Flying the Coast Skyways; Or, Jack Ralston's Swift Patrol

by Ambrose Newcomb

  CHAPTER XVI

  ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

  "And I gotter to admit," Perk was saying, shortly after they had gainedthe altitude that gave him a chance to sweep the horizon with hisglasses, "even the ole weather sharp stands in aour favor. Look at thatsky, buddy; did yeou ever in all yeour life set eyes on a clearerstretch--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 wingsto beat the band. Yeah! this lay o' aourn aint so bad--some o' thetime."

  They swung over much of the territory for fifty miles north ofCharleston, with Jack noting the lay of the land as cleverly as anytopography expert charting a region, could display. In that wonderfulbrain of his he undoubtedly must have been engaged in making a mentalchart of the ground; the sinuosities of the streams that ran with sucheccentricity toward the nearby ocean; the numerous more or less possiblelanding-places where both boats from salt water, and those dropping downfrom the clouds, might find a resting place; where their contrabandcargoes could be taken aboard waiting trucks, and be transported to safehavens, despite the utmost vigilance of the customs officers and coastpatrol 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 theimmensity of the task so recently placed upon his shoulders.

  Just the same, the only visible result of this realization lay in atightening of Jack's firm lips, and a fresh gleam in his steady eyes, asthough he might be once again dedicating all his energies, his lifeitself, to the undertaking as yet so young, so untried.

  "So much for the territory close to Charleston," he told his mate, as heturned the nose of his airship once more toward the city; "I've got thatdown pretty pat for a beginning. The next time we come out it will be totake up the survey about where we left off today, and head furthernorth."

  "Judgin' from what yeou say, partner, I kinder gu--reckons as haow yeoukim to the conclusion they gets their business in further away from dearole Charleston--haow 'bout that, suh?"

  "Possibly so, Wally, but from what I've picked up from many sources, I'malready half convinced we'll be apt to rim across the whole works withinfifty miles or so of the city, it may be where that swift and crookedYamasaw River skirts the coastways, dodging this way and that, evenrunning backwards sometimes, so when you've been going with the currenttwo hours you find yourself within a biscuit toss of a tree you passedlong ago."

  So in due time they dropped down again on the landing-field close toCharleston.

  One thing Perk felt absolutely certain about, which was that his chiefwas not going to start real operations until he had accomplished themost exacting examination of the entire ground; and felt able to picturein his mind just how the Government baiters carried out their extensivesmuggling game by sea and air; but when he _did_ strike it would be in away to start strangling the hitherto successful campaign of the giantCombine.

  They both carried on in a perfectly natural fashion, much of their talkwhen in the company of any third party being along the line of theirintended sport--how they had been able to discover a number of promisingsecluded ponds and bayous where already thus early in the ducking seasona considerable gathering of the feathered game had been noted.

  Perk fell into the humor of the trick, and even boasted of what avacancy he meant to create in the flocks of ducks and geese before thetermination of Mr. Warrington's vacation caused him to start north oncemore to his regular "business" of attending Board meetings in a bunch ofcompanies where he chanced to be a heavy stockholder, and a director aswell.

  Really to Perk, who liked a joke as well as the next one, this thingpromised no end of fun; every hour of the day found him more deeplyinterested than before, and eager to push ahead.

  That night in the sanctity of their room, (speaking even there in lowvoices as if they more than half believed the very walls might haveears) Perk took occasion to mention the remarkable gift his companionhad 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 oftenconfounded his intellect. "Onct yeou hears a long-winded talk, an' I'llbe hanged if yeou can't spin her off word fur word, an' never a singleslip-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 himin his smiling way. "All you know is that Nature's been kind in givingyou 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 besidewhom 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 ofthe greatest natural phenomena ever known in America, or anywhere--hewas black as the ace of spades, and unusually homely, so they hated towatch him when he was playing; yet he had the most astounding memoryever heard of--didn't know one note of music from another--just dependedon his ears, and that amazing talent that Nature had implanted in his,strange uncouth soul."

  "What could he do, partner, as was so wonderful?" demanded Perk,seemingly more or less interested.

  "Of course I never saw or listened to him play, for he was dead longbefore my time," Jack continued; "but I've heard people who had, andI've also read accounts of it in magazine articles, so I'm pretty wellposted myself. If you turned your head away, they say you'd have swornsome famous composer was hitting the ivories of the piano, and bringingout the most divine strains ever heard. He could listen just _once_ tosome classical and difficult sonata played by an eminent performer,(something Blind Tom had never heard before in all his life) and thensitting down he would reproduce the whole selection exactly as thefamous artist had played it, with never a chord missing. People used tobe awed, as though realizing they were in the presence of a miracle!"

  "Gee whiz! it must a been somethin' fierce, Boss," was Perk's onlycomment.

  "You know they say the Chinese and Japanese are wonderful imitators, andcan reproduce any pattern to the minutest detail that is placed beforethem; but the best of them would be ten classes below that negro genius.So don't think I'm anything but a tyro, brother, with my poor memory.

  "Hot-diggetty-dig! but yeou're good enough to make a poor bucko like metake a seat way back; that's the honest truth, er Mr. Warrington, suh."

  As the following day broke with a promise of more clear weather Jackdecided to waste no time. Accordingly they were off again, and speedingtoward the north at a pace well over a hundred miles an hour.

  "Gosh-a-mighty! I never'd have reckoned this here ole boat could hit itup so pretty," Perk at one time called out, when they had muffled theengine exhaust so effectually that they were well able to conversewithout raising their voices to a shout. "She muster been built outen ANumber One stuff to hold together like she's done. If we got throughthis here job alive, partner, it's gwine to be up to us-uns to write asweet letter to the company what constructed this here amphibian, an'tell 'em jest haow much we thinks o' aour boat."

  "Possibly we may, partner," the other told him; "but even that mightbreak the Secret Service rule of keeping identities well covered up,lest you lose some of your effectiveness by getting too familiar.Besides, I've got an idea this boat's been reconstructed--that asoriginally built she wasn't in the amphibian class at all--some gent whoowned her must have been fond of the model, and feeling the necessityfor having a ship that could land on water, had her altered to suit hiswants."

  "That may well be, suh," Perk went on to assert, with one of his nods;"but jest the same they made a mighty good job o' it, I'm asayin', suh.Huh! to tell the truth right naow I wouldn't cry much if
I never did seeaour ole bus, the big Fokker, agin; I've fell so turrible hard fo' thishyah ship, built to imitate a duck, what kin swim on the water, risefrom the same when yeou wants to git agoin', an' cut ahead at more'n ahundred clean an hour. Huh!"

  When they had reason to believe, (from landmarks taken notice of on thepreceding day by Perk, as they turned for home) they were covering afresh stretch of land and water, their vigilance was once more centeredupon the task of closely observing every detail, and making more mentalnotes.

  During this cruise they discovered next to nothing incriminating--as arule they found themselves gazing down on a tangled mass of forestgrowth, with silver threads of water running crisscross here and there;or it might be muddy looking rivers and creeks meandering along in theirlong march to the sea, covering at least ten miles where a crow wouldfly the same distance in one mile or possibly less.

  Jack had noted a number of places where the conditions seemed more orless favorable for such secret work as the successful landing of illicitcargoes necessitated; but while the spot seemed everything that could bewished, there was never a sign of its being used for such purposes--nosheds, or even a well-used road leading into the pine woods, such asmust be required if heavy truck loads of goods were to be carried off.

  "It looks as if we'll have to go over that first fifty or sixty milesagain, with a fine tooth comb," Jack told his comrade, as the afternooncaught them still speeding gaily along, not over three thousand feetabove the checkered landscape below.

  "What we agoin' to do 'baout hit, then, suh?" demanded the puzzled Perk."We shore caint keep startin' aout from Charleston every mawnin' likewe're adoin' right naow, covering hundreds o' miles, an' hope to gitback by daylight."

  "Oh! that needn't trouble us anything to speak of, matey," the otherhastened to assure him. "If necessary we'll drop down, and make camp forthe night, pick things up in the morning, and take chances of gettingback to Charleston any old time later on."

  "Say, less do that same tonight, suh," suggested the artful Perk, withhis most engaging smile; but Jack shook his head in the negative.

  "Possibly we may tomorrow; but I've agreed to see Mr. Herriott tonight,partner."