the pictur house, seein' they got my ol' favorite, Milton Sills booked
tonight but shucks! it's too late an' 'sides, somehow I kinder lost my
likin' for action jest now--mebbe I got my fill in that busy bee session
with the fire fiend down by the tenement district--kinder a bit lame in
the arm muscles, so I figger on rubbin' 'em with my salve that worked so
fine after my rough landin' away back. Yep, I'll cut out the movies for
one night in port an' go to bed early."
"I'm meaning to pick up all the extra sleep possible," ventured Jack at
which his mate nodded approvingly.
"I get you, partner," he hastened to say, "kinder figgerin' on our
skippin' out any ol' time an' like as not runnin' up against a rough
passage that'll keep us on the jump. But I sure would like to have even
an inklin' which way that hop-off's goin' to lead us."
"I'm surprised at such a reckless, devil-may-care sort of chap as I've
known you to be, Perk, bothering your poor nut about such a silly thing
just as if it mattered two cents to either of us which way we
head--nothing ought to give us a second thought except that we're ready
to jump in and carry through, any old place under the sun."
"Yeah! but then what'd I find to worry 'bout if I didn't pick on the way
we're kept in the dark up to the last minute?"
Jack looked at him blankly and shook his head as if such peculiar
philosophy were too much for him to master--then he changed the subject
and the meal went on until even Perk, with his tremendous cargo
capacity, could contain no more.
They sat in their room reading until their eyes getting heavy warned
them it was time to hit the hay, as Perk was so fond of calling the act
of getting into bed.
In the morning they were both astir, for it so happened that neither had
ever shown signs of being late sleepers, save on special occasions.
"Another day," remarked Jack while leisurely dressing, for since they
had nothing afoot (save to possibly take a few hours' spin in order to
keep in practice as well as test out several new devices with which they
had as yet not become as familiar as Jack would like), there was no
necessity for any hurry.
"An' wouldn't I give somthin' if only I knew we could check out before
sundown tonight," grumbled Perk, yawning and stretching as though life
was becoming entirely too tame and monotonous to satisfy his cravings.
"Wait and see," advised his chum, "you know the old saying that it's
always darkest just before dawn--we're due to get a thrill before many
more hours. Give Headquarters decent time to cook up a fine fat game for
us, a nut to crack that'll be worth going after. I've a few little
things on my list that I mean to carry out this morning when I'll be
ready for the call."
Perk seemed unusually slow that morning, though he did not complain
about his lame muscles. Even when Jack asked about it he shrugged and
with a grimace remarked indifferently:
"Oh! that's okay, buddy--turned out to be a false alarm--nothin' the
matter with me, I guess, except I need shakin' up a wheen."
"You'll get all you want of that I reckon before you're many days
older," Jack told him, "somehow I've got a notion we're going to be sent
on a wild goose chase that may cover some thousands of miles and take us
into a queer section of country--nothing but a surmise, or what you
might call a _hunch_ to back me up in that, remember, but I've known a
hunch to come true more than a few times."
"I wonder," Perk observed dreamily, eyeing his comrade as if he again
felt the old suspicion arise with regard to Jack knowing more than he
chose to tell just then.
But unseen by either of the two pals, coming events were hurrying along
and threatening to speedily engulf them in as dizzy a spin as either had
ever encountered in all previous experiences.
It was around eight when they arrived at the flying field, as usual a
scene of considerable bustle with ships coming in and departing--air
mail carriers, visiting boats taking off in a continuance of their
prearranged flights east or west and several heavier bombing planes that
were being taken to Los Angeles by naval pilots for some secret purpose
of the War Department.
Jack and his pal observed all this with grins of sheer enjoyment, so
bred in the bone had their love for their profession grown to be that
everything connected with flying drew them as the Polar star does the
magnetic needle of a compass.
"Times are getting right lively around these diggin's," remarked Perk,
with a sparkle in his eyes and enthusiasm in his voice.
"Seems like it," replied Jack who chanced to be watching a novice just
then starting out on what appeared to be his initial solo flight. "That
boy shows fair promise of being due to break into the ranks of express
pilots after he's had another hundred miles or so of flying. I like the
way he handles himself and the test pilot told me yesterday he was sure
to be a comer."
"Ol' Bob ought to know what's what," mentioned Perk taking a look for
himself, "there, he's off and see how he lifts the ol' bus when he's
ready. I watched him make as neat a three-point landin' yesterday as
anybody could wish. A few o' 'em seem to be born with wings--but not
many, not many, I'm sorry to say. Well, let's step over and get things
started."
Perk stopped short as though some one had given him a blow--he seemed to
be holding his breath while he stared and then commenced rubbing his
eyes in a peculiar fashion, just as though he imagined he must be seeing
things where they could not possibly exist.
Jack realized that his chum must have had a shock of some kind, and
turned upon him quickly.
"What's the matter--what ails you, Perk?" he demanded.
"Gosh amighty! Jack, looky there will you--the hangar--Mister Gibbons;
you know, where we parked our boat--it's burned down last night!"
VI
A BLOW IN THE DARK
Jack was naturally intensely shaken by this outburst from his companion.
His first act was to whirl around and look hastily in the quarter
indicated where he discovered quite a bunch of men clustered around some
object from which wisps of smoke seemed to still be rising on the clear
morning air.
He and Perk exchanged startled looks as though the same sudden thought
had gripped their hearts.
"Queer I didn't notice a thing before, Perk, though I saw a crowd
gathered--but then that's a common occurrence out here where so many
interesting things keep on happening. Sure enough, the Gibbons' hangar
has gone up--such accidents don't come along often in any modern
aviation field."
"Accidents!" blurted out Perk steaming up--"lay off that stuff, ol'
hoss--ev'ry little movement has a meanin' o' its own--up to last
afternoon it was our ship that snuggled in that hangar, don't forgit
that, my boy. Talk to me 'bout luck, we hit it sky-high that time. Let's
go see what's happened, and how they talk 'bout it in the bargain."
This proposal Jack was only too willing to stamp with his approval so
they hurried toward the bunch of men--pilots, mechanics, visitors and
riffraff chancing to be at the field just then and now engaged in
staring at the ruins of the new hangar, doubtless exchanging opinions as
to how the conflagration had occurred in the dead of night.
"Huh!" Jack heard his comrade saying as if to himself as they approached
the cluster of men, "seems like we got up against a reg'lar roundup o'
fire--last night that tenement, an' now today the hangar we been usin'
to shelter our boat. Hot ziggetty dog! but ain't life queer though?"
Everybody was turning to stare at them as they came along. Undoubtedly
it was generally known that their ship had been stored in the destroyed
shelter while Mr. Spencer Gibbons was away and that it was only on the
preceding afternoon on coming back from a flight that they had
transferred it to another hangar Jack had been able to hire since the
owner of the one they had been using had wired he would be home shortly
after dark.
"When and how did this happen?" Jack asked one of the pilots as he took
in the fact that the remains of a plane could be seen amidst the
wreckage--apparently an explosion had taken place, for much of the
charred material of which the hangar had consisted was scattered around
the near vicinity.
"They tell us around about midnight," came the answer for the pilot knew
Jack as a fellow craftsman, although a stranger to Salt Lake City
aviation circles. "The alarm was given by the pilot of an incoming mail
ship making port hours late on account of heavy fog in the mountains.
Queer, too, they say, how quick it all came about--fire was blazing
furious like when discovered, and nothing could be done to save Mr.
Gibbons' fine ship. There he is yonder, talking to some newspaper boys."
Jack went over to tell the other how he was shocked to see what had
happened to his property and to ask if anything was known as to the
origin of the conflagration.
"Seems to be pretty much a mystery, they all tell me," the genial
sportsman informed him, not showing any signs of being at all worried
although undoubtedly deeply mystified. "You fellows were in some luck to
get your ship out before this nasty thing came along which I'm glad to
know. Of course I'm well insured and can replace my Pitcairn Mailwing
readily enough, only I'd gotten that one working like magic. I'm glad no
other hangar caught when mine burned. I've offered five hundred dollars
for any information that will prove that this was a set-up job for it
happens that on one other occasion something similar to this came my
way. You see, I was unlucky enough to make a few enemies in Wall Street
who've never forgiven me for knocking them out on a big deal."
Mr. Gibbons laughed and seemed in no wise bothered by his recent loss,
only Jack noticed how his eyes seemed to glint like sparks from steel
when mentioning the fact that he had unscrupulous enemies in the
commercial world.
Jack hung around for some little time, talking to several of those
present and asking numerous questions but learning next to nothing. If,
as some of the ground attendants seemed to believe, it was an incendiary
act, those who took big chances in carrying it out must have planned
carefully and fixed matters not only to make a certainty of the ship
sheltered within the hangar being destroyed, but also covering their
tracks with great skill.
Finally he started over to the other hangar and Perk, seeing him go
pulled his freight, as he would have called it, to hasten after his
chum.
"Huh! looks like a fine sight for sore eyes," Perk declared with glee,
"to see our boat standin' there safe an' sound tho' I'm sure sorry
Mister Fitzgibbons--I mean Gibbons, had to lose his crate--no fault o'
ourn I'll tell the world, Jack."
"To be sure we could hardly be blamed for what happened," returned the
other with a deep meaning in his voice and manner that caused Perk to
start and then blurt out:
"By jinks! partner, does it look to you like some crazy snooper set fire
to the hangar under the belief that our ship was locked in there?"
"Between you and me and the lamp-post, buddy, that just struck me as
possible, though I've no proof to back me up in saying it."
"Another o' them slick hunches o' yourn, eh partner?" Perk hastened to
say and then, scratching his chin in a way he had when seriously
considering some debatable proposition that puzzled him very much, he
added: "can't for the love o' mike guess how anybody could learn jest
who an' what we might be but it's a risky line we're engaged in, buddy,
an' some o' these here smart crooks have accomplices they say even in
the service o' Uncle Sam. It's possible a whisper leaked out an' havin'
some fish to fry, word was sent to some o' the big gang out here at Salt
Lake City to do for us, or wipe our ship off the face o' the earth
instanter. Gee whiz! but that sure does make things look mixed-up for
us, ol' hoss."
"For one thing," said Jack, firmly, "after this I never mean to leave
our boat in a strange hangar without hiring a guard to watch over it
every hour of every night, no matter what the cost to Uncle Sam. I
reckon they keep some insurance on these crates, but it would be what
time and instruments and charts we lost that would knock us the
hardest."
"But how could anybody know what sorter job we're goin' to wrestle with
next, even 'fore we got a glimmer o' it ourselves?" querulously demanded
the bewildered Perk, up in the air again apparently for there seemed to
be a vast number of things of which he was densely ignorant.
Jack laughed and shook his head.
"Some fine day perhaps we'll get on the inside track of these strange
doings, brother but right now I'm just as much in the dark as you. All I
know is that for some little time rumors have been going around at and
close to Headquarters but so far as I understand the matter up to
lately, the mysterious party responsible for such give-aways hasn't been
located. So it's within the bounds of reason for me to suspect we've
fallen under the ban and have had some sort of secret enemy set on our
track."
"Huh!" snorted Perk indignantly, "kinder like that Oswald Kearns
employed one o' his critters to do us a bad turn--you know, that big
rum-runner we nailed down in Florida not so very long back an' whose
trial hasn't come along so far, we've heard."
"Just like that," Jack told him, "although I hardly believe it could be
any of his dirty work. Still, it's going to pay us to keep our eyes
peeled right along and never imagine the coast is clear just because we
don't happen to see any ugly character around. Such scamps usually
manage to hide themselves daytimes, to slip out after dark and do their
tricks."
Soon afterwards they had tooled their ship to the runway close at hand,
made the dash, and started skyward like a bird. For two hours they tried
out various capers so as to make certain they had complete control of
the wonderful amphibian that had been placed at Jack's disposal by those
at the Secret Service Bureau in Washington, intent on equipping their
trusted agents with the best going, so that no failure might be laid at
their door due to insufficient backing.
They were back again by one that same afternoon, it being against Jack's
better judgment to remain away more than a few hours at a time. He knew
that at any day a message from Washington, in secret cipher, was apt to
come along and which, for aught he knew, would call for them to start
out without any unnecessary delay and he wished to be on hand to receive
it.
To save time he and Perk dropped into the dining room of the hotel
without visiting the office so they might have dinner before going up to
their room. This was pretty much of a daily habit with them and so far
there had not been any disadvantage arising from the arrangement.
They had almost finished their dessert when one of the bellhops came
along and being familiar with the pair from rubbing up against them so
often, he asked no questions but laid down a telegraph envelope
addressed to Mr. John Jacob Astorbilt.
"Gosh!"
That was all Perk could gasp when he saw that presumably the orders they
had been expecting for so long must have arrived. He watched Jack reach
out and pick up the sealed envelope--noted that there did not seem to be
the slightest quiver of his hand--indeed, if it were an ordinary dunning
epistle Jack could not have acted more carelessly--so far as outward
manifestations showed--than was the case just then.
He opened the envelope and then, still as cool as a cucumber grown in
the shade of a cornstalk, drew out the enclosure which Perk's devouring
eyes told him was unusually long.
Food was quite forgotten--for once--by the enthralled Perk who sat
there, fascinated, watching Jack's face as though in anticipation of
being able to tell from what he might read there something of the nature
of the communication that had been telegraphed from far distant
Washington.
It was quite useless, however. Had Jack been glancing over a casual
invitation to some party he could not have evinced more unconcern. Of
course the message was so fashioned that in order to glean its full
meaning a recourse to his code would be necessary but then as Perk knew,
Jack would be able to pick up a word here and there and in this way get
an inkling as to its purport.
VII
PERK HEARS THRILLING NEWS
"On your way, partner--gimme a clue to save me from crashin'!" begged
poor Perk, his wits in a huddle that would have made any football
enthusiast take a back seat.
"It's our order to get busy, okay," said Jack with a gleam in his eyes
his pal loved to see, since it meant _action_ and plenty of it.
"Where bound, for the love o' mike?" continued the other.
"I've made out one name here which may be our destination, Perk."
"Yeah?"
"Spokane," he was told at which Perk lifted his eyebrows as if to denote
more or less surprise, likewise disappointment.
"Huh! 'bout a short day's flyin' from this joint," was the way the
ambitious Perk voiced his feelings, just as if his expectations had been
taking wings and soaring across the Pacific or some such long distance.
"Go slow, brother," his mate advised him, "give me half a chance to make
this puzzle out--so far I've caught just a word or two here and there.
From the size of this message there's a heap back of it. If you're done
stoking, let's pass up to our den where I can get out my code and
decipher this thing."
Perk was out of his chair in a jiffy.
"I'm with you, laddie so let's get a move on. I kinder guess now I'll
jump out o' this here lowdown fit in a hurry, once we get goin'."
He already looked a hundred per cent more awake than he had been for
several days and Jack chuckled as he led the way to the elevator,
knowing how new life had been pumped into his chum's veins by the
receipt of the order to go.
Once seated in the room they shared in common, Jack took his secret code
from its hiding place and set to work in earnest. Perk could see him
writing down word after word and filling in vacant places. The minutes
fairly dragged like lead to the impatient one and when Jack sat back,
nodding his head as if wholly satisfied, the other again begged him to
lift the lid and give him a peep-in.
"What's the matter at Spokane? Some o' them Bolshevik miners broke loose
over in Idaho an' threatenin' to kick up general hell again like they've
done so many times?"
"A rotten guess brother," Jack told him. "Nobody said we were going to
stop long at Spokane--just ordered to look up a certain party there
who'd pass on a bunch of information he's been collecting this long
while back and so help us on our way."
Perk beamed again, as though quite a load had been lifted from his
chest.
"Sounds better to me, ol' hoss," he hastened to say. "An' tell me, where
do we go from Spokane?"
"Due north!" snapped Jack smilingly, "in the direction of an old
stamping-ground of yours."
"Across the border--into Canada, partner?" demanded Perk.
"Just where we'll be aiming for and moreover, buddy seems to me I've
even heard you speak of a fur-trading post known as Frazer's, with a
Scotchman as factor of the Hudson Bay Company, name of McGregor!"
At that Perk let out one of his whoops as though unable to contain his
overpowering delight.
"Ol' Jimmy McGregor you mean, Jack! Don't I know him from his moccasins
up, the queerest but straightest man in the whole Northwest Territory?
Why, I was located not many miles away from his store an' many a time
dropped in to get my 'baccy at his counter. I'll be as happy as a lark
to shake his honest hand again. Now wouldn't that jar you though--such
great luck?"
"Here's another name you may chance to know. We're to pick up one of the
Mounties at the post and take him along as a sort of guide and backer,
so as to show we're playing our game in conjunction with the legal
authorities of the region. Ever meet up with Sergeant Lowden, Perk?"
"Say, I was in cahoots with a mighty fine lad by that name," came the
speedy reply, "but if it's _him_ they've given Red a big boost since I
quit the game and went back to flyin'."
"That sounds good to me, just the same," Jack told him, "because we're
set to see a heap of the Sergeant before we skip back to our own side of
the border and with him being an old pard of yours it's likely he'll
feel it's up to him to do his level best to help us corral that
wildcat."
"Meanin' who, if it's all the same to you, partner?" Perk observed.
"Listen then and get it pat, brother. Some time last year a certain man
escaped from Leavenworth Penitentiary--it's never been learned just how
he managed it, or who on the outside or in gave him a lift. Seems that
he was a man Uncle Sam particularly wanted to keep shut up for a long
term--a dangerous man to be at large. This brought about a bunch of
trouble at Washington, and a number of high officials felt the finger of
suspicion. Lax methods and such, you understand, being leveled at them.
Rewards have been posted everywhere and I can remember seeing several of
them in my travels, but up to now never has the first bit of information
filtered in to Headquarters. They seemed to infer from certain hints
that the escaped prisoner had gone West, but then again it was said he
had skipped to South America where he could change his name and keep on
playing hob with other people's wealth. His name, Perk, before he was
hauled in and sent to the pen was Leonard Culpepper!"
"Hot ziggetty dog! so, _that's_ the way the scent leads us, is it?"
cried Perk, evidently fully aroused by the disclosure. "Sure, I've seen
them posters in mor'n a few post offices north an' south, east an' west
and wondered who'd be the lucky dick to snatch that fat reward they put
up. Gee! you've got me near goofy partner, with that news."
"Listen again then, Perk, and get the gist of what this message has
given to us. Information had trickled in through several sources to
state positively that a man answering the description of Leonard
Culpepper has been playing hob up in the Northwest Territory for some
months now. He's got a few tough bad men he runs with and they take
their orders from him. That's another proof of his identity, since
Leonard never would play second fiddle to any living man. It was rule or
ruin with him every time."
"Huh! gettin' hotter right along I'd say, Jack--suits me to a dot, an'
sure worth waitin' for in the bargain," and if any one could judge how
happy Perk felt just then, the grin on his face, as well as the way in
which he kept rubbing one hand over the other, just like a miser
gloating over his gold, would be enough to tell the tale.
"Remember, boy, this man is reckoned a desperate character, ready to go
to any extreme to keep his liberty. Even your old comrades the Mounties
have so far fallen down on the job of taking him in. He seems to play
too slick a game for the whole posse and we understand that at least one
officer has mysteriously disappeared when trying to track him to his
lair. So make up your mind we'll have to match wits with even Sherlock
Holmes if we hope to get the better of this hard hitter."
"What's the name he goes by up there?" asked Perk.
"No name at all--they call him the _Hawk_, because he swoops down on his
prey unawares and is absolutely merciless. Two gold prospectors who were
said to have struck it rich somewhere further north have disappeared and
it's suspected they fell in a fight with his gang. Sometimes he's here
and in a few days they tell of him bobbing up a hundred miles away."
"Jest like a flea," suggested Perk, "gone afore you c'n put a finger on
him. Wall, I kinder like the way our job's laid out for us, partner. The
bigger they are the harder they fall when Uncle Sam's men get goin'. So
we're meanin' to pick up a bunch o' news at Spokane, are we? An' if it's
a fair question, ol' hoss, _when_ do we cal'late to pull out o' this
burg?"
"No particular hurry, understand, Perk, we can take our own time
going--slow and sure is to be our motto. But I'm a little like you in
wanting to make a start, then, if we feel so disposed, we can loaf a
while or turn aside if we see a chance to play a trick for Uncle Sam.
That gives us a lot of leeway, you see."
"Nearly two o'clock right now--c'n we get off this afternoon, partner?"
hinted the anxious one, appealingly.
"By four we ought to be on our way, buddy. Now let's get busy!"
VIII
THE TAKE-OFF
Jack was sorry that, owing to their pulling out so soon, he would not be
able to visit the hospital again as he had planned and upon mentioning
this fact to his companion, Perk shrugged his shoulders as he said: