been anxious to reach Chicago that
morning.

Sue went to the office of the personnel director to be assigned
quarters while in Chicago and learned that the line had leased two
apartments nearby which would accommodate eight girls. They could cook
their own meals there or go out to restaurants as they preferred, since
the line's only obligation was to domicile them while at the Chicago
end of their runs.

"I talked with some of the passengers who came as far as Joliet with
you," said the personnel chief, "and they gave me some fine reports of
your calmness. I feel that I owe Miss Hardy at Good Samaritan a letter
of real appreciation for the girls she recommended."

After leaving the personnel office, Sue looked at the bulletin board.
The _Coast to Coast Limited_ with Jane aboard would be in at five
o'clock and she decided to wait for her.

Sue enjoyed a late lunch at the restaurant and then walked out on the
ramp to watch the arrival and departure of the planes.

A crimson monoplane was being loaded for a run to Kansas City, while a
trim, blue biplane was waiting for four passengers for Detroit. It all
seemed so matter-of-fact, and Sue knew that after her flight through
the fog that morning she would never again be afraid of flying.

Chapter Seventeen

An Ultimatum to Mattie

Sue met Jane when she stepped off the _Coast to Coast Limited_ and
together the girls went to the apartments which had been leased by the
air line. They were in Chicago for the night. Sue booked out early the
next morning and Jane later in the day.

Grace and Alice, also in Chicago, had been down town shopping that
afternoon, but they all met at the apartment. There was an attractive
kitchenette, but the girls were tired and they had dinner at a nearby
restaurant. Later they walked to a neighborhood movie where they
enjoyed the feature program.

When they returned to the apartment, Mattie Clark was there, still mad
at the long delay which had kept her away from Chicago.

"Imagine having to stay out at the emergency field at Sterling almost
all day," she stormed. She turned on Sue angrily.

"If you hadn't been so pig-headed back in Cheyenne, I'd have been on
the first section and at least arrived during the daytime."

"You can thank me you weren't on the first section," replied Sue
calmly. "We got lost and were coming down for a crash landing when the
fog cleared at Joliet and we sneaked down there. I was scared to
death."