THE MYSTERY AIRSHIP
"I say, Jack!" Perk called, making use of the friendly ear-phones.
"What's eating you, buddy?" demanded the other, who must have known from
his comrade's shifting about so much there was something amiss.
"Did yeou hear it?" asked Perk, anxiously.
"You mean that sound in the fog pack, don't you?" Jack countered.
"Yeah, yeou said it, partner--I kinder guess naow it was a ship up here
in this same sea we're buzzin' through, don't yeou?"
"Couldn't be anything else, because we're thousands of feet away from
ground," Jack admitted; and somehow it gave his chum a feeling of relief
to notice how his voice showed no signs of sudden alarm.
"As haow would yeou make it eout to be--some bewildered air-mail pilot
loose in his bearin's, and shootin' ahead, thinkin' he could get
somewhere right speedy, so's to find his course agin?"
"Not any, Perk; and you'll realize that much if you figure things out in
a matter-of-fact way. They don't have greenhorns in the air-mail
service, or carrying passengers on the big lines--every applicant for a
job has got to have a thousand hours at least in the air, and even at
that he isn't reckoned to have won his spurs. If such an experienced
flier got balled up in this fog blanket he'd do just what we're carrying
out--depend utterly on his instruments. His compass would tell him he
could never regain his course by flying _due east_!"
"That's what he's adoin' then, yeou figger, eh, Jack?"
"Sure thing, boy--he's directly behind us, and getting closer right
along, for the sounds keep growing louder."
"Guess that's so, partner--I kinder had an idee he was on aour tail.
What's the answer, Jack?"
"Another dive, maybe two in fact, so as to leave him this ceiling to
himself. We can climb again, buddy, after he's passed us, and pushes
further on his way. That's the only sensible thing to do."
Perk had been allowing his mind to picture a battle royal up there in
cloudland, amidst the fog mists, where machine-guns might rattle just as
years ago they always did when bitter foes over on the French border
came in contact, while bent on forays that took them on long air
voyages, to bomb forbidding ammunition dumps, and thickly manned
trenches back of No Man's Land.
In imagination he had already heard the terrible long roll being sounded
by the chattering quick-firing guns; with a hail of missiles sweeping
all around them, like a swarm of enraged hornets as experienced in his
own boyhood days.
But Jack, who kept his imagination under better control, did not look at
things in the same way--his idea was not to accept the gage of battle
when diplomacy and clever tactics could shift it on to some future date,
when the chances might be more in their favor.
What a partner to have at your side when things looked more or less
dubious--Perk drew a long breath as of relief, and inwardly blessed the
day he paired up with Jack Ralston.
There, once more they were shooting almost straight down into that
bewildering sea of fog. It could not but give even seasoned Perk the
thrill of his life, as he contemplated what would happen should they
dash against some isolated mountain crag or peak, while rushing along at
this tremendous speed.
He held his breath during the score of seconds they occupied in thus
seeking another ceiling. Then the quivering ship, under Jack's skillful
guidance, glided into a level course, and Perk breathed naturally once
more.
While the swift descent continued he had listened intently, and was
overjoyed to note how the distinct clamor of the other plane's motor
gradually grew fainter, thus proving that they must be increasing the
distance separating the two hidden airships.
Jack, one eye on his altitude instrument, even brought about another
dip, during which Perk failed to catch even the faintest mutter of a
working motor; which fact seemed to prove beyond dispute their object
had been achieved--the unseen flying craft had been given all rights to
that upper ceiling, and all danger of a chance collision in the sky
lanes was avoided, at least for the time being.
They were still heading into the east, with a shade running toward
northeast, as though Jack continued to hold fast to his belief they were
following the proper course. It required the most wonderful grasp upon
the situation, as Perk well knew, to keep going so confidently through
such an ocean of dense fog, utterly unable to see any obstacle
threatening them ahead.
Perk, absolutely content to leave all matters of this sort in the hands
of the partner who had never as yet failed him in a pinch, found himself
wondering what that decision, given so assuredly by his companion, might
signify--if not a lost air-mail pilot, then who could the unknown
voyager, shooting so recklessly through the pea-soup sea, be?
They were again ascending, proving that Jack understood what additional
chances for a mishap they were tempting at the lower level, and wished
to play safe as soon as he could do so with the unknown ship having
passed on into the unseen vacuum ahead.
Again did the temperature approach close to the freezing point, and no
wonder, with their ship soaring at such a height; but in that part of
the mountainous country they must expect to find lofty uplifts mounting
to the clouds, many thousands of feet above all comfortable atmosphere.
Perk busied himself in moving around, following such duties as devolved
on his shoulders while his partner handled the stick. His chief concern
lay in the direction of finding out just when the dense vapor began to
form a thin coating of ice on the wings.
With the coming of such an insidious enemy their danger increased
ten-fold, since by degrees it would add enough weight to the already
heavily laden ship as to force it down all too speedily, with what
hidden perils lying in wait below as only a lively imagination could
vision.
Still that question remained unanswered--try as he might Perk seemed
unable to successfully grapple with so puzzling and knotty a problem--if
not a mail pilot off his course, nor yet some enemy trying to overtake,
and run them down in midair, then who could it be?
With Perk bewildered the matter must inevitably settle down to one well
practiced means for finding the answer to the enigma--"ask Jack--he
knows"--a formula as simple as anything could be, also shifting all
responsibility to other shoulders.
Perk went at it again, and asked for light.
"Mebbe naow, partner," he called out, "it might be yeou guessed this
crazy flier up yonder was some madcap pilot atryin' to beat the record
goin' east from coast to coast; or else a locoed lad carryin' a
passenger who'd lose his hull fortune if so be he didn't land in Wall
Street inside so many hours."
Jack laughed, as though amused at these vague stabs--he knew what the
other had in his mind by going on in this fashion.
"Just fishing again, eh, Perk--want to know what I think covering the
game, isn't that so? Well, listen, and I'll put a flea in your ear."
"Go to it, partner--I'm agreeable, an' wantin' to be informed," Perk
hastened to say.
"Among those documents I examined there was one fact I laid some stress
on, which consisted of a statement that the Secret Service man who sent
his report in, and then seemed to disappear utterly from the knowledge
of all men, declared it to be his opinion these hideout big guns in the
criminal world, working under our old friend Slippery Slim Garrabrant,
had some sort of an _airship_, with which they were doing a rattling
good business--perhaps you slipped up on that particular fact; but I
figured we might run across that plane, sooner or later, and have
considerable bother with the same."
"Hot-diggetty-dig! then Jack, you mean it could a been that crate we
heard abeatin' time on aour tail; an' mebbe chasin' us like hot
beans--tell me, is that what hits you so hard, matey?"
"I have a pretty strong idea it was their ship, covering a well-known
course from the coast to this valley in the rocky unknown territory too
rough even to have been explored, as it was believed to be worthless for
even mining purposes. As to whether those aboard were trying to strike
us in the fog, that's still a mystery, and must remain such for the
present."
"Then do yeou guess they knowed we was ahead on the same track, eh,
Jack, ole hoss?"
"Remember Perk, that as far as we know they didn't change their ceiling
at any time--just kept booming away at the same level. That being the
case they couldn't have heard the sound of our own motor working, as
their exhaust would deafen them completely; for we only caught the
racket behind us when we were shooting the shoot, with our engine
shut-off."
"Good enough for us, buddy--then we got a clear field ahead, an' c'n
foller aour own plans right along."
"For the time being; but don't forget we've got rough sledding ahead. It
all depends on how long we'll be held fast in the grip of this accursed
fog pack. Running blind isn't a very satisfactory way of getting along,
especially when you only know the country through rude charts that may
be all right, and then again sprinkled with errors that are bound to be
full of danger to us."
"Hit an' miss, Jack, we're used to takin' the chances--it's all a part
o' the followin' we're rappin' in. We jest got to do aour best, an'
leave the rest--aint I been adoin' that same mighty near all my whole
life? an' seems like little ole Perk he's still on deck, able to eat his
three good meals a day--whenever he c'n git the same."
"It's after midnight, Perk."
"So it be, partner; an' we muster gone a good many hundred miles since
jumpin' off--strikes me we orter be clost to the goal we had in aour
minds; if so be we been keepin' on a di-reck course, with no wabblin' to
check us aout."
"I figure that way myself," replied Jack; "but nothing can be done to
make certain until conditions change for the better."
"Which would mean we got some hours to kill, 'fore mornin' comes along
to give us a show fur aour money, eh, Jack, ole boy?"
"There's only one way to do that," snapped the other; "which is by
circling around, keeping our altitude, and within a range of say fifty
miles; and that's what I'm aiming to start doing right now."