Flying the Coast Skyways. Jack Ralston's Swift Patrol
“I asked about the amphibian that was to be placed at our disposal,” Jack informed the other later on; “and Mr. Herriott apologized because, as he said, he understood it had been decided best and safest for all concerned if instead of the wonderful new navy speed boat, one of the latest patterns along that line, as first designed for us, they had sent a much used Curtiss Falcon; although certain new fangled devices had been attached, such as combination wheels and pontoons, that had been successfully tried out in active service, and were much the worse for wear, but staunch for all that.”
“Gee whiz! that’s goin’ to tickle a feller named er-Wally a heap, let me tell yeou, buddy!” exclaimed Perk, with glistening eyes. “Allers did hanker to see haow that ere contraption panned aout. What else is there ’baout the boat we’ll ’preciate, boss?”
“A number of up-to-date things that are apt to come in handy,” Jack told him; “but remember, pains have been taken to make it appear they’ve been attached to the flying ship for quite some time – it might look suspicious if they were all new, as though placed there for some particular purpose – get the full meaning of that, do you, Wally?”
“Yeah, jest so,” the other made answer, a bit hesitatingly, but with growing assurance in his manner; “them bally guys got sharp eyes, an’ if so be they happens to have a spy right hyah in Charleston town, he’d lamp sech extravagance, an’ keep an eye on weuns.”
“That’s the right answer, boy – you said it. Well, another fine thing Mr. Herriott told me, was connected with a suppression of the row made by our exhausts. You know that’s been a source of great annoyance to us in times past, when it meant a whole lot if we could get close to our intended quarry without kicking up such a tremendous racket that every living thing inside ten miles must know an airship was somewhere around.”
“Hot-diggetty-dig! air yeou tellin’ me they done got that squall muzzled at last – that yeou kin make a grand sneak up on yeour meat withaout them suspectin’ a single thing?”
“Well, they do say it’s pretty close to having the noise kept under perfect control,” Jack went on to state. “Whenever you want to stop the staccato sounds from publishing your coming to the entire country, ten miles in every direction, all you have, to do is to press a button, and the muffler gets down to business automatically. Even the whirling sound of the propeller has been fairly quieted in the same way.”
“Say, that shore is great news!” Perk exclaimed, enthusiastically; “an’ I’ll be near crazy to see haow she works, aput in practice.”
“Just hold your horses until tomorrow, when we’ll go out to the field and take our first flight in the old cabin Curtiss Falcon ship, to find how she handles. I never had the pleasure of piloting one of that type of ships, and so there’ll be a heap for both of us to learn.”
“Shucks! I done handled a amphib many a time, but that was years back, when they didn’t near come up to the new kind; an’ with all them contraptions attached in the bargain. It’s agoin’ to be high sport dodgin’ ’raound over them swamps an’ wild sections o’ territory, duckin’ daown to settle on some bayou, or mebbe a meanderin’ river with a fierce current, sech as I read they got close to the Atlantic seaboard – bet yeour boots it is, partner.”
“I reckon you’re right there, buddy; but for the present we mustn’t have much thought for amusing ourselves – everything we do should have a decided bearing on the carrying out of our game.”
“Shore thing, boss,” agreed Perk, not at all dismayed at having cold water thrown on his high hopes; “but if so yeou happens to git a good chance to knock over a brace o’ fat mallards, in carryin’ aout the duckin’ part o’ aour program, why, there aint any crime ’baout makin’ a nice cookin’ fire ashore, be they, and havin’ real wild game fo’ supper? We gotter eat to live, yeou knows, an’ I’m right fond o’ duck, when in camp.”
Jack grinned, and shook his head, even though smiling, as if he found his chum’s specious argument unanswerable.
“We’ll leave all that to the future, brother,” he told Perk; “it isn’t always advisable to cross a stream until you come to it.”
Then he went on to reel off still more of the information passed along to him by his late host; and while many things he told may not have seemed as important in Perk’s eyes as the two just mentioned, nevertheless he tried to pay strict attention, and asked numerous questions, to convince Jack he understood all he said.
“And before we take off for a spin,” Jack added, as an after thought; “we must get all the raft of things aboard the amphibian we fetched here to use in our work. There will be other necessary stuff to pick up from time to time, as we advance along our road; for we’ve got to remember that once we make the grand getaway we’ll not see the floodlights or boundary zones of Charleston aviation field again until we’ve won our game; or come back defeated, as others have done before us, men supposed to be as clever as they make them in our particular line.”
“Then we got a big day afore us tomorrow, eh, what, partner?”
“Looks that way, buddy,” Jack lost no time in saying; “and on that account I reckon now we’d better call a halt on this talkie, and hit the hay. For one I’m about as sleepy as they make ’em, and ready to crawl between the sheets, leaving tomorrow to look after itself.”
“Meanin’ to run up an’ see the gov’nor tomorrow, any?” queried Perk, as he started to take off his shoes, and suppressing a big yawn while so doing.
“I made an arrangement to get over to his house tomorrow night, should I have further questions to put up to him,” Jack admitted. “Then again there’s always a chance of some later important news coming in from Headquarters, such as we ought to hear about without delay, since it could bring about some sort of change in our plan of campaign.”
Perk grunted, as though he grasped the idea; but was really too tired himself to think of asking more solutions of the possible puzzles as yet bothering his brain.
With the coming of dawn they were both astir, for when on duty Perk could cut his sleeping portion in two, if it was deemed necessary; while Jack had ever been able to get along with a few hours recuperation each night.
They went down and enjoyed a fine breakfast, although Perk had to be warned again not to founder; since they had a strenuous day ahead, when he needed to be in the best possible condition. Consequently he had to deny himself a third helping of sausages and fried eggs; as well as a fourth plate of griddle cakes; dripping with fresh butter and Southern syrup. However, he “opined” he would be able to hold out until lunch time; for which he meant to be provided by securing some stuff at a bakery, together with hard-boiled eggs aplenty – trust an old campaigner with vast experience for looking after the “eats” when backed by an abundance of the “long green.”
When they had laid out a program that covered everything for the day, they took a taxi, and ran out in style to the aviation field. Jack assumed the post of running things, as was his right, acting as a wealthy young sportsman, used to doing just about what he pleased, and “letting the world go hang!”
He had a little chat with his good friend of the previous day, and they learned that their other ship, the Curtiss-Falcon, was housed in the same Blevins Aircraft Corporation hangar that now sheltered their big Fokker tri-motored craft; which made things doubly comfortable, when they would start changing their possessions from one to the other.
Jack only waited until some call took the superintendent off, leaving them by themselves, when with Perk’s help he commenced the job of making the transfer. This had been taken into consideration before they left San Diego, and later on in the Curtiss-Wright hangar at Candler Field, Atlanta; so that everything had been placed in a series of cartons, such as might be tossed overboard when their contents were disposed of – particularly in the case of edibles, and such perishable supplies.
These handy cartons would have prevented any one from knowing what they were stocking up with, and in such wise warded off possible suspicions that might have started a string of happenings none too pleasant to contemplate.
After this job was completed came the running of the antique Curtiss cabin amphibian out of its hangar, and settled in position for the coming takeoff; with Perk all agrin, as if he anticipated a glorious cruise.
CHAPTER XV
The Trial Spin
Perk had closely examined a number of things about the amphibian in which they anticipated carrying out the gigantic task committed to their hands by the Chief at Headquarters; and whom they looked up to as worthy of their utmost respect as an organizer able to consider the utmost details. Most of his scrutiny, however, did not have any connection with new gadgets affixed to the black dashboard fronting the pilot’s seat; but lay in the direction of the combination of wheels for landing on solid ground, also pontoons for use when seeking to drop down on the water of river, lagoon, or even the sea itself.
He spent considerable time in examining the working of this contrivance, which he had reason to fully appreciate – if only it proved all that was claimed for it, which was soon to be settled.
Then the new-fangled muffler for the engine exhaust was a source of vast attention on Perk’s part; Jack could see him shaking his head incredulously; and from this suspected Perk of doubting its efficiency; but then Perk happened to be something of a skeptic, and even though he did not come from Missouri he usually had to be shown before yielding his doubts.
“Let’s get out of here, and aloft,” suggested Jack, when he found it was about an hour before noon time.
The field just then presented a rather animated appearance, as ships were coming in, and going out; with several taking up parties who were eager to try a first air swing. This just suited Jack, for it would keep many curious eyes off their movements; and just then the less notice they drew the better he would be pleased.
They picked up a couple of field workers to lend a hand, and hence their rather seedy looking water and air craft was wheeled into position, after it had been serviced while yet in the hangar, a very nice undertaking for one who disliked publicity.
“Here, Wally,” Jack went on to say, when everything seemed in readiness for their initial jump, “suppose you take hold, seeing you’re more accustomed to this type of boat than I am. However I’ll soon get acquainted, and then it’ll be okay. Step in, and grab the stick, partner; nothing to keep us on ground that I know of; and I’m anxious to have a look-in at the waterways where we’re hoping for a run of luck with the ducks and geese.”
Much of this of course was for the benefit of the two men in dungarees, for how were Jack and his pard to know but that one of them might turn out to be a clever spy in the pay of the never sleeping Combine, jealous of their hitherto unsurpassed success in beating the customs, and in a way daring the Secret Service branch of the Federal Government to “do its level best to down them”?
Perk was not in the least averse to taking the place of honor when the amphibian would start its initial flight in their hands. He proved the absolute truth of what he had said about being fairly at home with the ship that belonged to both the land and water contingent; for they made only a short run when contact with the ground was cut off, and like a bird broken away from its brass cage and soaring upward, they started to spiral in the effort to gain altitude.
When he had a ceiling of say about five hundred feet or more, Perk commenced a wide swing, wishing to circle the city on the seashore, to view it from a different angle than their former experience had given them.
“Now point her blunt nose into the north, buddy – we’re off!” Jack bawled in the ear of the pilot, the ear-phones not having as yet been adjusted – all those things came under the line of Perk’s duty, and would be attended to in due time.
They speedily left the good city of Charleston behind them, and were passing over the Navy-yard; which place Perk meant to examine more closely with his glasses on another occasion, when matters would be easier for him.
“How does she go?” shouted Jack, later on, when they could no longer catch even a fugitive glimpse of the city, saving the cloud of smoke that almost always hung over the high buildings and steeples.
“Bang up, boss; works like a charm!” yelled Perk, happily, as though he was not “caring a Continental” just how long Jack allowed him to hold the post of honor. “Whoever looked after the job o’ gettin’ this classic old-timer in great shape for this work, he shore knew his onions, I’ll say. It’s a snap to run this boat, if yeou want to know my ’pinion.”
“I think I’ll take a whirl at the controls, partner!” cried Jack; “stay just where you are for a while at least; I can play the game as a back-seat driver. Here goes, then.”
He was pleased to find it no trouble whatever to handle the amphibian as though he knew everything about such craft; after all airships are run pretty much alike; and it depends on the adaptability of the pilot as to whether he can work the same as with his own familiar type of craft – there are some people who are able to master any and all models of automobiles, even though handling them for the first time, especially men mechanically inclined by Nature, – and Jack happened to belong to that class.
“You can go about your duties, Wally; I’ll work over into the front seat okay, for its an easy job, I reckon. When we make up our minds to dip down and wet the pontoons in some body of water, fresh or salt, I’ll let you handle the boat again; though I imagine I could do the thing without much splash if I was put to it. I’ll soon get the hang of the trick, you can well believe.”
“Huh! yeou would, Mister – it aint much that’d faize yeou, take it from me as knows.”
After that conversation was such a tremendous effort that it languished until a better opportunity opened up – this would come when Jack found it expedient to make a test of the muffler system, with which their boat had been supplied, and which Perk was eager to see tried out.
To the delight of both fliers the device worked to a charm, most of the deafening racket being abated, even when they going at the fastest speed of which the “has-been” Curtiss-Falcon was capable of exhibiting – much more than a hundred miles an hour, Perk figured.
“Huh! mebbe naow they call this ship a relic o’ the past,” he grunted, when the success of the experiment was assured; “but I wanter say right naow there aint amany up-to-the-minute ships as kin run circles ’raound this tub, as some wise guy pilot’d call her. See, yeou kin hear ev’ry word I’m asayin’ an’ yet I aint ahollerin’ any to notice. It’s a bully invention, an’ shows where we’re agettin’ in this science o’ aviation. From what I hears, them ships as is acarryin’ smuggled stuff ’long the seaboard aint great at speed, ’cause they don’t need to be, their job bein’ to carry hefty loads each trip, an’ be steady goers. If the chanct ever comes to try this Falcon aout agin one o’ that dirty bunch, I’m wagerin’ we’ll overhaul the same hands down, an’ no takers.”
“I hope your prediction proves a true one, brother,” Jack told him; “for, come to think of it, there’s a pretty good chance we may yet be up against a hot chase, either the pursued, or better still, the pursuer; in either case having the speediest craft would be an advantage worth while. Yes, that seems to be okay, and a big improvement over all that row we’re accustomed to carrying along with us wherever we go.”
They had been heading up the coast, keeping within sight of the Atlantic most of the time; but paying constant attention to inland pictures.
Of course Perk had before then brought his faithful and much beloved glasses out of their nook, and was making frequent use of the same, staring this way and that, sometimes making a noise with his mouth as though grunting his surprise to discover what a clear atmosphere attended their trial flight, and how close up the powerful binocular lens brought far distant objects.
“It shore is a big treat jest to be squattin’ hyah, suh, an’ observin’ so much all ’raound us. Looks like a mighty tough region daown there, I got to admit; an’ if them slick guys air ahidin’ their landin’ place where them awful swampy tracts lie, we’re agoin’ to have aour hands right full alocatin’ the same, an’ gettin’ what we come after in the bargain.”
“Don’t worry, partner,” Jack told him, in as smooth a voice as though he could see nothing whatever to cause undue anxiety. “Rome, you may remember, wasn’t built in a day; there’ll be heaps of time to get our little work in; and we were told to take as long as we thought wise – that there was no need of trying to wind things up in a hurry.”
“That’s correct, boss,” admitted the easily convinced Perk; and then deftly turning the talk in another quarter he went on to add, pointing as he made the remark: “Looky yondah, suh, see that neat lit’ bayou jest anestlin’ there like a private pond. Wouldn’t it be fine if we could on’y drop daown, an’ try aour pontoons on that sheet o’ water. Doant seem to be a livin’ thing araoun’ neither, less it might be a ’gator, stickin’ his nose up to see if the coast it be clear.”
Jack turned the craft to a severe dip, at which the pleased Perk grinned horribly, as if he considered he had made a real “wise-crack.”
“Goin’ daown, folks – main floor next – ev’rybody aout then what aint agwine to the basement!” he went on to remark, quaintly; and Jack could see how his best pal was earnestly trying to acquire the genuine Southern manner of speech, tinctured with a touch of negro dialect.
“I’m going to try to make contact myself, brother,” announced the confident pilot, as, after several circling movements he headed up against the sea breeze that was blowing from the southeast just then.
Perk did not appear to feel any concern, such confidence did he have in the other’s ability to make landings so soft that an egg would hardly have been crushed by any jumpy motion.
Jack watched his contact with the water – the big boat dipped, sprang up, came in touch again, and then settled down to making headway, the little wavelets curling away from the bows of the pontoons with a murmurous sound very similar to the gurgling of a running mountain brook.
“Splendid work, buddy, better’n I could a done it myself, with all the sperience I done had long ago. An’ she does work to a charm, sure as yeou’re born. We’re in bully great luck, all right, to have ’em pick aout sech a dandy ole boat like this, that does her makers credit. I’ll tell the world.”
Jack was not planning to stay in that lonely bayou for any length of time; what they were out to pay particular attention to on this their initial trip was the lay of the land; also to familiarize themselves with the working of the amphibian; so presently he again left the water, and arose like a lark.
CHAPTER XVI
All in a Day’s Work
“And I gotter to admit,” Perk was saying, shortly after they had gained the altitude that gave him a chance to sweep the horizon with his glasses, “even the ole weather sharp stands in aour favor. Look at that sky, buddy; did yeou ever in all yeour life set eyes on a clearer stretch – nary a single cloud pokin’ its nose in sight; an’ to think o’ the measly days an’ nights I uster spend in the mail-carrier business, asloggin’ ’long with a capacity load, and mebbe ice formin’ on my wings to beat the band. Yeah! this lay o’ aourn aint so bad – some o’ the time.”
They swung over much of the territory for fifty miles north of Charleston, with Jack noting the lay of the land as cleverly as any topography expert charting a region, could display. In that wonderful brain of his he undoubtedly must have been engaged in making a mental chart of the ground; the sinuosities of the streams that ran with such eccentricity toward the nearby ocean; the numerous more or less possible landing-places where both boats from salt water, and those dropping down from the clouds, might find a resting place; where their contraband cargoes could be taken aboard waiting trucks, and be transported to safe havens, despite the utmost vigilance of the customs officers and coast patrol forces to apprehend them.
This initial survey of the vast territory open to the expert smugglers, most of it absolutely familiar to those engaged in the illegal traffic, undoubtedly must have impressed the Secret Service man with the immensity of the task so recently placed upon his shoulders.
Just the same, the only visible result of this realization lay in a tightening of Jack’s firm lips, and a fresh gleam in his steady eyes, as though he might be once again dedicating all his energies, his life itself, to the undertaking as yet so young, so untried.
“So much for the territory close to Charleston,” he told his mate, as he turned the nose of his airship once more toward the city; “I’ve got that down pretty pat for a beginning. The next time we come out it will be to take up the survey about where we left off today, and head further north.”
“Judgin’ from what yeou say, partner, I kinder gu – reckons as haow yeou kim to the conclusion they gets their business in further away from dear ole Charleston – haow ’bout that, suh?”
“Possibly so, Wally, but from what I’ve picked up from many sources, I’m already half convinced we’ll be apt to rim across the whole works within fifty miles or so of the city, it may be where that swift and crooked Yamasaw River skirts the coastways, dodging this way and that, even running backwards sometimes, so when you’ve been going with the current two hours you find yourself within a biscuit toss of a tree you passed long ago.”
So in due time they dropped down again on the landing-field close to Charleston.
One thing Perk felt absolutely certain about, which was that his chief was not going to start real operations until he had accomplished the most exacting examination of the entire ground; and felt able to picture in his mind just how the Government baiters carried out their extensive smuggling game by sea and air; but when he did strike it would be in a way to start strangling the hitherto successful campaign of the giant Combine.
They both carried on in a perfectly natural fashion, much of their talk when in the company of any third party being along the line of their intended sport – how they had been able to discover a number of promising secluded ponds and bayous where already thus early in the ducking season a considerable gathering of the feathered game had been noted.
Perk fell into the humor of the trick, and even boasted of what a vacancy he meant to create in the flocks of ducks and geese before the termination of Mr. Warrington’s vacation caused him to start north once more to his regular “business” of attending Board meetings in a bunch of companies where he chanced to be a heavy stockholder, and a director as well.
Really to Perk, who liked a joke as well as the next one, this thing promised no end of fun; every hour of the day found him more deeply interested than before, and eager to push ahead.
That night in the sanctity of their room, (speaking even there in low voices as if they more than half believed the very walls might have ears) Perk took occasion to mention the remarkable gift his companion had with regard to a retentive memory.
“I jest doant see haow yeou kin ’member things like yeou do, ole hoss,” he was saying, evidently fishing for light on a subject that had often confounded his intellect. “Onct yeou hears a long-winded talk, an’ I’ll be hanged if yeou can’t spin her off word fur word, an’ never a single slip-up. Haow kin yeou do it, suh, I’d shore like to know?”
“It just can’t be explained, brother, and that’s a fact,” Jack told him in his smiling way. “All you know is that Nature’s been kind in giving you such a faculty, and let it go at that. I may seem remarkable to you, in that I’ve got such a good memory; but there have been others beside whom I’m a regular piker. Did you ever hear of Blind Tom, brother?”
“Huh! ’pears to me I did – he was some sorter black man, wa’nt he, suh, what could play extra good on the pianner?”
“Extra good – why, that doesn’t mean a tenth of what he could do – one of the greatest natural phenomena ever known in America, or anywhere – he was black as the ace of spades, and unusually homely, so they hated to watch him when he was playing; yet he had the most astounding memory ever heard of – didn’t know one note of music from another – just depended on his ears, and that amazing talent that Nature had implanted in his, strange uncouth soul.”
