CHAPTER XIII
WHEN GREEK MET GREEK
The seaplane had stopped short, although its engine still rattled awayas vehemently as ever. Perk understood the reason for this--Oscar mayhave been a hot-headed youngster away back when the great war was on,but apparently his later experiences had cooled his blood to some extentand he did not mean to be too rash.
Doubtless he could by this time plainly make out the sloop which was soskillfully concealed, especially from the air above, and there may havebeen a sufficiently menacing air about it that called for caution. Hewas not such a fool as to blindly walk into what might prove to be aclever trap, set by a bunch of those despised Government workers tocatch him napping.
Accordingly he considered it good policy to hold off and pepper thesloop from stem to stern before taking any further steps at doing anyboarding and seizing it for its rightful owners.
Then again, in order to get the best work from his firearms and have hishands free, he knew he should fix matters so he could drop the controlsand pay strict attention to his other job.
Perk was lying low, holding himself in readiness for action. He believedhe would be amply protected by the logs he had piled up, but just thesame he did duck his head involuntarily at the first crack of themachine-gun the pilot of the Curtiss boat was handling so lovingly, asthough it might be an old and valued "baby" in his estimation.
But just the same Perk could not allow any misunderstanding to keep theother in ignorance of how matters stood--he had sent out his impudentchallenge, and Perk was quick to accept it.
So the din was further increased by a second barrage, chiming in withperhaps its notes ranged along a little higher key, but on the wholeplaying skillfully and merrily its own part in the mad chorus thatreigned.
How the chatter of those two rapid-fire guns did carry on, with thesplinters flying every-which way as the missiles tore them loose fromthe logs and the coaming of the sloop's deck.
Perk was compelled to do most of his work while keeping his head down,lest he be potted in that rain of bullets the other fighter was pouringin on him. Consequently he could hardly be expected to do himself fulljustice. Perhaps Oscar on his part was working under a similardisadvantage, for he really had little in the way of a barricade tointercept the shower to which he was being subjected.
Lucky for him he had shown the good sense to stop his advance withconsiderable distance separating him from the hidden sloop--had theybeen closer there was not one chance in ten that some damage would nothave placed his seaplane out of commission, even though the pilothimself escaped death.
Then suddenly a white flag shot up from the sloop's breastworks. Oscar,with the gallantry such as had ever distinguished the air fighters onboth sides in those days that tried men's souls, ceased firing.
"Give up?" he was bawling, as the rapid-fire guns both became silent,while their hot barrels cooled off a bit.
"Not so you could notice it," Perk shouted. "Jest wanted to exchange afew words with you, if you're Oscar Gleeb, an' it's true that you was alive-wire over there in France an' the Argonne--say, is that all to thegood, Mister Pilot?"
The other did not answer immediately. Plainly he must have beenconsiderably astonished at the queer turn the engagement had taken; andthen again possibly he did not exactly like the idea of being compelledto acknowledge his identity, fearing it might be only a trap to ensnarehim in the meshes of the law he had been defying so flagrantly.
"What's that matter to you?" he finally yelled testily, so that Perkbegan to suspect he must have touched up the other with one of thebullets that struck the seaplane.
"Oh! nothin' much," sang out the complaisant Perk, cheerfully, "on'y Iwanted to let you know I was over there in the same line and had thegood luck to send down a few o' you Hun pilots in a blazin' coffin.Wondered now if me'n an' you mightn't a had a private scrap o' our ownin them bully times. Allers did hanker to have a talk-fest with you,sense I heard 'bout you bein' one o' them bloomin' hot Junker pilots."
A hoarse laugh greeted this amazing sally of Perk's.
"Say, what sort of a crazy gyp are you to want to talk things over whilewe got this scrap on?" bellowed the helmeted man in the shot torn cabinof the amphibian. "That's our boat you're standin' on, and we need it inour business, see? Give you three minutes to clear out, for I'm comin'aboard. Get that, Kamarad?"
"Sure thing, Oscar old hoss, but when you do it'll be feet first, forI'm fixed to fill your carcass so full o' lead it wouldn't need anycannon ball to sink you if you died at sea. So mind your step, MisterPilot--jest been gettin' my hand in so far, but what's comin' next'll bea whole lot different, bet your boots!"
The other did not show the white feather but immediately set to workonce more with his weapon. No sooner was its chatter "on the air" thanPerk started giving his own gun a chance to show its worth. This made itlively again and once more those aggravating splinters began to scatter,worrying Perk not a little, for strange to say he dreaded lest one ofthem find lodgment in his anatomy and this troubled him much more thanthe possibility of being struck by a speeding bullet.
It was quite warm while it lasted, but presently Perk realized that theopposition had suddenly ceased. Being a polite man and always pleased tomeet his antagonist on even terms, Perk also stopped firing. If Oscarhad decided to advance once more and try conclusions at close quarterswhere it would be give and take, he, Perk, could prove himself a mostaccommodating chap.
Sure enough the engine of the amphibian had started up with increasedvigor and Perk, cautiously lifting his head, saw that the plane wasreally in motion. But it was also veering to one side, which actionmight mean either one of two things--that the other had had quite enoughof this exchange of hot fire and was pulling out, or else that in hiscrafty German way he was meaning some sort of flank attack in hopes ofcarrying the fort.
Faster and faster was the taxiing airship rushing through the water andPerk continued to hold his fire, realizing that the fight was over.
"Go to it, Oscar old hoss!" he burst out, as he grasped this clinchingfinish of the strange engagement with the rival gunmen separating aftera hot exchange of compliments, each apparently able to move off underhis own steam, "Beat it for all you're worth while the goin' is good.There, he's lifted his crate in one big pull an' I kinder guess he ain'thurt much either, else he couldn't show so much steam. Wall, here Perk'sbeen left in possession, after all that bluff he put up. But it sure wasa dandy jig while it lasted."
At that Perk began to laugh as though the true perspective had flashedbefore his eyes for then, and later on, too, he was ready to declarethat a more ridiculous as well as unprofitable battle had never beenwaged between two rival pilots of the upper air lanes.
Now the fleeing ship had mounted to a fair ceiling and was rushing offin a roaring zoom but Perk noticed his late foe was heading due east asthough bent on picking out an entirely different direction from the onehe had used when coming with an impetuous rush to investigate themysteries of the mangrove islands.
"Huh! that strikes me as a bit queer," Perk was telling himself as hegazed after the ship, now growing smaller and smaller as it placed milesbetween them. "Looks like Oscar might a remembered a mighty importantengagement he ought to keep. Oh well, I've had my little shindig, andit's just as well we both came through okay--them as 'fights an' runsaway, may live to fight another day,' that old sayin' has it which issure a true thing. Hey! what's this mean--seems like I didn't comethrough as soft-like as I figgered I had--blood on my hand, yep, an' onmy face ditto. Guess one o' them nasty zippin' bullets must a creased myear, and fetched the juice a little. Shucks! nothin' to bother about I'dsay."
He took his old red bandanna and dabbed at his right ear with many agrunt as well as chuckle.
"Seems like it's the only time I've weltered in my own gore for a coon'sage," Perk was saying as he looked at the stains on his faithful iffaded rag that had been his close companion on many a long flightthrough fog and storm, wintry cold and summer heat
. "But then I got anotion Oscar must a'been nipped, too, mebbe a whole lot worse'n me.Honors are 'bout even, I guess, and if ever I do run across that ladagain I'm meanin' to shake hands with him, jest out o' consideration forthe fox an' geese game us air pilots used to play in the big ructionover there."
By chance Perk turned his gaze in another direction for he no longerfound any interest in keeping tabs on his late antagonist whose ship wasnow growing dim in the distance, having entered among a bunch of fleecyclouds.
Hardly had Perk turned his head than he gave utterance to a low cry.
"What do I see but another crate humping along this way, an' outen theno'th in the bargain?" he observed, with ill concealed eagerness in histones. "Could it be Oscar, an' the other skunks got 'em a hull fleet o'airships to carry on their trade o' smugglin' in licker, diamonds an'Chinks that want to get in this country more'n they do the yeller man'sParadise? Oh! rats, what'm I thinkin' about--wake up, Gabe Perkiser, an'use your noodle like it was given to you to handle. To be sure thatsecond plane is our own bus, with my pal handlin' the stick. An' I guessOscar must a glimpsed him headin' this way, which made him reckon thiswasn't the healthiest place in the country for a feller o' his size, sohe skipped out _pronto_. Yep, that's my pal for a cookey, I'd knowhis way o' handlin' a ship in a dozen an' as far as I could lamp theboat."
On the whole he was extremely glad to see Jack returning, although alsopleased to know he had had his little frolic in a miniature battle thatfor the brief period of its life had been able to give him a mostdelicious thrill.
He watched the oncoming ship grow in size and noted the significant factthat its approach was so lacking in all the customary racket thatdeafens the human ear.
Then presently a hand waved to him, Jack swung around and dropped with alittle splash upon the water--just where Oscar had so recently leftit--to taxi along and pull up close to the camouflaged sloop.