THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG
Jack looked at Perk, and smiled.
"I certainly must ask your pardon, old chap," he hastened to say; "for
keeping you in the dark so long. Fact is, what came to me in this letter
gave me such food for thought I clean forgot you were my side partner,
and entitled to my full confidence. Forgive it, Perk, wont you?"
"Sure thing, Jack; then I kinder guess the letter must be from
Headquarters?"
"No other, Perk."
"What's in the wind this time?" demanded the other, eagerly; as though
his nostrils could already sniff the burnt powder that went with action.
"That's a fair question, and I'll try to answer you," said Jack. "It
isn't the mere fact that we're ordered to duty once more, that I was
thinking about just now, because such a thing comes along every once in
so often in the exercise of our duties--but strangely enough our meeting
up to-day with the family of a man we'd help put in jail doesn't seem to
bring our queer list of coincidences to a halt."
"Hot-diggetty-dig! naow yeou got me a guessin' good an' hard,
partner--go to it, an' explain what yeou mean."
"Well, it looks as if a wish you expressed only a short time ago was
going to be fulfilled," Jack told him.
"Haow come, buddy?" queried Perk.
"We were talking about a certain scoundrel who's name we've seen so
often of late in the papers--remember, Perk?"
An expression of sublime delight passed over the face of Gabe Perkiser;
showing how he understood, and what a sense of exhileration the
knowledge afforded him.
"Kinder guess naow, Jack, yeou might be meanin' that same Ole King Cole
like he goes to call hisself--the brazen guy that makes all kinds o' fun
o' Secret Service mokes--is _that_ the answer, brother?"
Jack nodded in a way that could have only one meaning.
"Okay, Perk; you're on.
"Shake on that, young feller--it's the most glorious news I ever did get
outen Washington. If half what they says turns aout to be true, we're in
fur the hot time o' aour life, seems like."
"You never can tell, partner, which way the cat will jump--sometimes
when you're expecting an easy windup things get mighty tough; then again
if you're looking for a hard battle it sometimes turns out to be just a
mere walkover--a flash in the pan. We have to take things as we find
them, and let it go at that."
"Ole King Cole sent aout his nasty defi to the hull Secret Service
crowd, an' so far he's been able to give the boys the nasty grand laugh;
but they say a pitcher may go to the well jest onct too many
times--mebbe we might be the lucky ones to smash the same, pronto."
"I've read that two different men of our staff have disappeared, after
getting hot on the trail of this band of scoundrels; which goes to tell
us they're a hard-boiled bunch, who wont stop at committing any crime so
as to keep out of the pen."
Perk only grinned, as though the tougher they came the more he liked
them.
"That's all right Jack, I'm best suited when they make 'em that way," he
hastened to assure his chum; although really there was no need of his
thus doing, since Jack knew him like a book, with all his good
qualities, and shortcomings as well.
"Are you through eating?" asked the other; and on receiving an
affirmative nod he continued: "all right, suppose we adjourn to our room
for a conference, where we can be dead certain of not being overheard.
There are a few other things to tell that may open your eyes still
further, as they did mine; besides, the Big Boss enclosed a few
clippings, and typed reports, for us to study, as he believes they will
give us some important clues that are going to be of considerable help
in tracking these outlaws to their den."
"Gee whiz! things _do_ seem to be headin' aour way, don't they though,
Jack? Yeou said there might be a sudden turn in the game, an' she sure
enough did come hoppin' 'long, to make me laugh, an' feel so like
singin'."
"Well, please don't start that racket here, partner; if ever they heard
you singing they'd certainly put the bars against us; and we both like
the chow in this same little restaurant, remember."
"Go easy on a feller whose education in music must a been neglected when
he was a kid. An' Jack, mebbe so yeou'll let me set my lamps on that ere
document, onct we get indoors at aour quarters."
"You're going to know everything that I do, Perk; that goes without
question; for how could we work together as a team if we pulled
contrarywise?"
Leaving the eatinghouse they were soon back in their comfortable room,
where they could take things easy while laying out plans for the near
future.
Perk started his favorite pipe going, as though getting ready to be
vastly entertained by what was in prospect; he always looked as though
at peace with the whole world, even counting those who defied the law to
keep them from doing whatever they pleased, however it might turn out
for other people--such was the beneficial effects of tobacco on his
system, for there were times when he could never be supremely happy
until he got his pipe going full blast.
"Naow fur it, partner;" he opened up with, "I'm settled, an' ready to
imbibe the hull kittin' story, with nawthin' bein' held back, like yeou
promised me."
"I'm meaning to read the letter to you first, and then later on you can
pore over it yourself, making a mental photograph of the contents, so
that every sentence can be recalled from memory upon occasion."
This was the way Jack generally arranged things, for he knew just how to
work so as to get Perk fully interested; and accustomed to the programme
the other had never been known to take exception to Jack's methods.
"I get yeou, partner," was Perk's comment; "it's part o' aour reg'lar
programme to learn the big points o' aour job, so we aint agoin' to be
rattled when we come to settle daown to work."
"Now fix your mind on what I'm going to read, and forget everything else
but the one business we're being given to carry through."
Accordingly Jack commenced, with Perk occasionally asking some pertinent
question, which was cheerfully answered by the reader.
"Now," observed Jack later on, "we've covered much that the Chief has
had taken down by his stenographer; but the windup of the whole matter
is the heart of the story; you want to hold your breath while I read it
out to you, because, unless I miss my guess, you're in for the biggest
shock of your life."
"Hot-diggetty-dig! that sounds right ser'us, partner, she shore do; but
I'll stiffen aout, grip the sides o' my chair, an' gulp it all in like a
thirsty broncho would fresh water after comin' in from the sandy desert.
Hit 'er up!"
"Listen then to what he writes here," Jack was saying, soberly, yet
keeping an eye on Perk's tell-tale face, which he never could wholly
control: "'The enclosed suggestions are clippings, and reports from some
of our agents who had started out to track this ugly gang to its secret
hideout. Taken collectively and individually they will convince you as
to the character of many of the knotty problems you will have to solve
before success can be your reward in smashing this new King Cole mob of
law breakers, cattle thieves, bank robbers, and what-not along the line
of up-to-date crime.
"'So you will understand the magnitude of this business when I tell you
it is not only suspected, but fully believed, this so-called King Cole
is an old offender, sailing under a new name--none other than a clever
convict whose escape from the Atlanta penitentiary some months ago has
been purposely kept a state secret, in hopes of its being helpful in
locating his whereabouts, and bringing him back to his empty cell, with
the penalty of having his sentence lengthened on account of his
flight--an arrangement that so far has not been in the least profitable
or successful.
"'You will understand what I mean when I tell you the name of this
rascal, whom I remember you and your comrade had the high honor of
bringing before the courts, and starting on the road to the Government
institution--it is'"--Jack paused to watch Perk's eager face, and then
added with considerable force: "'it is Slippery Slim Garrabrant!'"