Linda Carlton's Island Adventure

Dot returned in a couple of minutes, and the girls got ready to enjoy the luxury of a real bath, in a real tub. How good the warm water felt, how wonderful the big, soft bath towels! They spent an hour bathing and washing their hair, and trying to make their nails presentable with Louise's manicure set.

They had scarcely finished when the latter returned, followed by a porter carrying innumerable boxes and packages in his arms.

"I've bought everything for you from the skin out," she announced gayly, as she put the load on the floor. "Even hats and shoes, though I knew I was taking a chance at them. But I remembered that you and I often wore each other's things at school, Linda, and I judged that Dot would wear a size smaller. I do hope you can wear them, just till you get to your trunks at Jacksonville."

"You're an angel, Lou!" cried Linda, excited at the prospect of looking clean and respectable again.

"See if you like them," urged Louise. "I got a blue dress for you, Linda, to match your eyes – and a pink one for Dot."

"To match my eyes?" teased the latter.

All three girls began immediately to untie the packages, and drew out the purchases one after another with exclamations of admiration. Dot said that she was so used to seeing dirty knickers that she had positively forgotten what dainty clothing looked like.

"Well, hurry up and dress!" urged Louise. "We want to eat lunch in about ten minutes. Ted means to take off at two o'clock, if you girls think you can be ready by then."

"We surely can!" cried Linda, joyfully. She couldn't wait to get back.

"You'll burn your old stuff, won't you?" asked Louise. "This bag's a sight, too – why not stuff your old clothing into it, and ask the porter to take it away!"

Linda and Dot let out a wild cry of protest at the same moment, and the other girl frowned.

"Why not?" she inquired.

"Sh!" whispered Linda. "That bag has thousands of dollars in it. Belonging to the Jacksonville bank."

"Oh! You really have that money? And kept it all this time?"

"Yes. But don't say a word about it out loud. We'll take it with us into the dining-room, and wear our new hats, so nobody will think it queer."

They found Ted in the lobby of the hotel as they got out of the elevator, and they went into the dining-room to order the meal that Linda and Dot had been longing for on the island. It tasted good to them, but not so good, they had to admit, as the sausages and stale bread and hot tea which Captain Smallweed provided, when they were almost starved.

It was during the meal that they pieced the story together. Linda began by telling of the finding of the money in the bags and the discovery of the last member of the gang on the island.

"But why he ran away without shooting us is a mystery to us," put in Dot.

"He thought that you had armed policemen with you," explained Louise. "We learned that later from Susie. She was captured a couple of days ago – in Panama."

"Where is she now?" demanded Linda, excitedly.

"In jail, of course."

"And the man they called the 'Doc'?"

"No," replied Ted. "Unfortunately he got away – fled the country. Lucky you girls got hold of the money, or the bank would never have seen it again… And by the way, there's a big reward – ten thousand dollars, I believe."

"Ten thousand dollars!" repeated Dot, in amazement. "What do you think of that, Linda?"

"Wonderful!" cried the latter, joyously. "Five thousand apiece. Well, I'm glad you're going to get something out of this dreadful experience, Dot – that I selfishly dragged you into. And my part will go towards a new autogiro."

"A new autogiro!" exclaimed Louise, in surprise. "You don't need one, Linda. The Ladybug's safe and sound – at the Jacksonville airport."

"What? You mean that?" Linda seized the other girl's hand in almost incredulous rapture. "How did it get there?"

"The police found it that day it stormed so. And a pilot flew it back to Jacksonville."

Linda and Dot gazed at each other in full realization at last of the mysterious disappearance of the plane which they had mourned as lost forever.

If Linda was eager to get back to Jacksonville before, she was doubly so now. She could hardly contain her excitement during that flight across the Gulf of Mexico and over the state of Florida to the northern part. She kept urging Ted to put on more speed, to let the motor out to its limit, but the young man, realizing the load he was carrying, was not to be tempted beyond his better judgment.

They arrived at Jacksonville just as it was growing dusk, and flew over the city, now so familiar to them all, to the airport on its outskirts. Gracefully the skillful pilot swooped down the field to his landing.

The usual number of employees came out to greet them, but hardly had the girls climbed out of the plane when a resounding shout went up over the field. Linda Carlton and Dorothy Crowley had been recognized!

A crowd collected immediately, a crowd that had been prepared by Ted's radio message that afternoon, to welcome the two popular girls back to civilization. It was all that Linda and Dot could do to wave and shout greetings in return.

"I just want one look at my Ladybug," said Linda. "If you good people will let me get through – "

At this request, an accommodating official picked her right up on his shoulder, and carried her, amid the laughter of the crowd, triumphantly to the hangar where the autogiro was housed.

"Oh, you dear Ladybug!" whispered Linda, not wanting anyone to think she was silly, but so overcome with joy that she had to say something. No one but a pilot could understand the genuine affection which she felt for her autogiro.

"I'll be over to fly you tomorrow," she added, under her breath. Then, turning to the man who had conducted her across the field, she asked him whether he could as easily take her to the waiting taxi-cab.

They were off at last, waving and smiling to the enthusiastic crowd.

"Be sure to stay in Jacksonville till Saturday," the people begged them. "We're going to celebrate for you then!"

The girls nodded, and the taxi driver sped away with orders to go straight to the City Hall.

Captain Magee, who had received a call from the airport, was ready and waiting for them. Ted carried the shabby, worn bag into his office, and Linda put it into the Captain's hands herself.

"The bank's money," she explained. "And the two revolvers. We never had to use them at all."

"But we'd have died without them," added Dot. "Of fright – if nothing else."

In vain Captain Magee tried to tell the girls how wonderfully brave he thought they had been, but he was so overcome by feeling that he groped for words and stammered – ending by pressing both Linda's and Dot's hands in silence.

"Two young girls like you – " he finally managed to say – "succeeding where the police and everybody else failed! Capturing a hundred thousand dollars by a clever trick – "

"Is there really that much?" inquired Dot. "Of course we never counted it."

The officer smiled at their unconcern. In spite of all their ability, they still seemed like children to him.

"By the way, Miss Carlton," he said, "I had a wire from your aunt this afternoon. She will arrive in Jacksonville Saturday morning – accompanied by Mrs. Crowley."

This final piece of good news was just what the girls needed to complete their perfect day. Their eyes lighted up with happiness, and they squeezed each other's hands in joy.

"And your fathers ought to be back tomorrow. I'll send them straight to the hotel," he added. "So don't go away."