WHEN GREEK MET GREEK
The seaplane had stopped short, although its engine still rattled away
as vehemently as ever. Perk understood the reason for this--Oscar may
have been a hot-headed youngster away back when the great war was on,
but apparently his later experiences had cooled his blood to some extent
and he did not mean to be too rash.
Doubtless he could by this time plainly make out the sloop which was so
skillfully concealed, especially from the air above, and there may have
been a sufficiently menacing air about it that called for caution. He
was not such a fool as to blindly walk into what might prove to be a
clever trap, set by a bunch of those despised Government workers to
catch him napping.
Accordingly he considered it good policy to hold off and pepper the
sloop from stem to stern before taking any further steps at doing any
boarding and seizing it for its rightful owners.
Then again, in order to get the best work from his firearms and have his
hands free, he knew he should fix matters so he could drop the controls
and pay strict attention to his other job.
Perk was lying low, holding himself in readiness for action. He believed
he would be amply protected by the logs he had piled up, but just the
same he did duck his head involuntarily at the first crack of the
machine-gun the pilot of the Curtiss boat was handling so lovingly, as
though it might be an old and valued "baby" in his estimation.
But just the same Perk could not allow any misunderstanding to keep the
other in ignorance of how matters stood--he had sent out his impudent
challenge, and Perk was quick to accept it.
So the din was further increased by a second barrage, chiming in with
perhaps its notes ranged along a little higher key, but on the whole
playing skillfully and merrily its own part in the mad chorus that
reigned.
How the chatter of those two rapid-fire guns did carry on, with the
splinters flying every-which way as the missiles tore them loose from
the logs and the coaming of the sloop's deck.
Perk was compelled to do most of his work while keeping his head down,
lest he be potted in that rain of bullets the other fighter was pouring
in on him. Consequently he could hardly be expected to do himself full
justice. Perhaps Oscar on his part was working under a similar
disadvantage, for he really had little in the way of a barricade to
intercept the shower to which he was being subjected.
Lucky for him he had shown the good sense to stop his advance with
considerable distance separating him from the hidden sloop--had they
been closer there was not one chance in ten that some damage would not
have placed his seaplane out of commission, even though the pilot
himself escaped death.
Then suddenly a white flag shot up from the sloop's breastworks. Oscar,
with the gallantry such as had ever distinguished the air fighters on
both sides in those days that tried men's souls, ceased firing.
"Give up?" he was bawling, as the rapid-fire guns both became silent,
while their hot barrels cooled off a bit.
"Not so you could notice it," Perk shouted. "Jest wanted to exchange a
few words with you, if you're Oscar Gleeb, an' it's true that you was a
live-wire over there in France an' the Argonne--say, is that all to the
good, Mister Pilot?"
The other did not answer immediately. Plainly he must have been
considerably astonished at the queer turn the engagement had taken; and
then again possibly he did not exactly like the idea of being compelled
to acknowledge his identity, fearing it might be only a trap to ensnare
him in the meshes of the law he had been defying so flagrantly.
"What's that matter to you?" he finally yelled testily, so that Perk
began to suspect he must have touched up the other with one of the
bullets that struck the seaplane.
"Oh! nothin' much," sang out the complaisant Perk, cheerfully, "on'y I
wanted to let you know I was over there in the same line and had the
good luck to send down a few o' you Hun pilots in a blazin' coffin.
Wondered now if me'n an' you mightn't a had a private scrap o' our own
in them bully times. Allers did hanker to have a talk-fest with you,
sense I heard 'bout you bein' one o' them bloomin' hot Junker pilots."
A hoarse laugh greeted this amazing sally of Perk's.
"Say, what sort of a crazy gyp are you to want to talk things over while
we got this scrap on?" bellowed the helmeted man in the shot torn cabin
of the amphibian. "That's our boat you're standin' on, and we need it in
our business, see? Give you three minutes to clear out, for I'm comin'
aboard. Get that, Kamarad?"
"Sure thing, Oscar old hoss, but when you do it'll be feet first, for
I'm fixed to fill your carcass so full o' lead it wouldn't need any
cannon ball to sink you if you died at sea. So mind your step, Mister
Pilot--jest been gettin' my hand in so far, but what's comin' next'll be
a whole lot different, bet your boots!"
The other did not show the white feather but immediately set to work
once more with his weapon. No sooner was its chatter "on the air" than
Perk started giving his own gun a chance to show its worth. This made it
lively again and once more those aggravating splinters began to scatter,
worrying Perk not a little, for strange to say he dreaded lest one of
them find lodgment in his anatomy and this troubled him much more than
the possibility of being struck by a speeding bullet.
It was quite warm while it lasted, but presently Perk realized that the
opposition had suddenly ceased. Being a polite man and always pleased to
meet his antagonist on even terms, Perk also stopped firing. If Oscar
had decided to advance once more and try conclusions at close quarters
where it would be give and take, he, Perk, could prove himself a most
accommodating chap.
Sure enough the engine of the amphibian had started up with increased
vigor and Perk, cautiously lifting his head, saw that the plane was
really in motion. But it was also veering to one side, which action
might mean either one of two things--that the other had had quite enough
of this exchange of hot fire and was pulling out, or else that in his
crafty German way he was meaning some sort of flank attack in hopes of
carrying the fort.
Faster and faster was the taxiing airship rushing through the water and
Perk continued to hold his fire, realizing that the fight was over.
"Go to it, Oscar old hoss!" he burst out, as he grasped this clinching
finish of the strange engagement with the rival gunmen separating after
a hot exchange of compliments, each apparently able to move off under
his own steam, "Beat it for all you're worth while the goin' is good.
There, he's lifted his crate in one big pull an' I kinder guess he ain't
hurt much either, else he couldn't show so much steam. Wall, here Perk's
been left in possession, after all that bluff he put up. But it sure was
a dandy jig while it lasted."
At that Perk began to laugh as though the true perspective had flashed
before his eyes for then, and later on, too, he was ready to declare
that a more ridiculous as well as unprofitable battle had never been
waged between two rival pilots of the upper air lanes.
Now the fleeing ship had mounted to a fair ceiling and was rushing off
in a roaring zoom but Perk noticed his late foe was heading due east as
though bent on picking out an entirely different direction from the one
he had used when coming with an impetuous rush to investigate the
mysteries of the mangrove islands.
"Huh! that strikes me as a bit queer," Perk was telling himself as he
gazed after the ship, now growing smaller and smaller as it placed miles
between them. "Looks like Oscar might a remembered a mighty important
engagement he ought to keep. Oh well, I've had my little shindig, and
it's just as well we both came through okay--them as 'fights an' runs
away, may live to fight another day,' that old sayin' has it which is
sure a true thing. Hey! what's this mean--seems like I didn't come
through as soft-like as I figgered I had--blood on my hand, yep, an' on
my face ditto. Guess one o' them nasty zippin' bullets must a creased my
ear, and fetched the juice a little. Shucks! nothin' to bother about I'd
say."
He took his old red bandanna and dabbed at his right ear with many a
grunt as well as chuckle.
"Seems like it's the only time I've weltered in my own gore for a coon's
age," Perk was saying as he looked at the stains on his faithful if
faded rag that had been his close companion on many a long flight
through fog and storm, wintry cold and summer heat. "But then I got a
notion Oscar must a'been nipped, too, mebbe a whole lot worse'n me.
Honors are 'bout even, I guess, and if ever I do run across that lad
again I'm meanin' to shake hands with him, jest out o' consideration for
the fox an' geese game us air pilots used to play in the big ruction
over there."
By chance Perk turned his gaze in another direction for he no longer
found any interest in keeping tabs on his late antagonist whose ship was
now growing dim in the distance, having entered among a bunch of fleecy
clouds.
Hardly had Perk turned his head than he gave utterance to a low cry.
"What do I see but another crate humping along this way, an' outen the
no'th in the bargain?" he observed, with ill concealed eagerness in his
tones. "Could it be Oscar, an' the other skunks got 'em a hull fleet o'
airships to carry on their trade o' smugglin' in licker, diamonds an'
Chinks that want to get in this country more'n they do the yeller man's
Paradise? Oh! rats, what'm I thinkin' about--wake up, Gabe Perkiser, an'
use your noodle like it was given to you to handle. To be sure that
second plane is our own bus, with my pal handlin' the stick. An' I guess
Oscar must a glimpsed him headin' this way, which made him reckon this
wasn't the healthiest place in the country for a feller o' his size, so
he skipped out _pronto_. Yep, that's my pal for a cookey, I'd know
his way o' handlin' a ship in a dozen an' as far as I could lamp the
boat."
On the whole he was extremely glad to see Jack returning, although also
pleased to know he had had his little frolic in a miniature battle that
for the brief period of its life had been able to give him a most
delicious thrill.
He watched the oncoming ship grow in size and noted the significant fact
that its approach was so lacking in all the customary racket that
deafens the human ear.
Then presently a hand waved to him, Jack swung around and dropped with a
little splash upon the water--just where Oscar had so recently left
it--to taxi along and pull up close to the camouflaged sloop.