LITMIR.BIZ

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her hand over her niece's.

      "Why the sigh, dear?" she inquired. "Tired?"

      Linda nodded.

      "Yes – and weddings are so solemn – so sort of sad, aren't they, Auntie? To the other people, I mean – for of course there's nothing sad about Kit and Tom. But it means I won't see them much – "

      "It isn't their wedding that causes that, dear," Miss Carlton reminded her. "Kitty and Tom will be back and forth often, I think, for they are not living far away… But it's you who are leaving the rest, Linda. Oh, if you only wouldn't go so far away, dear!"

      "I guess you're right, Aunt Emily," admitted the other. "But I can't have my cake and eat it too. There isn't any flying job in Spring City."

      Miss Carlton was silent; there was no use in going over the old argument. Instead, she asked:

      "How soon do you go, Linda?"

      "Tomorrow – if the weather is good. I received my map and my instructions several days ago. I'm all ready. The Ladybug's in perfect shape."

      "If you only didn't have to go alone!" sighed the older woman.

      "Yes. If I only had Lou!"

      "Couldn't you take some other girl?"

      "As a matter of fact, I did suggest such a thing to Dot Crowley. She's competent, you know – has her pilot's license – and she's such a peach of a girl. I know we'd get along beautifully together. But she's all tied up with a tennis match, and can't possibly leave now."

      Little did Linda think, as she took off the following morning in the bright June sunshine, how deeply she was to regret this decision of Dot's, how she was to wish a hundred times within the next week that she had some companion who was a friend.

      For the people she fell among proved to be the worst sort of associates.

      Chapter III

      Kidnapped

      As there was no particular hurry about the trip South – it was only June twentieth – Linda decided to go slowly and to stop often. What a marvelous way to see the country, at the most beautiful time of the year! In an autogiro the flight would never become monotonous, for she could fly low enough to watch the landscape.

      Ohio – Kentucky – Tennessee – Georgia! Each day she could travel through a different state, putting up each night at a hotel. Fortunately her Aunt Emily had given up worrying about her staying alone in strange cities. For Linda had already proved herself capable of taking care of herself.

      "It is because Linda is always so dignified," Mr. Carlton had remarked to his sister. "The girls who make chance acquaintances, and permit familiarities are usually looking for it. Linda's mind is on her plane – on her navigation – and she is too absorbed to be bothered. I think we are safe, Emily, in trusting her."

      "I suppose so," Miss Carlton had agreed. "Though of course she'll always be a little girl to me."

      The day after the wedding was warm and the skies were clear; the Ladybug was in perfect condition, and her forty gallon tank was filled with gasoline, so Linda decided to carry out her plan. While her Aunt Emily packed her lunch basket and a box with an emergency supply of food, the girl called Miss Hawkins on the telephone as she had promised.

      "But don't put it into the paper until after I start," begged Linda. "I always like to slip off quietly, without any fuss."

      "I'll save it for the evening editions," agreed the reporter. "And then you'll be well on your way… And, thank you again, Miss Carlton."

      An hour later she bade her aunt good-by, and was off. Heading her plane south-west, she would avoid the mountains in Kentucky, and pass over the blue-grass region, of which she had so often read. It was an ideal day for a flight, and her heart beat with the same exultation she had always felt when she was in the air; there was no feeling to compare with it on earth. Someone had said it was like being in love – but Linda Carlton had never been in love herself.

      For several hours this sense of joy possessed her; then, as noontime came, and she landed to eat her lunch, she suddenly grew lonely. If only Louise were with her! She sighed as she thought that from now on she would probably be traveling alone.

      It grew hotter in the afternoon as she progressed farther south, but her engine was functioning so beautifully that she hated to stop. Then the sun went down, and the coolness was so delightful after the heat that she continued on her course longer than she had planned, and did not land until she had crossed the border into Tennessee. There she followed a beacon light that led to an airport, and brought the Ladybug down to earth.

      No sooner had she brought the autogiro to a stop than a group of curious people surrounded her.

      "What do you-all call this?" drawled a big, good-natured looking man, with the typical Southern accent. "It's a new one on me."

      Linda smiled and explained, asking that the autogiro be housed for the night, and inquired her way to the hotel.

      "The hotel ain't so good," replied the man. "But I can direct you to a fine boarding-house."

      Everybody that Linda met in this little town was kindness itself. She found herself in a pleasant home, with a marvelous supper of real old-fashioned Southern cooking, all ready for her. It appeared to be the custom to eat late in the South; no one thought it strange that she should want her supper at nine o'clock.

      These good people's hospitality only served to strengthen her confidence in the fact that she was safe in traveling alone. For this reason the shock was all the greater for her when that trust was so rudely shaken later on during the trip.

      Linda liked the town so well that she decided to remain a day, and go over her Ladybug herself. For, she argued sensibly, if no one there had ever heard of an autogiro before, it stood to reason that there would be little chance of a competent inspection by anyone but herself.

      Although Miss Hawkins, the reporter, had published the facts concerning her trip that evening, the news had not reached this town in Tennessee immediately. It was not until the next day that the story was reprinted, and someone discovered that this stranger in the autogiro who was visiting them was Linda Carlton of international fame. Then the news spread like wild-fire about the town, and the band was gotten out to give the girl a royal welcome.

      It was hardly necessary, with all this celebration, to wire her aunt of her safe arrival in Tennessee; nevertheless Linda did so, as she had promised when she left home.

      Her next day's journey brought her across Tennessee, over the mountains where she had a chance to test her plane's climbing ability, and into Georgia. Here again she was received with hospitality. It seemed almost as if she were making a "good-will" flight, so delighted were the people to greet her and make her at home.

      A long flight lay ahead of her – across Georgia, the largest state in the southeast. Over the mountains in the northern part, across cotton and rice and sweet-potato plantations, towards the coast. The weather was hot and dry; she grew tired and thirsty, and the thought of her friends, enjoying the cool breezes at Green Falls made her envious for a while. But she carried plenty of water in her thermos flasks, and she reminded herself that she was having a more thrilling experience than they could possibly have. Tonight she could rest – and sleep.

      Her head ached and her body was weary, as she looked at her map and tried to find out just where she was from the land-marks. Dismay took hold of her as she realized that she must have gone off of her course – beyond her destination. The ground below appeared marshy, in many spots entirely covered with water, in which water-lilies and rushes grew in abundance. Where could she possibly be?

      Panic seized her as she realized that this was no place to land. Even an autogiro couldn't come down in a swamp. She circled around, and went back. If the light only held out until she reached some sort of level, hard ground!

      She thought of her flight over the ocean, when she had been so absolutely alone, and she felt the same desolation, the same fierce terror. Where was she? Where was she going? Wild-eyed, she studied her map.

      Then she located herself. This must be the Okefenokee Swamp, in the southeastern

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