“Coffee’s not gonna make you guys fit to fly through mountains you don’t know,” said Hiram bluntly. “Better grab a bit of shut-eye first, whichever way you’re going.”
“They’re in a hurry,” Miss Coleman pointed out. “We let this air pirate get away with it, there’ll be others deciding it’s a good way to make a get-away, and it’s us they’ll be coming after. Why don’t Ah take them over? Leastways—” She asked Dipper some technical questions about his altitude meter, ceiling, range, and maximum speed. “Sounds just fine. Miz Fletcher, ma’am, can you read a map?”
“On the ground,” Daisy said dubiously, amused by Alec and Dipper’s flabbergasted expressions, but not at all sure that they were wrong to be incredulous.
“That’s O.K., honey. It’ll be mostly watching out for roads and railroads and rivers. Ah’ve flown it before andthe weather forecast’s fine this far south. Hiram, Ah’ll join up with y’all in New Mexico soon as I can get there, O.K.?”
“I guess,” said Hiram laconically.
“At least take her up for a practice run!” Dipper blurted out. “Get the feel of her.”
Miss Coleman beamed at him. “Good idea. Stand clear, boys!”
As she swung up into the cockpit, the mechanics pulled out the petrol pump nozzle, capped the fuel tank, and backed away. The engines, still warm, burst into life. With a cheerful wave, she taxied across the tarmac, turned into the wind, and started her take-off run across the grass.
“Oh Lord!” groaned Dipper.
“She’s a mighty good pilot,” Hiram told him. “Watch.”
The boy who had been sent to buy them breakfast turned up at that moment. Distracted, Daisy missed the take-off. She only looked up from a rather disgusting friedegg sandwich—which she was happily devouring, being ravenous—when she heard a horrified unanimous gasp from Alec and Dipper.
For a moment she couldn’t see anything wrong. Then she realized that the aeroplane was upside down.
With difficulty, Daisy suppressed a gasp of her own. She ought to have more faith in Bessie Coleman. The others must know she was a stunt pilot. They wouldn’t be worried if she were a man. Hiram and the others didn’t look at all worried.
The aeroplane’s nose turned downward, diving towards the hangar. Daisy’s fingernails bit into her palms. But Miss Coleman pulled up and flew right side up a few feet above the hangar, waving to the spectators. She zoomed up, dida few barrel rolls, and came gently down for a perfect landing.
Ten minutes later, the refuelling completed, Daisy found herself in the cockpit buckling her safety belt, with Alec and Dipper unwillingly stowed in the cabin behind.
Miss Coleman spread a map on Daisy’s knee. “See here, Miz Fletcher, ma’am, this here’s the road we want to follow, via Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. It’s going to be hard to see sometimes, in the high passes where there’s snow, and down in the canyons among the trees. Some places it’ll be easier to spot the railroad lines or a river or creek, so you take note where they run together or at least the same direction.”
“Right-oh,” said Daisy, determined not to get them lost so they’d have to crash land in snowy mountains. “I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”
“And hang on to that map. It gets mighty windy. Most all of the time Ah’ll be looking, too, but there’s places Ah’ll have to concentrate on flying. We’ll be going up to about twelve thousand feet. That’s our ceiling, as high as the plane can fly. The air’s getting thin up there. You feel dizzy, you put your head down between your knees and don’t worry about where we’re going, you hear?”
Daisy had an uneasy feeling that Alec had said one of the passes was twelve thousand feet, but she nodded. “Right-oh, Miss Coleman.”
“Bessie.”
“Daisy, then.”
They smiled at each other. Bessie taxied towards the take-off position, while Daisy concentrated her entire attention on the map in her lap.
Daisy didn’t raise her head until the aeroplane levelled out after taking off. She was stunned by the view from the cockpit, so much clearer than from the cabin. The city of Denver spread out below, scarcely beginning to rouse so early on a Sunday morning. She had expected the mountains ahead to look smaller once she shared the sky with them. They didn’t. They looked bigger. And they grew as the city slipped away behind.
The road west from Denver was easy to see, heading for the foothills as straight as a Roman road. Though unpaved, it appeared to be made of well-packed gravel, and if snow had fallen here, it had melted. When the road reached the hills, it narrowed and began to wind between slopes of evergreens, but it was still clearly visible from above. They followed it, cutting across the curves.
The hills grew more rugged, too steep in places to support trees. Daisy assumed they were also higher, and that the aeroplane was constantly ascending. She thought it was getting colder, though that might have been her imagination. The road was harder to see, and sometimes they had to fly high above it as it wound through a narrow valley. Bessie followed its course closely, afraid to lose it if she cut across. They were flying between the hills now, not above.
Daisy found it curiously disorienting to see trees and rocks when she looked straight out sideways. There were patches of snow, too, on the north-facing slopes.
The valley branched ahead.
“Which way’s the road?” Bessie shouted, fighting gusts of wind which shook the plane.
A shoulder cut the view ahead. Daisy reached for Dipper’s binoculars and stuck her head over the side, hoping she wouldn’t have to stand up. The goggles protected hereyes, but the icy blast stung her cheeks above the scarf Alec had passed on to her. Catching a glimpse of the road climbing along a hillside, she pulled her head in and pointed.
Bessie nodded.
