The Sky Detectives; Or, How Jack Ralston Got His Man

“I’d give a heap to know the answer to that puzzle,” continued Perk, who disliked enigmas, and all that sort of thing calculated to make a fellow lie awake nights, bothering his poor brains. He never had been fitted by Nature for the job of being a real detective.

“We’ll never know,” his pal told him, “unless it happens we run afoul of the other crate when our courses draw closer together and if it’s Slim whose fingers grip that stick we’d rather be excused for having that happen – our job is to fetch him back alive, and not make him lose his life in a crash.”

“Me, I ain’t peticular just what does happen to the slick guy,” Perk wound up the little talkfest by saying. “Only, when it comes to a real showdown either Slim or us got to go to the wall – dead or alive, the thing’s goin’ to be settled for keeps!”

CHAPTER XXVII

THE SIERRA MADRE CHAIN

Another thing Perk noticed – this was the fact that Jack seemed to have changed his mind with regard to making haste for the ship was racing along at top-notch speed, as though engaged in a race with some unseen rival.

“Hey! what’s the big idea, Jack?” he called out, when this thing had been going on for some time, and his burning curiosity could no longer be held in leash. “Why doin’ the sprintin’ act, I’m awonderin’?”

“Less chance for us to run foul of that other boat if we forge well ahead, don’t you see, partner?” exclaimed the pilot, sententiously.

“Yeah! that’s a fact,” returned the enlightened Perk. “An’ then mebbe it’d be jest as well for us to get there ahead o’ the boss in the bargain.”

“I’m aiming to do that,” he was told. “It happens that we can’t keep on in the boat till we strike close to his hideout – the racket would stir the whole bunch up like a hornet’s nest you’ve kicked when going through the brush, with the mad critters swarming out to tackle you.”

“I get you now, Big Boss – never did think o’ that before. Then I kinder guess we’ll have to hike some little way,” and there was a vein of chagrin in the speaker’s voice as he mentioned this fact, since walking and Perk never did seem to agree very well – like most flyers he had been spoiled for all manner of pedestrianism by his ability to cover such vast distances without moving his pedal extremities an iota.

“That’s our sure enough program,” Jack told him, doubtless thinking that the delayed knowledge might allow his pal to make up his mind about swallowing the bitter medicine without a single grimace.

It was not long after this little break when Jack again spoke:

“I’ve a good idea we’re across the line now, partner,” was the information he passed along.

“Sounds good to me, okay,” commented Perk, with a tinge of solid satisfaction visible in his voice as though having a possible rough-house job to handle, the sooner he got busy the sooner it was likely to be over.

“And making more than an even hundred miles to the hour in the bargain, Perk.”

“Some punkins about comin’ in swell on the last lap, this crate sure is, I’d say, partner. Licketty split she humps along like a reg’lar witch. I guess now she’d make rings around that ol’ boat Slim’s got hold o’ though it answers his purpose seems like. But see here, Jack, you never did tell me jest how you got word to that same Colonel Morales down here in Mexico.”

“I was given my instructions, and sent a telegram to him at Hermosilla, in care of Padre Lopez, giving him the order he was expecting – during the last hour we were in Los Angeles.”

“Glory be! then the sojers must be in the saddle right now!” burst out Perk, with enthusiasm.

“If the arrangement went through without a miss that’s like enough a fact,” admitted Jack; “the way my plan’s arranged everything must go off with the regularity of machine work, each separate part dovetailing, so as to work in full sympathy. If anything lags, and goes amiss, it’s apt to throw the whole scheme out of gear, you understand.”

“Yeah! I grab what you mean, partner,” said the astounded Perk; “but I got to hand it to you when it comes to hatchin’ up big things – it’s jest wonderful how you manage. An’ I sure do hope everything’ll slide along like greased lightnin’, once it gets started.”

Jack had planned to drop down in some isolated spot where with the coming of dawn, with the aid of the strong glasses they could pick up the rocky Sierra Madre range with its canyons and valleys, where, unless all his leads have been false clues, those whom they sought would have their secret den and stronghold.

Perk got to thinking these matters over, and of course he was bound to run across some things that still seemed a bit hazy in his mind. Accordingly he sought for information at headquarters.

“Say, now, d’ye know I’m jest beginnin’ to get on to why you had the wings an’ fuselage o’ this here ship painted the color o’ sand – took a pattern from the way they striped the steamers on the Atlantic durin’ the big war, an’ colored batteries on the battle front, so flyers couldn’t pick ’em out to drop their bombs down on – camouflage, ain’t that the right word, Jack?”

“Slow to get on to my little schemes, partner; but in the end you make a smart stab – yes, that was what I had in mind, for I knew we’d have to park the old bus somewhere in the open; and I didn’t want any hostile eye to glimpse her from a soaring plane, or a mountain crag – for you see I reckoned Slim was too smart a lad not to have binoculars handy so as to watch for trouble.”

More than ever was Perk impressed with an overwhelming admiration for the ability of his pal to lay plans capable of covering every possible necessity that could arise in carrying out the job they had tackled.

He asked no more questions, confident that everything was bound to move along smoothly, when the casting of the play was in such capable hands.

“Anyway,” he told himself as he thus pondered, “we ain’t seen anything more o’ that moon ship, which makes it certain we’ve knocked her outen the runnin’. Wonder now if that was really an’ truly ol’ Slim, totin’ a swell bunch o’ machine guns, so’s to bolster up the new revolution they say is bein’ fostered an’ nursed in this corner o’ poor ol’ Mexico. Queer what international jingles a feller c’n get mixed up in, when he runs in harness with Uncle Sam’s revenue boys; but it’s all pie to me, just the same, ’cause they allers did say my middle name was Scrap.”

He was now starting to make use of the binoculars, which were fitted with lens capable of making them useful during the night-time, at least when there was a certain amount of moonlight. In a general way Perk could decide where to turn his attention, for it went without saying that the mountain chain lay toward the southeast for had he not studied the lay of the land upon the small but accurate map with which Jack had armed himself before leaving Washington to take up this hazardous adventure?

When he felt assured that he could make out the distant ridges he announced his pleasing discovery to his mate and then at the other’s request took over the controls so that Jack in turn might use the glasses and thus make assurance doubly safe.

“Bank, and head more into the east,” Perk heard the other saying, after a steady look.

“Then it’s the Sierra Madre okay, partner, I opine?” suggested the one at the stick, as he obeyed orders.

“No question about it,” Jack assured him “but I knew it was time for us to sight the ridge. I’ve pored over the map of this section, and charted it all out in blocks, so I can tell just what the lay of the land is, and how long it’s apt to take the colonel to get here with his galloping company. We’re going to drop down presently, and find shelter where we can lie low until the hour comes for making our ten strike.”

“How long might that be, boss?” asked Perk.

“It all depends on certain happenings. We can creep up close to the place, and watch how things move figuring out how to act when you get your first glimpse of a dust cloud away off toward where Hermosilla lies. I give the cavalry two days to reach here, if everything moves along smoothly.”

“Two long days – an’ say, we gotter eat all that time, don’t we, partner?”

“We surely can’t live on air, Perk; but I’ve provided for that – even should we run out of grub you laid in I’ve a little deposit of dried meat, real pemmican in fact, that will keep us from famishing. Water we can secure somewhere among the mountain trails, since never a drop would we be apt to find on the open desert.”

“Huh! I’m leavin’ it all to you, Big Boss,” Perk told him, again lost in wonder and near awe as he realized how Jack seemed to have thought of everything – what a mind the boy had for grasping details, and weaving them into the net with which they expected to enmesh the slippery one.

Now Jack slowed down their speed more or less, although of course it was not possible to soften the clamor accompanying their flight through space. But Perk noticed that, so far as he could tell, the night wind was coming from ahead, and this assured him it would not be apt to carry those telltale sounds toward the range lying in the east, and so warn the enemy of their coming.

CHAPTER XXVIII

CLOSE TO THE TIGER’S LAIR

“We’re about due for a landing, Perk,” finally announced the pilot, after he had used the glasses for a spell, and again took over the stick.

“Huh! some hike that’s agoin’ to be, I’d say, old hoss,” grunted Perk; “but I guess it can’t be helped – got to take the bitter with the sweet lots o’ times – the way o’ the world, seems like. Go to it then, boss; if anybody c’n make a safe landin’ by moonlight it’s jest you!”

His confidence was not misplaced, as Jack proved when he brought the ship down in as perfect a three-point drop as the best of aces could have carried out.

“She’ll have to lie here till we need her again,” he observed, on climbing out of his confined quarters, and stretching his cramped legs after the manner of air mail pilots in from a long and irksome run.

Perk stared around him – they were on the sandy desert without a doubt, and off toward the east could be seen the dim crests of the high and ragged peaks comprising the main ridges of the Sierra Madres – old-time home of the fierce Yaqui Indians, whom the soldiers of Mexico had for so many years labored so hard and in vain to conquer; nor was it until the day the airplane came along that they were able to accomplish this much to be desired end.

But now other equally annoying thorns in the flesh had made a hideout of those same inaccessible mountains – defeated aspirants for the presidency of the Republic, always generals, took to gathering groups of malcontents and mercenary adventurers in these mountain depths, defying the troops sent to rout them out, and proving the latest source of trouble in the political problems of the authorities.

Jack soon completed his preparations for abandoning their ship. He looked it all over, to satisfy himself its camouflage would prevent it from being sighted by any air pilot chancing to pass overhead at a reasonable altitude then he gathered a few articles, the possession of which might turn out to be of value when it came to closing the mouth of the bag and finally announced himself as ready to make a move.

“Got all you wanted, Perk?” he inquired, incidentally, for he had reason to feel certain such was the case.

“Yeah! from the binoculars an’ my rifle, down to what’s left o’ the eats,” the other assured him. “Guess we’ll get along somehow or other.”

“Oh! don’t bother your head about the grub part, comrade; I’m carrying a small packet with me that holds enough to keep two men alive for a whole week – all we’ll have to do is to run across some sort of spring, where we can get all the drinking water we’ll need, while we wait for the wagon.”

“Huh! in this case you’re meanin’ a hearse, ’cause mebbe we’ll have to shoot him up afore he calls quits,” and Perk grinned horribly at his own wit.

So they left the ship stranded there, sprawled out like a gigantic dragon-fly or a monstrous toad. If Fortune proved kind they might yet live to make good use of it again when the time came to fly back to God’s country on the other side of the border where defeated candidates are in the habit of accepting the dictum of the voters, and retiring from the field of battle await the next call to arms, with ballots instead of bullets as their method of settling elections.

Side by side they set forth, like a pair of adventurers starting out in search of Fortune’s smiles, and careless alike as to whether they met with success or not, so long as the excitement they craved came their way.

Perk managed to conceal the chagrin with which he buckled down to his unwelcome task, walking always gave him a pain, mental rather than physical but on the whole he was a good scout, and could follow the beckoning finger of duty, even though he loathed the conditions attached to the performance of his role.

The sand was far from compact, and allowed them to sink in somewhat, so this made the going more difficult in contrast to that on the seashore which being beaten down by incoming waves is often as hard as concrete and a pleasure to walk over; whereas this of the desert was dry and sifted at the least puff of wind.

Perk having had some previous experience with deserts, felt no love for the uninviting waste places of the earth only such useless vegetation as sage, greasewood, cactus and yucca would grow between the sand dunes amidst the blistering fangs of the infernal heat and always vowed he disliked such arid regions with a violence too deep for mere words.

Yet he kept his own counsel and plodded away alongside his pal as if he had no personal feelings in the matter whatsoever. Far off in front of them they could see the line of peaks studded against the sky once or twice Perk felt certain he had caught a fluttering light aloft such as might spring from a passing plane but in every instance he finally decided it must be some shooting star, ducking behind the mountain range, leaving a trailing wake behind that but reflected its passing glory.

One hour, two, and then a third dragged along before Jack thought fit to call a halt. Never did poor weary footsore Perk, almost used up, listen to more welcome and delightful words than when Jack as he drew to a halt went on to say:

“Time to rest, partner, you know – I’d like to find a bunch of shady trees that would afford us a decent shelter from the blazing sun, should we be so unfortunate as to get adrift after leaving all landmarks behind.”

“Oh! bless you for sayin’ that, buddy,” Perk was saying hoarsely, for his throat seemed as dry as tinder, the fine sand even affecting his vocal cords so that he would not have recognized his own voice. “By your leave I guess I’ll lie down and get the kinks outen my legs. Wow! that must abeen fi’ miles if she was one – my shoes are full o’ sand, an’ altogether I don’t feel half the man I was on startin’ out.”

“There are some trees over yonder, you may notice, Perk; so after we’ve caught our second wind we’ll take chances, and cut across to where they lie, perhaps when morning comes tripping along, we may climb up the face of the mountain and get a look-in at the printing establishment that’s set itself up in opposition to the U. S. Treasury Department, and the Federal Bank. Come on then, a little further where we can drop down, and rest our weary feet.”

Shortly afterwards the pair had crept in among the sheltering trees, where Jack called a rest, although under the impression that they should get along further before break of day.

He talked matters over with his partner, speaking almost in whispers, since in this enemy country no one could take anything for granted and for all they knew hostile ears might chance to be close by, ready to listen in.

It was Perk himself who proposed to move along while the going was good.

“Seems like we might be a heap better off, old hoss, if on’y we located up thar on the side o’ the mountain, where we could see without our bein’ watched. I’m okay now, an’ ready for b’ar.”

That was the spirit Jack liked in his mate – a readiness to take hold and reach a decision. They moved along toward the base of the forbidding height, keeping a watchful eye on the eastern sky lest dawn come and surprise them in the open, where it would not be easy to find a hiding place during the entire day.

Fortune favored them, for they managed to get under cover before the first gray streaks appeared in the east. It was bound to be a strenuous task climbing that formidable mountain side but Jack had prepared for even this part of the adventure.

From various sources he had learned how there were three separate means for subduing that grim pyramid of rocks and trees and tangled growth – in order to lessen the chances of discovery, with unpleasant consequences, Jack had decided to try and negotiate the most difficult of these mountain trails in the belief that it would offer a safer passage since evidently none of the seething revolutionists, or their allies, the bad men from across the border, would be likely to follow that canyon trail when others less difficult could be utilized.

Down there hidden by the bushes and spurs of outlying rock they employed their time in munching what must serve as their breakfast. Then quenching their thirst at a convenient pool they proceeded to climb the face of the steep elevation, making for the quaint hollow in the crater of a long dead volcano and which had once been a Yaqui fort.

CHAPTER XXIX

NEARING THE GOAL

They had now reached that most thrilling point in their bold venture, where they would have to “watch their steps” most carefully, lest an incautious act precipitate a calamity that must end all their hopes as well as snuff out their lives.

This breeding place for inflammatory embers of Mexican revolutionary disappointed political generals, and their immediate retainers, was about as safe for the two sky detectives as a cage of Bengal tigers would have been once let their presence be suspected, and the entire neighborhood would be scratched over as with a fine-tooth comb in the endeavor to discover their hiding place and should they be rounded up it needed no magician to prophesy what their fate must be.

Jack led the way, with Perk following at his heels, every sense on the alert. The native cougar of that historical group of mountains could hardly have crept along with greater care than did the two human sleuth hounds of the law. Every advance was attempted only after a careful survey of the entire neighborhood – at the sound of some faint bird-call Jack would sink down and flatten himself upon the ground, his example being imitated by his shadow.

All this caused their progress to be exceedingly slow but time did not enter into their calculations so much as security – many hours must pass ere Jack could figure on the arrival of those upon whom everything depended and they might as well make use of the entire morning in climbing higher and higher toward their ultimate goal.

Once when they chanced to be resting their tired limbs, snug in a sheltered nook behind a mass of brushwood, Jack turned and looked back. The site was especially fine for looking out on the level stretch toward the spot where they had landed during the preceding night.

Perk, watching the actions of his comrade, could easily give a close guess as to what Jack had in mind. This opinion was made more convincing when he saw the other get out the useful binoculars, and apply them to his eyes.

Keenly he kept tabs on the others and was finally thrilled to note the pleased nod Jack gave as if wholly satisfied.

Perk touched him on the arm, and as Jack turned made motions with his head, while his eyebrows went up, his expression without a single word being spoken signifying:

“How come?”

“Take a look for yourself, and tell me if you can get the first glimpse of our old crate” suggested Jack.

“Nothin’ doin,” whispered Perk, after a most diligent search; “an’ if we can’t get a whiff o’ the boat, with these glasses, I kinder guess nobody ain’t agoin’ to locate it with their naked eyes.”

“Which same lets us out from any danger in that quarter,” came softly from Jack, whose face for the moment lost some of the strained look it had borne during the last few hours.

“Never saw a better sample o’ camouflage when I was across the big pond alistenin’ to the smash o’ the rip-roarin’ German guns,” asserted Perk; and then “dried up” when he saw the other press a finger on his lips.

Higher they climbed, like monkeys, taking all manner of desperate chances when necessity arose but so cautious was Jack in leading the way that nothing amiss came about, every obstacle being successfully surmounted until shortly before the noon hour they found themselves in a position to spy upon the camp of their intended prey.

Jack was intensely interested in what he now visioned. The old crater, resembling an immense football bowl, as adopted by some Eastern colleges, looked as though it might have proven well nigh impregnable as a fortress where the fighting Yaquis were able to hold an army at bay – which feat history records as an actual fact.

Scattered about the depression were scores of rude dwellings, some built of rocks, while others more modern had walls composed of sun-baked bricks, known throughout all Mexico as adobes. Men and women, also children, could be seen moving about, preparing the noonday meal or partaking of their customary frijoles, hot tamales, or it might be maize cakes cooked in the hot ashes of fires, and with black coffee as a beverage.

The picture appealed to Perk, who delighted in novel scenes nor did it seem to lose any of its thrill from the fact that, as he very well knew, the men he was staring at so eagerly were most likely as tough a brand of desperadoes and villains as could be grouped together anywhere on earth – ready to fight, hold up trains, or commit all manner of pillage at the drop of a hat.

He marveled at the sagacity shown by Slippery Slim in deciding to join forces with these firebrands of the back country, with the idea of thus securing the greatest safety for his own lawless operations.

All this while Jack had been keeping close watch, in hopes of being able to pick out the figure of the man he had been deputized to bring back to the States so he might be prosecuted for his crimes, and sent to Atlanta. There he would possibly end his days in seclusion, with a large portion of the Southwest breathing more freely since they need no longer fear the avalanche of counterfeit currency that had been demoralizing business for such a long spell.

After all it was Perk who made the discovery, he chancing to be carefully handling the binoculars at the time. He handed the glasses over to his mate, and told Jack just where to look, using as few words as possible, and keeping his voice very low.

Long and earnestly did Jack follow the movements of the remarkable character who had been described in his hearing so many times. What satisfaction it afforded him to know he was actually in sight of the big game and if only his plans carried through his hour of triumph was steadily drawing closer and closer. In imagination, as he continued to watch the moving figure, he could vision the pleasure it would afford him when he could turn in his report to his Chief, and mark it as completed.

The afternoon drifted along, and night approached. Nothing could be done to hasten the crisis; they must wait patiently, and continue to shape their plans until the expected smoke signal told them Morales and his rough riders had reached the foot of the Sierra Madres ten miles further south and when assured by means of a counter signal that everything was working well, start to cover the last lap of their long ride, leave their mounts at a safe distance, and complete the journey on foot.

When darkness fell the picture was even more fascinating to Perk than before, with a number of fires lighting up the huge bowl, the sound of women chattering in Spanish, and children playing just as all youngsters might do while from time to time he could catch strains of music, telling that some amorous swain might be practicing on his guitar, as all who have a drop of Spanish blood in their veins invariably love to do when at leisure.

Perk doubtless made many a grimace while partaking of the light refreshment afforded by the tough pemmican Jack had produced, as their sole means for staying their empty stomachs for when the evening breeze wafted some of the odors from the cooking fires down below it almost set him wild with a desire to partake of hot food. But he knew what he was up against, and sternly repressed the inclination to groan his protest.