comfortable in the limited confine of her cockpit. True, it had no roof
for shelter; but that bothered her not at all she told them, since she
had camped many times in the open without even a canvas tent, or brush
shanty; and besides, the stars were shining brightly overhead, showing
they need fear nothing in the way of bad weather during the night.
Perk again assured himself that she was a mighty sensible and
clear-headed little girl, and that if there were only more like her,
perhaps--well, there couldn't be, and besides he'd never have the chance
to run across any of that class--it just wouldn't be his good luck.
It was something to make Jack look back to that same evening for years
to come. He as well as Perk had spent many a night in camp, when on
fishing trips, or it might be hunting hikes up in the big woods; but no
other camp could have such a royal setting as this one did.
The lofty walls running up as if to touch the star-decked sky, and as
they knew full well that with those vivid colors making a nature
painting beyond all imagination, that the loud song of the happy river
flowing through the greatest gorge in all the wide world, that the
blazing campfire, throwing up soaring sparks seemed like bright
messengers of hope to Suzanne as she sat there drinking it all in. It
filled to the brim the longings connected with the missing air mail
pilot. Then, too, there was present that air of eternal mystery such as
would be apt to brood over the spot where ages back the Zuni, and other
Indian tribes, had lived in those quaint stone houses still to be found
all through the hundred miles of the Colorado Canyon.
Perk knew very well that as a rule there was no danger from wild
animals--that frequently parties made it a point to spend at least one
night camping in the canyon, just to say they had gone through such a
weird experience; and he had never heard of them being disturbed by man
or beast.
Just the same, with this glorious chance opening up to him, Perk was
persuaded to imagine himself constituted as the sole guardian of the
fine girl aviatrix, into whose company they had so strangely fallen.
Then, too he welcomed the opportunity to again handle that
sub-machine-gun, which had been placed in his possession by the
Government at the time he and Jack were running down the smuggling ring
leaders on the Florida Coast, and a return of which had never thus far
been demanded by the authorities.
Jack realized what was in the mind of his chum when he saw Perk looking
over that powerful weapon with infinite joy; and while he did not
imagine for a minute that there would arise any chance for requiring its
services, still, since it afforded romantic Perk a good excuse for
posing as a vigilant sentry, Jack held his peace, taking it out by
giving his pal a few significant sly winks, to which the other deigned
to take no notice whatsoever.
Neither of them knew what arrangements Suzanne had made for sleeping in
the limited confines of her cockpit; but she bade them goodnight, and
climbed aboard with the greatest nonchalance imaginable, as though this
thing of camping out under all manner of inconveniences might be an old
story with her, as indeed Jack thought was more than probable.
XVIII
THE VIGILANT GUARD
It had been arranged between Jack and his mate that it would be just as
well for them to fetch their blankets ashore and settle down on the sand
for the remainder of the night.
In the first place, Jack thought it would not look very nice if they
went aboard their anchored amphibian and left poor Suzanne there alone.
Although she had not mentioned the matter at all, he felt sure it had
given her a few qualms and that in her mind she really hoped they might
decide to camp there by the fire.
Then again it would add to the girl's peace of mind, should she chance
to be lying awake, unable to lose herself because of the haunting fears
connected with the mystery of Buddy's fate, to raise her head and look
around to always find that cheery fire blazing, dispersing the gloom in
the immediate vicinity.
Last of all neither of them was so fond of doubling up and trying to
forget their bodily discomforts aboard their crate, that they could
afford to pass up a golden opportunity to sleep on solid ground, though
to be sure they were able to make the best of anything when duty bound.
So Perk went aboard by means of their ferry and returned with both dingy
gray blankets as well as something to serve as pillows, since they had
never made it a point to travel with such "soft stuff" as Perk always
scornfully termed them.
"You turn in whenever you feel like it, Boss," Perk had said with a
grin. "I'm not a bit sleepy, it happens an' 'sides I jest feel like
havin' another whiff or two--somehow this 'baccy seems sweeter to me
than I ever knowed it to be."
"It should," Jack told him, and evidently there must have been a
significant emphasis attached to those two words to make Perk look so
queer and finally grin in a most ridiculous way like a boy caught
robbing the jam jar or the cookey pot, and at a loss to explain the
situation.
Accordingly Jack rolled himself up in his covers, fixed his head rest to
suit his own notion, turned his back on the blazing fire and lost all
interest in everything saving getting his fair quota of slumber.
Perk sat there and smoked three pipes one after the other. Then feeling
a little draught of cool air on his back he dragged his blanket to him,
wrapped it around his form, and gun across his knees, continued to sit
with his back against a big boulder he had rolled down the sandy stretch
for some purpose or other.
He continued to sit there like one of the sentries they say were found
at their posts when the ruins of Herculaneum were cleared of the
accumulated ashes of centuries, close to the grim old volcano. Proving
how in those military days a soldier stuck to his post though the
heavens might fall upon him.
Twice Perk got up, threw an armful of fuel on the dying fire, smoked a
round of that "sweet" tobacco, cast a look of concern over toward where
the stranded plane lay, shook his head doggedly and resumed his former
position alongside the big boulder.
Apparently he had resolved to stay on duty throughout the entire night,
and since Perk had a vein of doggedness in his disposition the chances
were he would stick to his guns.
Perk may not have noticed it, but more than few times his chum's
covering would move just a trifle, allowing him to peep out and on each
occasion Jack would chuckle as if vastly entertained, after which it was
sleep again for him.
Midnight came and went.
Stars shone down upon the lonesome camp, gradually wheeling westward
until each in turn passed beyond the lofty rim of the canyon walls while
others climbed the eastern heavens to take their turn at peeping and
eventually follow the track of those who were by that time doubtless
setting beyond the genuine western horizon.
It must have been something like two in the morning when Perk waking up
from a disturbed nap, in which he was beset by a pack of savage timber
wolves with only a stout cudgel as a means of defense, caught a sound
that sent a delightful quiver chasing up and down his spine.
"By gum! what was _that_ now?" he asked himself, at the same time moving
the gun from his knee to a more elevated position.
His tingling nerves announced the delight that filled his heart in
contemplation of a possible chance to show how he could play guardian to
a camp where innocence slept. Suddenly awakened from such a wild dream,
Perk was in fine condition to see a pack of ferocious, gray, hungry,
four-footed pirates of the waste places creeping up here, there,
everywhere, with the intention of taking the camp by strategy and
devouring every solitary inmate.
His fire happened to be low so that the light even close by could hardly
be called worth while. Again Perk caught some sort of sound--to his
excited mind it seemed similar to an animal's nails scratching the dry
sand just at that point where the high river tide was wont to reach its
peak during the flood season.
Perk redoubled his efforts to see something moving while he nervously
fingered his modern shooting iron, so radically different from those old
guns used by the pioneer settlers of the virgin West in the early days
of the far-flung frontier.
Now his quivering changed its character to certainty and rapture. Most
surely he had caught a fleeting glimpse of some object that was slowly
and cautiously creeping up toward the slumbering campfire.
A wolf--just one of the precious pack that had bothered him in his late
dream--but then he had only himself to consider, whereas now it meant
three separate human lives in peril. How his teeth gritted as he
mentally called the slinking beast every opprobrious name he could think
of, his finger meanwhile playing with the trigger that, once pulled,
would start the long line of cartridges contained in the endless belt to
discharging like a pack of firecrackers popping to commemorate the
birthday of the good old U. S. A.
Yes, there could be no longer any doubt--he had not deceived himself
after all, as he was beginning to suspect. Now the thing had ceased to
move and was starting to rise up on all four legs, as though to be in
readiness to answer the call of the pack leader when it came time to
charge.
"It's goodbye to you, sneaker and robber on four legs!" muttered Perk
grimly as he put the butt of the gun up to his shoulder, covered the
half seen figure, and pressed the trigger.
A burst of firing instantly followed as the mechanical gun commenced to
bombard the particular spot where Perk had discovered the first of the
oncoming pack. The reports came thick and fast, following on each
others' heels and so it would continue to the end of the string unless
Perk himself stopped the mechanism.
By the time he had thrown half a dozen leaden messengers at that one
point, he felt he had effectually rid the world of one thief and
marauder for which he should have the thanks of every decent person.
Then Perk started to swing his arm from left to right, fully
anticipating seeing a host of monster companions of his initial victim
bounding forward and coming within range of the line of fire from his
still spitting machine gun.
Nothing of the sort greeted his astonished eyes--in fact there was not
the first sign of a single monster raider--only Jack indignantly bawling
him out and demanding to know what in the devil he meant arousing the
entire camp with such a racket, and spoiling the rest of the night for
sleep.
So Perk instantly shut off the deadly stream of fire that was expected
to slay the whole pack of fiendish wolves as he swung his gun around
with a circular movement.
"Whatever ailed you Perk, to set that thing going like mad?" Jack
demanded, as he scrambled out of his enfolding blanket and advanced
toward his chum, keeping a nervous eye on the gun meanwhile as if afraid
Perk, whom he believed had been dreaming, would start it going again.
"Wolves--heaps an' heaps o' 'em--dreamed they had me cornered, with on'y
a club to hold the pack off--then I woke up, and sure as you live, they
was acomin' right in on us--saw one whoppin' big feller right over
yonder an' let him have the whole works. Looky yourself Jack--honest to
goodness he's lyin' right there where I knocked him cold."
Jack gave him a laugh and hastened over to see for himself just how much
truth there could be in what the other had said with so much
earnestness.
XIX
OVER-ZEALOUS PERK
"Perk!"
Strangely enough, while the late sharpshooter had seemed so positive
concerning the identity and present status of his victim, he had not
displayed the eagerness one might reasonably expect in such a sturdy
guardian of the camp, to follow at Jack's heels.
"Yeah! what is it, old hoss?" he now asked, keeping one eye on the
cockpit of the nearby Stinson-Detroiter, under the belief he saw a
slight movement there, as though the girl pilot had been suddenly
awakened from her sound slumber and was peeping out to ascertain the
cause of the late terrific bombardment.
"Come over here and see your monster timber wolf," Jack was saying.
Perk shrugged his shoulders, as though some dim suspicion of the truth
might be already knocking at the door of his valiant heart, but since
there was nothing else to be done he stiffened up and walked with
soldierly tread to where Jack ominously awaited his coming.
"There he lies, fairly riddled," the other was saying, pointing as he
thus greeted the arrival of the vigilant one. "He never had a chance to
even give a single peep after you opened up on him--must have imagined
yourself away back again on that Argonne front and sending another Hun
ship down wrapped in flames, eh Perk?"
"Huh! he don't look _quite_ as big as I guessed he was," admitted the
now contrite marksman, beginning to weaken. "Mebbe I wasted too many
slugs on the onery critter--sorter shot him to pieces you might say."
Jack laughed and Perk started, under the belief that evidences of
feminine amusement drifted out of their cockpit close by as though
Suzanne understood, and was not only interested but highly entertained
in the bargain.
"That's a good one partner, for you sure _did_ knock spots out of the
poor little yellow sap--chances are he followed some party down here
yesterday, got to hunting around on his own hook, and missed them when
they started up Angel Trail. Then he discovered the light of your fire
here and hoping he'd run upon real friends who'd toss him a scrap of
meat, was crawling up to investigate when you blasted him with that
fierce volley. Poor confiding little beast, a victim of mistaken
identity."
"Migosh, a prairie dog!" muttered the astonished and mortified Perk,
gazing ruefully down at the huddled mess before him, not too plainly
seen on account of the fire flashing up only fitfully, being in need of
more fuel.
"It's all right, Perk old man," soothed Jack, knowing just how mean his
chum must be feeling, with that unseen girl a witness to his upset and
her low gurgles of laughter coming distinctly to their ears in the
bargain, "your intentions were okay, and you certainly did pot him
neatly. No danger of any poacher stealing from a camp where you've taken
up your post as sentry. That vivid dream you mentioned must have got on
your nerves and when you discovered a moving figure, naturally enough
your first thought was of sneaking four-footed mountain wolves about to
make a raid."
"Hot ziggetty dog! I sure must 'a' had the jimjams all right," chuckled
Perk, beginning to throw off that stupid feeling of being only half
awake and even able to laugh at the joke on himself.
"Jack," said a merry, girlish voice just then, "tell your friend not to
be worried about me. I've shot more than a few wolves and coyotes for I
was born and brought up in the cow country you see. It's all right,
Perk, don't feel badly about it. I know it was just to stand up in my
defense that made you so speedy on the trigger. Only gave me a little
scare until I guessed what it all meant. I'm going to sleep some more,
though it's a hard job to get Buddy's frightful predicament out of my
mind."
"And Perk," said Jack, throwing an arm affectionately across the
shoulders of his mate, "you turn this job over to me now and get a few
winks before morning comes creeping along out of the east over there to
start us on our way again. I'll sit right here, holding your old cannon
and woe to the wolf, coyote or even another yellow cur that dares to
sneak in on us."
So after all Perk was not feeling so very badly on account of his
fiasco, though it did make him grimace to remember that those bright
eyes of Buddy's best girl had been an amused witness to his humiliation.
He did not say another word, but humbly handed over the sub-machine-gun
to his companion and dropped down near the fire upon which he had tossed
a fresh supply of fuel. Secretly he was meaning to be up at peep of day
before Suzanne would be stirring, in order to drag the victim of his
fusilade some distance away from their camp so that her curious eyes
might not be offended by sight of the wreck of a little harmless prairie
dog.
The balance of that wonderful night, spent alongside the Colorado in the
famous canyon of the painted walls, passed without a single thing
happening to further disturb them.
In the east, where the mountain peaks made a ragged horizon, the first
faint fingers of pink were commencing to streak the low heavens when
Jack saw his chum moving off toward the spot where lay the victim of his
deadly aim. He instinctively understood what Perk was aiming to do and
on that account refrained from calling out or otherwise taking any
notice of his being abroad.
When Perk came back ten minutes later and washed his hands down at the
river brink, Jack only chuckled, as though it tickled him to notice how
the flinty-hearted Perk--only with regard to his indifference toward all
female persons--had discovered that there might still be a few--not
many, perhaps--girls who were sincere and loyal to the one to whom they
had pledged their hearts--lucky Buddy Warner, with all this uncertainty
regarding his fate--at the worst there would be _some one_ to always
mourn his passing.
On came the day, and Perk busied himself in getting a good cooking fire
going, remembering what a delicious supper the girl had prepared on the
preceding evening; and his mouth now fairly watering with hopes of
another turn at that royal ambrosia which some people without sentiment
will call plain "coffee."
Suzanne presently joined them, after washing her pretty face down at the
running water, which was icy cold, and most refreshing indeed. Then she
busied herself at the fire, ordered the meek and obedient Perk around
after the manner of most petty and pretty kitchen tyrants; but the fine
odors that were soon filling the rarified air buoyed up Perk's spirits
wonderfully and he raised no rebellion.
And the breakfast to which they soon sat down was just as delicious as
fancy had pictured; indeed, the only thing amiss so far as the ravenous
Perk could discover was the fact that it might give out before all of
them had had a sufficiency.
"Now, let's get busy transferring that gas to our tank, Perk," Jack
observed, as they finally arose. "We'll have to get our boat up on the
shore, you observe--a case of Mahomet going to the mountain--let's go,
partner."
This was not so difficult as it might seem; for the sandy shore was
shelving, and once Jack gave her the gun the amphibian literally "walked
up" to where they wanted her to be, alongside the Stinson-Detroiter
plane.
Perk produced a length of small rubber tubing, and made use of it as a
siphon. Once the gasoline was started, by suction--Perk attended to that
part by sucking the air all out, and getting a mouthful of liquid to pay
him for his trouble, which he ejected with a grimace--it continued to
flow until the tank aboard the amphibian was plumb full.
"I can scare up several five-gallon empty tins," suggested the wise
Perk, "that might be filled, and stowed away somewhere--that would give
us a reserve stock, plenty I guess to carry us to the nearest supply
base in case our tank went dry."
"A mighty good idea, boy," was Jack's comment, he being glad to see how
the other was recovering from his late depression.
They finally had everything settled--Suzanne had put up her little
"sign," to let curious-minded folks wandering that way know who owned
the abandoned crate, and that it was to be let absolutely alone until
she came to salvage it. Then, too, she had made up her little package of
"essentials," which she meant to take along when they zoomed off to
start the real search for lost Buddy Warner.
As they settled down in their places, room having been found for the
girl pilot, Suzanne waved her hand a bit sadly toward her impotent
crate, as though certain high hopes she had been entertaining were now
fallen in ruins; then she smiled again, watching closely to see Jack
gripping the stick and letting in the gas to the attendant spark, when
they were off.
XX
AN UNSUBDUED SPIRIT
Backed by plenty of daylight there was no difficulty at all experienced
in mounting. The sand was packed quite hard as sometimes happens at the
seashore, particularly in highly favored localities like down at Daytona
Beach on the eastern coast of Florida, where the speed races are run
every season. After the wheels contained in the aluminum pontoons left
the ground not a single obstacle stood in the way of their climbing
steadily upward, until presently they could look out over the sweep of
rough country surrounding that strangest of all Dame Nature's trick
pictures--the Colorado Canyon.
Jack had his plans all laid out, built upon his charts, and the general
fund of knowledge gleaned from some of the newspaper accounts that he
had kept by him; after shuffling the pack, and discarding all
unsupported versions as unreliable guides for stranger air pilots to go
by.
Having set the course Jack had Perk handle the stick, for it was his
intention to have a good talk with Suzanne, something he had not managed
to accomplish thus far.
She understood just what he had in mind when he took up one end of the
earphone harness, and made motions; for the racket was too fierce to
think of trying to make his ordinary speaking voice heard--indeed, she
had already shown a certain amount of curiosity concerning the
apparatus, possibly knowing what it was intended for, although never
herself having as yet had occasion to make use of such a means of
communication when in flight.
He soon had the straps adjusted to suit her small head, and then
proceeded to arrange his own end. His main purpose was far from being
connected with anything like curiosity, for somehow he had a faint hope
something she could tell him might open up a line of reasoning, and
produce a live clue, which was just what was lacking in his plans.
"I'm meaning to ask you some questions, Miss Cramer," he went on to say;
"in hopes that you may be able to give me some little valuable hint; for
up to now everybody must be working more or less in the dark. You see,
all that's known to be positive is that Buddy took off from a certain
station where he delivered some important mail, picked up a local sack,
and then took off at a specified hour and minute. After that he was not
heard from again--failed to show up at either of the succeeding
stations, and was awaited in vain at the end of his run.
"For a time nothing much was thought of his delay in turning up; because
of any one of several things that might have held him back--fog, head
winds, or some trifling trouble compelling him to make a forced landing,
which in this dreadful country of rocks and gullies among mountain peaks
usually is attended by serious difficulties, especially the getting off
again when the trouble has been attended to."
Then he went on to tell her what he had deducted, after carefully
getting the gist of what all the newspaper men had discovered up to
within twenty-four hours of the present time; the deeply interested girl
listening eagerly, and occasionally nodding her head, as though quite
agreeing with his reasoning.
"Now," Jack went on to say--after bringing his story down to where he
and Perk had received their orders from Washington, took off, butted
against a most tenacious fog belt, and finally brought up at the Canyon,
where they made her acquaintance--"Tell me please, when and how you
first heard that Buddy was missing, if it would not be too painful a
recital."
"Oh! that will not keep me from speaking," she hastened to say, trying
bravely to keep the tears from dimming her eyes: "nothing could be too
painful for me to endure if only it works to _his_ good in the end. We
read the dreadful news in the daily paper that comes to Ma Warner's home
every morning, it being mailed in the big city not a hundred miles away.
She always hunts up the aviation column the very first thing. Why not,
when she has an only son who is known as an experienced and reliable
air-mail pilot and also knows that she is going to have a second
ambitious flyer in the family soon, if all goes well, and I find Buddy.
"Of course we were very apprehensive, what with the neighbors running in
to sympathize, and cheer us up. Later on that same day a reporter from
the very paper in which we read the first news about Buddy, turned up,
having motored over across country, eager to pick up enough interesting
facts at the humble home of Buddy's anxious mother to make a thrilling
story for his editor.