The Motor Girls in the Mountains or The Gypsy Girl's Secret Part 22

He could choose what path he would. He was free while she was a prisoner.

Perhaps he was flying now straight toward friends and home and love. His roving eyes could perhaps at that moment see Camp Kill Kare, which she perhaps might never see again.

She dashed the tears from her eyes and looked again.

Now the aviator was flying lower. And his speed had perceptibly lessened.

What did it mean? Was he seeking a more favorable current of air? Was he in doubt as to his course?

Louder and louder grew the buzz of the motor, and lower and lower came the plane. Like a giant bird, it was now describing great circles, and with every one its distance from the earth was lessened.

Cora's heart seemed as though it would leap out of her body. There was no doubt now of the aviator's intention. He was looking for a place to descend!

But where? If he came down anywhere near where she was standing, he would be caught in the trees. But somewhere there must be an open spot that his keen eyes had descried, and it was there that he intended to make a landing.

Cora ran in the direction indicated by the plane.

She had gone perhaps two hundred yards, when she came to a large plateau which bore marks of having been swept at some time by a fire. So fierce had been the conflagration that trees and undergrowth alike had been burned to ashes in the holocaust. Even the stumps had crumbled into ashes, and there were several places in the wide expanse where a skillful aviator could make a landing without danger of injuring his machine.

As Cora came out into the open she saw that the choice had already been made. There was one long, graceful swoop, and then the giant flyer settled on the ground with scarcely a jar, ran for fifty feet or so on its wheels and stopped.

The aviator climbed out, rather painfully, as though cramped from long sitting. He rubbed his legs and flung his arms about vigorously as though to restore the circulation. Then he took some tools from a box under the seat and began to make some repairs in the motor.

His back was toward Cora, and the latter was running across the field to him when she suddenly stopped.

Who knew what this man might be? She was alone in this wilderness. Could she trust him?

But her hesitation was only momentary. Most men were chivalrous.

The aviator was on his knees as she approached. He heard her coming and sprang to his feet, very visibly startled.

"I didn't mean to startle you," panted Cora, with an attempt to smile. "I saw you come down here and I ran over as fast as I could. I had to see you, because I'm lost out here in the woods, and I was sure you would help me."

He was of medium height. The garments in which he was wrapped to protect him from the intense cold of the upper air made it impossible to tell whether his form was large or slender.

"You poor child!" exclaimed the stranger in great surprise and sympathy.

"Don't be afraid to tell me all about it," he said. "Look!"

He took off his hat, and Cora's startled eyes saw two large braids of hair coiled tightly about his head.

_The aviator was a woman!_

The next moment she had her arms about Cora, and the latter was sobbing as though her heart would break.

"There, there, my dear," said the newcomer, patting Cora's disheveled hair, "go ahead and cry all you want to. It will do you good, and I know just how you feel. But you're all right now."

The revulsion from despair to joy had been so great that it was some minutes before Cora recovered her self-control.

"Oh," she exclaimed at last, as she smiled radiantly through her tears, "I'm so happy that I can hardly bear it! Surely G.o.d has sent you to me."

"I believe so," smiled the other, who herself was a mere girl, not much older than Cora herself. "But now go ahead and tell me just how you came to be lost."

She listened with the greatest sympathy and interest while Cora narrated all that had happened to her since the day before.

Then in her turn she explained that she was making a cross-country flight from Chicago to New York. She was bent on beating the best record ever made for the distance by either man or woman, and was in a fair way to do it.

"My engine began working badly a little while ago," she explained. "The ignition was balky and I thought I'd better come down and fix it before it got worse."

Cora looked at her with admiration, and expressed it warmly.

"I don't see how you dare to take such risks," she said. "It must take a tremendous amount of courage."

"Oh, I don't know," said the other modestly. "But there's a lot of satisfaction in beating the men at their own game," she added mischievously.

"We women all owe you a lot for doing it," laughed Cora happily. "It does the men good to have some of the conceit taken out of them. But just the same I startled you when I appeared so suddenly at your side," she added, with a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"Yes," admitted the other. "I didn't know that I was within miles of anybody at all you see."

"I'm sorry," murmured Cora, but the sportive look remained on her face.

"Well, now, I'll just put the finis.h.i.+ng touch on the engine and then I'll be ready," said the aviatrix, who had introduced herself as Ruth Moore.

"And you shall go with me."

"Me! With you?" gasped Cora.

"Yes. Why not? My machine has an extra seat. And you want to get out of this wilderness."

Miss Moore set to work, Cora a.s.sisting her, and the aircraft was soon ready to continue its flight.

"I never thought I'd be taking my first ride in an aircraft under such conditions," remarked Cora as her companion strapped her in.

"You're sure you won't be afraid?" asked Miss Moore, looking at her searchingly.

"I'm so happy at getting away from these awful woods that I'm not afraid of anything," replied Cora. "Then, too, I'm used to motor cars and motor boats, and that ought to help me in keeping my nerve. You needn't be afraid. I won't make any fuss."

"You're a girl after my own heart," laughed Miss Moore, as she adjusted herself in her seat. "Sit perfectly still now and leave everything to me."

She touched a lever and the aeroplane ran along a few yards and then soared skyward.

CHAPTER XVII A JOYFUL REUNION

Cora gasped as the aircraft mounted into the sky and she saw the earth falling away from her. It was the newest and greatest thrill in her experience.

Her first sensation was that of detachment. She seemed to be floating in a sea of ether. Everything was impalpable, intangible. It seemed to be her astral body that was moving through s.p.a.ce. All that was material seemed to have been thrown aside like a cast-off garment.

Her next impression was that of silence. All earthly noises had been stilled. The song of birds, the rustling of leaves that had made the forest vocal had died away. It seemed as though the world had been suddenly stricken dumb. The only sound was that of the motor with its monotonous hum.