A CLEVER LANDING
A brief time passed, and then Perk called out excitedly:
"Say, I kinder b'lieve I kin glimpse thet same pesky hangaout--looks
like some sorter mounting pass, sech as he drawed in his map, where they
went in an' kim aout; but they's a kinder haze ahangin' over yonder that
makes it hard to be dead sure. If we get it araoun' here it'll hide us
from bein' seen. The wind up here's hittin' us in the face, too, which
helps some in the bargain."
"Never mind about the hideout--that'll all come later on. Just now it's
that landing-field we need most of all--keep your glass on the ground
just ahead, Perk."
Ten seconds later the observer uttered a sudden exclamation.
"Get a bite?" demanded Jack, just about ready to swing around, as it
seemed taking too hazardous chances to continue their advance any
further.
"Kinder guess I sure have," Perk told him; and then proceeded to direct
the eyes of the pilot on a certain spot over which the ship was then
passing.
"You struck it that time, buddy!" exclaimed Jack, evidently mightily
relieved in his mind; for a crisis was upon them, with a change in their
movements absolutely essential, unless they meant to give the whole
scheme away, and wreck their plan of campaign, which was not to be
considered at all.
"Yeah," Perk went on to add, more confidently than before; "that's it,
for a certain_tee_--the on'y place where a ship kin drop with a ghost o'
a show to keep from bein' smashed to flinders. Goin' doawn, are yeou,
Jack?"
There was no need for the other to make answer, since already the big
Fokker tri-motored ship was dropping steadily. How fortunate for them
that just at that critical moment Nature herself was working overtime in
their favor--the wind veering until it came directly in their faces;
while that little haze acted as a veil to conceal them from the hidden
valley lookout--if indeed any such happened to be posted, to give
warning should danger menace the fugitive gangsters.
Perk waited, and watched, his tense face betraying the natural anxiety
he must just then be enduring. It was indeed no small danger that faced
them, for only a most skillful pilot would be able to successfully land
a great airship on such a precarious and scanty stretch of fairly level
ground.
A very small thing that could hardly be avoided, save through a near
miracle, would suffice to throw the heavy plane off balance, and bring
about a wreck that must interfere greatly with their mission, if not
utterly ruin every hope of success.
Yes, Perk could easily be excused for feeling a tenseness around the
region of his staunch heart--a tightening of the nerves and sinews--a
halt in his free breathing, all of them occurring simultaneously; for
the most sanguine of watchers would have easily said the feat was beyond
human capacity.
Yet there was Jack going about the job with apparently the same _sang
froid_ that it was his custom to show when coming down from the clouds,
to settle upon the almost perfect landing green of the big San Diego
airport.
"Say, what _wouldn't_ I give right naow if on'y I could ketch that
confident spirit my best pal's got mixed up in his mind an' heart?" So
Perk was telling himself as he saw the deftness of the touch shown by
the hand at the controls, as well as the wonderful response the perfect
mechanism aboard the Fokker displayed.
Now Jack held her head on, with the ground almost within reach--beyond,
the narrow stretch extended just about a hundred feet; and in this space
he must bring his charge up with a round turn; for should the ship keep
on she would assuredly be wrecked beyond repair.
The tail came in contact, and bounded up again, to immediately repeat
the manoeuvre; the wheels gliding roughly along, with the body of the
ship bouncing from side to side, after the usual custom when the landing
is at all inclined to be a bit off-color.
The motors had ceased working, and the spinning propeller had in
consequence commenced to whirl less violently. Perk allowed himself to
suck in his first good breath in a score of seconds.
"Glory be!" he was saying to himself, lost in admiration and sheer
wonder--"dang my hide if he ain't agoin' to make it, I do declare--did
yeou ever in yeour born days see the like o' that--bet there
aint another pilot west o' the Mississip could a done it that
qsmart--hot-diggetty-dig! we're astoppin', as sure as anything we air.
Wow!"
As the big plane ceased to move forward and came to a stand less than
five feet from the terminus of the smooth ground, Perk, utterly
overcome, lay back inert, "weak as a cat," as he himself afterwards
described his condition.
"And that's that!" was all Jack allowed himself to comment; just as he
might have said in the days when he was a barnstormer, and 'chute leaper
at County Fair gatherings--after sailing down from a five-thousand foot
ceiling, clinging to his decrepit parachute, and making a soft landing
in some ploughed field.
They both sat there as if to recover their breath.
No longer did the roar of the exhaust break upon their hearing--all was
marvelously still round about them--the rocks reared their crests high
above their heads, and looking more cruel and pitiless than when seen at
a distance. Perk shuddered as he noted the innumerable projections that
stuck out almost like giant needles in a cushion, any one of which, had
its point come in contact with the now stranded ship, must have played
havoc with its structure.
"Huh! wake me up somebody, wont yeou kindly?" Perk finally broke out, as
if possessed by the idea he must have been dreaming such a descent could
be put through successfully. "There sure never was sech a crackin' good
drop as the one yeou jest made, Pal Jack--I hand yeou the palm for luck
an' skill combined; an' I hopes as heow I have yeou fur my side kick as
long as I'm in this here flyin' trick!"
Jack turned a beaming face on him at hearing this fulsome compliment.
"Nice of you to say what you did, Perk, old chum;" he remarked, with a
nod of his head; "but you greatly overrate the landing--all any one had
to do was to pick out the safest way, and stick to it through thick and
thin. Easy as falling off a log, let me tell you, buddy."
"Oh! yeah; _but yeou stuck_!" Perk thrust back, as though after all that
clinched the whole matter, which it undoubtedly did.
"Next thing we've got to do, Perk, is to check up, so as to find out
whether the ship was injured any by contact with rocks."
"Right yeou are there, partner," the other chimed in, quickly; "but I
kinder guess as haow we aint got much to worry over that-a-ways, 'cause
she kim daown so easy like, it wouldn't hardly abroken an egg."
"The proof of the pudding is always in the eating," wary Jack told him;
"and we know one of the weakest parts of a ship lies in the undergear.
Let's get a move on, and find out what's what."
Accordingly they both started to look things over, backed by a host of
past similar checkings. It could be only a superficial examination; but
just the same the result pleased them immeasurably, for never the least
damage could they hit upon.
Perk was almost delirious with joy, and wonder as well.
"I never would a b'lieved that stunt could be pulled off if I hadn't
seen the miracle carried aout with my own lamps," he kept saying half to
himself, as he finished his part of the survey. "Jest won-der-ful, I'd
call it, an' let her go at that, which doant tell half the story."
Jack, having had the severe strain removed from his mind, now consented
to finish his breakfast, the natural hunger of a healthy young chap
asserting its prerogative. Accordingly, since Perk also confessed to
feeling a "bit peckish" they sat down on the ground, with the coffee
container between them, and a heap of the "ham-an' sandwiches" which had
come from their favorite restaurant.
"As soon as we get through this necessary business, Perk, we'll stow
some of the grub that's left over in our pockets for an emergency. After
that we'll pick out such traps as we may need in our game, and trot
along--though judging from the looks of this same ravine it'll be only a
figure of speech, because we'll find it necessary to crawl like a couple
of snails most of the way."
"Yeah! that sounds more like it, buddy," agreed Perk, eying the
depression with a scowl, as though he hardly liked the nature of the job
ahead.