CHAPTER XXVII
THE SIERRA MADRE CHAIN
Another thing Perk noticed--this was the fact that Jack seemed to havechanged his mind with regard to making haste for the ship was racingalong at top-notch speed, as though engaged in a race with some unseenrival.
"Hey! what's the big idea, Jack?" he called out, when this thing hadbeen going on for some time, and his burning curiosity could no longerbe held in leash. "Why doin' the sprintin' act, I'm awonderin'?"
"Less chance for us to run foul of that other boat if we forge wellahead, don't you see, partner?" exclaimed the pilot, sententiously.
"Yeah! that's a fact," returned the enlightened Perk. "An' then mebbeit'd be jest as well for us to get there ahead o' the boss in thebargain."
"I'm aiming to do that," he was told. "It happens that we can't keep onin the boat till we strike close to his hideout--the racket would stirthe whole bunch up like a hornet's nest you've kicked when going throughthe brush, with the mad critters swarming out to tackle you."
"I get you now, Big Boss--never did think o' that before. Then I kinderguess we'll have to hike some little way," and there was a vein ofchagrin in the speaker's voice as he mentioned this fact, since walkingand Perk never did seem to agree very well--like most flyers he had beenspoiled for all manner of pedestrianism by his ability to cover suchvast distances without moving his pedal extremities an iota.
"That's our sure enough program," Jack told him, doubtless thinking thatthe delayed knowledge might allow his pal to make up his mind aboutswallowing the bitter medicine without a single grimace.
It was not long after this little break when Jack again spoke:
"I've a good idea we're across the line now, partner," was theinformation he passed along.
"Sounds good to me, okay," commented Perk, with a tinge of solidsatisfaction visible in his voice as though having a possiblerough-house job to handle, the sooner he got busy the sooner it waslikely to be over.
"And making more than an even hundred miles to the hour in the bargain,Perk."
"Some punkins about comin' in swell on the last lap, this crate sure is,I'd say, partner. Licketty split she humps along like a reg'lar witch. Iguess now she'd make rings around that ol' boat Slim's got hold o'though it answers his purpose seems like. But see here, Jack, you neverdid tell me jest how you got word to that same Colonel Morales down herein Mexico."
"I was given my instructions, and sent a telegram to him at Hermosilla,in care of Padre Lopez, giving him the order he was expecting--duringthe last hour we were in Los Angeles."
"Glory be! then the sojers must be in the saddle right now!" burst outPerk, with enthusiasm.
"If the arrangement went through without a miss that's like enough afact," admitted Jack; "the way my plan's arranged everything must go offwith the regularity of machine work, each separate part dovetailing, soas to work in full sympathy. If anything lags, and goes amiss, it's aptto throw the whole scheme out of gear, you understand."
"Yeah! I grab what you mean, partner," said the astounded Perk; "but Igot to hand it to you when it comes to hatchin' up big things--it's jestwonderful how you manage. An' I sure do hope everything'll slide alonglike greased lightnin', once it gets started."
Jack had planned to drop down in some isolated spot where with thecoming of dawn, with the aid of the strong glasses they could pick upthe rocky Sierra Madre range with its canyons and valleys, where, unlessall his leads have been false clues, those whom they sought would havetheir secret den and stronghold.
Perk got to thinking these matters over, and of course he was bound torun across some things that still seemed a bit hazy in his mind.Accordingly he sought for information at headquarters.
"Say, now, d'ye know I'm jest beginnin' to get on to why you had thewings an' fuselage o' this here ship painted the color o' sand--took apattern from the way they striped the steamers on the Atlantic durin'the big war, an' colored batteries on the battle front, so flyerscouldn't pick 'em out to drop their bombs down on--camouflage, ain'tthat the right word, Jack?"
"Slow to get on to my little schemes, partner; but in the end you make asmart stab--yes, that was what I had in mind, for I knew we'd have topark the old bus somewhere in the open; and I didn't want any hostileeye to glimpse her from a soaring plane, or a mountain crag--for you seeI reckoned Slim was too smart a lad not to have binoculars handy so asto watch for trouble."
More than ever was Perk impressed with an overwhelming admiration forthe ability of his pal to lay plans capable of covering every possiblenecessity that could arise in carrying out the job they had tackled.
He asked no more questions, confident that everything was bound to movealong smoothly, when the casting of the play was in such capable hands.
"Anyway," he told himself as he thus pondered, "we ain't seen anythingmore o' that moon ship, which makes it certain we've knocked her outenthe runnin'. Wonder now if that was really an' truly ol' Slim, totin' aswell bunch o' machine guns, so's to bolster up the new revolution theysay is bein' fostered an' nursed in this corner o' poor ol' Mexico.Queer what international jingles a feller c'n get mixed up in, when heruns in harness with Uncle Sam's revenue boys; but it's all pie to me,just the same, 'cause they allers did say my middle name was Scrap."
He was now starting to make use of the binoculars, which were fittedwith lens capable of making them useful during the night-time, at leastwhen there was a certain amount of moonlight. In a general way Perkcould decide where to turn his attention, for it went without sayingthat the mountain chain lay toward the southeast for had he not studiedthe lay of the land upon the small but accurate map with which Jack hadarmed himself before leaving Washington to take up this hazardousadventure?
When he felt assured that he could make out the distant ridges heannounced his pleasing discovery to his mate and then at the other'srequest took over the controls so that Jack in turn might use theglasses and thus make assurance doubly safe.
"Bank, and head more into the east," Perk heard the other saying, aftera steady look.
"Then it's the Sierra Madre okay, partner, I opine?" suggested the oneat the stick, as he obeyed orders.
"No question about it," Jack assured him "but I knew it was time for usto sight the ridge. I've pored over the map of this section, and chartedit all out in blocks, so I can tell just what the lay of the land is,and how long it's apt to take the colonel to get here with his gallopingcompany. We're going to drop down presently, and find shelter where wecan lie low until the hour comes for making our ten strike."
"How long might that be, boss?" asked Perk.
"It all depends on certain happenings. We can creep up close to theplace, and watch how things move figuring out how to act when you getyour first glimpse of a dust cloud away off toward where Hermosillalies. I give the cavalry two days to reach here, if everything movesalong smoothly."
"Two long days--an' say, we gotter eat all that time, don't we,partner?"
"We surely can't live on air, Perk; but I've provided for that--evenshould we run out of grub you laid in I've a little deposit of driedmeat, real pemmican in fact, that will keep us from famishing. Water wecan secure somewhere among the mountain trails, since never a drop wouldwe be apt to find on the open desert."
"Huh! I'm leavin' it all to you, Big Boss," Perk told him, again lost inwonder and near awe as he realized how Jack seemed to have thought ofeverything--what a mind the boy had for grasping details, and weavingthem into the net with which they expected to enmesh the slippery one.
Now Jack slowed down their speed more or less, although of course it wasnot possible to soften the clamor accompanying their flight throughspace. But Perk noticed that, so far as he could tell, the night windwas coming from ahead, and this assured him it would not be apt to carrythose telltale sounds toward the range lying in the east, and so warnthe enemy of their coming.