SIMEON GROWS DESPERATE
It was commencing to grow dusk when they sighted the lights of Yuma,
that town on the railroad leading to Los Angeles. Such a thing as a
plane flying overhead was so common these modern days as to hardly
excite any comment—they came and went, with seldom anything out of the
usual taking place although not so very far away, among the mountains,
one of the most dreadful of all air tragedies known to the annals of
flying had taken place, when the great liner _City of San Francisco_,
lost in a storm, struck head-on against a rocky cliff, shattering the
ship and causing the death of every one of those aboard, some seven
souls in all.
Now they had left Yuma far in their rear, and Jack was watching to pick
up the first flash beacon on the way to the Coast.
The weather continued to favor them, the heavens being almost devoid of
any semblance of clouds, and the air quite cool at the height they
maintained while heading into the beckoning west.
Over deserts and mountainous stretches they kept swinging along, to the
constant accompaniment of the customary chorus of a bustling plane
threading the mighty air lanes of the skies. The silvery stars came out
in battalions to sprinkle the azure heavens like innumerable bright
lanterns, such as could be seen in Old Japan during carnival times.
This was the life, Perk told himself again and again, sitting there
after he had munched his scanty portion of their meagre supper, Simeon
having again declined to share with them—what air pilot who has tasted
of the joys of such hours could ever dream of forsaking his vocation, so
long as Fortune allowed him to retain his vision, hearing, and the
faculty for guiding an onrushing ship through the realms of unlimited
space—not he for one, Perk assured himself, drawing in huge draughts of
the clear air, and watching the wonderful beacons as they passed them
by, threading the pathway of the stars as it were, straight toward their
distant goal.
The night wore on, with the voyagers making splendid progress.
Jack had made no miscalculation when saying he believed they would fetch
up at their destination somewhere about the midnight hour; for it still
lacked more or less of that time when in the near distance they glimpsed
lights telling that the city, and its nearby aviation field, must be
close at hand.
Then they found themselves circling over the port, which, just as Jack
had fancied would be the case, was lighted most brilliantly. Even as
they sighted the field they noted a ship settling down, evidently an air
mail plane that had been held up by some dense fog belt which they had
fortunately missed.
“Soft snap I’d call it, droppin’ down with all them field lights to show
the ground, so a feller c’n see a rock the size o’ a baseball,” was what
the tickled Perk was telling himself while Jack was proceeding to make
the terminal drop, with several ground attendants hurrying up so as to
lend any assistance needed.
He had received his instructions from Jack, and removed the handcuffs
from the wrists of the prisoner. There was no necessity for letting
everybody know the facts and the sight of a man wearing steel bracelets,
and gripped by an attendant never fails to excite keen curiosity with
most people and especially would this be the case if he had just come by
the air route from some unknown and therefore mysterious quarter.
He would keep his arm through that of Simeon, and inform him in a
forcible whisper that should he attempt any “funny business” it would be
at the risk of being shot down without further warning.
Jack would attend to everything necessary, such as having their crate
stowed away in some convenient hangar, where it could be recovered at
any time, by paying such charges as were customary.
To be sure Perk was questioned by several of the men while Jack saw that
the ship was being taken care of but when he chose, Perk could keep a
still tongue in his head and since he paid no attention to what was
said, and never opened his mouth in the least, possibly they concluded
he must be both deaf and dumb.
Perk may have chuckled deep down in his throat when he heard a few of
the disgusted remarks some of the men exchanged concerning his lack of
speech and hearing but he kept his own counsel; and in the end Jack came
up saying he had secured a taxi to carry them to a small hotel down in
the heart of the city, recommended by one of the hostlers who seemed to
know what he was talking about.
Simeon had looked a bit anxious, as though wondering how their arrival
at Los Angeles would affect his wretched fortunes but he made no attempt
to appeal to the crowd for help. Undoubtedly he was firmly convinced
that the grim Perk must be a man of his word, and that any attempt on
his part to break away would prove a most serious matter indeed.
“Yeah!” Perk was telling himself under his breath when he took note of
this humble disposition on the part of Simeon, “Guess now he feels it’s
a heap better to be a live fool than a dead hero; an’ by jinks I don’t
blame the beggar for thinkin’ thataways either.”
They were soon all three safely lodged in the taxi—which fortunately
had remained up to this late hour, the driver hoping to pick up a
fare—and heading for the nearby city.
Later on they entered the small hotel, and found it all the obliging
ground attache at the port had said. Jack registered the party, all of
them under fictitious names, since it paid to exercise due caution when
on the track of big game just as it would for the big game hunter to
make no sound when advancing upon an enormous tusker or “rogue” elephant
whose spoor he had been trailing through forest and jungle.
“Would it be possible for us to have some supper sent up to our room?”
Jack asked the night clerk who shrugged his shoulders as if dubious
concerning his ability to accommodate them.
“Kindly try to have it done, if double price will have any effect,”
continued Jack, using his most gracious smile that usually accomplished
his purpose and at that the clerk responded by saying he would do his
best but it was of course most unusual, and he hoped they would not make
any complaint if the variety was not all they might wish.
“Quantity is the chief thing that interests us,” said Jack; “you see, we
have come by air, and fell short of food while on our way, so that my
two pals here are very near being starved; so whatever you send make it
a fairly bountiful spread, please.”
Then they were shown to their room, which contained a double bed and a
cot.
“I kinder guess now, partner,” said Perk, after flashing a glance around
the apartment, fronting on a back lot, though up in the third story of
the building, “you an’ me better share the bed, while Simeon gets his
little nap on the sofy.”
“That goes, Perk,” his comrade told him “and after we’ve had supper
we’ll hit the hay. After such a broken night as we had back a ways some
sleep ought to be welcome, I reckon.”
“Huh! hope we don’t have to wait too tarnel long for the grub,” Perk was
saying, dismally rubbing his stomach, as if to show how flat it seemed.
Jack engaged him in conversation of a general character, just to keep
his mind from dwelling on the subject of eating for once Perk let
himself believe he was in danger of famishing and he just could not
subside but must commence to marshal all the known dishes of which he
was especially fond, and keep on taunting and tantalizing himself by
stringing them off as might a glib-tongued waiter in any restaurant.
After quite a tiresome wait there was a knock at the door, which Perk
hastened to answer. Two waiters strode in, bearing trays laden with a
pretty substantial assortment of food—quite a satisfactory display,
Jack thought, considering the late hour, and that probably the regular
kitchen force must have long ago turned in or else gone home.
The table fairly groaned under the assortment—Perk pertinently
mentioned the fact, adding that he guessed he’d do his share of groaning
_after_ he had finished his supper which Jack did not doubt in the
least, having a knowledge concerning the other’s vast appetite, and
unbridled disposition to make a pig of himself at such times when food
was plentiful.
Simeon Hawkins was coaxed to sit down with them and as his state of mind
seemed to have improved quite a little, he also partook of food of which
he most certainly was much in need, having fasted so long and
abstemiously.
When this ceremony had been carried through to a finish, the supply of
visible victuals had been wonderfully reduced; and even Perk was heard
to declare he could not eat another bite, which meant he was like a
stuffed turkey, fit for the Thanksgiving table.
Before turning in, Perk took occasion to “talk like a Dutch uncle,” as
he termed it, to Simeon, assuring him he need not be in too upset a
state of mind concerning his future, since Jack had said he was bound to
do all he could to have him let go, because of what he had confided to
them, and such assistance he would be able to lend the Government in
convicting the head men of the lawless conspiracy along the
counterfeiting line.
The other nodded his head as though he understood that, having embarked
in the game of throwing down Slippery Slim, he realized there was
nothing else for him to do but go through to the windup.
So confiding Perk, thinking things would run smoothly, took off some of
his outer garments, and rolled into bed, as it afterwards turned out,
happily choosing that side of the same nearest to the windows of their
room.
Jack soon followed, and the last thing he noticed ere snapping off the
light was the humbled Simeon wrapped in a blanket, and lying there flat
on his back, as though meaning to get what sleep he could during that
fragment of the night still remaining.
Perk was, so far as appearances went, sound asleep; but then sometimes
things are not just what they seem. To tell the truth, Perk had made up
his mind ere lying down that he would “sleep with one eye open,” as he
called it, meaning it was his intention to keep on the alert, ready to
jump out of bed at the least sign of trouble.
Perhaps when he thus decided it was with a hazy idea they might have
some sort of unwelcome visitor during the night; he could not just
decide how this could be but then those unprincipled agents of the
counterfeiter king—like the fellow who had rifled the belongings of
Scotty, the air mail pilot in Atlanta—were liable to turn up anywhere,
everywhere, when least expected, and try to manipulate their bold games.
Hearing some sort of sound as of a person moving, Perk suddenly sat
straight up in bed, to see their prisoner in the act of crawling over
the sill of the nearby window, evidently bent on giving them the slip!