hout a bounce and they rolled into the
hangar.

Mrs. Van Verity Vanness roused slightly and Jane told her they were in
North Platte. The stop there took just a little better than four
minutes and Jane learned that there were no messages for her passenger.
Then they were booming east again with the next stop at Omaha.

Jane settled down in her chair, wondering if her passenger had been
serious when she mentioned taking her on to New York. What a lark that
would be and how the other girls would talk. Jane could just imagine
Mattie Clark turning almost green with envy.

The pilot found the favoring wind again and they sped from North Platte
to Omaha in record time for the big tri-motor. At the Omaha field
reporters were waiting for the plane and Jane was forced to go to the
waiting room and answer their questions, for Mrs. Van Verity Vanness
refused to see them.

For five minutes she fended off the questions of the newspapermen,
answering those she was free to.

"Better look out for the aerial bandits," they warned her. "Think of
the ransom they could demand if they captured your passenger?"

"Haven't they been captured?" asked Jane.

"No. They vanished after bringing down the mail plane in southeastern
Iowa. The last report said that they had been heading west. Of course,
that was early yesterday. They've landed at some out of the way field."

Jane thanked the reporter and turned back to the tri-motor, glad to get
away from her questioners lest she show them how much she was
disturbed. With the newspapers now broadcasting the cross-country dash
of the wealthy Mrs. Van Verity Vanness, Jane knew that the special was
not safe with the aerial bandits still at large.

Chapter Thirteen

The Black Plane

Just before the tri-motor wheeled off the ramp at Omaha, the radio
operator at the field hurried up with a message. It was from New York,
informing Mrs. Van Verity Vanness that her son was slightly improved
and was looking forward to her arrival at his bedside.

The little woman of the many millions looked at Jane through
tear-dimmed eyes.

"He's my only son," she said. "He means so very much to me."

Jane nodded. She could understand, for in her years of training at Good
Samaritan she had seen mother love put to many a severe and
heart-breaking test and she knew how deep in a human soul it
penetrated.

Reassured that her son was not losing ground, Mrs. Van Verity Vanness
dozed again as the plane race