Wings Over the Rockies; Or, Jack Ralston's New Cloud Chaser

XXX
BRINGING IN THEIR MAN

With breakfast out of the way Jack called what Perk termed a “reg’lar council o’ war,” for there were numerous matters that would have to be settled before they could take off and head for civilization.

Dr. Reeves gave it as his opinion that if great care were exercised, Buddy could be transported to the nearest town but the injured mail pilot absolutely refused to go unless his prized letter bags accompany him, such was his devotion to duty.

Then there was Perk also as set on having that valued bear skin, removed with the help of the doctor, who had learned the art of skinning an animal while cast upon his own resources. Besides, there would be two others aboard the amphibian which was apt to make things a bit crowded.

However, Dr. Reeves soon settled the matter by declaring he did not mean to accompany them. Another day, if Jack and Perk wished to have it so arranged, they could come for him. He had some things to accomplish that would take a few hours and there was no necessity for him to be on hand when Buddy reached town to create the wildest kind of excitement. Indeed, the eminent surgeon admitted he rather shunned anything that would be apt to put him in the limelight.

“If there’s anything I’d dislike,” he told them modestly, “it would be to find myself in the spotlight I hope to just slip back into the harness again and the public need know nothing save that I have changed my mind about retiring from the profession for good, having discovered that there is still more or less usefulness in my brain and fingers that ought to be put to the service of suffering humanity.”

So it was arranged and without more delay than was absolutely necessary they managed to get Buddy aboard the amphibian, Jack and Perk having arranged an original floating dock that could be pushed alongside the cloud-chaser, rather than try to work the plane ashore.

The transfer was duly carried out and with such care that Buddy felt very little pain. Next the air mail, so long delayed in delivery, was stacked in various cavities so as to not take up more room than was necessary together with a rather messy bundle, Perk’s prized future bearskin rug which he seemed to value more highly every time he gave it a look.

Everything was now ready for the hopoff and Jack figured on no trouble whatever in effecting that since the lake was long enough to permit a fair run and immediately after leaving the water he expected to start banking so as to circle and climb upward.

Dr. Reeves shook each of his new found friends by the hand and was unusually warm in saying his goodbye to the happy Suzanne. The bravery shown by the newly fledged aviatrix in taking great chances of meeting disaster when striking out to join those who were searching for signs to tell where the young air mail pilot had crashed, aroused his full admiration and he did not hesitate to tell Suzanne as much, greatly to the delight of the listening Buddy.

Standing on the sandy shore of Crater Lake the man who had come back watched the wonderful amphibian, of which the two pilots were so proud, rush across the surface of the lake, the first modern flying boat to ever splash through those ice-cold waters, and then jumping upward, cleave the air like a monster bird, circling twice, three times, to finally take off in a bee line for the town where Jack and the others had passed the preceding night.

They arrived at their destination before an hour had passed and amidst the most intense excitement and a growing, cheering mob of men, women and children, the injured mail pilot was taken to the hospital, there to be cared for until Dr. Reeves joined him later on.

Of course Suzanne refused to be parted from her Buddy. She claimed to be a pretty fair nurse and indeed, her very presence acted like a tonic to the patient who could not keep his sparkling eyes off her pretty face for more than a minute at a time.

Jack had impressed every one with his desire for secrecy. If it could be avoided, no mention of his name or that of Perk, or their pictures, was to be given to the bustling newspaper men who would quickly be rushing in from every quarter by motor, train and airship, eager as hounds in the leash to grab up bits of news that could be woven into one of the most thrilling stories of the day to set the whole country agog, east, west, north and south.

Thanks to the care thus taken, the real facts connected with the finding of Buddy Warner were fairly well kept from the public press. All sorts of fantastic accounts were published and some even managed to bring out the names of the pair most intimately connected with the great stunt but they were so distorted that Perk had considerable fun in trying to make them out. He declared a wizard would have his hands full with the job and that most people must believe the modest heroes, who fled before being interviewed were foreigners, to judge from their unpronouncable names.

Wishing to finish his work as soon as possible so that he and Perk could clear out before most of the keen-eyed reporters arrived, Jack concluded to hurry back to the lake, pick up Dr. Reeves and what few things he would like to carry away from the hideout where he had spent so many solitary years and once he had been landed in the airport, say a hurried goodbye to all and pull out eastward bound for Cheyenne.

That was the way Jack Ralston usually put things through. While most others would be still making up their plan of campaign, Jack was apt to be doing things with a rush and getting results. They had followed the best rules of the great organization in which they were humble cogs, let no grass grow under their feet, found what they sought and, with a Garrison finish, brought in the man they were after and whose name was on everybody’s lips during those few hectic days.

Duty done, it was up to them to vanish from the picture in order to keep the public from knowing how the Government’s Secret Service had been mainly responsible for the finding of the missing air-mail pilot.

And so that same afternoon, while fresh squads of eager newspaper men were arriving hourly at the hitherto almost unknown town that had become famous over night, Jack and his pal were bound east, with a consciousness that another triumph could be laid at their door, even if, as happened so many times, the full story must be kept under cover so that the people of the underworld, in which so many of the activities of the Service were conducted might not be made familiar with the names and faces of its most energetic workers and thus be placed on their guard.

Of course it would not be long before further instructions might be expected from the Washington Headquarters detailing Jack and Perk to some fresh field of labor where once more they would find themselves pitted against some of the most nimble-witted lawbreakers known to modern days. That the adventurous pair would acquit themselves with credit can be taken for granted for they were always earnest, hard workers and as a rule able to accomplish the most difficult of jobs submitted to their charge by those who managed all such matters in the National Capital.

In the pages of the next volume of this series of thrilling stories covering the exploits of the Sky Detectives, the title of which is “The Sky Pilot’s Great Chase; or, Jack Ralston’s Dead-Stick Landing” will be found further lively happenings when the daring pair are sent forth to cross the international boundary and speed into the far North in the effort to apprehend a fugitive from justice whose arrest and return to Washington had become a matter of the greatest moment to the authorities. How they outwit the lawbreakers and finally get their man, makes this a story replete with thrills and exciting situations.