Trackers of the Fog Pack; Or, Jack Ralston Flying Blind

by Ambrose Newcomb

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE CIRCLING BUZZARDS

  Jack seemed nothing loth to carry out his chum's suggestion. Truth totell he himself felt considerably "cramped" in the lower part of hisanatomy--any one who has been compelled to camp amidst the branches of atree for a period of successive hours, knows the experience is anythingbut a pleasant one.

  So they slipped down, and once more stood on solid ground, with Perkcasting suspicious looks in the quarter where last they had glimpsed thefleeing grizzly, with jets of mingled smoke and fire spitting this wayand that.

  "Huh! here's hopin' he's went for good," he was saying, meaningly."Let's get a move on, partner, an' vacate these premises pronto--smellstoo rank fur me jest naow--burnt hair allers _did_ get my goat, eversince that barber coaxed me to have my crop singed--said as haow it'dgrow out agin a heap faster if the split ends they was scotched away;but for a whole week afterwards folks used to look at me funny like, an'move further away. Huh!"

  "No hurry at all, buddy," Jack told him; "that live wire isn't going tocome back this way in a hurry, you can depend on that. Let's take alook, and make sure nothing has been dropped from our packs, or pockets.On the whole we've got a heap to congratulate ourselves on, coming outof such a scrape as well as we did--thanks to that bright thought ofyours."

  "Gee! it's real nice o' yeou to say that, Jack, ole bean; I'm not sorrywe had sech a queer experience; on'y I do begrudge him that real stuff,which is gone for keeps--it wasn't moonshine, or bootleg either, boy;but worth it's weight in solid silver--the man says as sold it to me."

  "Well, it did come in handy, for a fact, Perk, and we mustn't grieveover using it. Just try to imagine one of us _did_ get struck by thefangs of a rattler, and the stuff saved a human life--in this case maybetwo. Cheer up--plenty more where that came from, if only you've got thecoin."

  "Right yeou are, brother," Perk thereupon hastened to say, as headjusted his pack to conform with the angles of his body. "On'y I got tobe doubly keerful from neow on bout runnin' smack up again a pizenousviper, since it'd be jest too bad to get struck, an' no cure handy."

  When Perk had anything bothering him he was in the habit of keeping his"misery" constantly on tap; but then Jack was used to such littleeccentricities on the part of his bosom chum--Perk's good qualities morethan compensated for his poor ones, a fact which those who knew himrealized.

  They started on, following the devious windings of the formerwatercourse, where ages back there must have been terrible floods rushdown toward the lowland, after every cloudburst at the top of themountains. Many years must have passed since those happenings ceased,for the trees and heavy undergrowth rooted in cracks of the mighty rockstold this story of change.

  "I sure do hope we doant run into any other kind o' wild critter, whilemakin' this grand sneak," Perk was telling himself, as he kept closebehind his leader, picking his steps as daintily as any high bornlady--since that was his method of keeping watch for suspicious movingobjects on the ground, such as might turn out to be reptiles waiting topuncture his ankles. "If I was totin' my Winchester along, an' met upwith a snarlin' mounting lion, I'd think it a bit o' luck; but whenyeour hands are tied, so yeou dassent shoot a gun, things look kinderdifferent, that's right, an' not so good."

  Whenever Jack paused for a brief stop, and stared back, Perk dutifullycopied his action, trying to impress certain local features of thelandscape upon his memory.

  They had by this time come a considerable distance away from the spotwhere the airship had been abandoned, partly screened by the overhangingbranches of several trees, and also a partial blanket of evergreens,small ones they had been able to tear up, and use with rare judgment.

  Part of the time it was possible for them to raise their eyes and seethe clear blue sky in places. Once Perk discovered a moving object passbefore his vision, which he speedily made out to be a buzzard. A secondfollowed close behind, and then numerous other of the carrion eaters,all swinging in the same direction after the manner of their clan.

  As his eyes followed the circle of soaring birds Perk had an unpleasantthought strike in that gave him a chill around the region of his heart.

  "Hot-diggetty-dig! I wonder neow could it be them gluttonus birds theybeen pickin' the bones o' thet poor Simeon what disappeared 'raound thissection o' kentry? Jack hinted like he kinder guessed the plug uglieshad knocked him on the head, an' tossed his body over some bigprecipice. Gee whiz! it shore does gimme a bad feelin' to thinkthataways, 'specially since chances air we might be headin' straightalong that same road aourselves."

  After that there seemed to be some sort of a horrible fascination aboutthe wheeling line of feathered scavengers, so that at every opportunity,when an opening presented itself, Perk just stared, and stared,frequently stumbling awkwardly over an unnoticed object, and almostlosing his balance.

  Jack noticed this fact presently, and felt called upon to warn theother.

  "Keep your eyes more on the ground, partner, and do less sky gazing," hetold Perk in a low but distinct tone. "A tumble might give you a badhurt; and besides, we can't afford to make any sort of racket, you know.Never mind those rotten buzzards--what do _we_ care about theircarrying-on."

  Perk suspected that Jack had himself guessed what ailed him, from theway he connected the sailing of the uncanny crew with his companion'serratic actions. At any rate it rather abashed Perk to realize hisweakness could be so readily observed; so he braced himself up, andtried to give a low laugh.

  "That's okay, Jack; I'll be a heap more keerful. We got to do this grandcreep as slick as grease, with them pesky kiotes keepin' their ears tothe ground for s'picious noises."

  As the subject of Simeon's possible raw deal had fastened itself on hismind, Perk continued to speculate regarding the personality of themissing Secret Service agent. The subject grew more interesting thefurther he went, and in the end he even asked Jack a question that wasbothering him.

  "Yeou says as haow yeou knowed this guy Simeon some, didn't yeou,partner?"

  "I only met him a few times about a year back while in Washington; butat that took quite a shine to him," Jack explained, as Perk nudged upagainst him, both having stopped to rest after negotiating an extradifficult stretch on their climb.

  "He must a been a fair good chap then, I guess, partner, eh, what?"

  "I liked him," Jack added, concisely; "and they thought well of him inthe Big Chief's offices."

  "Any fambly as yeou heard of?" Perk further wished to know.

  "He told me he was a widower--I thought he must be up against some sortof mind trouble--it just impressed me that way, though he never let outa word of his personal affairs; but I never saw him smile, even whenothers in the party were cracking jokes, and laughing their loudest."

  "Huh! too bad sech a fine guy should a been sent out on a tough job likethis one," was all that Perk remarked, half under his breath, as thoughwhat Jack had told satisfied his curiosity, and further increased hisrespect for the brave brother officer whom he knew only by report.

  These things were bound to crop up in his mind from time to time, andgive him reason for further thought; for whatever the sad fate of Simeonmight be it seemed to have some connection with their own fortunes.

  Then Perk's roving fancy came back again to the adventure through whichthey had so recently passed, with such wonderful success. Figurativelyhe patted himself on the back, because it had been wholly his conceit,that of setting their grim four-footed jailor on fire, and causing thebeast to break the siege in hot haste.

  "Huh! not so bad--fur me," Perk told himself, with one of his queerchuckles. "Ole Perk he kin wake things up once in a coon's age, if hesets his mind on doin' the same. Kinder guess it'd pay me to sortercultivate that streak o' ingenuity--mebbe I'm movin' along to be somesorter inventor like Tom Edison--yeou never kin tell 'til the timecomes. 'Twouldn't be so funny after all, come to think o' it--my ole manhad a gift thataway, even if he never did set the State o
' Maine onfire. Huh! if things keep on amovin' like this, little ole Perk mebbe'llamount to some punkins after all!"