X
FLYING BLIND
Instantly the head of the ship was pointed downward and they started tocoast--even as this maneuver was in progress and the roar becamedeafening, both of them caught a fragmentary glimpse of bright lightspassing just overhead.
It had indeed been a close shave, for only that Perk proved so clever atthe stick they must have met the mail ship head on with the inevitableresult that yet another tragedy of the air would be chronicled in themorning newspapers with scare headlines fully an inch high.
Perk had lost his voice due to the sudden nerve strain and evenordinarily cool Jack Ralston waited a brief spell, in order to insureproper breathing before trying to speak.
"Reckon you got all the thrill you could stand that time, Perk!" hefinally remarked with a little quiver in his voice.
"Beat anything I ever stacked up against--that's right partner," Perkfrankly admitted, doubtless taking in a deep breath of relief.
"Never might happen again in twenty years," said Jack, as if thatfeature of the near tragedy affected him most of all. "With all thiswide space all around us, just to think of two airships heading straightat each other in a fog--who says now we're not watched over by a specialProvidence?"
"You said it buddy," Perk agreed. "That sure was a time when thatmuffler paid a big interest on its cost an' I kinder guess saved ourlives in the bargain. It pays to advertise an' also to pick up thenewest fixin's along the line o' aviation discoveries an' inventions."
"Just so Perk. If our engine had kept thundering away right along wemight not have been warned in time to get out of the road and let thatstunt-flying air mail pilot squeeze past. He ought to be reported forhustling along like that in such a thick soup; but since we're stillalive and kicking, I reckon we'll just have to let it drop at that."
"Mebbe you're right there, Jack old bean--strikes me we were hittin' itup like hot cakes in the bargain an' not so innocent after all. I'ma'wonderin' if he got wind o' the close call he had--must have lampedour lights as we ducked and went down like a bullet or the stick o' arocket that'd exploded up near the stars. Shucks! I'd jest like to meetup with that guy sometime an' ask him what his feelin' was--bet you hewas as scart as we felt when he whizzed right over our heads."
"It might be the part of wisdom to climb to a higher level now,partner," hinted Jack. "Unless I miss my guess that chap was dropping,as if he'd come down from the upper regions, which gives me an idea heknew where he was and had been keeping a big ceiling so as to avoidbutting into some mountain peak."
"Here goes then," and with the words Perk commenced to climb, the newship being so constructed as to be a great improvement over the old typeof plane, able to ascend at a steep angle without any of those formerlynecessary laborious spirals.
At the height of four thousand feet he again leveled off and kept to thecourse Jack had marked out. Perhaps they were over some air mail linewith its friendly flashing beacons winking far below; but that deadlywall of fog lying under their keel effectually prevented them fromtaking advantage of any such guide posts along the way; nor would ithave availed them greatly could they have dropped down to within a fewhundred feet of the earth, for even at such a distance it must have beenutterly out of the question for the keenest vision to have picked up abeacon or even detect its flash because of the curtain that fairlysmothered them on all sides, above and below.
They no longer conversed, even Perk understanding how serious theircondition must be and holding his usually ready tongue in check, whileJack took it out in tense thinking, watching the various dials andfiguring just which way they would be going in case of drift.
So half an hour crept by, with no change whatever in the conditions bywhich they were surrounded. It was now growing most unbearable, somonotonous, so very tiresome. A heavy fog is hard enough to bear at anytime but when it stretches along hour after hour, without the slightestsign of any diminuation, it is bound to get on the stoutest nerves andproduce symptoms bordering on a panic.
"Perhaps we might find some relief if we kept going up," suggested Jackafter some time had passed. "It sort of stifles me to keep in such athick mess as this, growing worse all the while."
"Huh, if I wasn't jest thinkin' that way myself partner," Perk declared,thus showing that it was a case of "me too."
They kept on climbing, although neither could discover much differencein that miserable opaque blanket. It began to grow much colder too,although they managed to don some heavier coats which would keep themfrom feeling the change in weather conditions to any extent.
"Don't seem to be much use I guess Perk, in all my experience I can'tsay I ever ran across a fog that expended such a distance above theearth. Most times you can get out of the ditch by climbing, but here weare at a thirteen thousand foot ceiling and it's as black as ever. Nouse trying to get above the line--it just can't be done."
"Right you are partner," admitted Perk, leveling off, "though I must saythe breathin' seems a shade easier than down below."
"We'll stick it out here for a while," Jack went on to say, "and it maybe that the coming dawn may bring some sort of a breeze along to scatterthis beastly stuff and let us see what's what."
"Anyway," Perk was saying, as if in relief, "at such a height we ain'tlikely to rub noses with any rock pinnacle and to our everlastin' griefin the bargain. The air's like enough free of mountain peaks around thissection o' country, which is some comfort to a fog-bound pair o' ginks,I admit."
It was by this time about five o'clock and Perk was banking heavily onthe fact that inside of another half hour, at that extreme height, theywere likely to discover the advance couriers of approaching dawncommencing to paint the eastern heavens with fingers of delicate shadedcolors.
"Got any sort o' idee where we might be right now, Jack?"
"Why, sitting tight in a nice fog blanket I'd say, brother," replied theone who was now at the controls, having some time back made theexchange, easily enough accomplished without the necessity of changingseats.
"Jokin' aside, Jack, I mean what section o' country might be away downbelow-stairs where there's land and green things--how I'd like to restmy tired peepers on somethin' _green_ for a change."
"I'm not as sure of my figures as I'd like to be Perk, for it's beenhours since we saw anything at all except this fog; but we've covered alot of space and must be well on our way to the hunting ground westarted for. Wait until we get out of this mess and then it can besettled as soon as we strike any town, village or even hamlet, that'llgive us a hint concerning our bearings."
"I'm bothered a little bit just the same," complained Perk.
"What about, old pal?" demanded Jack quickly.
"What if somethin' should happen to our ship--we're a long way from anyplace an' well, 'fore you took over the stick Jack, seemed to me therewas a bit o' a holdup to the slick way the boat had been whooping thingsup--I might a'been mistaken, but she seemed to be wallowin' some, likeshe didn't just feel pleased over the cargo she had to carry."
"Perk, now that you mention it I do believe you're right--I'm notpushing her much, but she does act sort of sulky, as if tired of thisthing--not that we could blame her for feeling that way. Tell you what,partner--suppose you climb out and take a look around to see ifeverything seems okay."
Accordingly Perk, as if sensing some hidden motive in what the other hadjust remarked, left his seat and made his way out to the port wing--theship was swaying more or less, dipping and nosing upward as Jack heldher to it, but Perk being quite accustomed to such things had no troublewhatever. A minute later and he came hurrying back to attach hisearphones again and cry out in a tone filled with more or lessexcitement:
"Jack, there is something the matter for sure--fact is there's iceformin' on both wings, and right heavy at that!"