yards farther along. The wheel tracks were parallel but widely separated, ill-defined in the loose sand but easily traceable. [Pg 13] "A wagon?" questioned the young woman. "No," said Prime soberly; "it was—er—it looks as if it might have been an aeroplane." [Pg 14] [Pg 14] II AMATEUR CASTAWAYS Lucetta Millington —she had told Prime her name on the tramp to the northward—sat down in the sand, elbows on knees and her chin propped in her hands. Lucetta Millington "You say 'aeroplane' as if it suggested something familiar to you, Mr. Prime," she prompted. Truly it did suggest something to Prime, and for a moment his mouth went dry. Grider, the man he was to have met in Quebec, was a college classmate, a harebrained young barbarian, rich, an outdoor fanatic, an owner of fast yachts, a driver of fast cars, and latterly a dabbler in aviatics. Idle enough to be full of extravagant fads and fancies, and wealthy enough to indulge them, this young barbarian made friends of his enemies and enemies of his friends with equal facility—the latter chiefly through the medium of conscienceless practical jokes evolved from a Homeric sense of humor too ruthless to be [Pg 15] appreciated by mere twentieth-century weaklings. [Pg 15] Prime had more than once been the good-natured victim of these jokes, and his heart sank within him. It was plain now that they had both been conveyed to this outlandish wilderness in an aircraft of some sort, and there was little doubt in his mind that Grider had been at the controls. "It's a—it's a joke, just as I have been trying to tell you," he faltered at length. "We have been kidnapped, and I'm awfully afraid I know the man who did
Prev.
Back
Top