased whispering as Joe came closer.

Terry was looking toward her plane. Bud Hyslop was busily testing the motor. The girl could not bear the idea that Bud should touch _Skybird_.

"If you don't mind, I think I'd like to do my own repair work, Mr. Arnold," said Terry with as polite a smile as she could muster. "I've always done my own overhauling and somehow, I'd rather attend to it myself. It's very kind of you to want to be so helpful, but please tell Bud to leave my plane alone."

As she started toward the beach where _Skybird_ was standing, Joe Arnold stepped ahead of her. "Now don't bother yelling and carrying on for there is no one around to hear you except some savages and they are my men. I'm boss here, and I tell you to keep quiet. I'm giving that plane to Bud Hyslop. It's his from now on."

"You're giving him _my_ plane!" stormed Terry. "You have no right to do that!"

"Is that _so_? Well, I'm taking the right!"

"But what about us? How can we get away?" cried Prim, almost in tears. "If you take our plane, we've got to stay here."

"That's it exactly!" Joe sneered. "Here you stay until I get ready to let you go."

He stared at them coldly then turned and walked away.