Linda Carlton's Island Adventure

For the next two hours Linda searched the island diligently, calling Susie by name at frequent intervals. But no answer came in reply, and she found no trace of the girl. Susie had completely vanished.

Weary and hungry she returned to the shore of the island where the men were working, and was delighted at the progress they had made. The job was almost finished.

"I can't find the girl," she told them. "But I've collected enough fire-wood to cook our coffee and beans. We'll have our lunch in a little while."

Two hours later the autogiro was finished, ready for its flight back to Jacksonville. The engine was running smoothly; Linda climbed into the cock-pit and took it up in the air for a test flight. She found everything satisfactory; dipping low, she gave the others the signal to leave. With her Ladybug in the lead, the two planes made record time back to Jacksonville.

"She's as good as new," she told the mechanic joyfully, after both planes had landed, and she was paying her bill. "I wish I could fly her right over to my hotel."

"I believe you almost could," remarked the man, admiringly. "Land her at the front entrance, like a taxi-cab!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to take an ordinary cab," sighed Linda, spotting one out near the gate. "Thanks a lot – and good-by! I'm in a hurry to be back."

It was after six when Linda ascended the steps of her hotel, and found Dot waiting for her on the porch, trying in vain to keep cool.

"Where's Susie?" she demanded, immediately.

"Gone!" replied Linda. "I searched the whole island carefully – but not a sign of her!"

"Where could she go?" demanded Dot. "Do you 'spose some canoe picked her up – maybe those same boys that rescued you?"

Linda shook her head. Not those boys, any way! "What I'm afraid of is that the fourth man of the gang – the only one who escaped, you know – picked her up in his boat."

"Not so good – not so good," muttered her companion.

"No, it isn't. Just when I thought Susie had reformed, too – and cut free from those criminals!" Linda uttered a deep sigh.

"Well, let's forget her," suggested the other girl, cheerfully. "I've been waiting all afternoon to take you for a swim – so let's go, and have our dinner later. I understand there's a marvelous pool a couple of blocks away."

Linda's face brightened. What could possibly be better on such a hot day!

"Let's go!" she exclaimed. "Lead me to it."

After her disappointment at losing Susie, and her strenuous day in the heat, the relaxation of swimming in the lovely out-door pool was exactly what Linda needed. The water was cool and refreshing, and the surroundings charming.

For half an hour Linda swam lazily about, resting now and then on her back, occasionally mounting the board for a dive. At last she felt that she had had enough, and seated herself on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water, and watching Dot perform all sorts of fancy dives, for the other girl was a real champion.

"What a marvelous girl Dot is," Linda was thinking, when she was suddenly startled by the sound of a masculine voice, almost in her very ear.

"Ann! Think of finding you here!"

Linda squirmed a little, thinking that the man must have made a mistake in thinking she was some other girl. For the time being, she forgot all about her middle name.

"Miss Carlton," insisted the voice.

Turning about, she saw Jackson behind her,

"How do you do?" she said, coolly.

The young man became embarrassed at her manner. He did not know what to say.

"Miss Crowley is a marvelous diver," he muttered, though it wasn't that that he wanted to talk about.

"Yes, I think so," agreed Linda.

There was a silence. The girl made no effort to be entertaining.

"You really are the girl who flew across the ocean alone, and won that big prize?" he persisted.

"Yes." Linda made a half-hearted gesture to repress a yawn. Jackson Carter needn't think he could buy her favor by flattery!

"But why didn't you tell Hal and me that, when we found you in the swamp?"

"It had no particular bearing on the subject, that I could see."

"If my mother had known that – "

"If your mother didn't wish to receive me at her home," interrupted Linda, "there was no reason in the world why she should. Everyone has a right to her own opinion!"

"But now that we've been formally introduced, it's different," he urged. "Please tell me how long you'll be in Jacksonville."

"We're leaving tomorrow," she said, rising. "And will you please excuse me – as I see Dot going to the dressing-room?"

Chapter XI

The Island in the Ocean

"I certainly am sorry we don't have Susie with us," remarked Dot, as the girls sat down to their late dinner that evening, after their refreshing swim. "I thought she'd be better than a 'talkie' for amusement."

"Yes, you would have enjoyed her, Dot," agreed Linda, picking up the menu and studying it with a great deal of interest. "I'm going to order everything here, Dot. I'm simply starved."

"So am I, though I ought to be ashamed to admit it. You should have seen the lunch I ate!"

"And you should have seen my lunch!" returned Linda. "We forgot to carry anything, but fortunately Susie had left beans and coffee on the island."

"Is that all you had?"

Linda nodded, and gave her order to the waiter.

"I'd certainly like to know where Susie is now," she remarked, after she had satisfied the sharpest pangs of hunger with an iced fruit-cup.

"Yes, so would I," agreed Dot. "Her disappearance will make it a lot harder to trace that other thief… Do you really expect to do anything about hunting him, Linda?"

"Indeed I do! Tomorrow's only the twenty-seventh, and I don't have to report to Atlanta until July first. I'm going to use those four days."

"But what could you possibly do?" inquired Dot. "How would you know where to go – without even a suggestion from Susie?"

"I have a theory," explained the other girl. "Wait till I eat some of this beef-steak, and I'll tell you about it."