CHAPTER XXI
THE MYSTERIOUS COQUINA SHACK
"Hot Ziggetty! so _this_ is where he dropped down, is it?" Perk wasmuttering in subdued excitement as his astonished eyes fell upon a planebobbing on its pontoons in a sheltered little cove, "meet that spruceLockheed-Vega bus, partner, that clipped past away over our heads, an'the woozy pilot never dreamin' our crate was within a hundred miles o'him. Kinder guess the pirate roost must lie around here somewhere."
"That's a dead sure thing, Perk," whispered Jack, "and chances are it'shid in the midst of that live-oak clump yonder, where I take it the landlies high and dry."
"I swan but this is gettin' real excitin' an' suits me okay," breathedthe duly thrilled Perk, who felt there was no longer any reason forcalling things tame.
"By changing our base a bit," suggested Jack almost as equally pleasedover their success as his nervous chum, "we might even be able to get asquint at the shack, let's try, buddy."
He lost no time in creeping inch by inch along toward the right, havingapparently figured out that such a course would give them a betterall-around opportunity to gratify their curiosity.
It proved to be a wise move for presently they managed to glimpse whatseemed to be the corner of a small cottage, built of coquina rock andaltogether attractive in appearance, proving that the Big Boss neverhesitated to spend money when he could secure results.
"Huh!" gurgled Perk, stretching his neck so as to see better through thenarrow opening that served them as a lookout, "some toney, strikes me,considerin' the desolate country round-about this section. Must be hishigh-hat tastes foller him, no matter where he goes--sorter dude, I'dcall him, partner."
"That may be," agreed Jack, "I understood he ran in that groove but justthe same they say this Kearns is a real he-man an' can put up a warmscrap when necessary--the dude racket is only a thin veneer hiding thegenuine article. I was warned never to let him get a chance to beat meto the draw--some call him a rattlesnake, only he lacks that reptile'shonesty in always giving warning when about to strike. Don't forget,Perk, in dealing with this slick article you've got to be on your guardevery minute of the time."
"Glad you told me that, Jack, I might a'been fooled, an' treated him asa soft guy. Looky thar, will you, boy--two--three fellers jest swarmedout o' the shack an' gone into a huddle like they had some sorter gameto set up. Wonder now if one o' the bunch could be _him_!"
"I reckon not, Perk," came in a low tone from Jack, whose head was onlya few inches away from the other's, "none of them answer the descriptionthat was given to me. I even saw a snapshot taken of several societyfolks in front o' his Miami castle, with him standing in the center. Oneof this lot's the flying man connected with that crate--you can see he'sstill wearing his greasy dungarees and has his helmet on his head, likehe expected to be hopping-off any minute now; a second chap is short andthick, not at all like the one we've come so far to buck up against,while the third, while tall, looks like a roughneck skipper of aspeedboat."
"Guess you hit the nail on the head, Jack," muttered the convinced Perk,for they were at some little distance away from the consulting trio, andtheir whispers could never have been heard with the dead leaves onnearby palmetto trees keeping up their harsh clashing when whipped bythe gusts of wind.
Both of the spies must have had a host of speculations passing in reviewthrough their active minds as they lay there watching the conspiratorsso earnestly talking and gesticulating. From time to time Jack and hischum would cast further glances in the quarter where the trim aircraftlay anchored, bobbing up and down like a restive horse eager to be off.
What did they fetch on their voyage through the upper air lanes, comingfrom some unknown port--hardly "case stuff," Jack told himself, sincespace aboard the Lockheed-Vega crate would be limited--then it must beeither yellow Chinks trying to crash the gates of the country thatbanned some of their race as undesirable aliens, or possibly the wingedcourier carried a batch of precious stones from far-away Paris,forwarded in a round-about, surreptitious way and intended to reach aready market in the wealthiest country in the world, of course, withoutpaying the usual heavy customs duty--which saving alone would likelyreach well into six figures.
The trio seemed to have finished their discussion, whatever its naturemight have been, for they sauntered down to the edge of the water wherethe man in the dungarees proceeded to embark by means of a small boatthat he could leave secured to the mooring rope of the amphibian when hetook off.
"Making off to pick up another cargo, I reckon," Jack ventured. "And sothis is where our friend has his secret hideout at such times when he somysteriously disappears from his big show place near Miami? Mightyinteresting, I'd call it and the chances are he's been keeping up thisdouble play racket for many months, perhaps even for years, for he cameto Florida not long after the war, fishing for tarpon down around theTen Thousand Islands where we lay concealed lately."
"But what's the big idea, partner?" Perk wanted to know--"why under thesun does he play both ends o' this queer game--what's the sense o' hishavin' this wee shack in the wilderness when he could carry on hisracket just as well on the eastern shore?"
"Just because he fancies the idea of keeping his two personalities asfar apart as possible, Perk. Uncle Sam's Coast Guards, revenue officersand even Secret Service men fairly swarm around Miami most of the yearso they'd be apt to make it more or less unpleasant for the elegantOswald Kearns in his society functions if he had his pals dodging in andout of his princely palace. He prefers to drop over here in thisdesolate place instead when he has a lot of business to transact. He's awonder, all right, in his double line, Perk, and not to be underrated,understand."
"Seems that way, partner," grumbled the other quickly adding, "theregoes the Lockheed-Vega spinnin' out o' the lagoon to the open lake so'sto get up enough speed for the take-off. Must be somethin' mightyspecial to coax that pilot to risk bein' seen in open daylight. So heused to fish in them passages 'tween the mangrove islands years ago, didhe, Jack?"
"Sure did, and they told me his guide some years ago down there used tobe a notorious smuggler and gulf-stream pirate, no other than JimAlderman, right now in the jug over at Fort Lauderdale on the easternshore and waiting to get a hempen collar for murdering three lawofficers in August two years back. Of course, he hadn't started his realcareer of crime when he used to be a guide for Roosevelt, Zane Grey, thewriter, and some other famous sportsmen."
"Do tell," murmured Perk, duly thrilled by what his pal was telling himconcerning one of the most turbulent characters known along the Floridacoasts since those days of old when buccaneers like Blackbeard,Gasparilla and others of their ilk roamed the subtropical waters andswarmed aboard such unfortunate Spanish galleons as chance threw theirway.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Jack went on to whisper, "if he goes underquite another name while over in this hideout and even manages to alterhis looks more or less. He's capable of playing many parts if he's halfas good an actor as I suspect. But we'll be apt to know a heap morebefore a great while slips by."
"There he goes, Jack, swingin' off toward the east in the bargain, butthen it's just as easy for a flier to strike across the lower end o'Florida, if the notion strikes him, day or night. Crates are gettin' tobe a common sight these days down here. I read they expected to have afull hundred at Miami this very winter, takin' part in a big air derbythat's scheduled to be pulled off."
They watched the other two men walk back and enter the coquina bungalowand a little later Jack was saying:
"Strikes me we'd better pull up stakes and clear out of this, Perk,don't forget we've got to pass that rattlesnake cove on the way back,and for one, I'm not so keen about doing it in pitch darkness."
"Don't get me goofy, partner," whimpered Perk with a shudder. "But holdon a bit--mebbe now somethin's a'goin' to strike up we'll both be sorterglad to set eyes on--looky there, old hoss, what do you see?"