CHAPTER XIV
PERK GETS AN EARFUL
"Go to it, ole hoss; I'm all set!" was the way Perk announced the factthat every atom of drowsiness had fled from his eyes, and he was aswide-awake as any hawk that ever darted down on a farmer's chicken pen.
Accordingly Jack started in to tell of the pleasant time he hadexperienced while spending a couple of hours with Mr. Casper Herriottand his charming family.
Perk was mildly interested at first, which was saying a good deal,considering how anxious he felt to have the narrator "get down to brasstacks," as he himself would have expressed it; meaning facts intimatelyconnected with the perils and anticipated progress of their present bigadventure.
When, however, Jack reached the point where his host had made himpromise to fetch his best pal along at some later date, as he wasparticularly anxious to meet and know him, Perk manifested freshinterest, and even asked several questions, thus learning what Mr.Herriott had said about having heard more or less concerning his,Perk's, good qualities--and eccentricities.
"Shore," he told Jack, soberly. "I'll be glad to meet up with the gentany time yeou see fit to invite me along--mebbe when yeou've sorter gotmatters hitched to the post, an' we're figgerin' on jumpin' off fo'keeps. I doant know 'baout the lady, since I aint much on talkin' tosech; but I'd jest _love_ to see them kids--got a soft spot in my oleheart fo' awl boys an' gals, 'specially them that aint much--ersoperfisticated--hanged if I know haow to git that ere word; but anywayyeou ketch my meanin', partner."
Then Jack began to branch off to other things, with Perk sitting there,his eyes never once leaving the face of his chum, drinking in everylow-spoken word as though he meant to print the same indelibly on thetablets of his memory--a bit fickle, it must be confessed, when he wascaught unawares.
One thing followed another, and the interest seemed to increase ratherthan diminish; until Perk was breathing hard, and making a whistlingsound between his set teeth, a little habit he had when intenselyexcited.
"I asked about the amphibian that was to be placed at our disposal,"Jack informed the other later on; "and Mr. Herriott apologized because,as he said, he understood it had been decided best and safest for allconcerned if instead of the wonderful new navy speed boat, one of thelatest patterns along that line, as first designed for us, they had senta much used Curtiss Falcon; although certain new fangled devices hadbeen attached, such as combination wheels and pontoons, that had beensuccessfully tried out in active service, and were much the worse forwear, but staunch for all that."
"Gee whiz! that's goin' to tickle a feller named er-Wally a heap, let metell yeou, buddy!" exclaimed Perk, with glistening eyes. "Allers didhanker to see haow that ere contraption panned aout. What else is there'baout the boat we'll 'preciate, boss?"
"A number of up-to-date things that are apt to come in handy," Jack toldhim; "but remember, pains have been taken to make it appear they've beenattached to the flying ship for quite some time--it might looksuspicious if they were all _new_, as though placed there for someparticular purpose--get the full meaning of that, do you, Wally?"
"Yeah, jest so," the other made answer, a bit hesitatingly, but withgrowing assurance in his manner; "them bally guys got sharp eyes, an' ifso be they happens to have a spy right hyah in Charleston town, he'dlamp sech extravagance, an' keep an eye on weuns."
"That's the right answer, boy--you said it. Well, another fine thing Mr.Herriott told me, was connected with a suppression of the row made byour exhausts. You know that's been a source of great annoyance to us intimes past, when it meant a whole lot if we could get close to ourintended quarry without kicking up such a tremendous racket that everyliving thing inside ten miles must know an airship was somewherearound."
"Hot-diggetty-dig! air yeou tellin' me they done got that squall muzzledat last--that yeou kin make a grand sneak up on yeour meat withaout themsuspectin' a single thing?"
"Well, they do say it's pretty close to having the noise kept underperfect control," Jack went on to state. "Whenever you want to stop thestaccato sounds from publishing your coming to the entire country, tenmiles in every direction, all you have, to do is to press a button, andthe muffler gets down to business automatically. Even the whirling soundof the propeller has been fairly quieted in the same way."
"Say, that shore is great news!" Perk exclaimed, enthusiastically; "an'I'll be near crazy to see haow she works, aput in practice."
"Just hold your horses until tomorrow, when we'll go out to the fieldand take our first flight in the old cabin Curtiss Falcon ship, to findhow she handles. I never had the pleasure of piloting one of that typeof ships, and so there'll be a heap for both of us to learn."
"Shucks! I done handled a amphib many a time, but that was years back,when they didn't near come up to the new kind; an' with all themcontraptions attached in the bargain. It's agoin' to be high sportdodgin' 'raound over them swamps an' wild sections o' territory, duckin'daown to settle on some bayou, or mebbe a meanderin' river with a fiercecurrent, sech as I read they got close to the Atlantic seaboard--betyeour boots it is, partner."
"I reckon you're right there, buddy; but for the present we mustn't havemuch thought for amusing ourselves--everything we do should have adecided bearing on the carrying out of our game."
"Shore thing, boss," agreed Perk, not at all dismayed at having coldwater thrown on his high hopes; "but if so yeou happens to git a goodchance to knock over a brace o' fat mallards, in carryin' aout theduckin' part o' aour program, why, there aint any crime 'baout makin' anice cookin' fire ashore, be they, and havin' real wild game fo' supper?We gotter eat to live, yeou knows, an' I'm right fond o' duck, when incamp."
Jack grinned, and shook his head, even though smiling, as if he foundhis chum's specious argument unanswerable.
"We'll leave all that to the future, brother," he told Perk; "it isn'talways advisable to cross a stream until you come to it."
Then he went on to reel off still more of the information passed alongto him by his late host; and while many things he told may not haveseemed as important in Perk's eyes as the two just mentioned,nevertheless he tried to pay strict attention, and asked numerousquestions, to convince Jack he understood all he said.
"And before we take off for a spin," Jack added, as an after thought;"we must get all the raft of things aboard the amphibian we fetched hereto use in our work. There will be other necessary stuff to pick up fromtime to time, as we advance along our road; for we've got to rememberthat once we make the grand getaway we'll not see the floodlights orboundary zones of Charleston aviation field again until we've won ourgame; or come back defeated, as others have done before us, men supposedto be as clever as they make them in our particular line."
"Then we got a big day afore us tomorrow, eh, what, partner?"
"Looks that way, buddy," Jack lost no time in saying; "and on thataccount I reckon now we'd better call a halt on this talkie, and hit thehay. For one I'm about as sleepy as they make 'em, and ready to crawlbetween the sheets, leaving tomorrow to look after itself."
"Meanin' to run up an' see the gov'nor tomorrow, any?" queried Perk, ashe started to take off his shoes, and suppressing a big yawn while sodoing.
"I made an arrangement to get over to his house tomorrow night, should Ihave further questions to put up to him," Jack admitted. "Then againthere's always a chance of some later important news coming in fromHeadquarters, such as we ought to hear about without delay, since itcould bring about some sort of change in our plan of campaign."
Perk grunted, as though he grasped the idea; but was really too tiredhimself to think of asking more solutions of the possible puzzles as yetbothering his brain.
With the coming of dawn they were both astir, for when on duty Perkcould cut his sleeping portion in two, if it was deemed necessary; whileJack had ever been able to get along with a few hours recuperation eachnight.
They went down and enjoyed a fine breakfast, although Perk had t
o bewarned again not to founder; since they had a strenuous day ahead, whenhe needed to be in the best possible condition. Consequently he had todeny himself a third helping of sausages and fried eggs; as well as afourth plate of griddle cakes; dripping with fresh butter and Southernsyrup. However, he "opined" he would be able to hold out until lunchtime; for which he meant to be provided by securing some stuff at abakery, together with hard-boiled eggs aplenty--trust an old campaignerwith vast experience for looking after the "eats" when backed by anabundance of the "long green."
When they had laid out a program that covered everything for the day,they took a taxi, and ran out in style to the aviation field. Jackassumed the post of running things, as was his right, acting as awealthy young sportsman, used to doing just about what he pleased, and"letting the world go hang!"
He had a little chat with his good friend of the previous day, and theylearned that their other ship, the Curtiss-Falcon, was housed in thesame Blevins Aircraft Corporation hangar that now sheltered their bigFokker tri-motored craft; which made things doubly comfortable, whenthey would start changing their possessions from one to the other.
Jack only waited until some call took the superintendent off, leavingthem by themselves, when with Perk's help he commenced the job of makingthe transfer. This had been taken into consideration before they leftSan Diego, and later on in the Curtiss-Wright hangar at Candler Field,Atlanta; so that everything had been placed in a series of cartons, suchas might be tossed overboard when their contents were disposedof--particularly in the case of edibles, and such perishable supplies.
These handy cartons would have prevented any one from knowing what theywere stocking up with, and in such wise warded off possible suspicionsthat might have started a string of happenings none too pleasant tocontemplate.
After this job was completed came the running of the antique Curtisscabin amphibian out of its hangar, and settled in position for thecoming takeoff; with Perk all agrin, as if he anticipated a gloriouscruise.