BATTLING WITH THE FOG
Thanks to his carefully studied chart Jack knew just about when he must
head into the east, and make for the disputed land, where fugitives from
justice had long kept away from the long arm of the Law. In former days
there had been just such a safe hiding-place further to the north,
locally known as the "Hole in the wall;" but it was of the past, and for
some years had been thrown open to settlers and tourists.
The die was cast, and for better or worse they had made their decision;
but neither of them had any disposition to turn back. Danger and these
men of the Force were accustomed to being familiar campmates; since
there was no mission on which they could be sent but had its share of
peril; if such expeditions were but picnics it would not be so necessary
to dispatch the prize men of the Service on the track, where others had
failed after shooting their bolt.
Speedily were they swallowed up in the night. Far distant, and in the
east a mellow light low-down announced the rising of the moon, now far
advanced in its last quarter. Jack did not count for any assistance in
the rising of the uncrowned queen of the night, since already he could
see the gathering fog was growing thicker every passing minute.
Several times he lost the remnant of moon entirely, to have it creep
into view again, as though the thick vapor had temporarily opened up;
but only to close in again worse than ever, until the glimpse of the
climbing orb came no more.
Thus began their fight with the fog--its insidious influence seemed to
shut them in like an opaque curtain, growing more and more dense as the
minutes moved along.
Realizing that they were now heading into that stretch where they might
expect to meet with lofty mountain peaks, and crags, Jack began a steady
upward climb, being most desirous of taking no unnecessary chances of
crashing against a rock cliff that was hidden from their view by the
creeping fog.
It seemed to be a most extraordinary fog, all told, Perk explained to
his own satisfaction. Usually when thus compassed around about by a
dense sea of vapor, and unable to take any sort of reckoning by means of
the heavens above, or the earth beneath, this trouble could be remedied
by climbing still further into the region of the clouds, and thus
finding an altitude where the air was sweet and pure, even if a bit
shivery.
Apparently that was not going to answer in the present case. Jack had
ascended until they were already some eight thousand feet from the
earth; but if anything their enemy the fog appeared to be more dense
than ever.
In fact, it did not seem worth while to pursue this system of tactics
any further, in order to beat the enshrouding blanket of sticky
wetness--why, if they kept on much longer, the cold increasing the
higher they lifted their ship, that same dripping moisture would be
turning into _ice_, and the additional weight was apt to play havoc all
around.
"Don't seem to be any let-up to the derned stuff, Jack," Perk at this
time observed in the ear of his running mate.
"Bad medicine, all right--don't like it one bit, partner," came just the
answer Perk would have sworn his pal would make.
"Seems like there aint nawthin' we kin do to make things easier, eh,
buddy?"
"Must peg away, keeping our nose pointed east, and ready to drop down
lower if given half a show," was how the head pilot answered him.
"Yeah! don't 'pear to be anythin' else in sight, an' its sure gettin'
mighty cold 'raound these diggin's, boy. I'm agoin' to drag aout my
heavy fleece-lined coat, an' climb into the same jest for fun."
"Go to it, old chap; and after you're settled give me a chance to follow
through, since I'm beginning to shiver as if I had the ague. This cold
of the upper air currents is a heap worse than any we run into on the
ground--seems to go all through you like a knife. Phew!"
Apparently Jack was not yet satisfied to drop lower; he would give their
present altitude a little more chance to show what it could do in
pressing the beastly fog down in the direction of the earth.
"Thunder an' Mars! aint it awful thick, though?" Perk was telling
himself, as he rubbed the glass, and did his best to pierce the
miserable stuff by which they were thus bound, so they had no power to
break loose. "Don't b'lieve I ever did see such a mess in all my days.
Talk 'bout flyin' blind, if we aint adoin' that same right naow I'll eat
my hat!"
Flying blind--yes, that name seemed most appropriate. Perk could look
away back to his childhood, and see the boys and girls playing--himself
with a handkerchief over his eyes, and trying to grope his way around so
as to lay hold of the active dodgers who slipped out of his grip so
adroitly. But he also remembered, with a chuckle, how as a rule it was
always possible for the bandage to be lifted just a little, allowing the
chaser slight glimpses of those whom he was supposed to trap, and catch
hold of.
"Huh! no sech luck in this here game up 'bove the clouds," Perk
grumbled, as if much provoked because there was no chance to
"peep"--that pea-soup sea covering so many miles in every direction was
absolutely impenetrable; and their only resource would be to depend on
their reliable instruments; keep their wits about them, so as to know
how far they were going in a certain direction; and when relief came be
able to about pick their position on the map.
That was supposed to be Jack's affair, and Perk felt quite willing to
trust his side partner to the limit; whatever Jack decided on he was
ready to make unanimous, and let it go at that; so why worry his poor
brain when his pal was so much better equipped for handling things?
Still, he _did_ worry--it would not have been Perk otherwise; for he
found all manner of grewsome possibilities crowding into his mind such
as must give him what he called "the willies."
"Hot-diggetty-dig!" he grumbled to himself "but this _is_ a nasty mixup
we've tumbled into. Jack, he says to me the weather reports tell haow
there seems to be a bit of fog aformin' off to the mountings--say, if
they calls this a _bit_ I wonder what a real smashin' big fog'd seem
like. From the way she acts I'm commencin' to figger as haow she could
keep this way right along fur a hull day'nd night, withaout fazin' any;
an' that's no bunk either. S'pose it does that same, what's bound to
happen to us dicks runnin' wild up here, I want to know?"
That was always Perk's trouble--anticipating things long before they
were really due. He even figured out how, with gas and supplies running
low, in the end they might have to make a perilous forced landing,
taking most desperate chances of a calamitous smash.
It kept him on "needles and pins" to have such a dire threat loom up so
soon after their takeoff, with the work connected with their mission
entirely in the future, and unaccomplished.
How the minutes did seem to drag when they were pretty much in the dark
as to the progress their ship was making; or whether they had managed to
hold on to the course set by Jack in the beginning.
"Huh! it's like gropin' 'raound yeour bedroom in the pitch dark, when
wakin' up from a bad dream--kinder lose yeour head, an' get sorter nutty
in the bargain. Mebbe we're miles an' miles eouten the way, even gettin'
wuss rattled right along; but say, that aint like my partner, to lose
his head, an' run us into a blind sack. I jest _got_ to depend on Jack
to pull us through--aint I seen him come eout right-side up heaps o'
times when things they had an _aw_ful black look?"
Taking himself to task after this fashion Perk rose up out of his state
of despondency, and actually forced himself to chuckle, as if things
looked perfectly all right in his eyes; but there was something lacking
in the sound, something superficial, and his seeming hilarity did not
last long.
Thus it happened that once, when Jack, believing they were attaining too
great altitude, took a slide down, shutting off the power; Perk felt
positive he again caught a sound from somewhere that must certainly have
come from the exhaust of an airship motor, running at full speed!
The thought gave him a momentary thrill, it seemed so pregnant of
accumulating possibilities in the line of hazards; his old fear lest
they should have been surreptitiously followed by some secret enemy, in
the shape of an ally of the men they sought to run down, returned in
full force, to stab him most viciously.