Linda Carlton's Island Adventure

ca

that she had any hope of getting free-without gasoline-but at least she wou

emarked the latter, surv

Linda. "I've often

et rid of that gang.... And, Linda-how 'bout if we be f

what she could possibly find in common with

on the oilstove, she set herself

friendly tone. "But after this there won't

t them back?" inqu

, probably. If th

get caught?" s

this crack for months, and you can bet everyth

It wasn't ve

into a gang like this

ich guy-he spent so much money on me. I was working as a clerk

that he wasn't straight,

... I saw right away that he didn't want a wife, but a pilot, who'd do what he said.... The only fun I get out of it is

t night, sometimes, or when you're alone

red Susie, flippantly. "No preac

talking to a person like that? She knew now what was meant by the term

stion of the night before. Susie's ankle was so much better today that she would

in my autogiro today?" she in

ion laughe

t you see Beefy take that big can t

pes dashed to the ground. "Yo

ed the other girl, emphatically. "I

h me?" inquired Linda. "

though I guess I'd miss the cash and the excitement. And I guess

ust think of something else. Surely this was her chance of

far into the depth of the Okefenokee she was, she did

could be worse than those three fiends in human flesh who were holding her captive. She determi

rip would be through the water. She would stop at her plane and take out some cho

ts, "will you go to my tent and get me a magaz

a smile. She would go, bu

on the other side, she crept out through the trees to the edge of the island and circled about until she r

ound. Cypress and slash pine trees grew in abundance, and heavy moss hung about. In the water all around her, she noticed rushes and water-lilies, and ferns grew

informed her that it was already four o'clock. Five hours more, and darkness would come on, enveloping everything in a blackness such as a city-dweller nev

thought. "And with those thieves, I am sure to l

h her feet, she could still make progress. The hard rains of July and August had not yet set in,

here the trees could grow there must be some dry land. If she could make that spot by nightfall, she could hide in

cut from a pine on Black Jack Island, but she kept resolutely on until her watch registered seven o'clock. Then, all of a sudden, the stick sunk so de

he was nearing land at last-perhaps only an island-but even if she were not out of the swamp, at least she would

es that became entangled about her legs. Her shoes were heavy, but s

own now, in the midst of her own country-after she had conquered the Atlantic Ocean successfully? The thought was ab

"Gator Roads" of the swamp-channels of water which the alligat

g from their branches, shutting out the setting sunlight, and forming a lovely green bower. But Linda was scarcely conscious of th

o it for support while she rested. Her feet hung down in the muck, and she realized

red the greatest shock in her life thus far. Not ten yards away, in the very water where she would have been now, had she not mounted the log-was an alligator,

e log!" she thought. "It

d her self-control, and made sure that he was not moving. T

was only for a second. She straightened he

w, she was safe for that night at least! She could not drown, or be tortured by enemies; her only danger would

nser here than they had been at Black Jack; it would be more difficult to land an autogiro, if b

dropped to the ground and took

off dry," she thought bitterly. "But anyhow, I don't want

at big noon-day meal, and she put the thought of food from her mind. Water she could not forget so easily. After half an hour's thirst, she decided to risk a drink from t

e-which way, she could not tell. Though she was desolately lonely in that vast

wet case and cut a few stout sticks from a tree. With these she would explore the ground before

t of a large number of these in the Okefenokee Swamp had been proved by hunters to have been

down to rest. The stars were still visible here and there through the trees, and, as upon the occasion o

e. She started up fearfully, seizing a stick with one hand and her knife with the other, squinting her eyes for snakes. Her fla

it was. She had rolled over against her shoes

for her watch refused to go after its bath in the swamp, but Linda judged from the sun that it must be nine o'clock at least. H

carefully about her-into the sky, and on the water-for the sight of her enemies. For she had no doubt that as s

some wild birds fly past overhead. Everything was peaceful and quiet-like a Sunday mornin

ing to see the alligator again. In that awful second, her worst fears were realized. A canoe, with two men a

oo late