CHAPTER XIV
CLOSING THE GAP
Accordingly Perk swung off to the left, and banked sharply, thusstarting on a turn that if pursued long enough would once more fetchthem to the point from whence they had started the maneuver.
"Now I'll take hold again for a time, until you've had your look,"announced Jack, suiting the action to the word.
While his mate manipulated the glasses Jack coached him word by word,until Perk finally uttered a cry of triumph.
"I got it, partner, sure I have!" he was saying in great gladness."Can't hardly b'lieve my eyes, it sure seems like a reg'lar miracle--tothink o' all we plugged through, an' was able to hit straight to thebullseye o' aour target--it dazes me to strike sech a wonderfulhappenin', that's right."
"Then you recognize it from the brief description he gave on the side ofhis tissue-paper chart, do you, Perk?"
"It caint be anythin' else, for a fack, buddy--there couldn't run twoqueer heaps o' rocks that look so much like a reg'lar ole-time castle onthe Rhine! Yep, we done aourselves proud this time--meanin' _yeou_ did,Jack, ahandling the stick so smartly. Naow, what's next on theprogramme, tell me?"
"You're to take hold once more, and keep circling that target, while Istow away a little chow; afterwards I'll run things while you stoke up.We must keep in mind that there's no occasion for any undue haste--we'reout to get results, no matter how long we've got to hang around thispart of the country. Caution, and slow progress--those are to be ourwatchwords, Perk."
"I get yeou, partner," was all that the other remarked, as he once morelaid down the binoculars, and proceeded to take over the controls.
Just the same Perk knew full well Jack was intending to warn him againstone of his faults, that of starting off on some important missionwithout due regard for precautions--a failing that had cost Perk dearmore than a few times in the past, and which had never been fullyeradicated from his system, no matter how gallantly he tried.
Now that the coast was clear, and he had made the discovery calculatedto prove so fortunate, as well as useful, Jack could think of othermatters less important and yet really necessary.
He got out their "bait-box,"--as Perk always called the receptacle oftheir food supplies--and proceeded to enjoy a ham-sandwich, washed downwith the hot coffee already sweetened, and with genuine cream added;thanks to Perk's "pull" with that favorite waiter in the San Diegorestaurant, and whom he had mentally promised to reward some fine day,in a way commensurate with the service rendered.
Jack took his time.
He always did when eating, and consequently never knew those qualmsalong the line of indigestion, which occasionally doubled poor, hastyPerk up with such violence. Moreover, he seemed to be enjoying his novelbreakfast vastly, a fact that tickled the other more or less, for Perkcertainly did enjoy seeing others happy.
From time to time they exchanged words. Of course their talk was whollyconnected with the serious business on which Uncle Sam had dispatchedthem, and which they were now following out as best they could.
So early in the game it was of course wholly impossible to lay theirplans save vaguely; as they picked up further information they could, asPerk was fond of saying, "advance the spark," and build some sort of astructure calculated to bring down the enemy's fort in ruins, unlessindeed, they managed to turn the tables on the two sleuths.
As they thus chatted at their ease while swinging around in a successionof short circles, the centre of which was always that conical heap ofjagged rocks Perk humorously called Castle Thunder, the name of SimeonBalderson naturally came up.
Perk had himself been doing more or less pondering upon the unknown fateof the Secret Service man, who was, so Jack had informed him, a mostvalued agent of the Government.
"I jest caint help awonderin' what made him fall daown on his job that aways," he mentioned to his comrade; which of course was Perk's method oftrying to draw the other out, so as to imbibe Jack's way of reasoning.
"That must, as I said before," came the reply, "remain a dead mystery tous unless we happen to run across the answer while poking around. He wasup against a tough bunch, and if they discovered what he was doing thechances are they'd put him out of their way in the easiest possiblefashion--throwing him over some precipice, or shooting him full ofholes. That'll come to us in the bargain, I reckon, if we're unluckyenough to slip-up, and fall into their hands."
"Huh! I cal'late these kiotes jest hate all Government men like a catdoes agettin' its feet wet," hazarded Perk, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh worse, far worse than that, buddy," Jack assured him amiably; "theyknow how their lives are at stake, and to them a Secret Service mantakes on the shape of a noose, or the electric chair. Whenever it comesto a fight between the two of us, and that crowd, it's got to be to thedeath, with no mercy shown."
"I savvy, partner," Perk told him, firmly; "knowed that much rightalong. Doant skeer me any, either, 'cause my life's been made up o'takin' chances--over in France in that ole sausage balloon company--thenin circus stunts in a ricketty airship that _was_ always agoin' to blowup with us--after that servin' with the Canadian Mounties up in theNorthwest Territory, like yeou know 'bout; and last but not least, thetimes I been with yeou ascootin' raound the hull country, ahaulin' insmugglers, bootleggers, flim-flam artists, bogus money-makers, checkraisers, an' sech nasty fry. I jest dote on runnin' close chances--it'ssure the life that suits Gabe Perkiser."
"The first job we're going to tackle is along the line of making a safeand sane landing--you get that of course, Perk?" continued practicalJack.
"Nawthin' else, partner," answered the other, without hesitation; "seemslike ever'thing depends on that same. But aint it like lookin' fur aneedle in a haystack to reckon on findin' that ere one little patch o'level ground he wrote was the on'y place where a ship could come daown,an' not crash?"
"I'm going to correct you there, brother," Jack was saying; "there isyet another landing field, and even a much better one; but out of ourreach, for according to Simeon it lies _inside_ the Hole-in-the-Wallvalley where these fugitives from the Law have their hangout. He even somuch as hinted that they had some kind of a plane themselves, which wasin frequent use between this section of country, and certain citieswhere they had secret connections, and started much of their counterfeitstuff into circulation, to the mystification of the authorities, whocould never seem to pick up their trail."
"Jest so, Jack, ole hoss, the air doant ever leave a trail, which makesit right hard fur such fellers as us to get agoin' straight. Ready tostart on aour way, be yeou, partner?"
"Yes, but I want you to keep on using the glasses right along," Jacktold him. "If we had the misfortune to overlap that single open patch ofground, we'd be all at sea, and must double back, so as to go over theground again, which would increase the chances of our being discovered,or heard by some of the outlaws possibly out hunting, or going to andfro."
"I'll do my level best to hit on the mark, Jack; jest go as slow as yeoukin, so's to gimme every chance to count. Haow far 'bout do yeou figgergoin' on this tack, I want to know?"
"Well, this target we've struck he said on his paper map was somethinglike twenty miles away from the entrance to the hidden valley--youremember that of course, Perk? The landing field, as we've got to callit from now on, would be some six or seven miles away from their Haunt;and consequently I expect to cover twelve miles, more or less, beforeI'm looking to have you tell me you've sighted our goal. If ever youused those sharp eyes of yours to advantage, now's the time for an extraeffort, partner."
"Leave it to me, boy; I aint agoin' to fail yeou, not if I have to staremy ole peepers aout o' focus for keeps. Drop daown some ways, Jack--lesschance o' aour bein' seen; an' it's goin' to help me a heap in hittin'that bit o' level stretch. Cuckoo! that's the ticket--we're droppin'like a rocket-stick after she's shot her bolt. Naow for to get my eagleeyes daown to business."