“Thank you. I do feel better. Guess I did not realize how hungry I was,” Roberta told her.
“Didn’t you have anything to eat before you left the hotel?”
“Just a salad, but I wasn’t hungry then. This has tasted very good, every bit of it.”
“You still have a tank of gas, haven’t you?” Mrs. Pollzoff consulted the indicator to see how much was in the plane.
“Yes, but I believe we had better get down soon because we are getting away from towns and even farms. We do not want to be stranded in the open all night,” Roberta consulted the chart.
“Very true. Have you done any night flying?”
“Oh yes, but not any oftener than I could help. Of course there are a great many guides and riding under the stars is mighty attractive but one never can tell what might happen; storms come up suddenly, and mountains have a disconcerting habit of bobbing in front of a plane when it is least desirable.” They talked through the telephone and finally Roberta decided upon the best place for their landing, turned sharply off the course toward the southeast.
“Why do you go back?” Mrs. Pollzoff asked her.
“We will get better landing accommodations; at least, I know the field and I am sure of it,” the girl answered.
“All right, one should never interfere with the pilot, but if we go forward we will have less distance to travel tomorrow.”
“We have put half the continent behind us since we started,” Roberta reminded her and the woman made no further objections.
They flew on for a quarter of an hour, then suddenly Roberta had a sharp pain between her eyes and she blinked in bewilderment, but it went away again quickly so she decided that it wasn’t anything to worry about. However, she increased her speed, for if she was going to be sick, she wanted to get on the ground as quickly as possible. But now there was no sign of the sun, all of its brilliant colors had faded to dull grey, which was rapidly growing darker, and although the girl searched the heavens, she did not see a single star blinking back at her. Far in the distance she caught the faint flicker of a light which she was sure was the landing field she sought and a glance at the chart verified her calculation. Setting her course, she headed Nike in as straight a line as possible and decreased the speed, banked in preparation for the glide when she was near enough. Then again came that stabbing pain, but this time it was in her head.