Wings Over the Rockies; Or, Jack Ralston's New Cloud Chaser

by Ambrose Newcomb

  XXIV

  ONE CHANCE IN A THOUSAND

  The little hotel to which they were taken by the kind owner of thefive-passenger car proved to be all they could wish for. It lookedscrupulously clean and the rooms to which they were shown seemed to givepromise of a comfortable night's sleep, though Jack doubted whether theexcited girl would obtain the rest she needed so much.

  He promised to knock on her door at daybreak so that they might securethe early breakfast he had ordered and be off to the flying field tomake a start.

  He and Perk had a double room with twin beds and were not long inturning in, both of them being more or less tired after a gruelling dayaloft. Jack had no idea they would be disturbed during the night, forthey were utter strangers in the town and such things as robberies wereabsolutely unknown, or so the hotel proprietor had assured him in answerto an incidental question.

  He was up at the first peep of dawn and had Perk on his feet without anyunusual racket. Later on Jack kept his promise about tapping on the doorof Suzanne's room and was a bit surprised when she opened it, disclosingthe fact that she was fully dressed as though she had been up for sometime, which indeed was a fact.

  He would never forget the yearning look she gave him when, seated at thetable, they started their simple breakfast. It was as though her heartwere in her throat, choking her and Jack, realizing the girl must beclose to the breaking point, quickly started talking of outside mattersand even cracked a little joke to try and divert her mind from thesubject that had gripped her day and night for so long.

  About the time they settled their account and were ready to start forthe field, a car stopped at the door and their accommodating friend ofthe night before, Mr. Caleb Cushman, accompanied by his wife, appeared.They came early to have the pleasure of taking them to where they meantto start off again--perhaps his good wife also wished to meet the bravegirl who was the now famous Buddy Warner's sweetheart. Apparently theyboth knew about this important fact, showing that Mr. Cushman must havebeen in touch with Bart Hicks by telephone since last they saw thelatter, and learned this thrilling circumstance that might put theirlittle town on the map, with all the big newspapers of the countryblazing inch high scareheads on their front pages when covering thelatest sensation along aviation lines.

  Although Jack would not admit that he felt the least uneasinessconcerning the safety of the amphibian, nevertheless he gave a sigh ofrelief when after looking the ship over he found everything in shipshapecondition.

  "Get that gas aboard as quick as you can, Perk," he told his comrade forhe had contracted to have the tank filled to full capacity while thechance held good, and besides he wished to have a little furtherconversation with affable Bart Hicks, with the hope of picking up a fewcrumbs of information in regard to the terrain they meant to cover onthis most important day.

  Accordingly he drew the ground superintendent aside and plied him with avariety of questions, all of which the accommodating test pilot answeredto the best of his ability.

  Jack had him describe the general character of the ground and just as heanticipated, learned that it was actually the roughest section in allthe region.

  "Rocks--deep gullies that seem to have no bottom--peaks with slitheringpoints that look like the savage steel tips of spearheads--the worstterritory for a poor devil of an air pilot to crash in or have to make aforced landing that you could run across in a hundred square miles. I'dsay there wasn't over one chance in a thousand that the lad could get tothe ground alive and even granted that he did, wounded as he must be, henever in the wide world would be able to find his way out of that hole.I'm sorry to have to say that, Mr. Ralston, but it's the truth."

  Jack may have winced, but just the same he showed not the slightest signof being yellow.

  "Tell me about that thousandth chance, brother," he observed, at whichthe other looked him keenly in the face, shrugged his shoulders and wenton to say:

  "Guess you're clear grit all right, son. The best pilots are built thatway. Look at our Lindy now, and you'll find he never flinches, no matterwhat happens but always does the one right thing as if by instinct. Factis, when I mentioned that there might be a tiny loophole for a poordevil who had to go down in that god-forsaken stretch of wilderness, Imust have been thinking of that strange old hermit who has a secrethideout somewhere in that country. There's a beautiful little clearwater lake surrounded by peaks and heavy woods that no white man's everfished in or set eyes on at close quarters, 'cept maybe that queer oldchap."

  "Please tell me all you know about him," pursued Jack eagerly, just asif he was trying to clutch some minute shred of hope that was difficultto capture.

  Bart Hicks laughed shortly.

  "I can tell you all that in a jiffy Mr. Ralston," he hastened to reply,"because none of us happen to know anything at all about who and whatthe old party is. About twice a year, spring and fall, he bobs up herewith a sure footed mule and buys all sorts of grub and stores. He neverstays overnight and seems to hate the sight of a real house. Somecurious minded folks, thinking that perhaps he had struck a rich minethere in that rockhouse district, have tried to follow him but had togive it up and come back beaten. He doesn't fetch free gold out with himbut plain, everyday Government yellow-back bills. We don't know a thingabout the secret trail he takes to make his way through all that riotousland.

  "I've heard pilots tell how they'd seen spirals of wood smoke rising andthose who happened to be flying low say they could see his campfire wasclose to the brim of that crater lake--for some say it lies in thecrater of an extinct volcano. That's about the whole story as far as anyof us know it, Mr. Ralston and I'm winding up by saying again it wouldbe just one lone chance in a thousand that a poor air pilot droppingdown there would be found and rescued by that mysterious old hermit."

  "As you say, it's a desperately small opening and not very promising atbest," Jack told his new friend with the same resolute look on his face,"but it may be we'll have to place our hopes on such a slender chanceafter all. At any rate I'm meaning to look into that matter beforegiving up the game as impossible. It wouldn't be the first time such amere thread turned into a stout cable that's saved the ship fromdestruction."

  "Never say die, eh? I'd think that'd be your motto, Mr. Ralston,"observed the field superintendent who apparently had come to have moreor less admiration for the young air pilot who carried himself sobuoyantly, so confidently, as though he absolutely believed in himself.

  By now Perk had finished his job of refueling the plane and was rubbinghis soiled hands with a bit of waste.

  "All fixed, are we brother?" asked Jack and for almost the first time onrecord, those close by learned that Perk was not at all dumb, but had afluent voice of his own.

  "Wall," he drawled with a wicked wink toward Jack, "guess now she'sloaded to capacity an' then some 'cause I've got six gallon cans o'juice stowed away where they ain't goin' to take up much room, an'llkeep us on the wing a bit extra. Then too, partner, here's a waitercomin' from our hotel joint carryin' a package o' eats in the shape o'sandwiches which I took the trouble to order an' which you'll have thepleasure o' payin' a hull dollar for right on the spot."

  "Good for you, Perk!" laughed Jack, who seldom had to worry about asufficiency of food when traveling in the company of such an excellentprovider as Gabe Perkiser who never had any difficulty in hearing the"call of the eats" so many times per diem.

  Apparently they were all ready to make the jump-off, the amphibianhaving been taxied to the head of the runway where a simple slant wouldhelp give her "gangway," as Perk often called it.

  Just then Bart Hicks came up and shoved a bit of paper into the pocketof Jack's leather flying coat.

  "Just take a squint at that when you find time, brother," he remarkedand held out his hand for a parting grip. "Shake hands, Jack, and here'swishing you all the luck going in your present job as well as in allothers they put on your shoulders--you too, Perk old hoss."

&n
bsp; There was something a bit mysterious about the way Bart Hicks said that,and Perk had it on the tip of his tongue to demand an explanation butsince the pilot just then drew back the stick and the motor commenced toroar as the amphibian started down the slant, he had to take it out in agoodbye wave of his hand and let it go at that.

  They rose like a bird long before the termination of the runway had beenreached for those sloping wing-tips were fashioned so as to make it easyto take off successfully in one-third the distance formerly deemednecessary for a ship with a powerful enough set of motors to lift aheavy weight and get away with it.

  Looking back, Suzanne could see the little bunch that had seen theirtakeoff, including some mechanics and field hands as well as Bart Hicks,Mr. Cushman and his wife. They were all waving their hands wildly andpossibly giving tongue in the bargain, although the noise prevented herfrom making sure of this. She answered their salutes with her littlepocket handkerchief and then wiped her eyes as though the long repressedtears just would break through her guard, and run down her prettycheeks.

  They were now fully launched on another day's weary though eager search,with no one being qualified to prophesy what the outcome of the newflight would be. Jack had mapped out in his mind the country over whichhe meant to fly with little save his own conception to assist him.

  One thing was sure, when they had covered a stretch of several miles ina straight run, it could be set down as certain nothing had missed theirclose attention and that there would be no necessity for returning overthe same ground again. This was a fight to a finish and a clean-up asthey went along, so Jack kept hugging that tiny hope to his heart andwondered what the eventual outcome of the adventure would prove to be.As yet it was a toss-up, as far as he could see.