Trackers of the Fog Pack; Or, Jack Ralston Flying Blind

“It caint be anythin’ else, for a fack, buddy – there couldn’t run two queer heaps o’ rocks that look so much like a reg’lar ole-time castle on the Rhine! Yep, we done aourselves proud this time – meanin’ yeou did, Jack, ahandling the stick so smartly. Naow, what’s next on the programme, tell me?”

“You’re to take hold once more, and keep circling that target, while I stow away a little chow; afterwards I’ll run things while you stoke up. We must keep in mind that there’s no occasion for any undue haste – we’re out to get results, no matter how long we’ve got to hang around this part of the country. Caution, and slow progress – those are to be our watchwords, Perk.”

“I get yeou, partner,” was all that the other remarked, as he once more laid down the binoculars, and proceeded to take over the controls.

Just the same Perk knew full well Jack was intending to warn him against one of his faults, that of starting off on some important mission without due regard for precautions – a failing that had cost Perk dear more than a few times in the past, and which had never been fully eradicated from his system, no matter how gallantly he tried.

Now that the coast was clear, and he had made the discovery calculated to prove so fortunate, as well as useful, Jack could think of other matters less important and yet really necessary.

He got out their “bait-box,” – as Perk always called the receptacle of their food supplies – and proceeded to enjoy a ham-sandwich, washed down with the hot coffee already sweetened, and with genuine cream added; thanks to Perk’s “pull” with that favorite waiter in the San Diego restaurant, and whom he had mentally promised to reward some fine day, in a way commensurate with the service rendered.

Jack took his time.

He always did when eating, and consequently never knew those qualms along the line of indigestion, which occasionally doubled poor, hasty Perk up with such violence. Moreover, he seemed to be enjoying his novel breakfast vastly, a fact that tickled the other more or less, for Perk certainly did enjoy seeing others happy.

From time to time they exchanged words. Of course their talk was wholly connected with the serious business on which Uncle Sam had dispatched them, and which they were now following out as best they could.

So early in the game it was of course wholly impossible to lay their plans save vaguely; as they picked up further information they could, as Perk was fond of saying, “advance the spark,” and build some sort of a structure calculated to bring down the enemy’s fort in ruins, unless indeed, they managed to turn the tables on the two sleuths.

As they thus chatted at their ease while swinging around in a succession of short circles, the centre of which was always that conical heap of jagged rocks Perk humorously called Castle Thunder, the name of Simeon Balderson naturally came up.

Perk had himself been doing more or less pondering upon the unknown fate of the Secret Service man, who was, so Jack had informed him, a most valued agent of the Government.

“I jest caint help awonderin’ what made him fall daown on his job that a ways,” he mentioned to his comrade; which of course was Perk’s method of trying to draw the other out, so as to imbibe Jack’s way of reasoning.

“That must, as I said before,” came the reply, “remain a dead mystery to us unless we happen to run across the answer while poking around. He was up against a tough bunch, and if they discovered what he was doing the chances are they’d put him out of their way in the easiest possible fashion – throwing him over some precipice, or shooting him full of holes. That’ll come to us in the bargain, I reckon, if we’re unlucky enough to slip-up, and fall into their hands.”

“Huh! I cal’late these kiotes jest hate all Government men like a cat does agettin’ its feet wet,” hazarded Perk, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh worse, far worse than that, buddy,” Jack assured him amiably; “they know how their lives are at stake, and to them a Secret Service man takes on the shape of a noose, or the electric chair. Whenever it comes to a fight between the two of us, and that crowd, it’s got to be to the death, with no mercy shown.”

“I savvy, partner,” Perk told him, firmly; “knowed that much right along. Doant skeer me any, either, ’cause my life’s been made up o’ takin’ chances – over in France in that ole sausage balloon company – then in circus stunts in a ricketty airship that was always agoin’ to blow up with us – after that servin’ with the Canadian Mounties up in the Northwest Territory, like yeou know ’bout; and last but not least, the times I been with yeou ascootin’ raound the hull country, ahaulin’ in smugglers, bootleggers, flim-flam artists, bogus money-makers, check raisers, an’ sech nasty fry. I jest dote on runnin’ close chances – it’s sure the life that suits Gabe Perkiser.”

“The first job we’re going to tackle is along the line of making a safe and sane landing – you get that of course, Perk?” continued practical Jack.

“Nawthin’ else, partner,” answered the other, without hesitation; “seems like ever’thing depends on that same. But aint it like lookin’ fur a needle in a haystack to reckon on findin’ that ere one little patch o’ level ground he wrote was the on’y place where a ship could come daown, an’ not crash?”

“I’m going to correct you there, brother,” Jack was saying; “there is yet another landing field, and even a much better one; but out of our reach, for according to Simeon it lies inside the Hole-in-the-Wall valley where these fugitives from the Law have their hangout. He even so much as hinted that they had some kind of a plane themselves, which was in frequent use between this section of country, and certain cities where they had secret connections, and started much of their counterfeit stuff into circulation, to the mystification of the authorities, who could never seem to pick up their trail.”

“Jest so, Jack, ole hoss, the air doant ever leave a trail, which makes it right hard fur such fellers as us to get agoin’ straight. Ready to start on aour way, be yeou, partner?”

“Yes, but I want you to keep on using the glasses right along,” Jack told him. “If we had the misfortune to overlap that single open patch of ground, we’d be all at sea, and must double back, so as to go over the ground again, which would increase the chances of our being discovered, or heard by some of the outlaws possibly out hunting, or going to and fro.”

“I’ll do my level best to hit on the mark, Jack; jest go as slow as yeou kin, so’s to gimme every chance to count. Haow far ’bout do yeou figger goin’ on this tack, I want to know?”

“Well, this target we’ve struck he said on his paper map was something like twenty miles away from the entrance to the hidden valley – you remember that of course, Perk? The landing field, as we’ve got to call it from now on, would be some six or seven miles away from their Haunt; and consequently I expect to cover twelve miles, more or less, before I’m looking to have you tell me you’ve sighted our goal. If ever you used those sharp eyes of yours to advantage, now’s the time for an extra effort, partner.”

“Leave it to me, boy; I aint agoin’ to fail yeou, not if I have to stare my ole peepers aout o’ focus for keeps. Drop daown some ways, Jack – less chance o’ aour bein’ seen; an’ it’s goin’ to help me a heap in hittin’ that bit o’ level stretch. Cuckoo! that’s the ticket – we’re droppin’ like a rocket-stick after she’s shot her bolt. Naow for to get my eagle eyes daown to business.”

CHAPTER XV

A Clever Landing

A brief time passed, and then Perk called out excitedly:

“Say, I kinder b’lieve I kin glimpse thet same pesky hangaout – looks like some sorter mounting pass, sech as he drawed in his map, where they went in an’ kim aout; but they’s a kinder haze ahangin’ over yonder that makes it hard to be dead sure. If we get it araoun’ here it’ll hide us from bein’ seen. The wind up here’s hittin’ us in the face, too, which helps some in the bargain.”

“Never mind about the hideout – that’ll all come later on. Just now it’s that landing-field we need most of all – keep your glass on the ground just ahead, Perk.”

Ten seconds later the observer uttered a sudden exclamation.

“Get a bite?” demanded Jack, just about ready to swing around, as it seemed taking too hazardous chances to continue their advance any further.

“Kinder guess I sure have,” Perk told him; and then proceeded to direct the eyes of the pilot on a certain spot over which the ship was then passing.

“You struck it that time, buddy!” exclaimed Jack, evidently mightily relieved in his mind; for a crisis was upon them, with a change in their movements absolutely essential, unless they meant to give the whole scheme away, and wreck their plan of campaign, which was not to be considered at all.

“Yeah,” Perk went on to add, more confidently than before; “that’s it, for a certaintee– the on’y place where a ship kin drop with a ghost o’ a show to keep from bein’ smashed to flinders. Goin’ doawn, are yeou, Jack?”

There was no need for the other to make answer, since already the big Fokker tri-motored ship was dropping steadily. How fortunate for them that just at that critical moment Nature herself was working overtime in their favor – the wind veering until it came directly in their faces; while that little haze acted as a veil to conceal them from the hidden valley lookout – if indeed any such happened to be posted, to give warning should danger menace the fugitive gangsters.

Perk waited, and watched, his tense face betraying the natural anxiety he must just then be enduring. It was indeed no small danger that faced them, for only a most skillful pilot would be able to successfully land a great airship on such a precarious and scanty stretch of fairly level ground.

A very small thing that could hardly be avoided, save through a near miracle, would suffice to throw the heavy plane off balance, and bring about a wreck that must interfere greatly with their mission, if not utterly ruin every hope of success.

Yes, Perk could easily be excused for feeling a tenseness around the region of his staunch heart – a tightening of the nerves and sinews – a halt in his free breathing, all of them occurring simultaneously; for the most sanguine of watchers would have easily said the feat was beyond human capacity.

Yet there was Jack going about the job with apparently the same sang froid that it was his custom to show when coming down from the clouds, to settle upon the almost perfect landing green of the big San Diego airport.

“Say, what wouldn’t I give right naow if on’y I could ketch that confident spirit my best pal’s got mixed up in his mind an’ heart?” So Perk was telling himself as he saw the deftness of the touch shown by the hand at the controls, as well as the wonderful response the perfect mechanism aboard the Fokker displayed.

Now Jack held her head on, with the ground almost within reach – beyond, the narrow stretch extended just about a hundred feet; and in this space he must bring his charge up with a round turn; for should the ship keep on she would assuredly be wrecked beyond repair.

The tail came in contact, and bounded up again, to immediately repeat the manœuvre; the wheels gliding roughly along, with the body of the ship bouncing from side to side, after the usual custom when the landing is at all inclined to be a bit off-color.

The motors had ceased working, and the spinning propeller had in consequence commenced to whirl less violently. Perk allowed himself to suck in his first good breath in a score of seconds.

“Glory be!” he was saying to himself, lost in admiration and sheer wonder – “dang my hide if he ain’t agoin’ to make it, I do declare – did yeou ever in yeour born days see the like o’ that – bet there aint another pilot west o’ the Mississip could a done it that smart – hot-diggetty-dig! we’re astoppin’, as sure as anything we air. Wow!”

As the big plane ceased to move forward and came to a stand less than five feet from the terminus of the smooth ground, Perk, utterly overcome, lay back inert, “weak as a cat,” as he himself afterwards described his condition.

“And that’s that!” was all Jack allowed himself to comment; just as he might have said in the days when he was a barnstormer, and ’chute leaper at County Fair gatherings – after sailing down from a five-thousand foot ceiling, clinging to his decrepit parachute, and making a soft landing in some ploughed field.

They both sat there as if to recover their breath.

No longer did the roar of the exhaust break upon their hearing – all was marvelously still round about them – the rocks reared their crests high above their heads, and looking more cruel and pitiless than when seen at a distance. Perk shuddered as he noted the innumerable projections that stuck out almost like giant needles in a cushion, any one of which, had its point come in contact with the now stranded ship, must have played havoc with its structure.

“Huh! wake me up somebody, wont yeou kindly?” Perk finally broke out, as if possessed by the idea he must have been dreaming such a descent could be put through successfully. “There sure never was sech a crackin’ good drop as the one yeou jest made, Pal Jack – I hand yeou the palm for luck an’ skill combined; an’ I hopes as heow I have yeou fur my side kick as long as I’m in this here flyin’ trick!”

Jack turned a beaming face on him at hearing this fulsome compliment.

“Nice of you to say what you did, Perk, old chum;” he remarked, with a nod of his head; “but you greatly overrate the landing – all any one had to do was to pick out the safest way, and stick to it through thick and thin. Easy as falling off a log, let me tell you, buddy.”

“Oh! yeah; but yeou stuck!” Perk thrust back, as though after all that clinched the whole matter, which it undoubtedly did.

“Next thing we’ve got to do, Perk, is to check up, so as to find out whether the ship was injured any by contact with rocks.”

“Right yeou are there, partner,” the other chimed in, quickly; “but I kinder guess as haow we aint got much to worry over that-a-ways, ’cause she kim daown so easy like, it wouldn’t hardly abroken an egg.”

“The proof of the pudding is always in the eating,” wary Jack told him; “and we know one of the weakest parts of a ship lies in the undergear. Let’s get a move on, and find out what’s what.”

Accordingly they both started to look things over, backed by a host of past similar checkings. It could be only a superficial examination; but just the same the result pleased them immeasurably, for never the least damage could they hit upon.

Perk was almost delirious with joy, and wonder as well.

“I never would a b’lieved that stunt could be pulled off if I hadn’t seen the miracle carried aout with my own lamps,” he kept saying half to himself, as he finished his part of the survey. “Jest won-der-ful, I’d call it, an’ let her go at that, which doant tell half the story.”

Jack, having had the severe strain removed from his mind, now consented to finish his breakfast, the natural hunger of a healthy young chap asserting its prerogative. Accordingly, since Perk also confessed to feeling a “bit peckish” they sat down on the ground, with the coffee container between them, and a heap of the “ham-an’ sandwiches” which had come from their favorite restaurant.

“As soon as we get through this necessary business, Perk, we’ll stow some of the grub that’s left over in our pockets for an emergency. After that we’ll pick out such traps as we may need in our game, and trot along – though judging from the looks of this same ravine it’ll be only a figure of speech, because we’ll find it necessary to crawl like a couple of snails most of the way.”

“Yeah! that sounds more like it, buddy,” agreed Perk, eying the depression with a scowl, as though he hardly liked the nature of the job ahead.

CHAPTER XVI

Up Against a Silver-tip

There was some difficulty when it came to selecting such things as might prove most handy in their difficult task. Several had to be laid aside as being too bulky and cumbersome; for weight would count heavily against them in forcing a passage through the thick growth in the ravine; as well as later when they struck the mighty upheaval of rocks on the side of the mountain, below the natural pass into the Hole-in-the-Wall valley.

Those things they had selected were divided up, and made into two packages of about equal weight. When Jack did not happen to be looking Perk managed to slip several articles into his pack, evidently begrudging their lack; which he considered only right and proper, since his shoulders and back must stand for the extra strain.

“An’ if we do need ’em, which is like enough,” he told himself, as if in apology for his deceit; “they might jest prove life-savers– yeou never kin tell haow the cat’s agoin’ to jump; an’ they do say as a stitch in time saves yeour whole bacon.”

Having attached these bundles securely to their backs the pair were ready to start forth on their perilous errand – matching their wits and courage against the lawless spirits who had defied the power of Uncle Sam, believing it would take the whole U. S. army to dislodge them from such an isolated and natural fortress.

“First thing we’ve got to remember, partner,” said Jack, softly, as they began to plunge into the wild growth that filled the deep ravine from one side to the other, “is to get our bearings as we advance.”

“Gosh amighty! Jack, is that a go, when all we got to ’member is haow we kept aheadin’ ’long this ere coulie. I doant see haow anybody could go astray in sech a canyon as this same.”

“To be sure,” Jack assured him, “that’s true as long as this is the only old waterbed we’ll have to follow; which it isn’t, if you remember those directions Simeon sent in. Once we became a bit rattled as to which channel to follow, and it’d ruin all our calculations – the element of uncertainty has wrecked more clever plans than anything agoing. More than that, we must turn around and stare at the way things look from the other direction; because we’ll be heading back to our camp when we need to follow our trail. You know lots of landmarks may seem okay in going, which you’d never recognize when coming from the opposite quarter.”

“Yeah! I knowed that too, buddy,” affirmed Perk, with a grin; “read ’baout the same lots o’ times as a kid, when I used to soak in stories o’ them old days in Kentucky, that they called the Dark an’ Bloody Ground – Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Harrod an’ them forest rangers picked that trick up from the Shawnee Injuns they used to fight. We’ll face the other way heaps o’ times, an’ make picters o’ the scenery on aour minds; that’s okay with me, Jack.”

For some little time they had all they could do to push their way along, so matted were the vines and the underbrush, so extremely rough the footing.

Twice Perk had stumbled, and come near having an ugly fall; he even managed to skin his right knee painfully by coming in contact with a rock; but never a grunt did he emit, accustomed as he was to taking such things as part of the game.

“Mebbe naow this is what I get fur loadin’ me daown so heavy,” he told himself, under his breath; “but jest the same I aint ameanin’ to throw a single thing away; ’cause that’d sure turn aout to be jest what we needed most to save our skins.”

Later on, as they stood still and rested a bit, Perk again confided in his companion; he always did seem to suck more or less consolation out of these frequent “chinnings,” as they afforded him opportunities to see things through Jack’s eyes, an advantage Perk greatly appreciated.

“More I get thinkin’ ’baout the slick way that same Simeon took a carrier pigeon ’long with him, so he could be sure o’ gettin’ valuable information into the hands o’ his boss, the more I admire the ole gink. I knowed as haow the French used them birds over across the water, when we was afightin’ the Heinies; but say, tryin’ sech a game aout in the Secret Service was a new dodge on me.”

“Both clever, and original, Perk,” assented the other, fastening on his pack once more; “but then, as I remember Simeon Balderson he was always different from the common truck of the Force. I’ll be right sorry if anything has happened to him – wiped out by these devils up here, just because they naturally hate all Service men.”

Thus they continued to stumble along, sometimes one in the lead, and then later on the other would forge ahead, just as circumstances brought things about.

There was no attempt to make any kind of speed, since time did not count in what they were trying to accomplish – far better to spend a week, even two, than to ruin everything by some incautious move.

From time to time sounds would come to their ears, mostly ahead; but in every case these could be set down as proceeding from birds, or small animals that may have discovered their approach, and were showing signs of restlessness.

Once, however, a faint report drifted to their ears through some slant in the breeze, being possibly a mile or more distant, which both recognized as a gunshot – the only evidence of human beings that thus far they had discovered.

It acted as a spur, making them remember what they were up against; but Perk only smiled, as though he cared very little how soon they ran into the jaws of trouble, and matched their talents against those they sought.

Then they had a severe shock – it came almost without the least warning too, which made it more stunning.

A rustling in the underbrush – what sounded like a snarl or a grunt; and as they flashed a startled look in that direction, a huge shaggy figure uprose to betray the presence of a genuine Rocky Mountain grizzly of un-heard-of proportions, standing erect.

To make the matter all the more serious the frightful beast was almost directly in their way, blocking any further movement along the ravine. Besides, while they carried arms, it was highly imprudent on several accounts for them to dream of using the same.

In the first place their automatics would seem but trivial instruments when used against such a monster, said to have the nine lives of a cat; and often known to still be in fighting trim after receiving a volley of lead from powerful modern sporting rifles.

Then again if they were forced to fire, even though lucky enough to down their hairy enemy, the sound of the discharges was certain to be heard by those in hiding, and would serve to turn the entire settlement out searching for the cause of the rattling sounds.

“Hot-diggetty-dig! did yeou ever see sech a buster o’ a bar?” Perk was gasping, as he stared aghast; “an’ the tarnel beast’s startin’ to move this way, as sure as shootin’, Jack!”

“We’ve just got to clear out!” came the ultimatum from Jack.

That was easy to say, but what chance would they have against such a powerful beast, evidently with some reason to hate all two-legged bipeds, having possibly at some time in the past been severely wounded by such a creature, and holding a vendetta against all the clan. He could break through the worst tangle with ease, while they must be held up, and their progress impeded frightfully.

Jack hit a brilliant idea almost on the instant.

“Follow me, Perk!” he shrilled, tersely; “we’ve got to climb a tree! Let’s go, partner!”

“Which tree?” Perk demanded, as he kept close at the other’s heels.

“Over this way – got limbs low down – silver-tips can’t climb a tree, I’ve heard. Hurry – hurry!”

There was indeed need of haste, for they could distinctly hear the smashing advance of the big brute; also catch the growling as he pursued the fleeing pair who had dared invade his private hunting patch.

Neither of them dared cast a single look back, lest they stumble over an outcropping rock, or get entangled in some running vine, such as fairly covered the ground in certain places, to serve as traps to incautious feet.

Jack managed to arrive at the selected tree ahead of his mate, and swinging around to the further side, so as to keep out of the other’s way, commenced to lift himself into the lower branches.

This was no slight task, seeing how heavily they were both loaded down with those bundles fastened to their backs; but it is wonderful what fright can accomplish under similar conditions; and Perk was already pawing at the other side of the friendly tree, wild with eagerness to hoist himself far enough from the ground so as to avoid contact with those cruel claws of the monster, of which he had doubtless heard thrilling stories concerning their length, and sharpness.