THE LEECH HANGS ON
"Hot-diggetty-dig! seems like the more we poke into this here business,
the warmer it gets!" Perk exploded, banking on the safety of their hotel
room to keep his language from being heard.
"Oh! like as not all this is only the opening gun of our new campaign,"
was his companion's cool comment. "Later on, when we find ourselves neck
deep in the mixup, you'll be looking back, and smiling at what you're
saying now. From present indications I'd say this affair is giving
promise of being the biggest case we ever had the nerve to tackle."
"The bigger they get the further they falls, partner, doan't make any
mistake 'bout that ere fack," said Perk, grimly. "Huh! sometimes I get
to thinkin' what happened up in that Hole-in-the-Wall outlaw retreat,
and I'm awonderin' what ever did come o' that gang after we kicked off
with aour prisoner."[2]
"Which reminds me I didn't think to tell you _all_ the news that was
contained in that letter from Los Angeles--want to hear it now,
brother?"
"Sure do, Mister," snapped Perk, greedily; "it'll amuse me while I'm
awashin' up here in aour neat little bathroom."
Jack followed him into the next compartment, evidently so that he could
keep his voice down to a low pitch.
"Something like a week later," he told the listening Perk, "they took
off in the biggest crate they could commandeer into the service--half a
dozen fighting men, heavily armed, and prepared for anything that might
come along. Good weather favored them, and they came in sight of the
valley among the high cliffs in the daytime.
"After circling, and lowering their altitude, they could not see the
least thing to indicate the presence of a solitary human being; so
finally the pilot set them down exactly on the smooth landing field the
gang used when working their old wreck of a ship, carrying the packages
of counterfeit notes out to distribute the same to different stations;
and fetching back assorted supplies, including the best of grub.
"The place was abandoned, and looked like an earthquake had struck that
particular quarter--the mouth of the pass leading into the wonderful
valley was filled thirty feet high with a mass of rocks, thrown down by
the tremendous force of the bomb you exploded when we cleared out; and
some of the cabins and huts had been knocked to flinders by the men in
their rage at being kicked out of their hidden retreat. Their old plane
too, was scattered all around the field.
"The Government agents found the plates from which the spurious notes
had been printed, and destroyed all but a portion, which they wished to
forward to Washington for inspection by the Chief and his staff. Then
they amused themselves by climbing to a five hundred foot ceiling, and
making a target of the hut where the work had been carried on. Our
friend in L.A. went on to assure me a clever hit by a bomb had scattered
that squatty building we used to watch by the hour, to the four winds;
and the printing press too was smashed to useless atoms by the force of
the explosion."
"Bully! bully!" Perk was saying, joyously, proudly, through the soap
lather he had accumulated on his face; "then we sure did a natty piece
o' work up there in that God-forsaken neck o' the woods. Seems like life
has got _some_ bright spots in the framework arter all, an' ain't jest a
dinky fogbelt like I sometimes find myself b'lievin'."
"It has its ups and downs we've got to remember, partner," advised
sensible Jack; "especially along the risky line of business we're
engaged in. So we've got to take things as they come, wet weather mixed
with sunny days, and just keep on doing our duty as we find it."
"Huh gue--reckon we gotter jest grin an' bear it," added Perk, rubbing
his face and neck with the course huck towel, as he loved to do on
occasion. "But haow long do we stick here in Atlanta tell me, Boss?"
"For one night only, if things work as I hope they will," said Jack,
promptly enough, showing that his plan of campaign was beginning to
shape up.
"Mind if I step aout for a little while, partner; I done forgot to lay
in some tooth-paste, an' I'm kinder used to havin' a tube o' the same
along with me, yeou know, suh?"
Perk was the possessor of an unusually fine set of teeth, of which he
was inordinately proud, as Jack had occasion to know full well; so that
this request on his part seemed perfectly natural.
"Certainly not, _Wally_," Jack told him, purposely emphasizing the name,
as if to keep the other from forgetting how necessary it was to be
forever on his guard, so as not to be caught napping. "Like as not
you'll find a drugstore handy to the hotel, and can get what you want
easily enough. I'd rather you didn't go far away--a walk might seem like
a fine thing; but when it's taken I want to be along, as two pair of
eyes and ears might be better than one, to ward off danger."
"That's okay, Mister," came the cheery reply, as Perk stepped over to
pick up his hat; "an' it gives me a warm feelin' 'raound my heart to
hear yeou say that same--I'm never so happy as when goin' into action,
yeou know right well. When I was over in France, helpin' run that
sausage balloon we used for observation purposes, it allers gimme a
wonderful thrill jest to see six Heinie ships takin' off, intendin' to
ketch us guys 'fore we could drop to solid earth, an' knock the stuffin'
aout o' us with some o' their consarned bombs, which they sure knowed
haow to manufacture to beat the Frenchies all holler. So-long Ja--Mr.
Warrington I'll be back agin in a jiffy."
Just the same it was fully fifteen minutes before Perk again showed up;
and Jack found himself beginning to worry when the door opened, with
Perk's grinning face exposed. Jack noticed that after the other entered
the room his first act was to most carefully _lock the door_; and there
was something significant about this action, so foreign to Perk's usual
carelessness, that the other was forced to believe something or other
must have happened while he was out of the hotel, to render Perk so
solicitous.
"Got your tooth paste, did you, boy?" he asked.
"Easy enough," quoth Perk, still with that quizzical expression on his
sun-tanned, homely face. "Found there was a drugstore right handy; an'
seein' I was thirsty I jest stopped over to pick up a drink o' soda an'
cream. That's where, things begins to happen, yeou see."
"Oh! they did," echoed Jack, raising his eyebrows as he watched the face
of the other, and noting how a grave look had succeeded the humorous
one. "Suppose you tell me what it was came along while you were enjoying
your soda?"
"Well, yeou see, partner," commenced Perk; "there happens to be a gink
astandin' close by, which I aint paid any 'tention to, bein' wrapped up
in my own affairs jest then. I'd raised the glass to take a fust sup
when I done heard somebody say, right by my ear seemed like: 'Goin' to
stay with us in Atlanta enny length o' time, Mister Corkendall, suh?'"
Perk evidently had a little streak of the dramatic in his composition,
for he stopped just then, and eyed his companion eagerly, as if tickled
to know his communication had given the usually cool Jack a bit of a
start.
"Oh! you don't say, brother?" the other was remarking; "then after all
the party at the soda counter wasn't quite a stranger to you seeing he
evidently had learned your name?"
"Darned if I kin make aout partner, haow he ever got wise to the fack,
so's to call me Mister Corkendall."
"Go on, brother--what did you do then?" demanded Jack.
"Huh! I was a bit flustered, yeou see," explained Perk, "'cause I'd got
a side squint at his mug; I reckoned I needed 'bout half a minute to git
a grip on my senses; so I tilted up my glass, an' swallered a few times;
and say it 'peared to me like a thousand things flashed through my poor
ole brain like a stroke o' lightnin'."
"Did you answer him?" demanded Jack, frowning.
"I sure did," came unhesitating the reply; "'case I jest had to. Yeou
see, partner, he'd been astandin' thar right along, an' in course he
done heard me order my drink; so if I tried to play that dumb trick, as
haow yeou tole me, he'd aknown things must a been a bit mixed, an' the
fat'd be in the fire. Did I do the right thing Boss, tell me?"
Jack smiled amiably again.
"That was certainly one time your mother wit _didn't_ fail you,
comrade," he told the other. "Now, go ahead and let me know what
followed; because I've already guessed the man at your elbow must have
been that Smart Aleck newspaper reporter we last saw looking over our
ship so suspiciously."
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Footnote 2:
See "Trackers of the Fog Pack."