" insisted Jane. "Think what two of us could
do, think what it will mean to those youngsters."

Miss Comstock smiled. "You win, Jane. We'll both go."

Outside the shadowy bulk of one of the tri-motors was being wheeled
into the hangar. As soon as there was the slightest break in the storm,
they would be away on their errand of mercy.

Chapter Twenty-three

White Madness

Miss Comstock, with Jane at her heels, hurried into the commissary.
Supplies must be made ready and food placed aboard the tri-motor. Out
in the hangar a crew worked desperately over the big plane, tuning up
the motors and checking in the gas and oil.

Slim Bollei, in a sheepskin, appeared to be everywhere, orders cracking
from his thin lips.

In half an hour Jane and the chief stewardess had two large hampers
ready, one filled with medical supplies and bandages and the other
containing food. There was more than a chance that they would be forced
down and food might become very much of a necessity.

A car struggled through the storm, bringing the serum out from the
city, and Slim Bollei returned to the operations office.

"Everything's ready," he informed the night chief. "How's the weather?"

"Not so good. It's still snowing hard in the mountains and the mercury
is eight below now, but it won't drop much further."

"We'll wait another hour and see if we can get away then," decided
Slim.

Jane and Miss Comstock sat down in the waiting room, drawing their
coats around them, for at eight below zero the heating plant was
functioning none too well.

The pilot came in with two fleece-lined coats.

"Better put these on," he advised. "There won't be much heat in the
cabin and I don't want to drop down at Lytton with a couple of frozen
stewardesses on my hands."

They accepted the coats gratefully and waited for the next reports on
the storm.

It was dismal waiting there, with the wind howling around the hangar
and the snow driving against the windows. At midnight it was still
storming hard and they delayed their departure another hour. But the
storm held on and the sky was greying before Slim Bollei decided to
make the attempt.

The motors of the huge biplane roared lustily in spite of the cold, the
hampers and the precious serum were placed aboard, parachutes were
adjusted under their coats and the trio, the chief pilot and the two
stewardesses, struggled out to the plane.

The cabin was cold and it would take some time before