PLAYING WITH FIRE
During the morning Jack took a taxi and paid another visit to the
offices in the government building where Mr. Adkins had his desk, doing
his daily stunt under the direction of the U. S. District Attorney and
other officials in the service of Uncle Sam.
Perk, also, had his job laid out for him, which was to circulate around
until he felt positive he had thrown off any possible spy after which it
was his duty to make certain purchases, following the list Jack had
given him, have them all sent to the aviation field in charge of the man
Mr. Adkins had placed on guard at the hangar containing their ship and
thus completing the stock of supplies necessary for their long flight
and survey work.
Perk carried out his instructions to the letter, and with great vim,
since the fact of their laying in these stores was a positive indication
that things were coming to pass insuring a speedy getaway and _Action_
was what had come to be the greatest asset in life to Perk.
They met again at noon in their eating place, where, choosing an
isolated corner table they could discuss their plan of campaign, even
while attending to the wants of the inner man.
Perk made his report, which the other seemed to find good, judging from
his frequent nods of acquiescence and when the story had been told to
the last word, Perk felt it was his turn to learn things.
“I guess now you got the last batch o’ information from His Nibs, Jack?”
he hastened to ask, expectantly.
“I sure did, partner,” he was told. “A few scraps of fresh news that’d
be likely to interest us had drifted in since I saw Mr. Adkins last,
which he passed along to me. I’ll sort these shreds over later, and fix
them where they belong. So far as I can see now they corroborate what
we’ve already been so strongly believing must be a fact.”
“Which means, I guess, boss, we head west?” ventured Perk, eagerly.
“Into the setting sun—that’s right, Perk.”
“Do we still expect to keep in touch with Mr. Adkins, Jack?”
“Whenever the chance opens up, and we have any important news to send
along or want to know certain things, perhaps even to call on him for
that bunch of old-time Texas Rangers he said he could turn over to us if
we found any use for them.”
“Glory be!” said Perk, plainly excited, “I sure do hope that emergency
does bob up, ’cause I’d give my last Mex dollar to glimpse them rearin’,
tearin’ ole fighters knockin’ spots outen the bunch o ’lawless ringers
Slippery Slim’s gathered around him. Chances are they’d skip out like
hot fleas soon as they heard the ol’time battle cry o’ the defenders o’
the Rio Grande in the days when cattle rustlers raided the ranches down
Texas way.”
“But we’ve got to remember,” cautioned Jack, “that these chaps are like
lean hungry wolves, that never leave the trail of a wounded stag as long
as they can crawl along. I’m not fancying we’ve pulled the wool over
their eyes so far and that fact was brought to my attention just after I
got back from conferring with Mr. Adkins.”
“As how, boss?” queried the curious Perk.
“I don’t just know what influenced me after I’d entered the hotel, to
step back and look out again,” explained Jack. “There was the driver of
my taxi, the trusty who’d been recommended by the clerk at the desk,
talking earnestly with an unknown party and even as I watched I saw him
thrust a bank note into the chauffeur’s itching hand, showing that he
has been corrupted and is in cohoot with our enemies.”
“Shucks! is it so rotten bad as all that, partner?” bleated the
disgusted Perk, “All I c’n say is I sure do hope it was a nice brand new
five-dollar bill he handed over to the yeller dog, an’ that it’s agoin’
to turn out to be a sample o’ their bogus money outfit. Serve the slick
renegade if he got hisself pulled in for passin’ a counterfeit note on
some guy that ain’t goin’ to sit by and take what’s comin’ to him
without raisin’ a nice howl.”
“Don’t be too vindictive, Perk,” Jack told him.
“Say, partner, ever see the boob afore?” the other demanded.
“If you mean the chap who was pumping my driver for all that was out,
Perk, I can’t say that I have. He was a flashily dressed man, with loud
clothes that would stamp him as a gambler, like those who used to travel
on these Mississippi River steamboats in the old days before the Civil
War, fleecing unsuspecting passengers out of all their money and I
haven’t the least doubt but what he’s a member of the very gang we’re
expecting to round up. Mr. Adkins told me it was simply amazing the
vastness of the combine Slippery Slim’s managed to gather around him but
he was certain it must number many scores of workers, all obeying the
orders of the mainspring—crooked Slim Garrabrant.”
“Huh! the more you keep on tellin’ me them big stories, Jack, the
happier it all makes me ’cause I seem to just know there’s bound to be a
heap o’ rough house stuff croppin’ up, to cool my blood, ragin’ hot just
now.”
“Some fine day you’ll be rubbing up against enough fighting to make you
call quits with the game. Perk, my boy; and it’s just likely to crop up
before long if indications count for anything. I felt pretty sure from
his swagger that this fellow might be the very same master mind in
charge of that Ryan boat—then, too, when he walked away he had a little
limp, which might have come from striking the ground so hard after his
chute let him down.”
“Darned pity he didn’t break a leg, or even his measly ol’ neck, I’d
say,” grumbled Perk, one of his fits of resentment gripping him just
then. “Got no use for these treacherous snakes that squirm, and worm
their way into the confidence o’ honest gents, on’y to play a low-down
trick, an’ fill their pockets with smackers.”
“There’s one thing we’ve got to guard against,” suggested Jack, who
seemed to have a faculty for looking at every side of a picture, and
anticipating troubles that might never have occurred to others less
gifted.
“As what, partner?” asked Perk, brightening up once more.
“Delay is what they may be hoping for—some way to hold us here while
important news is carried to headquarters. I can even see how they might
make some sort of ridiculous charge against us to the police, in hopes
we would be held several days under suspicion.”
Perk looked astonished.
“But see here, boss, we got our credentials from Washington to prove
we’re in the Secret Service, an’ sky detectives at that; they jest
wouldn’t dare hold us on some sorter flimsy charge ’cause that’d get ’em
in hard with the Government, wouldn’t it?”
“You never know how these affairs may turn out,” said Jack. “Often there
seems to be some kind of a jealous feeling between States officers and
those of the Government—almost like a little vendetta, each arm of the
Law striking out at the other, and getting in a sly lick that’s good for
a laugh after hostilities have died down. These Southern city police
might make out there was a grave charge of abduction or something like
that, compelling them to hold us _incommunicado_—that is keep us from
intercourse with the U. S. District Attorney’s office until several days
had elapsed and then setting us free with a lot of apologies that didn’t
mean anything whatsoever.”
“Yeah! I get your drift partner,” said Perk, frowning. “We sure can’t
afford to spend any of our valuable time in the hoosgow here, if we c’n
help it. ’Cause things set that way I hope you get busy an’ fix it so
we’ll shake the dust o’ this same burgh off our shoes in a hurry. Got
the date settled yet, Jack?”
“I shook hands with, and said goodbye to Mr. Adkins this morning, Perk
and you are at liberty to figure that out as you please.”
“Then it’s _tonight_?” asked the other, looking well satisfied with such
an enticing programme.
“Wind and weather permitting we’ll clear out soon after twilight settles
down on the city and the river,” Jack assured his understudy.
“Me, I’m sittin’ pretty, an’ taking things as they come along, old
hoss,” continued Perk. “Let’s perambulate and attend to the crying needs
of this high noon hour—the girl told me they expected to have apple
dumplings for lunch today an’ that’s one I’d nominate as bein’ among my
prime favorites—you know I got a _few_ I really enjoy an’ that’s no lie
either.”
“Yes, I know a good many on your list—fact is,” said frank Jack, “if I
ran down the whole menu this noon there’d be only a scant few that’s
missed being called your especial favorites each in its turn as the wind
blew. But just as well we did all the eating while the chance lasts, for
only a magician can tell what our bill of fare is going to be during the
coming week or two—some weird dishes most likely—boiled owl, fried
rattlesnake, baked prairie dog—Heaven knows to what ends we may be
reduced.”
“Have a heart, partner, don’t take my healthy appetite away by
mentionin’ them terrible dishes. ’Member you promised we’d hire a taxi
after lunch, an’ drive all around the city, lampin’ the big sights like
the French market, the queer buryin’ places where holes in thick walls
take the place o’ graves, on ’count o’ there bein’ so much water in the
ground, with the city settin’ so low down, an’ the ol’ Mississippi on
one o’ its benders. Then I want to eat Gulf oysters an’ shrimp at one o’
them cute little stands we noticed yesterday afternoon; try a reg’lar
Creole dinner tonight at that place Mr. Adkins told us about—after
which I’m all done with Orleans, an’ ready to pull up stakes for keeps.”
“We’ll keep that to the last, Perk, and go to the flying field from the
eating house by taxi. From that time on we’ll have to depend on our own
heads and hands to keep us out of difficulties. But let’s hope we can
climb up to a three thousand foot ceiling, and strike out as if we were
aiming for Savannah or Jacksonville, only to swing around inside of half
an hour, climb high over the city and river and put for the Texas border
at full speed.”
This enchanting program gave Perk much cause for rejoicing and he sat
down at their regular table in the restaurant feeling, as he expressed
it, “happy as a clam at high tide” and full of little laughs that seemed
to gurgle up from his shoes.
They chatted of other happenings, not wishing to “talk shop” in such a
crowded place, lest listening ears pick up certain information that
could be used greatly to their disadvantage—Perk had an endless fund of
interesting reminiscences that, told in his inimitable fashion, were a
never failing source of joy to the appreciative air pilot.
The afternoon was spent in motoring all around the most interesting
portions of the city, the obliging Mr. Adkins having made out a list of
subjects they should not miss seeing while on this first visit to the
justly famous Louisiana metropolis.