Sue took the rebuff good naturedly. Of course it was her job to keep the pa.s.sengers from being alarmed.

Franklin Grove was the last of the emergency landing fields she saw, before the "soup" swallowed them and they looked out into a solid wall of rushing grey, so thick it almost hid the wings.

Pa.s.sengers looked anxiously toward Sue, and one or two of them summoned her. To their questions, she replied as truthfully as she could that they had struck a bit of bad weather, but that the radio beacon was guiding the pilot and they expected to soon be out of the fog and into clear weather.

That explanation satisfied them for the first half hour, but after that Sue found herself in trouble and a rising fear gripping her own heart.

The questions the pa.s.sengers asked were more difficult to answer.

Why weren't they out of the fog? They were late now getting into Chicago. Did the pilot know where he was? Why couldn't they land and wait for the bad weather to clear?

Sue answered them as best she could and tried to remain calm, putting on the best professional manner of a trained nurse.

Her signal light glowed again and she went forward. The chief pilot looked years older.

"We're in trouble," he told her frankly. "I've lost my radio bearings and the gas is getting low. Have your pa.s.sengers fasten their safety belts and see that there is no smoking. If we crash we don't want any extra risk of fire."

Sue returned to the cabin, hoping desperately that her face would not give away the gravity of their situation when she asked the pa.s.sengers to put on their safety belts. She went from one to another, adjusting the belts, and informing them that they were about to land, but she didn't add that it was likely to be a crash landing. When everyone was fastened to the seats, Sue reported to the chief pilot.

"Get back in the cabin. We're going down," he said curtly.

Sue watched the altimeter. The needle dropped gently from the 3,000 feet at which they had been flying, but the wall of fog still enveloped the earth.

They nosed through it carefully, the air speed cut down to a hundred miles an hour. Even that speed was a terrific one at which to crash into the ground. Sue was too busy thinking about her pa.s.sengers to sense her own emotions.

For five minutes the pilot groped his way down and suddenly the nose of the big ship shot through the fog. The plane flattened out 200 feet above the ground and skimmed along over farmhouses with the motors roaring heavily.

Suddenly the ship heeled over and for a sickening instant, Sue thought they were crashing until she caught sight of an airport and knew the pilot was sliding in for a fast landing.

As the plane touched the ground the motors sucked the last fuel from the tanks. The tri-motor rolled up to the hangar and Sue looked at the name painted above the large doors. They had come down at Joliet, nearly thirty miles south of their course.

The pilot came back.

"Weather's still bad around Chicago," he announced. "We'll have taxis here in a few minutes to take you in."

Sue helped her pa.s.sengers collect their hand baggage and sheperded them into the taxis. In half an hour the last one was safely away for Chicago, and Sue had time to sit down and have a little cry all by herself.

They remained at Joliet until mid-afternoon, when the fog cleared and they hopped the short distance to the field at Chicago. It was then that Sue learned that the second section of the _Night Flyer_ was down at Sterling, Illinois, with the weather west of Chicago still foggy and little chance of it clearing before mid-evening. Sue could imagine the wrath of Mattie Clark, who had been anxious to reach Chicago that morning.

Sue went to the office of the personnel director to be a.s.signed quarters while in Chicago and learned that the line had leased two apartments nearby which would accommodate eight girls. They could cook their own meals there or go out to restaurants as they preferred, since the line's only obligation was to domicile them while at the Chicago end of their runs.

"I talked with some of the pa.s.sengers who came as far as Joliet with you," said the personnel chief, "and they gave me some fine reports of your calmness. I feel that I owe Miss Hardy at Good Samaritan a letter of real appreciation for the girls she recommended."

After leaving the personnel office, Sue looked at the bulletin board.

The _Coast to Coast Limited_ with Jane aboard would be in at five o'clock and she decided to wait for her.

Sue enjoyed a late lunch at the restaurant and then walked out on the ramp to watch the arrival and departure of the planes.

A crimson monoplane was being loaded for a run to Kansas City, while a trim, blue biplane was waiting for four pa.s.sengers for Detroit. It all seemed so matter-of-fact, and Sue knew that after her flight through the fog that morning she would never again be afraid of flying.

Chapter Seventeen

An Ultimatum to Mattie

Sue met Jane when she stepped off the _Coast to Coast Limited_ and together the girls went to the apartments which had been leased by the air line. They were in Chicago for the night. Sue booked out early the next morning and Jane later in the day.

Grace and Alice, also in Chicago, had been down town shopping that afternoon, but they all met at the apartment. There was an attractive kitchenette, but the girls were tired and they had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Later they walked to a neighborhood movie where they enjoyed the feature program.

When they returned to the apartment, Mattie Clark was there, still mad at the long delay which had kept her away from Chicago.

"Imagine having to stay out at the emergency field at Sterling almost all day," she stormed. She turned on Sue angrily.

"If you hadn't been so pig-headed back in Cheyenne, I'd have been on the first section and at least arrived during the daytime."

"You can thank me you weren't on the first section," replied Sue calmly. "We got lost and were coming down for a crash landing when the fog cleared at Joliet and we sneaked down there. I was scared to death."

Mattie looked at Sue skeptically.

"You don't seem to believe me," said Sue.

"Well, it's a good story," said Mattie.

Jane's anger had mounted steadily and it got away from her.

"That's enough, Mattie. We might as well have it out right now. I think you're mean and small. You're doing everything you can to make it unpleasant for Miss Comstock, and now you're insulting Sue, because you know Sue is too even-tempered to fight back. Now just get out of here and after this keep out of my way."

Mattie was furious and her face flamed with anger, but before she could reply, Alice stepped in.

"What Jane said goes for Grace and me," she said. "The less we see of you, the better."

"You'll all be sorry for this," flared Mattie as she slammed the door and went into the apartment across the hall.

"I'm sorry this had to happen," Jane told the others, "but Mattie is out for trouble and she's going to get it. From now on keep your eyes open, for she'll trick you if she can."

The stewardesses soon settled into the routine of the flights from Cheyenne to Chicago and return. It was interesting, pleasant work.

Jane banked the money she had received from the New York paper and from Mrs. Van Verity Vanness and when Charlie Fischer asked her if she'd like to take lessons in flying, she had the money necessary.

Charlie had a biplane at Cheyenne and between flights with the huge Federated planes, amused himself by hopping around the countryside and giving lessons to whatever pupils he could pick up. Of the stewardesses, Jane was the only girl who decided to take lessons.

Whenever she and Charlie were at Cheyenne, he took her up for flights, explaining the principles of aeronautics and letting her get the feel of the plane. One afternoon they flew to Denver and back, and on another occasion, went to Laramie.

Jane was blessed with air sense. When she had her hands on the control stick, she could almost antic.i.p.ate every movement of the plane and Charlie praised her apt.i.tude warmly.

The days rolled into mid-summer and July in Cheyenne was hot. It was refreshing to seek the coolness of the upper air in the late afternoon and Jane spent as much extra time aloft as she could afford. Then came the afternoon for her solo flight. The government inspector arrived and took his place in the rear c.o.c.kpit.