Linda Carlton's Island Adventure

pt

was dimly lighted within by a lantern. Two men were standing in

Slats" triumphantly. "Witho

t the other man, and deposited Sus

repulsive looking brute, turned

ll, thin man who had been sta

I've got some scratches me

able to suffer any longer in silence.

it possible that this man was a physician? If so, wouldn't he perhaps be above the level of the others-and might she n

es up all our aches and cuts for us. In a profession like our'n, it a

calling robbery a "professio

r captor, "I'll interduce you to everybody. That there c

e expected to laugh at such a po

in Susie's tent-if you want to, while th

had indicated, hidden behind some pine trees a few yards away. Guiding herself

ess. What terrible fate was hanging over her, she dared not imagine. Would they torture

, the cold winds of Canada, or the vast, trackless depths of the Atlantic could never bring about such untold agony as these fiends in hu

sed her from her unhappy meditations, and she hastily turned on the l

bandaged ankle propped up on a box, was the only one who ate with any manners at all. But it had been a long time since Linda had tasted food, and sh

sed at her own appetite, for she hardly expected to

ise and clatter of eating. A tenseness took possession of her; she wished desperately that somebody would say something. It was

l carry you over, Susie, and give you a gun, in case Linda tr

replied Linda, trying to make her voice s

h water all around you. Get that! You can't get away, without a boat or

over and picked up his wife so ro

talk, but she was afraid to begin, for fear it would only lead to some sort of punishment. So she lay still, tryi

ent-mate. She sat up and asked her companion whether there was anything she could

nd then she used worse language than an

l pain with Dot Crowley's, when the latter had met with a similar accident, and had smiled bravely at th

ing I can do?"

e to a real doct

your husband would l

-so long as he ain't the one that's hurt?" She continued to cry

wled her husband, and Su

the other girl deceive her husband-or would she only be

ispered. "Wouldn't you rather have your ankle fixed rig

anded Susie, raising he

l me where the gas is, and we'll sneak off. I'd take y

ransom money? Slats

ey, if you're a crip

ever get away with it. They'd hear us gettin' out-reme

ell quickly asleep. Had she not been so tired, she would probably have been disturbed during the night, f

she looked into the unpleasant face of Susie's husband, and she shuddered as she recalled where she was. The thought flashed into h

e commanded. "You'

rki

. Fly

of hope. If she were allowed to fly,

p. To an island

O

land. Terrible climate, probably, reeking with disease. A slow death that would be far greater torture than being shot-hours of lingering agony, when she would think of her fath

night before, over her sprained ankle. After all, it was no one else's fault that she had se

she found breakfast ready. Bacon and eggs and coffee-and even oranges! E

sie to the table. When they had finished, and the men were lighti

h the same triumphant grin which she had grown to loathe. She winced, too, at each repe

e hundred thousand to get you back. When we get ready, w

crept over Linda. If they would only get the thing over

hed at her expre

' a hurt you.... It just happens we need

ness?" she

a hundred grand. We fly across to an island with it, where a

d Linda. Did they mean to leave her on

he job. Susie's the only one of our gang can fly, and n

e to play a criminal part in their ugly g

," Slats added. "Because I'll be ri

was nothing to be said. She must ta

ork early in the day. Maybe you better come over with me and take

the island, and there was the autogiro, safe and so

nto the sky, which she searched vainly for an airplane. But except for the birds, there was no

gang, but everything seemed hopeless, as long as Slats carried that pistol aime

sely, pleased at his own cleverness. He liked to fly, and he admired the aut

se her autogiro, she realized that its possession would give the gang away to the police. It was one thing to steal

ida or Georgia, Linda did not know, and for once she was not interested in the country. The sun rose as they came to the water, but that beautiful s

ighted an island possibly five miles out. The man behind her shouted t

rrenness of it all. No habitation of any kind, not even a tent! Motionless she sat in the c

carry a heavy box across the island where a growth of bushes concealed a hole in the ground, which was e

they found the others finishing their lunch, and Susie was sitting with them, appa

of the tent. He was well-dressed, in riding-breeches, and clean-shaven. Linda's heart gave a wild b

o the visitor instantl

he exclaimed.

," announced the new-comer,

ith me," he said. "Want

smilingly to Linda. "And how's the

new all about the plot to catch her!

nswer, he shrugg

out her yet?" he inqu

o we'll need Linda to fly her plane for us till this job's over tonigh

d together at the

Susie's watching you, with a gun. And your plane's dry, so I w

long

tramp away to the boat that the new-com