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

by Ambrose Newcomb

  XXIX

  NO PROWLERS ALLOWED

  Perk was more than usually sleepy when he lay down with the gun close bythe fire. Perhaps he really did not expect to be called upon to defendthe camp since the doctor had assured him there had never been anyserious trouble from the inmates of the wilderness, though he admittedhe had now and again found some evidence in the morning that a largebeast had been prowling around while he slept behind a closed door.

  But having made up his mind to do his full duty, Perk was not to beturned aside either through arguments or ridicule. He lay there doinghis best to keep awake by reviving long since buried memories of hisactivities across the sea when in France.

  Then he "passed out," as he himself would have termed it, to awaken andfind the fire in need of replenishing. There was an abundance of woodclose at hand so, still half asleep, Perk got to his knees, picked up anarmful and rising to his full height stepped over to the smolderingfire.

  As he cast his burden on the red ashes some of the smaller stuff startedup instantly, causing the immediate vicinity to appear as thoughilluminated by a flash of vivid sunlight.

  Perk heard a sound that was not unlike a loud sniff. This startled himand his returning animation was hastened when he caught a low growl,thrilling him to the center of his being.

  Instantly he stared in the quarter from which these strange soundsproceeded. A movement concentrated his attention on a certain point.Some object that resembled a bulky, dark, living thing commenced to riseup until the startled Perk though it would never stop growing.

  There it was standing before him--the same monster he had seen from hisseat aboard the air ship. A full-grown grizzly, the "Mountain Charlie"of the California ranchers and hunters, a very giant of devilishferocity and unafraid of anything that walked on two or four feet,monarch of the foothills and canyons of the mighty Rockies!

  The grizzly growled again, this time with added vigor as if wanting thewretched invader of his hunting grounds to thoroughly understand hewould put up with no trifling and that he must speedily "skip the ranch"unless he wished to be scattered around the whole neighborhood inpieces.

  "Holy Smoke!"

  That was as far as Perk got in starting to express his agitated feelingsfor the standing bear had made a movement that started him toward thecampfire and the amazed aviator. Perhaps by this time Jack may have alsoawakened but Perk gave no heed to such a possibility. As theself-appointed guardian of the slumbering camp it was up to him to standlike a rock in its defense.

  No right or left tackle on the gridiron ever made a more furious plungein an effort to stop the hurtling progress of the enemy player carryingthe pigskin toward the goal posts than Perk set in motion just then,urged on as with a goad by the necessity for clutching that firearm uponwhich he was depending so much.

  He landed in a huddle, snatched at the gun, dropped it in his wildexcitement, pawed around for what seemed a full agonized minute butwhich evidently lasted less than five seconds and finally found himselfclutching the object of his mad groveling. Even then he got mixed a bitand was presenting the butt of the weapon toward the oncoming growlingbear when, recognizing his mistake he managed to swing it around.

  Another blunder just then might have cost him dear but Perk, now fullyalive to the emergency cooled down sufficiently to move the little leverwhich would start the machine-gun to spitting out its discharges inone--two--three style as long as the belt of cartridges held out and he,Perk, refrained from shutting off the mechanism by which it was worked.

  The bear was not twenty feet away when this hurricane of lead began torain upon him with oft repeated thuds. His growls had been followed bythe most dreadful roarings to which those near-by cliffs had everechoed. He dropped down on all fours, shuffled this way and that, like aboy trying to evade the attacks of a swarm of maddened yellow jacketswhose nest he had the temerity to strike with a club. But all withoutavail, since the now equally aroused Perk had only to switch the muzzleof his little cannon a trifle to continue bombarding him right along.

  The gigantic beast rolled over this way and that, stroke to get upon hisfeet again, his bellows becoming less vociferous as his wounds increasedwith frightful rapidity. There could be no telling when Perk would everhave stopped firing only that a hand grasped his weapon and turned itupward toward the starry heavens while the voice of Jack roared in hisear:

  "Hold hard, brother, you've got him shot full of holes as it is. What'sthe use ruining his hide? Some day you'll be proud to rest your feet ona rug made from a genuine old grizzly you potted all by yourself outhere in the Rockies."

  So the fully aroused Perk managed to curb his warlike spirit a bit andshut off the flow of deadly missiles.

  "Gosh amighty Jack, did you see me knock the ole hippopotamus silly whenI opened on him right smart? Some ruction while she lasted, I'll tellthe cockeyed world! Gee whiz! he's kicked his last an' there he lies asquiet as a lamb."

  "He's your meat okay, buddy," Jack assured him after which he turned toexplain the meaning of the frantic outburst of firing for both Dr.Reeves and Suzanne were in the doorway of the shack, demanding to knowwhat it was all about and if anybody were hurt.

  "Huh! on'y one that's hurt real bad lies over yonder with his toespointin' up to the skies!" laughed the proud marksman. "Reg'larhe-grizzly, with a bellow like a range bull. Tried to rush me, don't youknow, but it turned out he couldn't chaw lead an' so he quit cold. An'me, I'm figgerin' on having the smartest rug you ever set eyes on madefrom his hairy hide if I c'n trim it from his carcass come mornin'. Somestunt for little Perk to put on the boards, if I do say it myself, asoughtn't."

  "Queer how I have managed to keep the peace with that scamp for solong," observed the doctor with a whimsical laugh, "and then he choosesto go on the warpath just when I happen to have company for the firsttime in years. But that was the proper caper, Perk, and you deserve tohave a beautiful rug to show when telling this thrilling exploit to yourgrandchildren."

  "Wow! go easy on a feller, please, Doc," expostulated the embarrassedPerk, "why, I ain't even got a girl yet. You see, they gimme therazzberry, mebbe 'cause I'm so handsome. But I'm meanin' to get that rugfixed up, if the pelt c'n be dragged off the big varmint in the mornin'an' that's that."

  Examination showed that although a number of the bullets sprayed forthso promiscuously by the ardent sportsman had punctured the hide of thebear, these small holes would not prevent its being repaired and madeuseful, if one chose to spend a little time and cash for the desiredresult. So while Perk absolutely refused to call his vigil off and getsome sleep, he had the comforting assurance that his work had not gonefor naught.

  "Yeah! don't try to cramp my style, partner," he told Jack who wastrying to argue that lightning seldom struck twice in the same place,"course I understand how that grizzly ain't goin' to gimme anotherscare, but how do we know that he ain't got a mate an' if she comesprowlin' around this roost an' runs across her big boy lyin' there allbloody and cashed in, why she might go on a tear an' smash things intokindlin' wood. Yep, I'll finish the night on my post. Time to pick upany lost sleep when we're back in old Cheyenne jest loafin' an' waitin'for orders to start out on a fresh job."

  Knowing how stubborn Perk could be when he took a notion, Jack made nofurther attempt to persuade him and the last he saw of the bear-killer,Perk was sitting there, his back against a stump, with the formidablemachine gun across his knees, all set for business at the old stand. Letall the silvertips in the entire Rocky Mountain section step up and givehim a dare, with that wonderful gun that reminded him of old days inFrance when he was with the La Fayette Escadrille, flying for France andher allies, he felt equal to a full dozen of the shaggy beasts.

  So the balance of the night passed and finally came the dawn of a newday that would thrill the nation with the startling news covering thefinding of the missing air-mail pilot.

  XXX

 
BRINGING IN THEIR MAN

  With breakfast out of the way Jack called what Perk termed a "reg'larcouncil o' war," for there were numerous matters that would have to besettled before they could take off and head for civilization.

  Dr. Reeves gave it as his opinion that if great care were exercised,Buddy could be transported to the nearest town but the injured mailpilot absolutely refused to go unless his prized letter bags accompanyhim, such was his devotion to duty.

  Then there was Perk also as set on having that valued bear skin, removedwith the help of the doctor, who had learned the art of skinning ananimal while cast upon his own resources. Besides, there would be twoothers aboard the amphibian which was apt to make things a bit crowded.

  However, Dr. Reeves soon settled the matter by declaring he did not meanto accompany them. Another day, if Jack and Perk wished to have it soarranged, they could come for him. He had some things to accomplish thatwould take a few hours and there was no necessity for him to be on handwhen Buddy reached town to create the wildest kind of excitement.Indeed, the eminent surgeon admitted he rather shunned anything thatwould be apt to put him in the limelight.

  "If there's anything I'd dislike," he told them modestly, "it would beto find myself in the spotlight I hope to just slip back into theharness again and the public need know nothing save that I have changedmy mind about retiring from the profession for good, having discoveredthat there is still more or less usefulness in my brain and fingers thatought to be put to the service of suffering humanity."

  So it was arranged and without more delay than was absolutely necessarythey managed to get Buddy aboard the amphibian, Jack and Perk havingarranged an original floating dock that could be pushed alongside thecloud-chaser, rather than try to work the plane ashore.

  The transfer was duly carried out and with such care that Buddy feltvery little pain. Next the air mail, so long delayed in delivery, wasstacked in various cavities so as to not take up more room than wasnecessary together with a rather messy bundle, Perk's prized futurebearskin rug which he seemed to value more highly every time he gave ita look.

  Everything was now ready for the hopoff and Jack figured on no troublewhatever in effecting that since the lake was long enough to permit afair run and immediately after leaving the water he expected to startbanking so as to circle and climb upward.

  Dr. Reeves shook each of his new found friends by the hand and wasunusually warm in saying his goodbye to the happy Suzanne. The braveryshown by the newly fledged aviatrix in taking great chances of meetingdisaster when striking out to join those who were searching for signs totell where the young air mail pilot had crashed, aroused his fulladmiration and he did not hesitate to tell Suzanne as much, greatly tothe delight of the listening Buddy.

  Standing on the sandy shore of Crater Lake the man who had come backwatched the wonderful amphibian, of which the two pilots were so proud,rush across the surface of the lake, the first modern flying boat toever splash through those ice-cold waters, and then jumping upward,cleave the air like a monster bird, circling twice, three times, tofinally take off in a bee line for the town where Jack and the othershad passed the preceding night.

  They arrived at their destination before an hour had passed and amidstthe most intense excitement and a growing, cheering mob of men, womenand children, the injured mail pilot was taken to the hospital, there tobe cared for until Dr. Reeves joined him later on.

  Of course Suzanne refused to be parted from her Buddy. She claimed to bea pretty fair nurse and indeed, her very presence acted like a tonic tothe patient who could not keep his sparkling eyes off her pretty facefor more than a minute at a time.

  Jack had impressed every one with his desire for secrecy. If it could beavoided, no mention of his name or that of Perk, or their pictures, wasto be given to the bustling newspaper men who would quickly be rushingin from every quarter by motor, train and airship, eager as hounds inthe leash to grab up bits of news that could be woven into one of themost thrilling stories of the day to set the whole country agog, east,west, north and south.

  Thanks to the care thus taken, the real facts connected with the findingof Buddy Warner were fairly well kept from the public press. All sortsof fantastic accounts were published and some even managed to bring outthe names of the pair most intimately connected with the great stunt butthey were so distorted that Perk had considerable fun in trying to makethem out. He declared a wizard would have his hands full with the joband that most people must believe the modest heroes, who fled beforebeing interviewed were foreigners, to judge from their unpronouncablenames.

  Wishing to finish his work as soon as possible so that he and Perk couldclear out before most of the keen-eyed reporters arrived, Jack concludedto hurry back to the lake, pick up Dr. Reeves and what few things hewould like to carry away from the hideout where he had spent so manysolitary years and once he had been landed in the airport, say a hurriedgoodbye to all and pull out eastward bound for Cheyenne.

  That was the way Jack Ralston usually put things through. While mostothers would be still making up their plan of campaign, Jack was apt tobe doing things with a rush and getting results. They had followed thebest rules of the great organization in which they were humble cogs, letno grass grow under their feet, found what they sought and, with aGarrison finish, brought in the man they were after and whose name wason everybody's lips during those few hectic days.

  Duty done, it was up to them to vanish from the picture in order to keepthe public from knowing how the Government's Secret Service had beenmainly responsible for the finding of the missing air-mail pilot.

  And so that same afternoon, while fresh squads of eager newspaper menwere arriving hourly at the hitherto almost unknown town that had becomefamous over night, Jack and his pal were bound east, with aconsciousness that another triumph could be laid at their door, even if,as happened so many times, the full story must be kept under cover sothat the people of the underworld, in which so many of the activities ofthe Service were conducted might not be made familiar with the names andfaces of its most energetic workers and thus be placed on their guard.

  Of course it would not be long before further instructions might beexpected from the Washington Headquarters detailing Jack and Perk tosome fresh field of labor where once more they would find themselvespitted against some of the most nimble-witted lawbreakers known tomodern days. That the adventurous pair would acquit themselves withcredit can be taken for granted for they were always earnest, hardworkers and as a rule able to accomplish the most difficult of jobssubmitted to their charge by those who managed all such matters in theNational Capital.

  In the pages of the next volume of this series of thrilling storiescovering the exploits of the Sky Detectives, the title of which is "_TheSky Pilot's Great Chase_; or, _Jack Ralston's Dead-Stick Landing_" willbe found further lively happenings when the daring pair are sent forthto cross the international boundary and speed into the far North in theeffort to apprehend a fugitive from justice whose arrest and return toWashington had become a matter of the greatest moment to theauthorities. How they outwit the lawbreakers and finally get their man,makes this a story replete with thrills and exciting situations.