THE MASTER CROOK
One thing Perk noticed with more or less satisfaction as they drew
closer to the surface of the water was the fact that quite a stiff
breeze seemed to be blowing out of the north. The waves were running up
along the shore with considerable vigor and noise while the dead leaves
hanging from the palmetto trees fringing the bank above the meagre beach
kept up a loud rustling, such as would effectually drown any ordinary
splash made by the contact of their pontoons with the surface of the
lake.
Conditions could hardly have been more favorable for an undetected
landing--the time was late, so that it hardly seemed as though any one
would be abroad, the moon kept dodging behind successive clumps of dark
clouds that had swept up from the southwest and everything seemed to be
arranged just as Jack would have wished.
Perk had received instructions from his mate to keep on the watch for
certain landmarks that would serve to tell them they were not far
distant from their intended location. When in due time he made out the
wooded point that jutted out so commandingly from the mainland and had
communicated that fact to the pilot, Jack turned the nose of his craft
sharply downward, proving that the decisive moment was at hand.
Noted for his ability to carry through a delicate landing, Jack
certainly never did a prettier drop into a body of water, fresh or salt,
with less disturbance than on this momentous occasion, and they were
soon riding like a wild duck, just within sight of the shore.
There were no signs of anything stirring along the waterfront, Perk
observed, and yet if his suspicions were correct, there must have been
considerable activity around that same spot, with a ship coming in laden
with stupefied Chinamen, terrified by making such a trip from Cuba or
some Mexican port in a "flying devil" that could soar up among the very
clouds and span the widest of angry seas--perhaps on the other hand the
incoming aircraft would bring a cargo of precious cases, each almost
worth its weight in silver or maybe the skipper would carry a small
packet in his pocket that might contain a duke's ransom in diamonds that
would never pay custom duties to the Government.
No wonder then Perk was thrilled to the core with the sense of mystery
that brooded over this most peculiar locality--to him it already assumed
a condition bordering on some of those miraculous things he could
remember once reading in his boyhood's favorite book "The Arabian
Night's Entertainment," the glamour of which had never entirely left
him.
But already Jack was casting about, as though eager to find some place
of concealment where they could stow the ship away and so prevent prying
eyes from making a disastrous discovery--disastrous at least to those
plans upon which Jack was depending for the successful outcome of his
dangerous mission.
"We've got to taxi up the shore a mile or so," he was telling Perk in
the softest manner possible, although the noise made by the rolling
waves and the clashing dead palmetto leaves dangling from the lofty
crowns of the numerous trees would have deadened voices raised even to
their natural pitch.
"So," was all Perk allowed himself to say, but it testified to his
understanding of the policy involved in Jack's general scheme of things.
This was done as quietly as the conditions allowed, and how fortunate it
was they had held off from crossing over from the gulf until the middle
of the night--but then it might be expected that Jack would consider all
such things in laying out his movements.
In the end they managed to get the amphibian between two jutting banks
where the vegetation was so dense that there was no chance of a trail or
road passing that way. In the early morning Jack planned to once again
conceal his ship, even as the captured sloop had been camouflaged by
Perk's clever use of green stuff.
"That part of the job's done and without any slip-up," Jack was saying,
vastly relieved, "and now we can take things easy for a spell, during
which time I'll try and post you as far as I can about this queer fish,
Oswald Kearns, and what they've begun to suspect he's been doing all
this while."
"In the first place he's about as wealthy as any one would want to be,
so the reason for his playing this game doesn't lie back of a desire to
accumulate money. Some say he must have run afoul of the customs service
in the days when he hadn't fallen heir to his fortune and all this is
just spite work to get even--a crazy idea, but there may be a germ of
truth in it after all."
"He has a wonderful place not far out of Miami--they all say it's a
regular palace, where he entertains lavishly and yet not at any time
have they known of a raid staged on his castle, as some call the
rambling stone building that shelters a curio collection equal to any in
the art museums of New York City."
"Every little while Oswald Kearns disappears and no one seems to know
his whereabouts--some guess he's fond of tarpon fishing and goes out
with a pal to indulge in the sport, his destination being kept secret so
that the common herd can't swarm about the fishing grounds and annoy
him; then another lot say he is not the bachelor he makes out, but has a
little cozy home somewhere else with a wife who detests society and
that's where he goes when away from the Miami paradise."
"Both of these guesses are wide of the truth--what they told me up at
the Treasury Department set me thinking and I found some papers aboard
that sloop we captured that opened up a startling line of action that
might be unbelievable if it were any other man than the eccentric Oswald
Kearns."
"By the way, Perk, after I'd committed the contents of those papers to
memory I sent them by registered mail to Headquarters because, you see,
something might happen to us before we get to the end of this journey
and I reckoned the Department would like to be able to take advantage of
our discoveries."
"You did jest right there, partner," Perk told him--he was sitting there
drinking it all in with the utmost eagerness. "It sure would be a pity
if we kicked off an' Uncle Sam couldn't profit by what work we'd done.
But what you've already told me 'bout this here queer guy gets my goat,
like as not there never was a feller as full o' kinks as he is."
"I'm pretty certain of that, partner," Jack assured him, "there's no
doubt about his having been gassed in the war and that might account for
his actions--he's dippy along certain lines and he finds this way of
defying the Government gives him the one big thrill he wants. It's
almost incredible, I own up, but I believe we're going to prove it
before we quit.
"Some men you know find this excitement in driving a speeding car along
the beach up at Daytona at a hundred miles and more an hour, others go
out and hunt tigers in India, lions and elephants in wildest Africa, but
with this wealthy sportsman the craze takes the form of snapping his
fingers in contempt at Uncle Sam's Coast Guard and all the revenue men
in Florida.
"I was a bit skeptical at first, it all seemed so silly, such a whimsey
for a rich man to fancy--taking such big risks just for the thrill he
got--but the more I picked up about the man the less inclined I became
to doubt, and by now I'm convinced it is the truth."
"But what makes him keep all this smuggling business clear of this
wonderful show place near Miami?" asked Perk, apparently still groping
as though in a daze.
"Just wants to be living his double life," explained Jack, "with one
line never crossing the other--you might call it a Jekyll and Hyde sort
of an existence. But the truth will come out in broad daylight if ever
we _do_ round him up and catch him with the goods."
"Er--'bout how long will we be in makin' some sort o' start, boss?"
asked Perk anxiously.
"We may have to stick around here for some days while we do a little spy
work and lay our net," Jack told him. "A great deal depends on, how the
land lies and what success we strike in making our approach--you know
how it is with all golfers--approach means a whole lot to them. But if
we have the good fortune to nab our man after making certain we have
plenty of convincing evidence to be used against him, why there's our
boat ready to spirit him away before his gang can forcibly take him off
our hands."