You can tell him that it took us the extra time to persuade Mrs. Van
Verity Vanness to continue the trip," said Jane.

"Good-bye and good luck," said Miss Comstock as she closed the door.
Jane made sure that the door was latched securely, stowed the hamper of
food away in the pantry, and then hastened up to take a seat beside her
passenger.

The motors roared and the plane quivered to the pulse of their power.
Mrs. Van Verity Vanness paled as the plane rolled forward, but Jane
took the hands of the elderly woman and held them in her own. Almost
before they knew it the plane was in the air, streaking away into the
east in the race to make up the lost time.

Chapter Twelve

Alarming News

The lights of Cheyenne faded rapidly as Charlie Fischer gunned the big
transport hard. Jane, watching the air speed indicator, saw it climb
from 110 to 130. It hovered there for several minutes and then started
climbing again. In less than fifteen minutes they were up 7,000 feet
and with a good tail wind boomed along at better than 150 miles an
hour.

Jane looked at her elderly companion. Mrs. Van Verity Vanness had her
eyes closed tightly and Jane spoke to her reassuringly.

"It's a long ride to Chicago," she said. "Suppose we look through some
magazines. Then we'll have a cup of bouillon and sandwiches just before
midnight and after that I'll tuck you in for the night."

"Tuck me in for the night?" asked Mrs. Van Verity Vanness. "Why, I'll
never be able to sleep."

"I think you will. You can unfasten your safety belt now and I'll see
what I can find in the way of magazines."

Jane returned a minute later with half a dozen copies of the latest
magazines. She adjusted the reading light for her companion and Mrs.
Van Verity Vanness, seeing Jane so calm and casual, forced herself to
overcome the fear of flying which had sickened her. She selected a
magazine from the armful Jane offered and settled herself comfortably
in her seat.

"I'm really commencing to enjoy it," she smiled, "but there's a bit of
a draft around my feet."

Jane hurried back to the compartment where a supply of warm, woolly
blankets were kept. Selecting a pretty grey and pink one she wrapped it
around the elderly woman's legs. With Mrs. Van Verity Vanness
comfortable and apparently satisfied for some time, Jane opened the
Cheyenne paper.

She halfway expected to find a front page story on the dash across
country of Mrs. Van Verity Vanness in a s