BLACK WATER BAYOU
Fortune favored them again, it seemed, not only with regard to the
skies, but, probably owing in part to the early hour, there were few
persons scattered about the aviation grounds when they took off; and the
regular attendants already understood the pair constituted a
duck-hunting party, viewing the coast shooting stands with a view to
getting in some good sport when finally satisfied as to location.
From the beginning they hit up a high pace, fully equal to the best the
amphibian had thus far accomplished. Being what might be called
"ambidextrous"--doubly able to leave by means of water, or solid land,
it had not been necessary for them to locate on any river or bay, where
they would not have the benefit of field mechanicians, and a movable
filling station, as well as shelter in a comfortable hangar.
Jack had doubtless taken all such matters into consideration when
forming his plans, and decided that the good points about staying at the
regulation aviation headquarters outweighed the poor ones.
They covered the first fifty miles in short order, keeping at some
distance further from the sea than on their previous trips, Jack having
a new hunch, to the effect that possibly the rendezvous of the smugglers
after all might be situated deeper inland than he had first suspected.
When later on Perk announced that he could just make out some city far
off on the right, Jack pronounced it to undoubtedly be Georgetown, which
lay at the junction of the Pedee and the Little Pedee.
They had flown directly over the same city on their previous trip,
showing how far west of their original course they were now working.
"We're going to patrol this region most carefully, partner," Jack told
his best pal, who as usual was handling the binoculars to the best
advantage, and calling out any discovery worth while, so as to keep his
mate posted. "It has all the earmarks to make it a dandy hidingplace,
where these sinister operations could be pulled off, day or night, and
no one the wiser. What easier than for a sea-going plane to swoop over
or around Georgetown, coming from some unknown point east, and then
vanishing in the distance, still going west? Get that, don't you,
Wally?"
"Sounds all to the good with me, suh," the other told him, nodding as he
spoke. "I'm atryin' to make aout some queer things daown there; but it's
all sech a scramble I jest caint do much. Mebbe if we dropped a bit
things'd seem different like."
"I'm going further west, so as to cover the ground," Jack informed him,
as though his immediate plans were made up, and he did not care to
change; "but later on in the day I reckon we'll be back this way, and
possibly make camp for the night. I'd like to find out what sort of
doings are taking place nights in this section; chances are we'll pick
up some interesting points before striking Charleston again."
"Which same'd please me a heap, Mister," quoth Perk; who was by now
beginning to grow a little weary of what he termed "inaction;" and
sighing for more strenuous times to come along, when there would be some
real thrills experienced.
At noon they partook of a "snack," devouring a few sandwiches, so as to
take off the sharp edge of their appetites; Perk apologizing to himself
for eating so scantily.
"If so be we're agwine to dine ashore alongside a gen-u-ine campfire,"
he went on in his whimsical fashion, "I wanter be in prime condition to
do justice to the grub I'm meanin' to sling up fo' jest two gents, known
to weuns as Mr. Rodman Warrington, an' er--Wally Corkendall, of
Birmin'ham, suh. So take things easy, an' jest forget haow yeou're still
hungry, ole man; it's on'y what that lecturer says is a figment o' the
imagination, an' so you're not a bit half starved."
When about the middle of the afternoon they again arrived in the
neighborhood of the sector which had appealed to them both as well worth
paying particular attention to, Jack signified that he was meaning to do
something in the line of lowering their ceiling, and finding out whether
there was a chance of their making a successful drop upon the waters of
that queer bayou, alongside of which ran a swift and mysterious looking
river he figured might be the Waccamaw.
Closer scrutiny convinced both of them that so far as their settling
down on the surface of the lonely bayou was concerned, nothing could be
seen that would interfere with such an arrangement.
Jack circled the spot several times, with his exhaust muffled, and even
the propeller keeping unusually quiet, as though in full sympathy with
their desire for secrecy.
"Cover every rod of both land and water with your glass, partner," he
told Perk; "because it means a whole lot to us to make sure that there
isn't any chance for hostile eyes to take note of our stopping here.
Unless I'm away off in my reckoning this same bayou must be the
identical place where we are to later on make a rendezvous with that
cracker guide, Jethro Hicks, who knows every foot of these water
trails--I understood he hid out in this terrible region for several
years when at loggerheads with the authorities, though innocent of any
crime. How does the ground look to you, buddy?"
"Like the ole Sam Patch, an' that aint no lie either, Boss," Perk lost
no time in telling his mate; "I never did see sech a awful stretch o'
mixed land an' water nohaow, nowhere; but jest the same that's zactly
what we want, so's to make dead sartin they beant nobody araound hyah
calc'lated to bother weuns, that's the way I looks at hit, suh."
"Quite right too, Wally, boy!" snapped Jack; "and such being the case
here goes to settle down on that Black Water Bayou--I think that was the
name Mr. Herriott gave the slough."
"Gosh all hemlock! an' it couldn't have a better name, I'm asayin'
suh--tough enough lookin' to give anybody a shiver; but as we're itchin'
fo' to keep aour comin' secret, it suits aour case to the dot."
There was plenty of room in the middle of the mysterious little lagoon
for their landing, if such it could be called; and so cleverly did the
pilot bring the pontoons of his craft in contact with the surface that
hardly the slightest splash followed.
Jack lost no time in taxiing over to a certain spot that seemed to hold
possibilities for the maneuver he intended putting into effect--thick
trees hung low over the water, and if only they could manage to push far
enough in, the boat would be beautifully camouflaged--hidden under a
fringe of branches, and so well disguised as to be discovered only after
a close search.
"Wonderfully fine," was Jack's announcement after this had been
successfully brought about. "Why, it's almost like late evening under
this thick canopy; and the bayou itself, surrounded as it is with tall
cypress trees, with those long trailing beards of gray Spanish moss give
it a gruesome look."
"Urr! jest makes me think o' the ole graveyard I used to run past a
goin' home late nights, when I was a country kid up in New England,"
Perk was saying, toning his voice down to almost a whisper.
It certainly did have a most funereal appearance, with the breeze making
all manner of weird sounds through the tops of the trees, and the
festoons of dangling moss waving to and fro like mourning banners; some
unseen swamp creatures added to the shivering feeling that had attacked
Perk by emitting the most gruesome grunts and groans his ears had ever
heard.
"But it happens to be just what we were hoping to find," Jack continued,
looking quite pleased at the loneliness of the spot; "small chance of
any of those crackers coming in this direction, when they have no
business here. I reckon Wally, you'll be able to have that jolly
campfire your heart's so set on, without its getting us into any
trouble."
"Huh! that all tickles me right smart, Boss," chuckled the other,
rapidly conquering that sensation bordering on awe, and beginning to
look at things in a more sensible light. "Kinder gu--reckons as haow
there might be mebbe a 'gator or so in sech a slimy place as this
same--that is, if sech critters do live as fur north as this South
Carolina swampy region; anyhaow I ain't agwine to take chances awadin'
in them nasty waters, where I kin see snakes aswimmin', and pokin' their
heads aout to larn what in Sam Hill done drapped daown in their private
park. Gee whiz! this is 'baout as cheerful a hole as the gateway to the
Lower Regions, if yeou asked me what I thought, suh."
They soon discovered that they were not to be allowed to take things as
easy as Perk may have anticipated; for presently both were employed
shooing swarms of voracious mosquitoes from their exposed faces and
hands.