XXVII
ON THE DANGEROUS TRAIL
The horses being fresh after the all-night bivouac, the little partymade good time along the crooked trail. Perk was enjoying himself to thelimit, taking in all the old familiar sights--how well he remembereddifferent happenings that were connected with this, or that specialspot; indeed, he found it hard to believe some years had passed since hefollowed this path between Frazer's trading-post of the great Hudson'sBay Fur Company, and the Mounties' further north station.
It was going on nine when they again came in sight of the long logbuilding that housed the factor and his belongings--such as Hawk and hisbold crowd had left untouched during their recent raid.
All seemed peaceful at the post, although the ashes marking the burnedannex told how some unusual event must have recently taken place.
They found Old Jimmy getting along as well as could be expected, butanxious for the coming of the doctor, in whom he had every confidence inthe world. A superficial examination quickly put Dr. Hamilton inpossession of sufficient knowledge upon which to base a verdict.
"Nothing very serious, McGregor," he told the factor, in a cheery tonethat did much to dissipate any fears the other may have entertained asto the outcome of his wounds.
Jack and Perk too, were relieved, for both of them had reason to feel aburden was lifted from their hearts--Perk because of his old friendshipfor the factor; and Jack on account of his having given "first aid" tothe victim of the lawless Hawk's latest raid.
Turning to Jack Dr. Hamilton surveyed him with kindling eyes.
"If, as you said, young man," he told the flyer, "you are only anamateur at handling cases like this, I want to tell you everything hasbeen carried out in a way that would not have shamed the best ofsurgeons. Jimmy will owe a lot to your skillful work. And let me furthersay most earnestly, that if at some future date it ever occurs to you tochange your profession, should you choose to follow that of surgery, Ican easily predict a more than ordinary success awaits you--rememberthat, Jack."
"Can you tie that?" burst out the grinning Perk, who seemed more tickledat hearing these words of praise than was the blushing recipienthimself. "I kinder guessed my best pal was topnotch 'long them lineswhen I watched him adoin' his stuff. So Jack, in case you ever do getknocked out o' the cloud-chasin' game, plenty o' time left to climb upthe ladder in the surgical ward."
Jack hurriedly left the room, although it would have been only naturalfor him to feel a little thrill at being thus praised by a professionalman whom he had already begun to hold in high esteem.
Perk joined him outside, but was kept from doing much talking by thenecessity of carrying out a number of needful errands. They did notexpect to waste any unnecessary time hanging about the post--the trailwas already cold, and it was essential that they get on the move asspeedily as possible. Jack well knew what difficult, and perhaps evensanguine work still remained to be accomplished, and as usual was eagerto get it all over with.
"We can't hang fire in this business," he was telling Perk, who perhapsdid not look at things in quite the same light, since his naturediffered from that of his companion; "and until I see our man trussedup, to await our pleasure in hopping off for the border, I'll not have apeaceful moment. From now on this has to be a whirlwind campaign, and nomistake--get that, partner?"
"Huh! pleases me okay, ol' hoss," the other told him, nodding his headvigorously; "I'm in the game up to my neck, an' with me it sure is'Pike's Peak--or Bust!'"
"We'll take a little time to look over our stuff," suggested Jack, thealways wise worker, who seldom left the slightest thing undone, andconsequently, like other cautious sky pilots, seldom had a real accidentovertake him. "Make sure you've got plenty of cartridges for your gun,and than add another belt for good measure, because you never can tellwhat may happen, and it's best to be on the safe side--as a fireinsurance agent once said on his advertising cards, it's 'better to_have_ insurance, and not _need_ it; than to _need_ insurance and not_have_ it.'"
"Yeah! I know it, Jack, boy," admitted Perk, "even if sometimes I do getcaught nappin', an' have a peck o' trouble 'count o' my carelessness.I'm set to carry along every shell I fetched up here with me--this isthe job they're meant for, an' why be a miser 'bout it?"
"That's the ticket, partner," Jack told him, apparently quite satisfiedhe had started his companion on the right road--Perk sometimes had to be"shown," and then he would follow to the bitter end.
Red Lowden had also been making sure nothing was forgotten, so far as hecould tell. Of course he was somewhat in the dark as to just what meansJack meant to employ in order to bring about the success of theundertaking; but in the short time he had known the young Secret Servicedetective he had realized the capacity the other exhibited for handlingjust such intricate cases--if it were not so the astute Head of theOrganization at Washington would never have entrusted this difficultproblem to his hands.
Of course, from this time forward it would be Sergeant Lowden who wouldtake the lead, since he knew the country, and it was all a puzzle toJack--even Perk would not be half as well acquainted with the ground asthe one who for a dozen years had been going over the entire districtfor a radius of probably fifty miles in all directions.
Then, too, should any difficulty arise they could put their headstogether, and find a solution to the problem, since many hands makelight work, according to the old saying.
While Jack and Perk were doing other things Red had taken a look at thetracks left by the raiders. Luckily no rain had fallen since theygalloped away from the plucked post, and hence the imprints of theiranimals' hoofs could still be plainly located.
Besides this, Red was depending considerably on certain secretinformation lately drifting in to Colonel Ascot, to help him out--as yethe had not said anything to Jack and Perk concerning this matter, butanticipated taking them both into his confidence before long, as it wasessential they should understand just what resources he was banking uponin order to run the wolves to their secret den, the whereabouts of whichhad so long been unknown.
And so, about an hour after arriving at Frazer's, the trio again rodeforth, to bring about the finishing touches of their campaign.
Even Perk seemed sobered by the desperate character of the duties nowdevolving on the little party. Outnumbered at least two to one, possiblywith even greater odds against them, they would surely need all theboldness and strategy with which they were endowed, in order to bringabout a successful finish to the invasion of the enemy's stronghold.
Sometimes they were compelled to go single-file on account of the narrowtrail, alongside which great masses of mighty rocks were piled up; butin other places it was possible to ride three abreast; and these werethe occasions when Jack and Red consulted, clearing up any foggy spots,so that they could work in unison when the time came for action.
Not a single incident occurred to take their attention from the factthat they were carrying their lives in their hands. Now and then theguide would pull up in order that he might make use of the binoculars(which Jack had taken pains to bring along) some suspicious clump ofrocks such as would afford a most effective spot for an ambush neededcloser observation; and Red was too cautious a ranger to rush into atrap when it could be avoided.
As they progressed Jack noticed how their guide gradually slowed down;from which circumstance he judged they must be nearing the hiddenretreat of the plunderers. It gave him increased confidence in thesagacity of the Mounty sergeant, whose disposition corresponded more orless with his own.
Coming to a delightfully cold spring that bubbled up close to the trail,Red called a halt.
"A short rest will breathe the hosses," Red was saying, after he hadtaken a good look at the trail beyond the wayside spring; "and by thesame token I think it's high time I told you both about a little trickof luck that came my way just a week or so back; 'specially since it'sgot so much to do with the carrying out of this surround, and hoped-forhaul."
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