Eagles of the Sky: or, With Jack Ralston Along the Air Lanes

CHAPTER XVIII
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.”

CHAPTER XIX
THE SCENT GROWS WARMER

It all seemed so simple, as Jack put it, that Perk felt everything was bound to come their way eventually if not just then. All the same his sound common sense told him there was apt to be some pretty lively times in store for them before the end they sought had been obtained.

He had the feeling of one who had been fed up on thrilling details and figured on having a great volume of tragic possibilities to mull over in his customary fashion–for all the world, as Jack often told him, like a cow chewing her cud.

Realizing that Jack had now posted him thoroughly, Perk managed to curb his curiosity besides, the chances were his pal would be likely to frown on anything approaching garrulity.

Several hours passed and most of this time they spent taking short naps in order to keep in condition for anything that might crop up. Then came the dawn, to find Perk pawing over his haversack in which he had food stowed away, with which he calculated to meet any “hold-over” that might come along.

That dawn was a wonderful one, especially for those unaccustomed to what Florida could offer in the way of sunrises. Even while the pair partook of their limited breakfast, they kept an eye on the amazingly delicate shades of color that marked the approach of the sun above the eastern horizon.

But they had work ahead and could not waste time by lingering over the early morning meal. In order to lessen the chances of discovery it would be necessary for them to conceal the ship from spying eyes and with his former effectual result in camouflage as a sample of how it could best be accomplished, Perk took it upon himself to repeat the operation.

They had aboard the amphibian a cleverly arranged collapsible canvas boat that could be launched in short order and was to be propelled by means of a short but serviceable paddle. While up in Canada with the Mounties, Perk had become quite proficient in the use of a paddle and also in balancing by sheer instinct while in a tipsy little canoe.

Accordingly he convinced his chum that since both of them could hardly expect to occupy the small shallop and carry any quantity of greens, it was up to him, Perk, to put the job through in good shape. Jack could be checking up his motor and taking a survey of the boat so as to make certain it was in serviceable condition.

“Cause you know, partner,” Perk went on solemnly, “when we do want to skip out it’s bound to be in a hoppin’ hurry an’ there’d be no time to look her over then, by jiminy. Jest lie around an’ take things easy-like–your work is a’goin to be mostly with the brain, while I’m the lad to use the muscle.”

Jack felt that since the canoe was so diminutive, Perk’s logic was unanswerable, so he agreed to the division of labor.

“Only, if it turns out that the job’s a bigger one than you reckon on, buddy, you’ll let me take a whirl at it,” he suggested, to which the other simply grinned and nodded his head.

The work went on steadily and Perk eventually had every part of the amphibian covered with deceptive green stuff, well calculated to hoodwink any air pilot passing directly over the spot.

This accomplished, he was ready to call it a day and drop down close to Jack for a resting spell. When they talked it was in low tones, almost bordering on whispers, for Jack took no chances of some enemy being within gunshot range of their hideout, whose ears would be likely to catch the sound of ordinary voices.

Jack, observing what his chum had accomplished, felt compelled to give the artist his meed of commendation.

“You sure made a fine job of smothering things with all this stuff, Perk,” he told him, which was music in the other’s ears, since he would rather have Jack praise him than any one he knew. “No easy thing to hide these stretched-out wings and the fuselage, too, as well as the shiny parts of the crate–motor, propeller, and such, but you fixed it to beat the band.”

“Can that sort o’ talk, partner–it was a soft job an’ anybody with sense could a’done it as good as yours truly. Goin’ to be a sure enough long day, ’cordin’ to my way o’ lookin’ at it.”

“Oh! nothing like having a little patience,” commented Jack calmly, for he seldom showed signs of being in a hurry. “Men in our line of business must learn to just hang on and wait for the proper minute to strike the hook home in the fish’s jaw.”

“Yeah, an’ then hang on some more, after they git the barb well hooked, with the game fish kickin’ up an awful row,” chuckled Perk. “Huh! don’t I know how impatience is my besettin’ sin and ain’t I always a’tryin’ to curb it? That’s why I’m crazy to work in double harness with you, brother, ’cause you hold me in when I feel like spreadin’ myself brashly. Guess I know when I’m well off. Time to take another spin in dreamland, seems like,” with which remark Perk assumed as easy a position as the crowded cabin of the ship admitted, closed his eyes, and so far as Jack could tell from his regular breathing was asleep.

It was indeed a long morning for them both.

Came noon and they again proceeded to enjoy a snack, for appetites have a habit of growing rampant despite any lack of expenditure in the way of muscular activity.

“I was jest thinkin,” Perk remarked as they chewed their dry food, more as a duty than because they enjoyed it, “that we might be put on short rations if we’re held up on this here job any great length o’ time.”

Jack refused to be disturbed by such a possibility.

“Oh! I reckon there isn’t much chance of that happening,” he said in his usual optimistic manner. “If things get pretty bad we can make a foray on the pantry of the shack where our friend puts up when over here. Knowing that he’s fond of his grub, with oceans of the long green to lay in the best of supplies with, I rather think he keeps a well-stocked larder at all times. I don’t figure on either of us being starved out while there’s a flock of eatables close by,” and from the way in which Perk licked his lips on hearing this said, it was plainly evident he fully agreed with his pal.

After that wonderful sunrise, which even Perk had called glorious, the sky clouded up around noon and there were even signs to warn them that rain might come along by nightfall. The visibility, too, became somewhat poor which possibly was one reason that influenced Jack to make a certain decision which Perk heard later on with unbounded pleasure.

“It’s getting on my nerves a bit, too, I must confess, Perk,” was the way he started to state his case, “and since there would be small chance of discovery, thanks to this muggy atmosphere, what’s to hinder our taking a little stroll, keeping a wary eye out for stragglers?”

“I get you, partner,” was the eager way Perk snapped him up on the proposition which exactly tallied with what he himself had been wishing. “I calculate now it means we c’n move around an’ get tabs on this here hideout o’ the gent we’re so much in love with, eh, what?”

“Wouldn’t do any harm to learn the lay of the land,” Jack told him, “especially since we mean to do most of our snooping under cover of night. So let’s step out and take our little saunter. We know right well in a general way that the shack must lie down the shore, by that point jutting out a mile away. Let’s hope we’ll be able to run across some kind of trail by following which we’ll fetch up as close as we want to go for the first time. Both of us must make a mental map of everything we see so as to feel sure of our ground when darkness comes.”

“That’s the ticket, partner, let’s go!”

Perk lost no time in picking up the small hand machine-gun, that could be used much after the fashion of a long barreled German Luger quick-firing pistol and when Jack looked dubiously at it his chum hastened to explain his reason for lugging such a weapon along.

“Huh! the weight don’t count with such a husky as me, old hoss an’ how do we know what’s goin’ to happen before we gets back here? These guys, I take it, are quick on the trigger and if we got to fight we’d have a better chance to pull out alive if we carried this little pill-box.”

“Oh, well! have it your own way, brother,” Jack told him, evidently impressed with Perk’s logic; and so they started forth.

CHAPTER XX
DENIZENS OF THE FLORIDA SWAMPS

After all it was perhaps a wise determination on the part of Jack to thus take time by the forelock and endeavor to learn the lay of the land while a fitting opportunity lasted. To start out when darkness lay over everything, with no knowledge whatever concerning the prospect before them, would have doubled the chances for some grievous calamity overtaking them even before they were ready to strike their first blow.

Jack had a pretty strong suspicion they were in the neighborhood of some stretch of swampland–he was backed in this supposition by several things–the general low lay of the ground bordering the great lake and also the fact that snowy white egrets, as well as cranes, flew to and fro during the early morning, as though they must have a roost not far away and he had been told that as a rule these gathering places were to be found in the gloomy depths of a swamp.

If they should chance to lose their way in those dark and dismal swamps and find themselves mired in the mud holes, they would be in a sorry fix, and they might even be forced to shout for assistance in order to save their lives, thus revealing themselves to their enemy, for the tenacious muck had a tendency to act in the same treacherous fashion as quicksand, clutching the victim and dragging him down, inch after inch into its unfathomable depths.

Hardly were they started than one pleasing discovery was made. Just as Jack had hoped might be the case, a dim trail was struck not far back from the border of the silent lake, that gave promise of leading them in the course they planned to go.

Jack made certain that there were no signs of this trail having been used by human beings–at least in recent times; possibly it may have originally been an Indian trail in those days when Osceola and his gallant followers dared defy the powers at Washington and declare open war upon the few white squatters at that time in the southern portions of the Florida peninsula. Or, what was more probable still, it might be only the pathway used for ages by innumerable four-footed denizens of the swamp,–deer, panthers, raccoons, ’possum, foxes, wildcats and the like.

It was a meandering trail, evidently following the path of least resistance for on both sides the shrubbery, together with wild grape-vines and various other climbers, made a solid barrier that even a weasel might have found difficult to negotiate.

Presently their road skirted the border of the swamp Jack had felt so certain could not be far away. Here new and wonderful sights greeted their eyes and Perk in particular stared with all his might, taking in the flowers that festooned many of the trees–palmetto, live-oaks, wild plum, gumbo limbo, and queer looking cypress, with their cumbersome butts rising several feet from the ooze in which they grew. Most of the trees were festooned with long trailing banners of gray Spanish moss that gave them a most unusual appearance.

Since it was Perk’s first hand knowledge concerning the looks of a genuine Southern swamp, he felt justified in making frequent halts in order to gaze and wonder. Particularly was he impressed with the giant alligator that had been sunning himself on a half-submerged log and had slid off with a splash at their approach, also the multitude of water moccasins to be seen on stumps and other objects, looking most vicious with their checkered backs and dusty bellies.

“You want to take particular notice of those dirty looking boys,” Jack told him in a low tone, pointing to a bunch of the reptiles as he spoke, “for they are water moccasins, cowardly enough, but always ready to give you a sly stab and I’ve been told they are so poisonous that even if a man didn’t die after being struck, his wound would never heal properly and his life become a burden to him. Give the critters a wide berth always, partner.”

“Huh! you jest better believe I will, Jack–never did care much for snakes, even the harmless kinds an’ I’d jump three feet in the air when out West, if ever I heard a locust buzz, thinkin’ it must be a rattler. Me an’ the crawlin’ breed don’t mix, that’s what.”

Hardly three minutes after Perk had given expression to his dislikes, Jack caught him by the arm and with a trace of excitement that was really foreign to his nature, pointed to some object close to the trail they were following.

“Jeru-salem crickets!” gasped Jack, possibly a bit louder than discretion would warrant but Jack felt there was some measure of excuse for his outburst.

There a monstrous diamondback rattlesnake, fully five feet long and as thick through the body as a good-sized man’s thigh, had just raised its enormous flat head and opened its jaws to display its terrible fangs. Even as the two stood there and stared, the rattle began to whirr its deadly warning.

“It’s all right, Perk,” said Jack soothingly, not certain what the effect of so dangerous a neighbor might have upon his sensitive pal, “we can pass him by out of reach. A rattler, unless madly in earnest, never tries to strike further than his length for he has to get back in his coil in a hurry, being helpless to defend himself unless curled up.”

Jack showed that this was true by passing the spot, with the venomous reptile only increasing his rattle and drawing back his head. Then Perk shut his teeth hard and followed suit but it might have been noticed that he kept to the extreme edge of the narrow trail and had his muscles all set, as if in readiness to make a mighty spring if he thought the snake was about to launch his coils forward.

“Whew!” hissed Perk, after he had safely negotiated the peril that lay in the road, “I’m a’thinkin’ what risks we got to run tonight when we come a’snoopin’ ’long this way. Nigh makes my hair curl to figure on that baby comin’ slap up against my leg. Wish now I had my old leather huntin’ leggings with me to ward off them terrible fangs, each one an inch long, seemed like to me.”

“Between us, brother, I myself don’t seem to hanker traveling along this trail after dark, and I mean to carry that small flash of mine, turning the light on every few seconds for I don’t believe it would be noticed. But they tell me these whoppers are rather scarce around these sections–there may not be another inside of five miles.”

“Glory! I should hope not,” said the still trembling Perk, “but I just can’t forget we’ve got even one here to bother us. If only I dared use my gun, I’d soon knock spots out o’ him, bet you a cookey, Jack.”

“Nothing doing, so forget that, partner. On the way back, if he’s still holding the fort, we might get a couple of long, stout poles, and try to knock him on the head if it can be done with little confusion–he won’t make any noise outside of whirling his rattlebox and we could keep our lips buttoned tight. Yes, that would be the best way to fix things, I reckon.”

Really Jack was saying this so as to comfort his mate; he realized that Perk had received a severe shock at sight of the diamondback crawler and it might affect his desire to do any prowling around after nightfall which would throw the entire burden of so doing on his, Jack’s shoulders. Besides, there was a fair chance that the snake would have withdrawn from his self-imposed task of guardian of the swamp trail and taken himself off to other pastures.

They resumed their forward progress, with Perk keeping a watchful eye out for other lurking perils–how were they to know but that an angry bobcat, bent on disputing this invasion of his tangled realm, might make a sudden spring from some limb of a live oak and land upon their backs to commence using his keen claws, tearing and stripping and snarling like a devil, such as these beasts always were reckoned in such sections of the country as he, Perk, had hunted.

Ten minutes, fifteen, passed then Jack again caught his chum’s arm and with a finger pressed on his own lips to betoken the necessity for silence, pointed to something ahead that must have just caught his attention. And Perk, looking, saw a sight that afforded him a sense of satisfaction both deep and profound.