Perk's show of disappointment that almost bordered on resentment He
stepped out of the boat on to the sand when the bobbing craft grounded
and waited for Perk to toss the rope to him so their clumsy craft might
not yield to the wooing of that treacherous current and pass
down-stream, leaving the pair of them marooned.
Now that he found himself close to the stranger, Jack could see that he
appeared to be a mere wisp of a lad. His helmet was on his head, with
the goggles pushed up, he wore what seemed to be almost new dungarees
for they had a fresh appearance in startling contrast with those he and
Perk wore over their other clothes to take up all the grease and oil
that of necessity must be met with aboard any ship that required a motor
for propelling purposes.
Jack's first inclination was to decide the other must be one of those
dudish young chaps who sometimes drift into the ranks of flying men. Not
at all weak or yellow when occasion arose to prove their stamina, but so
constituted by nature that they can "carry on" and yet show little signs
of the ordinary pilot's addiction to dirt.
He stepped toward the other, leaving to Perk the job of finding some
means for securing the end of the rope, possibly to a stake driven into
the sand or perhaps to the nearby wreck of the Stinson-Detroiter ship.
"Seems that you've had a little mishap, stranger," Jack remarked with
one of his pleasant smiles that always won him friends wherever he went.
"If we can be of any assistance just call on us. It's a part of our
creed, you know, for air pilots to stand by one another in difficulty.
Perhaps your boat may not be so badly smashed but what we can knock it
into shape and get it up out of this queer old hole."
He saw the boy drop the look of anxiety that had marked his face and
even allow his features to relax in a smile.
"I don't know how I can thank you for saying that--I am so eager to get
out of this scrape, the worst that ever happened to me, but then I am
something of a greenhorn pilot as yet, though even that fact couldn't
keep me from trying my wings. I _must_ get out of this and be on my way
again."
And even as he listened to those pleading words, Jack realized that the
pilot of the crashed Stinson-Detroiter plane was a girl!
XV
THE HAND OF FATE
It was a surprising discovery that Jack had just made, but after all not
so very wonderful. In these modern days a multitude of daring girls and
young women were becoming air minded and filled with the ambition to
become pilots. The fascination of such a life appealed to them with
irresistible force so that already some of them had made a most
creditable showing in the annals of aviation.
For one thing the fact that the one he had offered to help had turned
out to be a girl gave Jack a twinge--he realized that more than ever he
and Perk would be obliged to "stick around," and endeavor to overcome
her difficulties, if the disabilities of the wrecked plane could in any
way be remedied.
That was apt to mean a further delay in their work, a serious handicap,
since already too much time had passed if there remained any further
hope of finding poor Buddy Warner.
"Tell me, did you come through this crash without being seriously hurt
yourself?" he asked her.
Perk must have made the same sudden discovery as Jack for he was
standing near by, staring hard at the novice pilot and with his mouth
open. Possibly Perk also deplored the fact that their meeting with a
woman flyer was bound to interfere more or less with those plans of his
pal's which above all things concerned the need of speedy action,
unhampered liberty of going where they willed and staying on the job
steadily, come storm, fog, riotous wind or fair weather.
"A few little bruises seems to be the extent of my injuries--next to
nothing, I assure you, but if they were ten times as serious it would
not keep me from going up again, if my ship were workable--indeed, it is
absolutely necessary for me to do so!"
Jack looked at her again. Most assuredly she did have the necessary
stamina required of a successful air pilot. He did not believe any
ordinary peril could deter such a girl from attempting what she had
planned.
"I am glad to know that you were not badly hurt, he told her, but it's
plain to be seen you must have handled your stick cleverly or your ship
would have crashed ten times as hard as it did. The first thing to be
done is for us to check the craft over and learn the extent of the
damage. If, luckily, it happens to be but a broken wing, possibly we can
fix it up well enough to get the boat out of this fearful hole. However
did it happen you picked out this place to come down in, or was it just
by a rare chance? You could not have found as good a landing-field
inside of a hundred miles I reckon, miss."
She smiled at hearing him address her by that title, since it was the
first real evidence that he understood the situation.
"I suppose it was partly luck," she told him simply, "although I did
have an idea it would be a hundred per cent better to fall on what
looked like a sandy shore down here, than take chances with those
terrible rocks up above. Just what I did and how I landed so easily, I'm
not at all certain about, but Heaven was kind and yet I hope never to
find myself in the same bad fix again. Did you say you would take a look
at my ship and find out what's wrong? It's kind of you to go to all that
trouble, but I must get out of this as soon as possible--oh! I surely
must!"
Jack could not help being struck with the way she said this, with her
pretty sun and wind-tanned face taking on a determined, resolute
expression. He would not have been human to thus hear and see without
beginning to wonder what is could be that influenced her to speak so.
Why should she show such a yearning for a chance to continue her flight?
What genuine reason could a girl have for such an overwhelming desire
for action? Was there any sort of endurance race on the books for women
pilots who had recently obtained their necessary flying licenses--or was
it some sort of a private wager that caused her to betray so much
solicitude?
Would he and Perk be justified in holding over so as to get her started,
granting that her ship could be put in condition again by means of their
combined knowledge and ability along those lines?
Somehow, when he looked keenly into her face, he failed to discover the
faintest trace of guile thereon. Once convinced of this fact, Jack threw
every suspicion to the four winds and came to the conclusion that both
duty and the natural chivalry in his nature compelled him to do all that
was possible to aid a fellow pilot in distress.
"Perk, suppose you tote that painter up to the ship here and fasten it.
We've got a little job on our hands for I've promised this young lady to
check up and learn how badly her boat has been wrecked. By the way miss,
you haven't so far told us your name--mine happens to be Jack Ralston
and this is my partner, Perk--Gabe Perkiser in full."
"And mine is Suzanne Cramer--one of the newcomers in the ranks of women
air pilots. It hasn't been so long since they gave me my license, after
I'd done my full allowance of solo flying. This is my own ship--I bought
it secondhand, but in perfect condition. Until today I have never had
any trouble but the engine started to miss and I knew I must land or
crash dreadfully. Please see if there's any hope for my getting out of
this place soon, for it means everything in the world to me."
Jack saw that suspicious old bachelor, Perk give him a solemn look and
wink his left eye, just as though he distrusted the wisdom of their
wasting precious minutes trying to help a flighty little girl pilot,
evidently on some sort of a silly lark and making out that it was a most
important matter indeed--as most girls always do, according to his
limited knowledge.
Thereupon Jack shook his head at scoffing Perk, knowing as he did how
the other was inclined to be a woman-hater.
"Come on Perk, now that you've made our ferry secure let's get busy and
see what's what here. You take the off wing and I'll look over the near
one, then we can double-up on the engine and reach a conclusion. It
won't take us long, Perk and it's a duty every decent pilot owes to his
class, remember."
"Okay Boss, jest as you say, I'm willin'; but all the same it looks to
me like it'd turn out to be a bum job. That old bus has been given some
hard knocks an' won't tune up worth a red cent."
The girl thereupon uttered a little pitiable moan that influenced Jack
to turn a bit sternly upon his pal and say quickly:
"No snap judgment Perk! You never can tell how badly things are until
you give them the first over. Come on now, partner I know you well
enough to be sure you'll give an honest verdict, no matter what comes."
"Sure thing, Jack--my dad taught me to 'hew straight to the line, let
the chips fall where they will'--that's been the Perkiser motto right
along, an' see where it carried us as a family. Got one uncle sheriff o'
a county in Kansas an' another at the head o' a hot dog emporium, which
is goin' some, I want you to know."
The girl looked as though amused at Perk's quaint way of saying things
but that anxious, eager expression quickly came upon her face again.
For some little time the pair rummaged around and seemed to act as
though they both knew their business, as well as the makeup of any plane
ever conceived by the human mind. Perk knocked on this and that, made
all manner of little tests where he believed were necessary, and in
other ways carried himself as befitted by education and calling to be a
judge of an airship's anatomy.
She followed them about, always intently watching and squeezing her
hands in a way to show how wrought up she must be with the suspense.
Then, when they were through with the inspection and checking up, Jack
and Perk "went into a huddle," as the latter would have termed it,
nodding their heads and talking in low tones. Finally Jack was shoved
forward by the other as the one who ought to bring the sad tidings to
the distressed girl pilot.
"Oh! you have something dreadful to tell me," she cried out, wringing
her hands. "Is it too badly wrecked for you to fix up so I can pull out
of this awful hole and take off again?"
"I'm sorry to say, Miss Cramer," Jack told her, "your boat is so badly
knocked out that it can never be taken out of this place by its own
power. It will, I fear, have to be dismantled and carried up piece-meal,
to be shipped to the company's works for rebuilding."
She put up her quivering hands to her face and started crying.
"Oh! it is terrible--just _terrible_, when he needs me so! Three days
have passed already, and I felt that if any one could find him surely
love would show me the way. What will poor Mother Warner say when she
fails to hear from me as I promised? Poor Mother, and poor Buddy. What
will happen to us all?"
XVI
SUZANNE INSISTS
What seemed to be the whole truth flashed into Jack's mind when he heard
the grieving girl pilot express the sentiments that influenced her into
making this far-flung flight so soon after winning her new pilot's
license.
It staggered him, too--not so much that Suzanne should thus turn out to
be Buddy Warner's sweetheart, though in itself that was decidedly
interesting; but to think how a strange and perverse Fate had so decreed
that she should meet up with the pair who had been deputized by the
Department at Washington to start forth, and do everything in their
power to solve the mystery of Buddy's strange disappearance, also, _if
possible_, accomplish his finding.
As for Perk, who apparently had seen a great light all of a sudden, just
as Jack had done, almost "threw a fit." He declared later on, when he
could ponder, how many thousand chances there were against anything like
this lucky meeting coming to pass.
Jack, chancing to let his gaze wander that way, could see Perk staring
with round eyes at the inspired face of the brave girl. He also feebly
scratched his head with slow movements, just as if his wits had gone
astray under the shock.
"Can it be possible, Suzanne," stammered Jack, grinning amiably the
while, "that you happen to be----er, Buddy's _sweetheart_--what you
might call his 'best girl'?"
She regarded him with an encouraging smile, and nodded her head,
forgetting to cry, as though something in his way of saying this bade
her hug fresh hope to her heart.
"Why, yes, most certainly I am--we expected to be married in another
three months--Buddy's got the dear little cottage on the way, and
everything was planned--and then came that dreadful news telling how he
was lost somewhere among these awful mountains. My ship was being
repaired, for I had had a slight accident in making too fast a landing
on rough ground, and it took nearly two days for those slow poke
mechanics to get it checked up again--two frightful days that I never
want to live again. Then I hopped off, and came here, for the boys at
the flying field told me just where he must have gone down, you know.
Perhaps it was a crazy thing to do--they tried to persuade me to give it
up, but I had promised Mother Warner to find him--and what was the use
of my being a full-fledged air pilot if I had to stay a _kiwi_--stick to
the ground, when my Buddy needed me so?"
"Still, it was an unwise thing for you to have done, though nobody could
blame you, because Buddy was well worth taking chances for. But, you
must have realized there would be scores of skillful pilots on the job,
every one bent on finding your boy, if it lay in human power. My pal and
I are in the employ of Uncle Sam--taken off all other business, and set
to making a wide search--we have come all the way from Cheyenne, through
the worst fog bank that ever was known, just for that purpose, which
makes it seem doubly strange how we should have been brought in contact
with you, Miss Cramer."
She smiled through her tears, and then went on hastily to say:
"I can only think it was Providence answering the prayers I have been
sending up ever since the dreadful word came to us there in our little
town, that Buddy has put on the map. Oh! I am sure the way was opened up
to me--that now you know who and what I am, you could not have the heart
to leave me here while you took up the search I had dedicated myself to
carry out!"
Jack evidently could give a pretty shrewd guess as to what lay back of
her words--she undoubtedly meant to implore them to let her accompany
them in their hunt.
So he scratched his chin in a way he had when placed in a dilemma--Perk,
saw him do that and understood how matters stood; for he grinned
shamelessly, as though it actually tickled him to see his best pal
placed in such a hole, with no way out save in yielding.
"Er--much as I--we, that is--would like to oblige you, Miss Cramer--I'm
afraid it would be impossible. We belong to a Department of the
Government that frowns on our mixing up what they call business with
pleasure. They set us on this job, and that means we've got to take off
without any more delay than we can possibly help--I'm sure you'll
understand what I mean."
Perk grinned some more, just as if he had an idea his usually dependable
pal hardly knew himself what he was aiming at. The girl novice pilot
looked grieved, and then brightened up.
"But--what's to become of _me_ then--you surely wouldn't be so mean as
to leave me here in this dreadful hole all night--I'd go out of my mind
with thinking every little sound meant that some ferocious wild beast
was creeping up on my fire, ready to make a meal of me; which of course
would be rough, after all those fierce lessons in the air, and actually
getting my pilot's license after all. And besides, I did really and
truly promise Ma Warner I'd find Buddy, and fetch him back home with
me."
Jack looked at her entreating face, gave a glance at the grinning Perk,
drew a long breath, shrugged his shoulders with the air of saying in
desperation: "That's that then; and what are you going to do about it,
when a young woman sets you on a red-hot gridiron like that."
There seemed nothing to do but capitulate, and make the best of a bad
bargain. After all it was not as if they could find no room for
Suzanne--she was such a little thing, and besides their new cloud-chaser
was capable of carrying a weight almost twice the amount of the present
cargo, gas and all.
"All right, then, Miss Cramer, we'll take you with us when we start out
of here," he told her, allowing himself to shut off his feeling of near
dismay, and actually smiled again in his accustomed way.
"Oh! thank you so much--Jack," she told him, with sincerity in both
voice and manner. "I promise not to give you the least trouble, and
perhaps I could make myself useful sooner or later, especially if we
_do_ find my Buddy, and he--should be badly injured, so as to need a
nurse's care--for you see I was on my way to be a trained nurse when I
got air-minded, and set out to be a flyer, so sometimes I might go with
Buddy."
"But this will mean we must all of us remain here in the great canyon
for the night," he reminded her.
"But that would be wasting many hours, and he needing me so much," she
complained, with a pitiful look that made Jack regret his inability to
start right off and be doing.
"Listen, please," he said, gently but firmly, "you can see by looking up
that the sun has set, and night is creeping out--already down in this
deep hole it's next to impossible for any one to see what might lie in
the way; so that makes it too risky to try and pull out. I'd like as not
wreck my ship by running up against a snag in the water, or a stray
boulder on the shore. Whether we took you with us or not I'd made up my
mind to stick it out here for the night."
"Yes," here broke in Perk, who evidently thought he was due to "butt in"
and have his little say, "and besides, even if we did manage to make the
riffle without bustin', what could we do knockin' around in the
dark--just a sheer waste o' good gas, an' gettin' nowhere a'tall."
Since it was now two against one, and they both seemed so kind, Suzanne
wisely gave in.
"You've convinced me, Jack, and I'll say no more," she told him sweetly;
"but do you know I haven't had a bite to eat for ever so long; though Ma
did make me take aboard enough rations to feed a regiment, including tea
and coffee, as well as an assortment of pots and pans."
Perk immediately betrayed fresh interest in life, for it was wonderful
how the fellow brightened up, as though just then realizing that he
himself must be perilously close to starvation.
"We'll help you get them out o' the bus, lady," he hastened to say; "if
so be you'll kindly show us where they be--ain't that so, partner?"
Jack did not seem at all averse to such a proceeding--why not make
things as pleasant as possible since a capricious Fate had thrown their
fortunes together in this mad way?
"Suppose you attend to all that, Perk," he told the other, knowing how
efficient his partner was along such lines; "while you're doing it under
Miss Cramer's directions I'll take another look at her crate, and see
just how we can drag it further back from the river, so it will be safe
when we're gone."
XVII
THE CAMP IN THE CANYON
Things immediately began to happen, and for the time being amidst the
excitement of showing Perk just where the stores and things were located
aboard the stranded Stinson-Detroiter, Miss Cramer seemed to temporarily
forget the load of trouble she was carrying on her little shoulders.
Indeed, as Jack had already sized her up, she was rather a remarkable
sort of a girl--so sensible, so level-headed, and truly brave in the
bargain. Under such a heavy strain he felt certain ninety-nine girls out
of a hundred would have given way to their helplessness, and collapsed;
but here this one had taken her courage in both hands, to set out in the
expectation of accomplishing a task that thus far had baffled a score or
more of the greatest aviation aces the country had ever known.
Soon the energetic Perk had landed everything in the line of eatables
and such truck as Ma Warner--bless her dear old heart, Perk was saying
to himself as he noted what a volume of good stuff lay in the mound he
had erected--had denuded her pantry in order that her beloved boy should
have enough to keep starvation at bay, when Suzanne had eventually found
him.
It was almost ludicrous to Jack to learn with what abiding faith those
two who loved Buddy so well had lost no time in starting the lone
expedition on its way; just as though they fully expected Suzanne, now a
full-fledged pilot, and feeling able to conquer the world, could be
attracted to the very spot where Buddy lay helpless, by the spark of
true love--to them it must be like the magnetic needle, always pointing
so faithfully straight at the North Pole, and the star that hung over
it.
"Bless her heart"--Jack was telling himself later on, as he listened to
her talking so cheerfully, while busying herself in cooking the supper,
with Perk attending to the fire, and offering to help in "any old way."
"She wouldn't have had a tinker's chance to do anything in this wild
rocky country--only have her own crate crash, and double the tragedy. So
it's lucky for them both we made this same queer contact tonight."
Jack was certainly vastly amused to watch how his cranky chum seemed to
be acting. Usually Perk would have little or nothing to do with the
other sex--Jack strongly suspected that at some time in his misty past
Perk might have been "turned down" by some girl in whom he was becoming
interested, and so allowed his whole life to be soured by the
experience.
But then this was different, and perhaps the affection he had once felt
for Buddy Warner made him feel warmly toward a girl who adored the same
chubby young flyer and who had forgotten her weakness as a newly fledged
pilot, and struck out so boldly in hopes of finding the one who was
lost.
The supper was voted a great success, especially by Perk, who drank
innumerable cups of hot coffee, which he pronounced "nectar for the
gods," growing a bit poetical in his exalted state of happiness.
Suzanne, too, proved herself to be a wonderful cook, and Perk found
himself quite envying Buddy--that is, if he was ever really found, and
alive in the bargain--in having such a good helpmate and life partner to
prepare wonderful meals for him every day in the year.
Afterwards he and Jack set about the job of dragging the single-seater
Stinson-Detroiter something like forty feet back from the edge of the
river, where it could stay until later on, when Suzanne might find a
chance to visit the scene again, or send mechanics to dismantle her
ship, and pack the parts back to the factory for reassembling.
She even wrote something on a sheet of paper, which latter was attached
to the wreck, and would doubtless serve to keep any curious tourists
from damaging her property. So, too, she made up a small package of
certain articles which she wished particularly to save, or would be apt
to need for her personal comfort which, she assumed, might be taken with
them on the coming voyage.
"In the morning," said Jack, after all these things had been attended
to, "I'm meaning to ask you to let us transfer what gas you have aboard
your bus to our own tank--it will be wasted here, while in our hands it
may save us from spending many valuable hours running off to replenish
our wasted supply. Of course I shall see that you are eventually
reimbursed, Miss Cramer. Even as little as fifty gallons would mean we
could stick to our job so much longer, and then too it might be the
means of bringing us success."
"And if I had a million gallons every drop would be gladly devoted to
the sacred task you have so loyally undertaken," she told him, with a
suspicious glow in her eyes, which Jack imagined might be caused by
bravely repressed tears. "I think it is just wonderfully fine the way
you two--and all those other brave men--have been so willing to spend
their time, hour after hour, scouring the whole country in hopes of
finding--my Buddy."
So Jack had to tell her how the entire world of flyers were like a
company of blood brothers; an injury to one being resented by the entire
calling--that their universal braving of the elements, and meeting
similar perils in their daily work, made a bond like no other on earth,
a kinship of like interests.
She was as yet only a novice, but already she had begun to have
something of a similar exalted feeling toward other air pilots, so that
it was not difficult for Suzanne to understand his meaning.