Ambrose Newcomb

“ The star-studded heavens against which towering mountain peaks were outlined, the lapping of little wavelets on the shore where there chanced to be a narrow strip of sandy beach, the neighboring small bunch of pines through which an evening breeze was sighing as if playing Nature’s Eolian harp in a lullaby for the lately departed day, the rocky shore line, bordering that limpid gem of a lake where he could hear an occasional trout breaking water—taken in all it was a dream, as Jack told himself more than a few times. ”

“ Perk may not have noticed it, but more than few times his chum’s covering would move just a trifle, allowing him to peep out and on each occasion Jack would chuckle as if vastly entertained, after which it was sleep again for him.
Midnight came and went.
Stars shone down upon the lonesome camp, gradually wheeling westward until each in turn passed beyond the lofty rim of the canyon walls while others climbed the eastern heavens to take their turn at peeping and eventually follow the track of those who were by that time doubtless setting beyond the genuine western horizon. ”

“ Thus crushed Perk fell back, and concentrated his observation upon the stirring little night drama that would soon be moving along at full speed—a common enough event it must be, judging by the long security from interruption these reckless worthies had enjoyed.
The strong glare of a large searchlight down on the waterway grew brighter continually, showing that the approaching boat must be close at hand. Presently they were able to make her out, although almost dazzled by the brilliant light up in her bow, rendered necessary by the snags and rocks scattered at intervals all along the Yamasaw. ”

“ The buzzing grew rapidly in volume, proving that no matter where the advancing plane came from, its destination must be that secluded little cove close to the coquina shack sheltering the man of many faces, who went from fields of excitement to those connected with society functions, entertaining guests in royal style or following his favorite pursuit along the enchanting line of adding to his prized collection of Florida birds. ”

“ Jack was now able to see for himself without the aid of glasses. There could be no question as to Perk having struck the absolute truth when he declared it was a question of life and death for the frightened occupant of the dainty little canvas canoe that was bobbing up and down in the rising waves like a floating cork. Yes, he could even make out what looked like a broken spruce paddle lying in the bottom of the tiny craft as though it had played the paddler a treacherous trick just when she needed it the most and been cast aside as useless. ”

“ Not the ghost of a sound of passing vapor came to Perk’s strained ears as the boat picked up a certain amount of speed, heading directly for the near-by river, which Jack had called the Yamasaw. Perk could hardly believe there could be such a thing as throttling the noisy clamor he had always associated with the passage of a motorboat, usually heard over the water from a distance of several miles. Truly the wizards must be hard at work these days, performing near-miracles right and left—first the aircraft’s noisy discharge conquered; and now the humble powerboat reduced to absolute submission. ”

“ Jack again summoned his courage to the fore and went on to ask the crucial question:
“This girl, sir, is the sweetheart of Buddy Warner, whose strange disappearance has thrilled the entire nation—have pity, and relieve her dreadful suspense—is he alive?”
Another nod, and in the affirmative, accompanied by a ghost of a smile. Then came the words that would ring in Jack’s ears for many a moon:
“Alive, and with a good chance for recovery, I am glad——”
“Quick! catch her, Perk!” yelled Jack as he felt the girl falling in a dead faint from the reaction. ”

“ Perk was on one knee, and with his machine-gun lifted halfway to his shoulder, as though the inclination to mix in the scrimmage had begun to grip him too powerfully to be long resisted.
The crisis came with lightning-like rapidity, and it turned out just about as Jack had anticipated would be the case. One of the half-dozen wolves made a bold leap just when the caribou, having sent another flying, was caught off his guard. He landed on the stag’s quarter, and fastened his teeth in his flank. ”

“ Jack lost no time in examining the pitiful looking object while Perk waited to hear what his verdict would be. After all the old fighter bore no malice toward any of these reckless men who were so assiduously engaged in breaking the law of the land by running contraband goods into Uncle Sam’s domains and he was just as willing to bind up the wounds of this luckless adventurer as if the other had only been an ordinary sailor in sore trouble. ”

“ Jack was a little afraid lest some mechanic, or pilot, hearing them working, and being more or less curious concerning the pair who owned the trim aircraft in which they had been taking trips for weeks past, (and about whom a halo of mystery hovered) might come nosing around, offering to lend a hand, but really hoping to pick up a few words that would explain their leaving under cover of night—honest to goodness sportsmen, going off for a hunt, or a fishing jaunt to the mountains, would not be apt to time their departure while the world was smothered in darkness. ”

“ Me for a pilot’s license, boys and when I’ve done my fifty hours of solo flying and get my papers, behold me making a bee-line for Washington and breaking into Uncle Sam’s Secret Service corps. I’m a fade-out as a movie actor, and I feel that my star of destiny calls on me to be a cloud chaser, getting after law breakers in the air across the land from the Atlantic seaboard to the Gold Coast ”

“ From all the indications Jack had already guessed the smugglers were on nettles and pins concerning the meaning of the late disasters that had struck their hitherto smooth running machine—they had been turning their heads this way and that, as if uneasy, casting frequent anxious glances toward the big and costly airship (that undoubtedly had only lately become a regular visitor at the rendezvous camp) , as if tempted to believe it too might suddenly burst into flames, as though some mysterious and powerful electrical ray were at work, bringing destruction in its wake. ”

“ A ship was just coming into port, settling down for the last glide—just as a duck might set its wings, and throw its webbed feet forward on nearing the surface of a lagoon on which it intended to alight.
Perk rather imagined it was a belated air-mail boat, delayed by some accident like a forced landing or unusual weather conditions. No matter, he waved a hand gaily in salute to the homecoming air-man and felt no ill humor because there was no return wave, since the one whose hand was at the stick must needs give his full attention to his work, or risk a crash. ”

“ When Perk that very day was so busily engaged loading up, it was all in line with their pretended objective; entering into the spirit of the great game of “pulling the wool over the eyes” of curious fellow aviators, Perk took delight in concocting an extravagant yarn, depicting some of the possible adventures he anticipated running across down in the countries of South America—Brazil, the Orinoco River forest lands, Peru, Chili and the Argentine—enough to make them envy his good fortune, when tough Luck bound them in fetters along the line of their more prosaic jobs. ”

“ Of course Jack never had the slightest doubt as to what all this mystifying activity must be–the two extremes of the smuggling fraternity were exchanging signals–each and every movement had a meaning of its own and conveyed such information as was most valuable to the business in hand–in Jack’s mind it was as though the conversation might be running something after this fashion:
“Well, here we are on hand according to promise, with a full cargo of the finest wet stuff you ever had drop down on your coast. How does the land lie over there?” ”

“ Was it any wonder that such should be the case when three full days had now crept along since the air-mail pilot vanished into the realms of space, and never a single word coming back to explain his fate?
For the sake of this brave girl, so ready to risk her own life in the service of the one she loved, he must try to keep up a confident front. If it was ordained that she too must see her hopes crushed, at least he and Perk would have the satisfaction of knowing they had done everything in their power to bring her great joy. ”

“ Such confidence in a comrade bordered on the sublime, yet according to his light Perk felt he was justified in believing Jack to be at the head of his class—without a peer, yet modest withal, shrinking from praise, and content to let the heroes of unsurpassed air flights, as well as all manner of broken records for speed, endurance, and like exploits, bask in the spotlight, while he was satisfied to do his full duty, and afterwards remain unknown to fame. ”

“ Perk asserted warmly, his eyes flashing with renewed zeal as though he might be telling himself they must be getting on a pretty warm scent which would soon lead them to the party they sought above every one else–the capitalist whose word was law, and whose money purchased all the supplies, from liquor and vessels to aircraft and everything else needful for carrying on their business of swindling the Government through the Treasury Department. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Jack took special pains to give the ambitious comrade such a ride as he could never have imagined, even in his wildest dreams—he put the new boat through all manner of ordinary stunts, even turning over so that they kept going ahead at a fair pace while flying upside-down—he went through dizzy revolutions, banked sharply and carried on generally as skillful pilots seem to take great delight in doing. ”

“ Resting up was always a painful thing to Perk whose nerves called for action and had done so ever since he served in the flying corps across the Atlantic when men’s souls thrilled with frequent contacts in the line of equally daring Hun war pilots.
Now they had shot past the twin points and were out upon the open gulf, their speed increasing every second as Jack pulled the stick closer against his chest. Then the experienced pilot lifted her in a zoom that was simply magnificent, and they were off on their adventure at last. ”

“ Jack gave him the laugh.
“Not on your life, buddy,” he announced, without hesitation; “I managed to let Doug know what line I was in, and how just at present I’m a New York millionaire sportsman and aviator, Rodman Warrington by name, headed toward some shooting-grounds for a whack at big game. He’s a lad you could never catch asleep at the switch; and make up your mind our secret’s as safe with him as anything could be. Jimmy’d have all his trouble for his pains, if he ever tried to pump Doug Davis, who’s as keen as they make them in our line.” ”

“ On the day before the one selected for making a start in the airship, carrying their moody captive with them, there was a sudden burst of shouting; and as Jack hurried out of the log building he was thrilled to catch the strangely familiar throbbing sound of a plane in the heavens. They stood there, every one at the station, watching the oncoming of a sky-racer; and even before it dropped down Perk had pronounced it a new-model Sikorsky Amphibian, Wasp powered, he being more or less of an authority on such matters. ”

“ Rocks—deep gullies that seem to have no bottom—peaks with slithering points that look like the savage steel tips of spearheads—the worst territory for a poor devil of an air pilot to crash in or have to make a forced landing that you could run across in a hundred square miles. I’d say there wasn’t over one chance in a thousand that the lad could get to the ground alive and even granted that he did, wounded as he must be, he never in the wide world would be able to find his way out of that hole. ”

“ Ah! it must be coming closer now, he decided on noting how, far below the plane, he could make out what looked like a vast sea with little 153 wavelets glimmering in the light of the moon–assuredly that must indeed be the lonely lake, long known as the home of mystery, Okeechobee, the mightiest stretch of fresh water in the whole country of the South.
Jack was passing up along the western shore line as though his plan of campaign called for a descent in some obscure quarter where they could find a hideout in which to park their aircraft while they pursued their urgent call ashore. ”

“ Down on hands and knees they dropped, to begin crawling inch by inch toward their objective. A cat creeping up on a sparrow, or a fat robin, could not have displayed a greater amount of sagacity and caution that those two man-hunters exhibited then and there—every little move was a gem; and Perk, keeping close to the heels of his leader, was fain to thrill with admiration over the wonderful skill shown by Jack in making this advance. ”

“ Jack stared and then seemed to fairly double-up as though to him there might be something worth laughing at in the hurried retreat of his pal.
“He’s more scared than you can be, Perk!” he managed to cry out. “See him making off, will you, taking steps that are nearly as long as your own. Watch him shake those new horns of his, as if to tell you he’d be willing to fight it out only his head pieces are so new like, and soft!” ”

“ When Perk came back ten minutes later and washed his hands down at the river brink, Jack only chuckled, as though it tickled him to notice how the flinty-hearted Perk—only with regard to his indifference toward all female persons—had discovered that there might still be a few—not many, perhaps—girls who were sincere and loyal to the one to whom they had pledged their hearts—lucky Buddy Warner, with all this uncertainty regarding his fate—at the worst there would be some one to always mourn his passing. ”

“ Perk certainly acted as if vastly pleased with the opportunity to get up another open air meal—how he did detest those periods of partaking of what he sneeringly called “flying fare” such as became necessary so often while he and Jack were on the wing, and putting the miles behind them when on business bent—if he had his way about things they would have landed at each and every day’s end, and had their meals like civilized human beings instead of “sky hoboes.” ”

“ Then, after another delay when Jack imagined he had caught a suspicious little scratching sound, as of something moving, they drew up on hands and knees alongside what seemed to be a rustic shelter covering an opening with a real windlass, rope and all, to fill Perk’s heart with joy in the belief that his throat was in a fair way of having its roughness relieved in short order. ”

“ Now they had begun to circle the lake itself and once directly over the body of water, Jack could see it was indeed a real gem. A small but select sheet that, save for the presence of the hermit close by, had probably never been fished by a single white man. A perfect trout preserve, he told himself, in the ecstasy of a born fisherman.
It was what Perk would call a “reg’lar cinch.” There was not the slightest reason to hold back, for never an obstacle could Jack discover calculated to give them trouble in making contact with the water. ”

“ On seeing this Jack lost all hope of the house being saved through the heroic efforts of the striving firemen.
“It’s bound to go, Perk,” he remarked, “I’m sorry for those poor families that stand to lose everything they’ve got in the wide world. Such as they never have a red cent of fire insurance. Look at that burst of flame will you? Small chance anybody’d have if they were unfortunate enough to get trapped up there!”
“Ugh! don’t mention it, partner!” cried the shocked Perk, his gaze fixed on the red tongues that kept flickering out of the upper windows like angry demons. ”

“ But you never can tell just what may happen when rival forces are striving against one another. The best laid plans often go wrong and there was always a chance of the unexpected happening.
Hardly had the airship whipped around again so as to head into the north than Perk became aware of the fact that there was a sudden accesssion of weird noises springing up from the goal toward which they were now aiming. Jack, too must have caught the increased volume, for he sheered off as if to hold back a bit so as to grasp the meaning of the new racket. ”

“ Once they were all ashore, dripping wet, but heedless of so little a thing under the circumstances. The master of this lonely region led them along what seemed to be a narrow, well trodden path, circulating among the piled-up rocks and trees, until presently they reached a rude shack from the stone chimney of which arose the tell-tale smoke that had been their guiding beacon in discovering the retreat of the recluse.
Suzanne dashed ahead of their guide and they heard her joyous cries as they reached the open door. She was down on her knees, her arms around a figure stretched out on a rude cot. ”

“ In these lonely regions, my dear sir, just as in the gold fields, a man’s past is his business only, and other people are content that it should remain a dead secret; but you can rest assured he is straight goods, and moreover a polished gentleman, as well as a wonderful physician.”
“I can readily understand what you mean, Colonel,” Jack warmly assured him, “and once I have warned Perk neither of us ever display the slightest curiosity about his hidden past—as you say, it concerns him alone; we’ll just take him for what he is, and be glad to know him.” ”

“ Silence hung about the sloop, and he had decided there could be no one around, unless, when they clambered over the side, they should discover some poor chap who had succumbed to the provoking gas or else been stunned by a blow in the wild melee that had raged previously.
Just the same wise old Perk did not mean to be caught off his guard and so he dragged out a formidable looking automatic, supplied by the Secret Service to all its accredited agents as a means for compelling a surrender on the part of any “wanted man” when overtaken in his flight. ”

“ At such a time as this the air pilot finds himself depending wholly on the accuracy of his instruments, backed by his ability to read them without the slightest error. Perk was well up in all this and had no doubt of his judgment in carrying on. Flying blind is what these gallant sailors of the airways call such a condition, though the only recognition of the encompassing danger is a cutting down of their swift pace. ”

“ Perk was in his glory—this sort of thing appealed to his nature as a pond would to a flock of thirsty ducks. Only for his lack of wind he might have indulged in a few cowboy whoops as he tore up one street and down another, touching elbows with his pard and eagerly straining his eyes in the hope of presently detecting a gust of smoke that would proclaim their arrival at the scene of operations. ”

“ The consequent thrill that accompanies such a voyage through a sea of fog comes to every pilot; although in time they become so accustomed to the conditions that it fails to affect them as in the beginning. Should the bravest of men, though a beginner in aviation, ever experience such a wild night ride through space and heavy fog it would give him a sense of anticipation that could come through no other source, whether on sea or land. ”

“ Not that Jack suspected he might be in touch with some mysterious but vindictive enemy, but just kept mum on general principles.
“All ready, partner!” sang out Perk in his usual happy fashion for it always pleased him beyond measure to be making a start on some new air voyage and from what Jack had told him, Spokane was going to be only a way station, with the vast unknown Northwest Territory beckoning them on to fresh activities and mayhap thrilling adventures to follow. No wonder the chap whose nerves were always set for action felt joyful when the moment came to pull the gun and swing off. ”

“ So Jack had to tell her how the entire world of flyers were like a company of blood brothers; an injury to one being resented by the entire calling—that their universal braving of the elements, and meeting similar perils in their daily work, made a bond like no other on earth, a kinship of like interests. ”

“ The odors that soon began to permeate the atmosphere all around that lonesome spot caused Jack to show uneasiness, as though he could hardly wait for Perk to call them to partake of the glorious feast.
“Why, if this keeps on much longer,” he told himself as he walked up and down near by as a very hungry man is apt to do when waiting for supper to be put upon the table, especially if it is in camp, where appetite reigns above ordinary likes and dislikes, “he’ll have the whole neighborhood saturated with the smell of whatever he’s cooking. ”

“ The morning was wearing away with the amphibian keeping up its merry pace and the country showing no signs of betterment. Civilization was a million miles distant, one would imagine, when looking down on those amazing masses of rocky peaks over which they were winging their way. Judging from what they saw hour after hour, Jack could well believe that changes there had been only to a small degree since Columbus first sighted these shores hundreds of years back. ”

“ First he became aware of the fact that the abyss was no longer subject to clear visibility—in fact, it would have been next to impossible for him to have made a decent contact with the river surface only that a sudden glow had started up as if by magic.
It was a fire that helped to dissipate the gathering gloom in that particular spot and the one responsible for this welcome illumination must be the unknown aviator whose crate had been wrecked when falling into the vast sink with the gorgeously painted walls. ”

“ THE CAMP IN THE CANYON Things immediately began to happen, and for the time being amidst the excitement of showing Perk just where the stores and things were located aboard the stranded Stinson-Detroiter, Miss Cramer seemed to temporarily forget the load of trouble she was carrying on her little shoulders.
Indeed, as Jack had already sized her up, she was rather a remarkable sort of a girl—so sensible, so level-headed, and truly brave in the bargain. Under such a heavy strain he felt certain ninety-nine girls out of a hundred would have given way to their helplessness, and collapsed ”

“ You can understand just why that could be when I tell you her name is Suzanne Cramer and that she is Buddy Warner’s sweetheart!”
Bart immediately displayed the most intense interest it seemed, just as wise Jack had figured out. He was a family man and in full sympathy with everything that had to do with the fortunes of honest, clean minded young people—for Jack knew there was a heap of truth in that old saying to the effect that “all the world loves a lover” and he was now playing the game for all it was worth. ”