The Sky Pilot's Great Chase; Or, Jack Ralston's Dead Stick Landing

XXII
PICKING UP CLUES

“Make your mind easy on that score, Uncle Jimmy,” Perk went on to say as he bent over the wounded man, “we’ll get up to the river post and my ol’ haunts in a rush, pullin’ out inside the hour an’ either fetch the doctor back with us in the ship or on hossback, all that dependin’ on how things happen to be with Colonel Ascot, who I understand is still in charge o’ the Mounties.”

Perk gave his mate a questioning glance as he said this, and was pleased to see Jack nod in the affirmative, as though thus putting the seal of his approval to the plan as given by his assistant.

“An’ now, ol’ friend,” Perk continued in a soothing fashion, for he knew the Scotch nature of the other and could understand how the McGregor must be inwardly fuming concerning the robbery that had taken place and the losses to the great fur company of which he was an old and efficient official, “’fore we pull outen here you must let my boss take a look at them cuts an’ bruises. It happens he’s a fair surgeon – amatoor one, I mean – an’ could fix you up to carry on till the reg’lar doc gets here. How ’bout that, Jack?”

If either the factor or the ancient trapper noticed the rather odd familiarity existing between Perk and his supposedly wealthy employer, it did not strike them as strange – away up in this jumping-off place, as far as civilization was concerned, men were more or less equals, being judged more from what their accomplishments might be than from their money and besides, they doubtless remembered that Perk had always been a sort of free and easy independent fellow when with the Mounties.

“That’s just about what we aim to do, Perk,” Jack immediately told the other. “I don’t claim to be much of a surgeon, but if there’s anything I can do to stop the bleeding, or bind up the cuts, I’ll be only too glad to lend a helping hand, Mr. McGregor.”

He was as good as his word for inside of five minutes Jack had stripped off his coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves and commenced to examine the injuries suffered by the determined old factor when he dared take his life in his hands and try to defend the property of his employers.

It turned out that there were some pretty bad cuts and it was a wonder no fatal blows had been given for there could be little doubt that the aggressors shot and stabbed in a most reckless fashion. But evidently the factor’s luck held good and Jack did not feel as though there was much danger of a fatal ending to the affair, providing no blood poisoning set in.

He called for warm water and clean cotton, which, being provided, he started to cleanse the wounds and apply some healing salve. So confidently did he work that the quaint looking old trapper, Birdseye, watching everything with wonder, might have been seen to nod his shaggy mane approvingly as though in his private opinion the young fellow was some surgeon indeed.

As he thus worked Jack entered into conversation with the factor, having two good reasons for doing so. He wished to distract the attention of his patient from himself and also to extract as much information as possible covering the recent raid. A description of the miscreants was given and especially of their savage leader known as the Hawk because of his faculty for striking a swift blow in one place and being heard of in another in such a short time as to make people believe he could fly like the speedy bird of prey.

“As far as I could say,” Old Jimmy told him in answer to a question, “he’s along about thirty years old, a shortish sort o’ a man, quick as a flash in his movements and with eyes that bore in like a gimlet might. He’s had his nose broken at some time or other, which gives him a bit o’ a look like an eagle or a hawk. It may be he got his present name from that. But he’s a devil, I’m thinking and ready to do anything, law or no law when he smells rich booty in the game.”

Jack gave Perk a knowing look accompanied by a wink for that description, brief though it might be, coincided with what had been in the secret information sent by his chief at Washington – the broken nose stamped it as a positive thing that the man he wanted was close at hand, engaged in his same old line of business, that of a hold-up man, robber of banks and payroll bandit with a record for masterly exploits second to none.

So too with regard to the sudden surprise and attack – it seemed as though the marauders must have had accurate information as to when the trading post would prove to be a rich prize and also weakly defended.

“They had their plans a’ set, I am fain to believe,” the factor told him as though he had somehow figured this out during the time he lay there on his cot, “for ye ken it is only a few days now when the customary Spring clean-up o’ the posts come to pass so they would know we had rich pickings on hand. They lookit over the whole o’ the bales an’ picked out a’ the high-priced pelts like they might be connoiseurs in that line, for I recognised two former trappers in the gang – Squatty Bings an’ Welchy, as tough an’ hard drinkin’ lads as ever lived.”

“I’ve been told they left here just about three hours back – is that correct, Mr. McGregor?” asked Jack, wishing to make certain, for a great deal might depend on the question of elapsed time.

“I am no so sure, for I have not looked at my watch since being carried in the house,” the factor informed him, “but Birdseye here would know, for he and the others were being herded in a bunch and kept under several guns. That was after I had been so badly mauled and lay helpless on the ground outside. They were in no great hurry – took their time, feasted on a’ the food they could stow away – did a lot more up in bundles and wi’ the choice pelts as well as a stock o’ ammunition, finally pulled out, leaving the few men next to helpless since their guns had been carried awa’.”

Taken in all, with a little imagination thrown in for good measure, Jack could picture the stirring happening as the outlaws, having accomplished all they planned to do, pulled up stakes and with jeering shouts as well as waving their hats defiantly, left the scene of their daring foray.

“They certainly had their inning,” he observed as he finished his fairly decent surgical work and rose to his feet, “but I’ve an idea they’re due for a little surprise before long when the tables may be turned. I came up here to hunt big game and if it happens to run on two legs, why, what’s the odds? A lot depends on how the colonel of the Mounties happens to figure when he learns what’s been going on around here – how these scoundrels are snapping their fingers and saying to the devil with the Mounties, whose glory has departed. I’m wondering just how it comes the Hawk and his crowd have been able to stave off arrest this long and if the reputation of your famous Northwest Police force has indeed been eclipsed.”

“Don’t you b’lieve that for a second, Jack!” cried the aroused Perk, jealous concerning the fame of the organization of which he used to be a proud member, “chances are they’ve been after this bunch right along an’ even now may be settin’ plans to net the hull gang – how ’bout that, Uncle Jimmy?”

“There have been a number of fierce fights within the past year between Colonel Ascot’s troopers and the Hawk’s gang – indeed, two of the Mounties have lost the number of their mess and three others had to be sent to the hospital at Winnipeg, seriously wounded in the encounters. This Hawk is said to be the toughest nut ever doing business in all this great region. He seems to bear a charmed life and bullets fail to bring him down. The chances are, when you reach the post, it will be to find that some sort of expedition is off on a seemingly warm trail for whenever the Hawk plans to make one of his brilliant raids he always fixes things so that the troopers will at the same hour be many miles away, heading for some threatened post and out of communication.”

Jack seemed very well satisfied with what he had gleaned – having been dispatched these many hundreds of miles just to apprehend this bandit, it pleased him to know what a thorn in the flesh Leonard Culpepper was proving to be in the lives of the guardians of the Northwest Territory.

Perk too, was grinning as if his thoughts might be rather pleasant.

“Huh! if that skunk could be picked up an’ carried back to the States where he belongs,” he went on to say with a chuckle, “I kinder guess Colonel Ascot he’d sleep some sounder. Wall, let’s hope it’ll come to pass afore many more days slip by.”

Apparently neither Old Jimmy nor yet the ancient skin-gatherer Birdseye noticed how Perk, a new-comer, seemed to know something they had never before heard, about the Hawk having drifted up from across the border but then in all the excitement taking place within the last few hours such a slip could pass unnoticed.

XXIII
THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE POST

It was now high time they were once more afloat.

Jack was well content to be on the wing since apparently nothing more was to be picked up at the devastated trading post. He and Perk should be heading for the station of the Mounties, so as to inform their commander with regard to what had happened at Frazer’s, further south.

Accordingly, after telling the old factor not to worry as they meant to start the Mounties on the way to the scene of the outrage with the least possible delay, both he and Perk pressed the hand of the wounded man and passed outside, followed by the admiring Birdseye who would never cease from sounding the praises of Jack’s surgical work.

The next thing to concern the pals was in line with their expected hop-off. Would it be possible to make the jump from such a wretched field, with its many bumpy spots calculated to cause the moving craft to wobble fiercely?

Together they walked over the anticipated course, examining the nature of the ground, to toss aside, when possible, such rocks as threatened to jar them seriously. When finally they had thus surveyed the entire stretch, Jack pronounced the decision in which his comrade concurred – that although they would assume some risks, still in the course of their experiences in the past both of them had successfully climbed out of even worse traps than the one they were now up against.

So they went aboard, watched by every living creature about the post saving Old Jimmy himself. As usual Jack checked his dials and the motor with a skill that only comes from long experience added to that peculiar air-minded wizardry possessed by just a few pilots, like Lindbergh.

“Okay Boss?” inquired Perk, picking up the ear-phones as if ready to adjust them to his head because it might be necessary for them to exchange remarks soon after they started, and according to Perk’s mind it was very essential they should be prepared.

“Here we go!” came the answer, upon which the motor took hold and the big ship started forward, followed by the cheers of Birdseye and his fellows although these grew fainter as the amphibian went bumping along, increasing its pace as Jack saw fit to pull back the stick against his breast, until just as they finally lost contact with the ground, the racket of motor and propeller smothered all other sounds completely.

They were off to a safe start and no damage done. Perk settled down in his seat ready to take up his accustomed duties although he felt convinced everything was in apple-pie condition aboard the boat.

Their course was a point off due north, Perk having coached his mate with regard to that important matter. Besides, from their lofty lookout point it would soon be easy enough to discern the post known as Fort Laney for it lay on one of the small rivers that emptied into the Mackenzie, itself starting in Great Slave Lake.

Perk could not but remark upon the changes that were gradually taking place in the country the further north they went. This struck him as wonderful, for although he had spent several years in this region, never before had he been privileged to take such a sweeping survey of the landscape as on the present occasion for heretofore he had been upon the ground where rocky mountains and all manner of huge obstacles obstructed the view and restricted the vision.

He could figure out just about in what quarter the Peace River lay, a place he had good occasion to remember since one of the most stirring adventures connected with his service in the Mounties had taken place on its banks. So too, was he able to look in the direction whence must lie the town of Simpson, on the great Mackenzie, some hundred miles or more distant as the crow flies. There was also Great Bear Lake, another body of water he had looked upon, and which must stir up other vivid memories for events in which he had taken a leading part, connected with the arrest of a notorious halfbreed, terrorizing the region roundabout, had brought him rather close to a fade-out since he met with serious wounds in the resulting scrimmage before he and his pal were able to overcome the desperado.

In this way Perk was indulging in recollections of past events that seemed very agreeable, to judge from the beaming smile he wore as he kept using the binoculars in order to pick out familiar scenes as they loomed upon his vision from time to time.

Then all at once Perk showed positive signs of excitement.

“Hi! there partner, let me take the controls for a spell! Want you to have the glasses and pick up that caribou jumpin’ off away yonder jest on t’other side o’ them birches that stand out so white’n clear.”

Jack lost no time in doing as he was bidden for thus far it had never been his good fortune to glimpse a real caribou outside of a zoo and the thought of watching one on its native heath and feeding ground gave him quite a little thrill.

“Get him yet?” demanded Perk anxiously, seeing that Jack was moving the binoculars along as though their swift passage was carrying them past the patch of birch trees.

“Sure do, buddy,” admitted the other, to add: “Looks like he might be close enough to eat out of my hand – keepin’ an eye on this crate all right, as if he didn’t just like our looks. There, he sprang off like an express train on the transcontinental railroad and I’ve lost him in the thick bush. I’d like to knock over one of his breed while we’re up here but hardly think I’d be justified in staying around a single day longer than is absolutely necessary.”

It turned out, however, Jack did get an opportunity to do that very thing, but of which event more anon.

He again took over the stick, being desirous of handling the ship when later on they reached the river post and started to drop down on the stream for a stop-over, long or short, neither of them knew just then.

Ten minutes later Perk made his announcement.

“I c’n make out the barracks as plain as anything, with the river just beyond. We’ll be there in a jiffy, partner! How it all comes back to me, the interestin’ life I led up here with the boys – I’ll sure miss that Davis lad who, I learned, was one o’ the pair got killed in the fight with that bloody-minded Hawk. Claude Davis had an old mother livin’ in Toronto, an’ many a time he used to tell me things ’bout his fambly that made me think I knowed the hull passel o’ ’em. Poor old lady, it must a near killed her when she heard how her lad laid down his life for his country. I always did claim these splended Mounties up here, forever ready to take great risks to protect the scattered settlers, are soldiers jest as much as those o’ us who served in the big scrap across the Atlantic. But look ahead, Jack, an’ you c’n see the post now with the naked eye. Yeah, and as sure as you live there’s a Mounty steppin’ up from the boats, carryin’ what looks to me like a string o’ fish! Gee whiz! how many times did I furnish the fish course for lots o’ dinner messes. Seems like ’twas on’y yesterday, or the day ’fore, since I put my teeth in a cold-water fish from that river which empties into the Polar Sea.”

Presently they were circling the post, running out over the river which Jack was eyeing closely, as if to make certain it offered plenty of excellent opportunities toward making a landing. At least he had been assured there was sufficient water at almost any point to answer their purpose, the stream being high at this particular season of the year when so much snow had been melting all through the watershed which the river drained.

“See,” cried the alert Perk, “sev’ral more o’ the crowd have rushed out o’ the barracks, knowin’ from the shouts that chap set up somethin’ out o’ the ordinary was on the bills. But jest the same I kinder guess a bunch o’ the boys must be away right now. What did we hear ’bout that cunnin’ snake, the Hawk gen’rally outsmartin’ the Mounties by makin’ a sham attack on some place so’s to send a posse whoopin’ thataways while he proceeded to play his own game unmolested fifty miles away, an’ never a uniform in sight?”

“Going down – lower floor – hold your breath, Perk!” cried the pilot as he shut off the engine and, thrusting the nose of his craft sharply downward, proceeded to start a swift dive toward the river a thousand feet below.

Perk could not restrain his enthusiasm, but standing half erect waved his hat excitedly, also letting loose a few frightfully loud yells that must have been eye-openers to the several uniformed Mounties standing close to the river’s edge, watching in sheer amazement the swoop of the descending aerial cabin plane.

XXIV
READY TO START

A splash, a short run upstream and the amphibian was riding the little waves like a duck. Then as Jack once more turned on his power they taxied in close to the bank where a wing would serve as a gang-plank to get them ashore.

“Hello! ol’ hoss Red Lowden!” bawled Perk, in a glow of excitement.

One of the Mounties, with the marks of a sergeant on his sleeve, exhibited great excitement at hearing himself thus addressed so familiarly by a party who, up to that moment, he had not recognized owing chiefly to the aviator’s goggles and helmet, which were now hastily removed as Perk jumped ashore.

“Gabe Perkiser!” the sergeant gasped, apparently staggered at learning the identity of one of the flyers.

They met and shook hands with enthusiasm, for in those days of old they had been boon companions.

Perk put a finger on his lips.

“Go slow ’bout callin’ me by that name, brother,” he told the other, half under his breath. “Jest now I’m sailin’ under false colors, as you might say. I’m in Uncle Sam’s Secret Service, an’ known as Gabe Smith, a Maine woods guide in the employ o’ a rich gent, a real sport an’ big game hunter – let me introduce him to you Red – Mister John Jacob Astorbilt,” and with the last word he gave the wearer of the uniform a wicked wink that spoke volumes to Red, who nodded and shook hands with Jack.

He could give a pretty clever guess as to who and what this determined looking young fellow must be and the story could keep until a more convenient season.

“Glad to meet you, Mr. Astorbilt,” he went on to say aloud for the benefit of the two other Mounties hovering close by with the design of being made acquainted with the newcomers.

They were both wise and seasoned members of the force, although Perk was meeting them for the first time and thus judged they had been transferred from another post during his absence.

“I hope Colonel Ascot is well,” remarked Jack softly as he stood there close beside Red Lowden, “I am anxious to meet him, for I have a strong suspicion he will be deeply interested in certain documents I am bearing with me, both from Ottawa in your Dominion here and also from my Big Boss at Washington, D. C.”

The other, who was a sturdy specimen of Canadian manhood, with the eye of a hawk, nodded his head and looked wise as he hastened to say:

“Wait till I introduce you to these members of our patrol and then I’ll lead you to the Colonel, who is doing a bit of official correspondence inside his office close by.”

This was soon accomplished and as the sportsman in search of fresh thrills Jack met the couple of Mounties. Leaving Perk chatting with them he followed the sergeant into the long, low log barracks where in a cubbyhole at the end they found a tall, severe looking man, dressed in the garb of an officer, seated at a desk and busily engaged in writing.

He must have heard all the commotion outside connected with the arrival of the cloud-chaser, but being deeply interested in what he was writing and too much given to decorum to display any vulgar curiosity, he had remained there.

But after all he turned out to be very much a gentleman as well as a fine disciplinarian, as Jack speedily learned for after he had explained just who he was and what the nature of his long flight into the wilderness contemplated, he found Colonel Ascot vastly interested and sympathetic.

Red Lowden had discreetly withdrawn, saluting as he went so Jack and the commandant of the frontier post were alone in the office.

“I wish to assure you, young man,” observed the Colonel again cordially squeezing Jack’s hand, “you are bringing me the finest possible news. This knave has been playing the very devil around the whole sector and so far has had us guessing. The hardest nut we’ve had to crack in the entire term of my service in the corps. If by any great luck we can combine our forces and accomplish his capture, I shall feel myself in your debt beyond measure.”

Jack was gratified at hearing these frank and hearty words.

“I have a companion with me, Colonel,” he further observed, “a reliable chap in the bargain and a clever aviator. He once had the honor to serve under you up here – Gabe Perkiser.”

He saw a pleased expression flit across the grim face of the commandant and judged that Perk must have been something of a favorite with the Colonel.

“Glad to hear that, sir,” the latter told his visitor, nodding his head in approval. “Perk was a credit to the uniform all the time he was with us in our job of rounding up disturbers of the peace and guarding honest men against such rascals and blackguards as continually drift up to this country. They seem to think its loneliness will guarantee them immunity from the long arm of the law they have flaunted. I’ll be pleased to see him again – and in the service you represent so creditably, as I can well imagine.”

“We look for a bit of assistance from your force, Colonel,” continued Jack, “and you will find your authority for giving us a helping hand in these documents from your head office,” with which he handed the other a small packet of official looking papers.

“I can take everything you say for granted, Mr. – er Astorbilt but am sorry you have dropped in on us at a most unfortunate time, since the majority of my men are away – there came a sudden call for assistance at a little settlement of newcomers some fifty miles distant – it was believed a raid was contemplated by this desperado, the Hawk. The letter was signed by a man whom I happened to know stood in the light of a leader in that community, and although I may have had my secret misgivings I felt compelled to start a squad off late last evening. They will hardly get back here under the best of conditions for another forty-eight hours; and even at that their mounts will be far from fresh for another wild dash.”

Jack had even figured on something like this coming to pass, and in his mind laid out a plan of campaign.

“We have come direct from the Frazer trading-post, Colonel,” he hastened to explain; “it was taken by trickery last night, the old factor seriously wounded, and the post robbed of everything of value, including precious pelts, food, ammunition, and all else.”

Colonel Ascot looked greatly annoyed.

“Then my fears were justified,” he went on to say, with a grimace, and a shrug of his shoulders; “never has that man’s equal been known in all the years I’ve been up against clever crooks. It was a false appeal for help, intended to employ most of my men, and give these desperate looters plenty of time to get away with their plunder. Under the unfortunate circumstances what can I do to further your plans, sir? Anything in my power you may command – I have but three of my force at the post, being short-handed just at present, as several are on leave of absence for special reasons.”

“If you could spare me Sergeant Lowden, sir, whom my comrade has recommended highly as one with a thorough knowledge of the whole country for fifty miles around, and allow me to carry the doctor back to Frazer’s to take charge of poor Old Jimmy, I could, I believe, make good progress; especially if you sent the balance of your detachment after us as an emergency force, in case we find the sledding a bit too rough.”

Colonel Ascot looked relieved, as though a heavy load had been taken from his chest.

“Only too gladly will I accede to that request,” he told his guest. “I am expecting Dr. Hamilton at any moment now, when you can meet him, and ask him to ride back with you to the trading post. He is a gentleman, and a very gifted surgeon – in the year and more that he’s been in this neighborhood I have known him to perform almost unbelievable operations with the most remarkable success. There is some mystery about the man, which is none of our business – I am simply telling you in order that you may not unintentially permit yourself – or Perk, whose failings along the line of curiosity I know full well – to display any sign of butting in. In these lonely regions, my dear sir, just as in the gold fields, a man’s past is his business only, and other people are content that it should remain a dead secret; but you can rest assured he is straight goods, and moreover a polished gentleman, as well as a wonderful physician.”

“I can readily understand what you mean, Colonel,” Jack warmly assured him, “and once I have warned Perk neither of us ever display the slightest curiosity about his hidden past – as you say, it concerns him alone; we’ll just take him for what he is, and be glad to know him.”

They talked further, as the Colonel glanced at his papers and laid them in a pigeonhole of his desk; and Jack learned a number of important things connected with the man whom he planned to take back with him to the States, having the necessary documents to allow of this being done via the airship route.

Then the officer asked him to step outside, for he believed he had heard the voice of Dr. Hamilton, who it appeared, was coming once a day to treat a badly lacerated leg of one of the privates, who had been thrown from his horse amidst a cache of unusually jagged rocks, with ill results.

Jack liked the doctor from the start, although he could plainly see that something like grief – hardly remorse – must have been eating at the other’s heart for many a moon, his manner was so suppressed, so sad.

Of course the doctor hastened to assure him he would be only too glad to take the long gallop to the trading post, and do what was necessary for Old Jimmy, whom he knew very well, and esteemed highly.

“I am not much of a horseman, I’m afraid,” he told Jack, whom he knew simply as a well-to-do young gentleman, with a great love for outdoors sports, and big game hunting chief of all; “but the Colonel has an animal I’ve used before, and doubtless Romeo will carry me safely to the post, since the trail is fairly easy; but the distance is more than he could negotiate at one try, I’m thinking.”

“That can be easily arranged,” Jack explained; “we might be able to get halfway to our destination by the time darkness sets in, when we could make camp, spend the night beside the trail, and get an early morning start. And thank you very much, Doctor, for your kindness in going, I did all I could for a temporary dressing; but it was only the work of an amateur, and Jimmy really needs further attention.”

“Which I shall be only too pleased to give, since I have the utmost regard for the old factor,” which remark satisfied Jack that everything was coming along nicely.