deigning now to break into a silly grin since the supposed danger was
past and the coast clear. "He's some jim dandy I'd say an' mebbe I
wouldn't like to knock a bull moose over. Used to hear about 'em when I
was a kid up in Maine and over the line in Canada too (but never met one
o' the breed before). Bet you that ol' boy c'n run a blue streak too,
once he lets go. Well, since there ain't any tigers at large nor yet a
catamount lyin' in ambush, guess I orter go ashore again an' hurry up my
fire. Breakfast ready in ten minutes, 'member, Jack ol' hoss."
While working over his fire and starting breakfast Perk must have been
sketching in his mind the nerve racking encounter so lately in the
spot-light, for once he stopped doing what he was engaged in, to look
seriously up at the blue sky where a few floating white clouds had taken
on a faint pink blush, showing that the rising sun was not far below the
horizon though not scheduled to appear to any one in that deep valley
for several hours yet--then he might have been heard holding communion
with himself and saying:
"I kinder guess moose steak wouldn't taste so bad but then what's the
use o' cryin' over spilt milk? Mister Moose has skipped out an' then
Jack wouldn't let me shoot, even if the ol' critter hung around lookin'
for trouble. Didn't he say the close season was on with all game that
you c'n eat and that the Mounties might get me if I took chances and
nailed that big boy? Oh well! I'm all to the good and no tellin' what he
might have done to me if we got mixed up in a sure enough scrap."
Breakfast was almost as enjoyable as supper had been--not just wholly so
for no one is ever quite so hard pressed by hunger in the early morning
as seems to be the case toward close of day when all cares are tossed
aside.
Jack did not appear to be in any hurry to leave the scene of their
night's bivouac for he puttered around, doing numerous small chores
that, according to Perk's mind, could have just as well been postponed
to another time without the sky falling.
"Ain't she ready to take the air, Boss?" he finally demanded when he
could stand it no longer, whereupon Jack looked up smilingly and nodded.
"Everything's as fine as silk, brother, and since it's getting along,
perhaps we'd better be on our way."
"Huh! that's the line o' patter I'm longin' to hear from you, partner,"
Perk broke out in positive relief. "I'm a bit leery 'bout puttin' in a
second night alongside this lake. Might have a twenty-foot anaconda drop
down on us while we sat outside an' smoked. Now don't tell me they ain't
no sech animal hereabouts, 'cause I know that as well as you do but just
the same I'm glad we're goin' to climb outen here pronto."
XX
THE FUR-TRADING STATION
Possibly Perk may have been a little troubled in his mind lest they run
up against difficulties when trying to climb out of that tiny valley
walled with those titanic mountains massed all around.
His faith in the ability of his comrade to surmount ordinary
difficulties and aviation perplexities buoyed him up and he failed to
register any outward signs of undue anxiety.
His confidence was well placed for aided by the excellent working of the
crate's slotted wings and his knowledge concerning their control, Jack
was enabled to start boring up toward the sky almost as soon as the
amphibian quitted the placid bosom of the crystal lake.
A few circles and they had risen so that it was possible to see beyond
the peaks by which they were surrounded.
"That's the boy--beautifully done, I'll tell the gapin' world--an' what
a good feelin' it gives a flyer to know he's on the wing once more after
bein' knocked down by a dead-stick swattin' him. Glad now I snapped off
them two pictur's jest when we was leavin' the lake under us."
"Same here partner," chimed in Jack, "for I'll always have a kindly
feeling for that little cup of water set in that hole among the
mountains like it might be a precious diamond in a platinum ring."
"Huh! I'd like to said that same thing, buddy," Perk told his mate,
"on'y it ain't in my blood to spout poetry you see but a feller c'n
_feel_ it in his heart, mebbe, even when he jest can't say it."
"Which is as true as anything can be," vowed Jack who was well aware of
the limitations of his chum and could appreciate his good points, even
if in some ways Perk seemed a bit dumb.
They were soon on their course as laid out by the head pilot and making
into the north at fair speed. Perk amused himself for some little time
in carrying out his accustomed duties, which were numerous and so
essential they must not be neglected. Later on Jack, realizing that Perk
was no longer moving around with his customary bustle, managed to steal
a glance in his direction to discover that the other was snuggled down
and seemed to be gazing at something he held in his hand, as though
wrestling with a weighty problem.
Jack immediately understood, for the object at which Perk stared so
earnestly happened to be the small photograph he had received from the
youngster whom he, Perk, had carried across that queer little bridge
made of two ironing-boards when the tenement was burning in Salt Lake
City.
He would turn it over so as to read the name written in a female hand on
the back--"Adrian, at six years," and then quickly reverse the card as
if he hoped to instinctively pronounce the last part of the lad's name
that seemed to elude his memory with such disgusting pertinacity.
But apparently even that idea failed to work, for Jack heard no
triumphant whoop break from his companion's lips as he felt certain
would be the case should he hit what he was after. The old saying, all
signs fail in dry weather, was applicable in Perk's case, it seemed.
Still, such are the vagaries of the human memory that he was likely to
suddenly utter the word he wanted just as he opened his eyes after a
nap. It often comes about that way as many persons can testify.
Jack shook his head and grinned, muttering to himself meanwhile:
"Queer how poor old Perk does get so twisted up with names and he's so
dogged about it he never will give in till he gets what he's after.
Always makes me think of that ad. I used to see in the magazines about
some kind of toilet soap. A baby in his little tub stretching out a hand
to lay hold of a cake of soap and underneath the words: 'he'll never be
happy till he gets it.' That's my pal Perk to a fraction--wish I could
give him the high sign but since I never heard the name it's beyond my
ken. But anyway it gives him something to play with, like a baby's
rattle and how he does hang on to it."
So Perk kept on staring goggle-eyed at that picture, just as if it
mattered as much as three cents whether he ever again heard of the boy
or his mother, both of whom Jack had somehow made up his mind, were
evidently engaged in a search for some missing party who was especially
dear to them but whose identity was now, and probably always would be, a
complete mystery to the pair who had befriended them on that night of
the fire.
"After all," Perk finally said, and Jack could easily catch every word,
thanks to the useful earphone apparatus they had on, "we did have a fine
time o' it--you made the neatest dead-stick landin' I ever seen put
through--we had a glorious supper an' a nice night in camp as I might
say--glimpsed a' ol' galliwampus o' a big bull-moose on the gallop--it'd
jest be complete if on'y I had a decent head on me so's to grab that
name--Adrian--Adrian what--shucks?"
Jack did not say a single word lest he start the other to worrying
again. It might seem such a trifling matter to any outsider but to Perk
it meant that he was growing old--that his memory, never any too good,
had taken to going back on him worse than ever.
The further they worked into the north the more uninhabited did the wild
region seem to become. Earlier in their flight they were able to
occasionally discover an isolated log-cabin marking the lonely home of
some venturesome white trapper and when these isolated shelters were
still occupied by their owners there would be a column of wood smoke
rising above the adjacent timber that made things seem a bit homelike,
but for the last hour Perk had not picked up the slightest clue to human
existence in all that vast wilderness, though he plied his glasses most
industriously in hopes of breaking the spell.
"Must be drawing close to the fur-trading post, I'd reckon, eh partner?"
Jack suddenly demanded at which the other nodded vigorously in the
affirmative and followed this up by saying emphatically:
"Just what we are ol' hoss. I've seen a number o' things to tell me it's
close by here--f'r instance, take a peek at them three cones standin'
out there in a triangle off to the west--many a time I've sat an' smoked
an' watched the clouds coverin' the lowest peak while on a log in front
o' Old Jimmy McGregor's log cabin store. Jest a trifle more to the east,
partner, an' chances are we'll be settin' eyes on Frazer's Post inside
ten minutes at the most."
That was certainly cheery information for Jack to hear from his
companion who was familiar with much of that country from having ridden
over the mountain trails when spending several years in the service of
the Northwest Mounted Police force.
Perk seemed to be more and more amazed by the fact of their striking the
far distant point as though drawn by some magnet, for a minute later he
broke loose again.
"There, I 'member that little canyon where the trail runs through--got
my first caribou right on that spot--a herd was passin' an' I came on
the bunch as they turned a corner. What makes me sit up an' take notice
is how we've come all the way up here, hundreds an' hundreds o' miles,
straight as a die an' inside o' forty-eight hours, I guess I might call
it, when in them days it'd taken me a month anyway to cover the same
distance on hossback. They fetches the supplies to the post here by way
o' the river an' then by carry. Huh! we're livin' in a great age,
strikes me, partner. Now, get ready to take a look-in at the first
fur-tradin' station you ever did see 'cause it's jest beyond that little
rise with the timber hidin' the fort. Hot ziggetty dog! I never did
think I'd be up here in this country again."
Jack also felt a little thrill of expectancy as they sped onward for in
another minute or so they should be passing directly over the place Perk
had pointed out with such assurance. The trip had thus far been as
successful as any one could hope for and their success in finding the
needle in a haystack, as Perk had once called their mission, was to be
considered a feather in the cap of the pilot.
Then all of a sudden he heard Perk give utterance to a loud cry as of
dismay, coupled with astonishment.
"Hey! what's all this mean? Look at that outhouse smoulderin' like it's
been burned down inside o' last night! An' that little bunch o' fellers
standin' there like they meant to skedaddle at hearin' us comin' with
sech a racket! Jack, I tell you somethin's sure happened around these
diggin's! Been some sorter o' deviltry afoot an' ten to one that same
crazy Hawk's the guy that's broke loose! Mebbe now we jest got here in
time to break into the game."
XXI
OLD JIMMY, THE FACTOR
It hardly needed these vigorous words from the startled Perk to tell
Jack something unusual was the matter at the trading post. Just as his
comrade had declared, some sort of minor building was smouldering, smoke
ascending in lazy spirals and occasionally a tiny burst of flame telling
where a fresh bit of unburned wood must have fallen to the heat still
hanging over the ruins.
Then too, the actions of the parties standing in a clump near the
general store and fur repository added to his belief for they did look
very much disturbed as if almost tempted to make a break for the shelter
of the nearby forest.
That was easily understood, for up to the present time it must have been
a rare event for an airplane to come circling over that remote trading
post--indeed, perhaps never before had such a thrilling event occurred.
"Jack, you're meanin' to drop down, ain't you?" sang out the worried
Perk.
"I reckon to," came the steady answer, "when you've shown me the open
field you said lay close by--that was even enough for a fairly decent
landing."
"Why, there it is right now, partner--over on the right, this side o'
the tall timber yonder," and Perk thrust out a hand so as to make his
meaning quite clear.
"I see it Perk, boy, and must take your word for it we'll have a chance
to make contact without a spill. We've got to find out what's been going
on around here lately, that's about all there is to it." "I c'n jest
wager it's some dirty work o' that timber wolf, Hawk," asserted the
other vigorously, "an' if he's so much as hurt a hair o' Ol' Jimmy
McGregor's gray head it's goin' to cost him dear, an' that's no lie
either!"
Jack said nothing further, just paid strict attention to his business.
He was scanning the rather contracted field so as to figure where he
should drop down, with a bit of open space ahead for a short run after
hitting the earth.
He had made several circles around the place before coasting earthward
as his severe training as a pilot had taught him to do ere making the
last dip. In another half minute the wheels had struck and the amphibian
was slowing up in its forward thrust.
Both of them hastily detached the 'phones from their heads for they
could see that some of the men, mostly trappers, Jack imagined from
their rough dress, were commencing to push toward the spot where the
visitor from the clouds lay almost motionless, having withstood such
shaking-up as followed the rough landing.
The first thing that Jack noticed was the fact that there was an eager
look on several of the leather-like faces of the advancing group. He
rather imagined they had been cherishing a wild hope the airship might
disgorge several figures in the well-known uniforms of the Mounties and
that their recent rough treatment at the hands of the outlaws would soon
be avenged.
"Hi! what's been goin' on 'round the post here, boys?" shouted Perk as
the small group drew near. "Hello! Birdseye Baker, glad to see you're
still on deck--ain't forgot Gabe Perkiser, have you, Oldtimer?"
The tall, stoop-shouldered man with the long hair whom Perk addressed
stared hard and then came closer.
"If it ain't Perk hisself!" he exclaimed, to immediately add: "Back on
the old job agin, be ye--but why ain't ye in uniform--an' whar be the
rest o' the Mounties--we need 'em right smart I'm tellin' ye, boy!"
"Who's been handlin' you rough, brother?" asked Perk sympathetically.
"Cap. Hawk an' his gang. Ain't been gone more'n three hours--stole all
my whole season's ketch o' pelts an' robbed Old Jimmy o' his money an' a
heap o' stores 'sides. I kinder feel like I'm meanin' to skip out o'
this blasted kentry if so be they jest can't nab that wild critter, 'er
else make him turn up his toes. What ails the Mounties, I wanter know,
when they slip up on a job like this? Don't seem like the days when ye
was workin' in the outfit, Gabe Perkiser."
"Hold out a little longer, Birdseye, ol' hoss!" exclaimed Perk jerking
off goggles and helmet, "mebbe it'll all come out okay. They's things on
the programme that're goin' to cut a big figger in this game. Just you
wait an' see 'fore you cuss the Mounties black an' blue."
Then, as if noting the absence of Old Jimmy the factor, Perk continued,
looking anxiously around:
"But where's Jimmy right now, I want to know? 'Taint like him to be
stickin' in his coop yonder when strangers come to town!"
"He's on his back, Perk--got into ruction with them bushrangers an' they
tore him up somethin' scandalous. Nuthin' real dangerous, get me, but he
sure needs the attention o' a doc. I'm told they's sech a man up to the
fort name o' Hamilton but we ain't no way o' gettin' word to him in a
hurry."
"That's okay, ol' hoss," said Perk quickly, "my boss here, Mister John
Jacob Astorbilt is aimin' to strike Fort Laney, hopin' to get some big
game shootin' thereabouts. We c'n fetch the sawbones back with us if so
be he's still around."
"Good boy, Perk," said the old fur-trapper enthusiastically, "but come
in an' see the old man--he'll be right glad to meet up with ye
again--often talked 'bout ye when I kim back from my trap line in the
Spring."
Perk looked as happy as a schoolboy carrying home _her_ books for the
first time--showing that after all he was not quite so hard-boiled as he
wished to appear and that a little flattery could bring the blushes to
his well tanned weather-stained cheeks.
"Let's go, partner," he said motioning to Jack who had been listening to
all this talk with increasing interest, since it had more or less to do
with the lawless actions of the desperado whom he had been dispatched to
bring back to the States so as to be returned to Leavenworth
penitentiary, with considerably more time added to his original
sentence.
The moment they entered the post they could easily see that something
like an eruption must have occurred only recently. Everything was upset
as though there had been a thorough search made for hidden treasure.
Piles of dried pelts lay scattered around, the richer prizes having
evidently been carried off.
The raiders had doubtless shown rare discrimination as though among
their number were those who themselves had once been trappers and
therefore knew all about the value of black fox pelts, sables and mink
that bring such top-notch prices in the fur markets of St. Louis and
other busy places in the country.
Birdseye Baker led them through all this mess straight over to the door
communicating with the factor's private room. This apartment also looked
as if an earthquake of first dimensions had struck it and over on a cot
against the further log wall they could see a man with a gray beard
holding himself up on his elbow, having evidently heard strange voices
and being filled with curiosity as well as wonder as to what all the
fresh row was about.
"Hello there, Uncle Jimmy!" sang out Perk breezily as he pushed ahead
with outstretched hand. "Ain't quite forgot Gabe Perkiser, have you, ol'
top? Sorry to hear what's happened to you an' as me an' my boss, Mister
John Jacob Astorbilt here, mean to head for the fort right away, we aim
to get thet medicine man back to look after you. It happens we got a
cloud chasin' airship waitin' outside to carry us wherever we wanter
go."
The old Scotch factor looked as pleased as a man suffering from recent
severe injuries might be expected to under the circumstances. He allowed
the newcomer to squeeze his hand and even took Jack's who fancied the
other from the first--the stern honesty of the man from bonny Scotland
was to be seen in his clear eye and undismayed look.
"They treated me some scandalous, Perk," the injured man was saying with
a quirk, but little in the way of Scotch brogue cropping up in his
speech, "but ye ken I'm a tough old bird and have pulled out o' many a
bad scrape in the past so it may be I'll weather this knockout, if only
that doctor can gi'e me a fair start."
"Hamilton, they say his name is," ventured Perk, musingly, "somehow I
don't 'member the name, so like as not he must be a new one around here
since I kicked out some years ago."
"Ay; that's the truth, laddie--he dropped in on us something like a year
back, sayin' he was sick o' civilization and a' its cheats and wanted to
live out his life where the primitive ways still held forth. I am o' the
opinion the man must have met with some serious trouble--had his wife
run awa' with a younger chap, more'n likely, as they sometimes do, ye
ken. But for a' that he's a clever physician and he'll pull me out o'
this slump if on'y he can be fetched before it's too late."
XXII
PICKING UP CLUES
"Make your mind easy on that score, Uncle Jimmy," Perk went on to say as
he bent over the wounded man, "we'll get up to the river post and my ol'
haunts in a rush, pullin' out inside the hour an' either fetch the
doctor back with us in the ship or on hossback, all that dependin' on
how things happen to be with Colonel Ascot, who I understand is still in
charge o' the Mounties."
Perk gave his mate a questioning glance as he said this, and was pleased
to see Jack nod in the affirmative, as though thus putting the seal of
his approval to the plan as given by his assistant.
"An' now, ol' friend," Perk continued in a soothing fashion, for he knew
the Scotch nature of the other and could understand how the McGregor
must be inwardly fuming concerning the robbery that had taken place and
the losses to the great fur company of which he was an old and efficient
official, "'fore we pull outen here you must let my boss take a look at
them cuts an' bruises. It happens he's a fair surgeon--amatoor one, I
mean--an' could fix you up to carry on till the reg'lar doc gets here.
How 'bout that, Jack?"
If either the factor or the ancient trapper noticed the rather odd
familiarity existing between Perk and his supposedly wealthy employer,
it did not strike them as strange--away up in this jumping-off place, as
far as civilization was concerned, men were more or less equals, being
judged more from what their accomplishments might be than from their
money and besides, they doubtless remembered that Perk had always been a
sort of free and easy independent fellow when with the Mounties.
"That's just about what we aim to do, Perk," Jack immediately told the
other. "I don't claim to be much of a surgeon, but if there's anything I
can do to stop the bleeding, or bind up the cuts, I'll be only too glad
to lend a helping hand, Mr. McGregor."
He was as good as his word for inside of five minutes Jack had stripped
off his coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves and commenced to examine the
injuries suffered by the determined old factor when he dared take his
life in his hands and try to defend the property of his employers.
It turned out that there were some pretty bad cuts and it was a wonder
no fatal blows had been given for there could be little doubt that the
aggressors shot and stabbed in a most reckless fashion. But evidently
the factor's luck held good and Jack did not feel as though there was
much danger of a fatal ending to the affair, providing no blood
poisoning set in.
He called for warm water and clean cotton, which, being provided, he
started to cleanse the wounds and apply some healing salve. So
confidently did he work that the quaint looking old trapper, Birdseye,
watching everything with wonder, might have been seen to nod his shaggy
mane approvingly as though in his private opinion the young fellow was
some surgeon indeed.
As he thus worked Jack entered into conversation with the factor, having
two good reasons for doing so. He wished to distract the attention of
his patient from himself and also to extract as much information as
possible covering the recent raid. A description of the miscreants was
given and especially of their savage leader known as the Hawk because of
his faculty for striking a swift blow in one place and being heard of in
another in such a short time as to make people believe he could fly like
the speedy bird of prey.
"As far as I could say," Old Jimmy told him in answer to a question,
"he's along about thirty years old, a shortish sort o' a man, quick as a
flash in his movements and with eyes that bore in like a gimlet might.
He's had his nose broken at some time or other, which gives him a bit o'
a look like an eagle or a hawk. It may be he got his present name from
that. But he's a devil, I'm thinking and ready to do anything, law or no
law when he smells rich booty in the game."
Jack gave Perk a knowing look accompanied by a wink for that
description, brief though it might be, coincided with what had been in
the secret information sent by his chief at Washington--the broken nose
stamped it as a positive thing that the man he wanted was close at hand,
engaged in his same old line of business, that of a hold-up man, robber
of banks and payroll bandit with a record for masterly exploits second
to none.
So too with regard to the sudden surprise and attack--it seemed as
though the marauders must have had accurate information as to when the
trading post would prove to be a rich prize and also weakly defended.
"They had their plans a' set, I am fain to believe," the factor told him
as though he had somehow figured this out during the time he lay there
on his cot, "for ye ken it is only a few days now when the customary
Spring clean-up o' the posts come to pass so they would know we had rich
pickings on hand. They lookit over the whole o' the bales an' picked out
a' the high-priced pelts like they might be connoiseurs in that line,
for I recognised two former trappers in the gang--Squatty Bings an'
Welchy, as tough an' hard drinkin' lads as ever lived."