“Git back there!” he shouted. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I wonder what Jim’s doing with that shotgun,” said Sally “This isn’t shooting weather.”
Jim beckoned them to come back then suddenly he turned aside. “All right, go! The harm’s done!”
“What does he mean by that, Sally? What harm?” asked Terry.
The girls ran swiftly up the trail. At the summit they understood Jim Heron’s remark. As they stepped on the plateau _Skybird_ was just leaving the ground. Bud Hyslop at the controls guided the little craft straight out into a bank of fog.
“Oh, Prim! Bud’s stolen our plane! He’s taken _Skybird_!” she cried.
“Keep quiet, Terry. Nothing can be done by getting angry and shouting. Maybe he’ll bring it back,” said Prim.
“No he won’t! He’s stolen _Skybird_! He’ll crash in this fog! Oh, Prim, what can we do?”
Prim was just as worried as Terry over the danger to their little plane, but she controlled herself. Terry was trembling with anger. Prim took her arm.
“Don’t worry so, Terry. Maybe things will come out all right.”
At that moment the tall form of Jim Heron appeared. He had suddenly decided that he had better keep his eyes on the girls. Terry ran to him.
“Bud Hyslop has stolen our plane,” she cried indignantly, looking to the old man for sympathy.
“Don’t you worry none, Miss,” replied Jim Heron. “Bud’s all right. He’ll bring your plane back. He just went over to Harbor Grace on an errand. He’s just borrowed that plane.”
Terry wanted to ease her mind by expressing her honest opinion about Bud Hyslop but a look from Prim quieted her. She frowned, then held her lips tight-pressed. With her head high she started down the trail after Jim Heron. Her manner was very angry, superior and haughty.
Prim grabbed her by the arm: “Terry Mapes behave yourself. If we are ever going to find Allan and Syd, we’ve got to keep in with these people. Maybe the old man knows something about the boys.”
Terry asked Jim Heron, but the old man shook his head. “I never saw the boys at all. Bud says his two friends crashed up here somewhere and he’s hunting them. And you’re doing the same thing, he told me. You’re working together like partners.”
Terry laughed outright, then walked on without a word. As they were coming down the cliff, they heard Nancy Heron calling in her cracked and peevish voice: