ODDENEMIES FACE TO FACE
"Je-ru-salem crickets!" Perk told himself as he stared, "I do b'lieve
that's the same Curtiss-Robin crate we saw before, an' making direct for
this here section o' the map in the bargain! Now I wonder what he wants
to barge in for when things seem to be doin' their prettiest for us
fellers? Guess I'd better get ready for boarders. If that smart guy took
a notion to swoop down for a close-up o' these mangrove islands, he'd be
apt to pick me up, 'specially if he happens to own a pair o' glasses,
which stands to reason he sure does. Huh! what a bother. Better be slow
'bout foolin' with a buzz-saw, that's all I c'n say to him."
No sooner said than done, which was Perk's usual way of playing the
game. He changed his position for one that offered less chance for
discovery and while about it Perk started to build up something in the
shape of a formidable fortification.
"What luck to have all these logs lyin' around when I need them," he
went on to tell himself with many a dry chuckle. "Guess now they had 'em
aboard to pull the wool over the eyes o' any customs men that happened
to board the sloop lookin' for contraband stuff--meant to claim they was
fetchin' mahogany logs to a States market. Gee whiz! they sure are a
tough proposition to move around but here's the cutest little fort any
playboy could wish for. Let him come along--who cares a red cent what he
does, so long's I got this here machine-gun with plenty o' cartridges in
the belts to riddle things with. Ring up the curtain, an' let the play
start. Makes me think I'm back in the old line again along the Argonne,
an' say, jest 'magine how it all works out with one o' them same Hun
pilots swooping down on me! It sure is to laugh, boys."
By this time the oncoming plane was drawing perilously near and Perk
wisely settled himself so that he could see all that occurred.
He possessed a pair of marvelously keen eyes and while it would have
simplified matters considerably had he been handling those wonderful
binoculars, just the same he could get on without them.
By close application he was able to see a figure bending over the ledge
of the cabin window, apparently scrutinizing the queer combination of
mangrove patches and crooked water passages between. The plane was
rushing down a steep slant in a clever dive, or glide, so that with the
passage of each second the chances for the pilot to make a discovery
increased.
"Gosh! but ain't this the life, though?" muttered the watcher, thrilled
to the core with what was hovering over his head yet not so much as
making the slightest movement that would attract attention. If discovery
must come, Perk was determined that no act of his would hasten it along
and no responsibility for the tragedy--if such there followed--could be
laid at his door.
He had discovered some time back that the rival crate resembled their
own, in that it was in the amphibian class--could hop-off either from
the land or when on the water.
Really he had taken it for granted that such would turn out to be the
case, since occasions without number must arise when, for instance, the
smugglers wished to take alien Chinamen from some schooner or speedboat
by means of which the first part of their journey to the Promised Land
had been carried through, when it would be necessary for the plane to
drop alongside the boat from Cuba or other foreign ports and make the
transfer.
The prospect was far from displeasing to Perk--he felt positive that it
would be the first time on record when one of Uncle Sam's Secret Service
men fought it out with a taxiing seaplane on the subtropical waters of
the great gulf.
The outcome of course was hidden behind a haze of mystery--one, or both
of those engaged might never live to tell the story but then that sort
of uncertainty had been his daily portion during his thrilling service
on the French front and its coming to the surface again after all these
years of less arduous labor only made Perk hug himself, theoretically
speaking.
Now the flying ship was passing directly over his place of concealment,
although at rather a high ceiling. Would the Argus-eyed pilot make any
suspicious discovery, or, failing to do so, continue his scrutiny along
the many leagues of similar mangrove islands stretching far into the
south?
Perk saw him pass the spot, which caused him to imagine the game was all
off, and he would have nothing but his trouble for his pains. Indeed a
sense of heavy disappointment had even begun to grip his heart when he
saw the other suddenly bank and swing as though meaning to come back
again.
"Zowie! kinder looks like he _did_ glimpse somethin' that struck
him as wuth a second scrutiny," chuckled the anxious watcher, that
delicious thrill once more sweeping over his whole frame.
Indeed, it was a moment of more or less suspense, although Perk was
telling himself he did not care a particle whether the smuggler pilot
discovered the mast of the sloop, with its camouflaged deck below or
not.
He was only hoping that the other might not take a notion to fly
overhead and try to drop some sort of a miserable bomb down upon the
spot where things looked a bit suspicious to him. Possibly Perk still
seemed to get a faint whiff of the tear-gas that had drenched the
smugglers' boat at the time he himself hurled those two bombs with such
deadly accuracy and the possibility of being himself made the target of
a similar attack was anything but pleasing for him to contemplate.
This time the Curtiss-Robin sped past not much more than three hundred
feet above, so that he could plainly make out a head, with its
protecting helmet, earflaps, and goggles, that was projected from the
cabin.
"Darn his nerve, if he ain't wavin' his hand to me to say, 'I see you
little boy, you're it!' Spotted me, danged if he didn't, by ginger! an'
now the fun's a'goin' to start right along. Wow! this is what I like,
an' pays up for a wheen o' lazy days. How the blood does leap through a
feller's veins when he feels he's in action again. Oscar, old boy,
here's wishin' you all the compliments o' the season an' I hereby
promise to send back whatever you throw me. Go on and do your stuff, old
hoss--I'm on to your game okay!"
He found further cause for congratulation when he made certain that the
plane was now headed for the smiling surface of the little bay close by,
showing that the pilot intended to make his little splash, and take a
look at the hidden sloop with its illicit cargo of many cases that had
been so mysteriously snatched from the hands of those with whom he was
in close association.
This was as Perk would have it if given any decision in the matter. Once
the amphibian started to taxi toward him and they would be placed on the
same footing, each with a machine-gun to back him up and former
experience in handling such a weapon equally balanced. Could anything be
fairer than that, Perk asked himself, preparing for business at the drop
of the hat?
The plane had made contact with the water and was floating there like an
enormous aquatic fowl of some unknown species. Now the pilot was making
a right turn as though meaning to come down on Perk with the western
breeze--his motor was keeping up more or less of a furore, which told
Perk that shrewd though these up-to-date contraband runners might be, at
least they had slipped a cog by failing to keep up with the inventions
of the times, for undoubtedly this pilot had no silencer aboard his
craft to effectually muffle the exhaust of his engine.
However, this was no time to bother about such minor things when the
main issue was whether he was destined to "get" the ex-war ace, or the
other put him out of action when the battle was on.
Perk shifted his gun so that its muzzle kept following the moving
seaplane in its advance. Let Oscar but make a start in his projected
bombardment, and Perk stood ready to answer with a similar fusilade that
must rather astonish the other, for as yet he could have no assurance
that the concealed sloop was manned--doubtless he would figure the
seized craft had been hidden here and temporarily abandoned until such
convenient time as the captors could return with recruits and run it to
some port where the confiscated shipment might be turned over to the
proper authorities.
Just the same Oscar Gleeb might think it good policy to make sure of his
ground by spraying the boat's deck with a round or two of searching
missiles before attempting to board it.
Whatever way the cat was going to jump, Perk knew the issue was bound to
be joined before many more seconds slipped past, and he held himself
ready.