THE DUEL IN THE AIR
The significant flashes abruptly ceased; but Perk realized this was only
because the expert pilot handling that same Ryan wasp was also ducking
down in an exact copy of their own game.
For the moment Perk lost sight of the shadowy pursuing craft; then Jack
changed his tactics, and once again brought his boat on an even keel.
Perk strained his eyesight in an endeavor to pick up the other ship
after it too had swung into a direct course.
“Devil take that guy at the stick,” he stormed to himself, although Jack
caught almost every word, since the earphones were still in operation,
“he’s seen our move, an’ gone us one better. No slouch o’ a pilot,
either, I’ll admit. When that gent who goes by the name o’ Slippery Slim
picks his gang he knows how to pull trumps out of the pack all right.
Give him another shoot, Jack, old hoss; mebbe he wont be so lucky next
time. He’s got some kind o’ a rapid-fire shooter aboard, and had started
to send a hail o’ lead ’bout our ears just as you turned the trick on
him.”
Jack was apparently quite willing to give a repeat, for hardly had the
other ceased shouting than they again shot down in a dizzy dive that
seemed likely to lower their altitude by something like five hundred
feet.
Perk was keeping a close watch, and knew that once more the grim pursuer
had copied their daring maneuvre.
“He’s a good one, or I’ll eat my hat!” he burst out, as they were
“cutting a blue streak” once more through the growing darkness, and he
could see those suggestive flashes again punctuating the gloom in their
track. “Jack, he’s started that racket again, don’t you know; and any
second we may get a slug in our belly, bustin’ things all to flinders.
Try a razzle-dazzle on the boob, old broncho!”
So making a bank, Jack changed his course, running at right angles, and
if anything at a faster pace than ever. Perk had the situation “sized up
to a fraction,” as he himself would have called it; he realized that it
was only through the greatest of good luck they had escaped being hit by
one of those flying missiles; and that so long as the mysterious enemy
kept using their ship for a flying target they were in constant peril.
Despite all this ducking and dodging on Jack’s part he did not seem
successful in throwing the pursuing craft off the track. To be sure the
darkness was gradually growing thicker with every passing minute, and
this seemed to be their only hope of crawling out of a “hot hole,”
according to Perk’s calculations.
Perk afterwards frankly admitted that he was frothing at the mouth on
account of finding himself up against a situation where the cards seemed
stacked against him—where his hands were tied as it were, and that
reckless pilot, chasing after them hell-bent, held all the trumps.
“No use tryin’ that game any longer, Jack, boy!” he yelled suddenly.
“See the glim all ’round us, partner—sure as you live they’ve even got
some kind o’ a searchlight aboard, just like they’d planned all this
thing out beforehand. Guess now it’s up to Little Perk to put a plug
into their game. Hold her steady a bit, boss; I’m meaning to make ’em
sit up an’ take notice they can’t hog _all_ the fun going. Watch my
smoke, Jack, old hoss.”
It was a delicate situation without any doubt; for if those aboard that
little Ryan plane, taking advantage of the halo of light covering the
craft they followed, continued to make use of their rapidfire gun, the
danger of a hit had vastly increased; but Perk must have some sort of
scheme in mind it was evident, or he would never have asked his chum to
steady the badly wobbling boat when such action only doubled their
peril.
Calmly and deliberately, as though simply bent on fetching down a deer
he wanted for his next camp supper, steady old Perk had his faithful gun
up to his shoulder, and was sighting that piercing glare of light that
marked the bow of the pursuing aircraft, betraying the presence of a
searchlight.
Possibly owing to the clamor of their own working motor Jack could not
tell when his companion unloosed a fusilade of shots; but he did know
that something suddenly changed the situation, and to their advantage;
for as though a blanket had been tossed over the piercing ray the
illumination abruptly ceased, leaving them to continue their wild flight
shrouded in encompassing darkness.
Then, too, the sound of Perk’s exulting yell was quite enough to tell
the story of his success in finding a glowing target for one of his
several missiles—the old sharpshooter had evidently lost none of his
cunning by reason of a lapse in action.
“Set ’em up in the other alley, boys—give your Dutch uncle a chance to
show an old trick or two! Now _will_ you be good, or must I give you
another smash in the jaw—better haul off while the haulin’s good,
fellers—I’d sure hate to make you crack up, and fade out!”
Even though his clever shot had doubtless utterly smashed the
searchlight, and put it out of business, that bothersome rapidfire gun
was still in working order, as Perk discovered when once more those
insistent flashes, following closely upon each others’ heels, announced
a fresh barrage, with the unseen, unheard hissing bullets doubtless
whizzing all around them.
This was adding insult to injury, Perk was doubtless telling himself, as
he realized that his lucky shot had after all failed to daunt that
stubborn pair in the speedy Ryan ship.
“You _will_ have it, seems like,” he growled to himself; for since he
had discarded his earphone harness just previous to starting his late
“shooting spree,” Perk could no longer hold intercourse with his fellow
flyer; “all right then, I’ll try some more o’ the same sorter medicine;
what’s good for the goose orter be fine for the gander. Mind your eye
now, boys, and keep a tight grip on your chutes if anything happens not
down in your gamble.”
Again did the continual flash of spitting fire from the gun afford the
sharpshooter in the chased ship abundant opportunities for focussing his
aim; although instinct may have taken the place of vision on Perk’s
part.
Fortunately Jack must have been expecting something along those lines,
knowing his companion so well, and how he was always eager to “repeat”
when things were coming his way; for he kept the flying boat wonderfully
steady just then, even though realizing how such action doubled their
own chances of being hit.
Perk was now shooting on general principles, in hopes of being fortunate
enough to find a billet for one of his random bullets. He went at the
business with all the _sang froid_ of a veteran fighter, accustomed to
meeting hostile craft up in the wide air spaces, or even above the
clouds—all the fierce delight of matching his skill and life against a
foeman worthy of his steel had once more gripped the old flying warrior;
and it may be for the moment he deluded himself with the belief that
this was but a reincarnation of those never-to-be-forgotten days when
all Europe was held fast in the throes of the grisly war-god.
Suddenly Perk ceased firing, nor was this caused by the magazine of his
repeating rifle being empty—he had seen that the discharges back yonder
were no longer in full blast, showing that something must have happened
to cause such a sudden cessation to hostilities.
Before he could attempt to analyze what this might mean it was all
flashed before his questioning mind—a burst of flames came from the
spot where last he had seen the shadowy shape of their persistent
pursuer clipping through space like a blazing meteor.
Perk sat there doubled up, his mouth half open, staring with might and
main, as some object began to drop toward the earth with ever increasing
speed—something which he knew full well must of necessity be the
beautiful little Ryan plane, which he had admired so much when at
Candler Field at close of the late day, and before this wild dash into
the darkness of night began.
Evidently one of his missiles (fired with such grim determination when
he “took the bit in his teeth,” and struck back) had found its mark, and
unleashed the dangerous contents of the gasoline reservoir, with the
splashing fluid instantly catching fire from the exploding spark of the
running motor.
No flyer ever saw his enemy going down in a flaming coffin without
feeling compassion gripping him; that one moment had changed his heart
from bitter hatred to a sense of pity; knowing as he must have done that
the day might be near at hand when he too would share in a similar
dreadful fate.
And so Perk found himself all in a nervous tremble as, laying down his
gun, he managed once more to adjust the head harness, so as to be able
to again hold communication with his fellow adventurer.