by Clair Blank
Chapter X
WHAT HAPPENED
Quebec was a fascinating city to Gale. The old churches and streets, thepeople, friendly and smiling, all charmed her. She walked beside Brent,feeling as happy as she had ever felt in her life. It had been such amarvelous trip up to Quebec, and they had made it in such a marvelouslyshort time. They were to have a late supper with Mr. Howard before theywere to start back to Marchton, late the same night.
Gale regretted leaving this intriguing city so soon after her arrival,but tomorrow's air races would be thrilling, too. She mentioned this toBrent and saw his eyes gleam in anticipation at the thought of his planea possible winner.
The two young people stopped in a little shop for postcards andsouvenirs and lingered too long. When they emerged onto the street againand Brent disclosed his wrist watch they were amazed at the time.Immediately they hurried to the little restaurant where they were tomeet Gale's father.
There they found he could not go back to Marchton with them that night.He had already made arrangements to stay at a hotel until the next dayfor a further talk with the man he had come to see.
"May I stay too?" Gale asked eagerly.
But her father refused, as she had expected him to do. She was to flyback with Brent as had been planned. Mr. Howard accompanied them to theplane.
Gale had asked Brent to circle over the city and fly over a little moreof Canada before setting his course southward. Now as the plane streakedover the ground and rose into the blackness of the clouds Gale watchedwith interest the scene below her. Lights flickered on and off. Shenoticed the stars overhead had disappeared. The moon was hidden behindclouds and the air was much colder. Gale huddled down in the cockpit andwas thankful for her woolly coat, but she could have stood even more.
It was while the plane was flying toward the north, away from Quebec,Brent trying to satisfy Gale's longing to see more of Canada even atnight, that the storm struck them. Brent, before he took off, had felt alittle consternation about the unnatural darkness of the sky and thehint of storm in the air, but he had felt confident of his plane to rideit out. However, he had not counted on such uncontrollable fury or thesuddenness with which the storm was upon them. One moment they had beenflying calmly and the next they were in a sea of trouble, being tossedabout like a toy balloon. The motor turned rhythmically. Brent felt surethey would come through the storm all right, but just the same he wishedGale was either with her father or safe at home.
Idly he looked at the instruments on the board. His light revealed analarming fact. The gas needle was dangerously near to the empty point.Was the instrument broken or was the tank really that near empty? Hetapped the glass on the indicator but the needle did not vary.
Suddenly the plane lurched heavily and turned over and over, going intoa spin. A down current of air had caught him unaware and for a fewmoments the earth rushed up to meet them with terrific speed. Galewondered frantically what was the matter, but soon Brent straightenedout and the nose of the ship pointed gently upward. He would try to getabove the storm before heading south. If the storm was all along thecoast he preferred to keep away from that direction, no sense in beingswept out to sea!
Gale, in the rear cockpit, could have no inkling of the turmoil that wasgoing on in Brent's mind. She was nervously clinging to the edge of theseat, wiping the rain from her face, and endeavoring at the same time toget a glimpse of the ground below them. The lights, now, were gone fromsight. No more did they twinkle on and off like stars. She looked aboveand around her. Even the heavens were black--no friendly star or moon.She wished for one second that she had insisted on staying with herfather in Quebec or rather still that she had never come to Canada atall! But then she reconsidered. It had been no end of fun flying up withher father and Brent. And it was thrilling to be flying back alone withBrent. She had not had much chance for private conversation with himever since that night at the airport. She still felt embarrassed whenshe thought of it. But he had been so nice and she had had quite a crushon him! In fact, she admitted to herself reluctantly, she still had andhe was still nice! The very next day when she had gone with Phyllis tothe airport to talk over the previous excitement he had acted as thoughthey had never said a word. But she had not been able to pass it by soeasily. Mortification enveloped her every time she thought of it.
She noticed with alarm, now, that the motor had stopped. They weregliding in a gentle spiral toward the ground. She strained her eyesthrough the darkness, trying to see ahead to Brent.
The pilot was bent anxiously over his instruments. His first fear wasrealized. The gas tank was empty. The man at the field where they hadlanded had not filled it for the return trip. Brent blamed himself fornot determining before they ever took off whether there was enough gasto take them back to Marchton. Now what would happen?
His question was soon answered. They hit another air current in themidst of the storm. This time the plane could not pull out of the spininto which it had fallen. Over and over they turned. Parachutes, if theyhad had them, would have been of no avail in the fury of the elements.
Gale braced her feet and held securely to both sides of the cockpit. Sheshut her eyes and waited breathlessly.
Up ahead Brent was working frantically to bring the plane down in aglide, but it was no use. He looked over the side and wished he couldsee upon what they were going to crash.
The crash came with a loud splintering and rending of canvas and wood.Overhead the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled, but on the earthall was silent, except for the whistle of the wind and patter of therain. The plane lay crushed like a bird brought low by a triumphanthunter. The wheels were sticking grotesquely up into the air, the tailmangled and the wings crumpled like paper.
For a long, long while, until the storm had almost wasted its fury,there was no stirring of life about the plane. At last a brown jacketedarm appeared and Brent slid from the front cockpit. He had landed on hisface when he fell from the plane, and now with difficulty he got to hisfeet. Stumbling in the darkness he felt his way to the cockpit in therear where Gale was.
The plane had crashed in a forest and now as Brent tried to extricateGale from the wreckage of the plane he could not. The limb of a treewhich had been torn off by the impact of the plane lay squarely acrossthe fuselage, effectively pinning Gale in her seat. Vainly Brent pulledand tugged at the limb, but he could not move it. Queer pains wereshooting through his shoulder and he felt strangely lightheaded.
Brent stepped back and leaned heavily against a tree while he tried tosee through the darkness. He must get help! There was nothing else todo. He took a few steps away from the wreck and saw faintly in thedistance the flickering of a light. He started toward it, determined tomake as fast time as possible. The ground was muddy, and he could notsee where he was going. Several times he stumbled into muddy holes andfell headlong over low lying logs.
Once when he thought he had come quite a distance he stopped. The lightwas gone. On each side of him was nothing but darkness. Undaunted, Brentspurred himself on. The thought of Gale behind him lent him fortitude.He didn't know how many hours it was since they had crashed. He shouldhave reached that light by this time. Unless--the thought gave himpause. Suppose it had been a car on a road in the distance. It might nothave been a house after all! After a brief rest he continued on his way.Sooner or later he must come to civilization!
