CHAPTER III
THE LEECH HANGS ON
"Hot-diggetty-dig! seems like the more we poke into this here business,the warmer it gets!" Perk exploded, banking on the safety of their hotelroom to keep his language from being heard.
"Oh! like as not all this is only the opening gun of our new campaign,"was his companion's cool comment. "Later on, when we find ourselves neckdeep in the mixup, you'll be looking back, and smiling at what you'resaying now. From present indications I'd say this affair is givingpromise of being the biggest case we ever had the nerve to tackle."
"The bigger they get the further they falls, partner, doan't make anymistake 'bout that ere fack," said Perk, grimly. "Huh! sometimes I getto thinkin' what happened up in that Hole-in-the-Wall outlaw retreat,and I'm awonderin' what ever did come o' that gang after we kicked offwith aour prisoner."[2]
"Which reminds me I didn't think to tell you _all_ the news that wascontained in that letter from Los Angeles--want to hear it now,brother?"
"Sure do, Mister," snapped Perk, greedily; "it'll amuse me while I'mawashin' up here in aour neat little bathroom."
Jack followed him into the next compartment, evidently so that he couldkeep his voice down to a low pitch.
"Something like a week later," he told the listening Perk, "they tookoff in the biggest crate they could commandeer into the service--half adozen fighting men, heavily armed, and prepared for anything that mightcome along. Good weather favored them, and they came in sight of thevalley among the high cliffs in the daytime.
"After circling, and lowering their altitude, they could not see theleast thing to indicate the presence of a solitary human being; sofinally the pilot set them down exactly on the smooth landing field thegang used when working their old wreck of a ship, carrying the packagesof counterfeit notes out to distribute the same to different stations;and fetching back assorted supplies, including the best of grub.
"The place was abandoned, and looked like an earthquake had struck thatparticular quarter--the mouth of the pass leading into the wonderfulvalley was filled thirty feet high with a mass of rocks, thrown down bythe tremendous force of the bomb you exploded when we cleared out; andsome of the cabins and huts had been knocked to flinders by the men intheir rage at being kicked out of their hidden retreat. Their old planetoo, was scattered all around the field.
"The Government agents found the plates from which the spurious noteshad been printed, and destroyed all but a portion, which they wished toforward to Washington for inspection by the Chief and his staff. Thenthey amused themselves by climbing to a five hundred foot ceiling, andmaking a target of the hut where the work had been carried on. Ourfriend in L.A. went on to assure me a clever hit by a bomb had scatteredthat squatty building we used to watch by the hour, to the four winds;and the printing press too was smashed to useless atoms by the force ofthe explosion."
"Bully! bully!" Perk was saying, joyously, proudly, through the soaplather he had accumulated on his face; "then we sure did a natty pieceo' work up there in that God-forsaken neck o' the woods. Seems like lifehas got _some_ bright spots in the framework arter all, an' ain't jest adinky fogbelt like I sometimes find myself b'lievin'."
"It has its ups and downs we've got to remember, partner," advisedsensible Jack; "especially along the risky line of business we'reengaged in. So we've got to take things as they come, wet weather mixedwith sunny days, and just keep on doing our duty as we find it."
"Huh gue--reckon we gotter jest grin an' bear it," added Perk, rubbinghis face and neck with the course huck towel, as he loved to do onoccasion. "But haow long do we stick here in Atlanta tell me, Boss?"
"For one night only, if things work as I hope they will," said Jack,promptly enough, showing that his plan of campaign was beginning toshape up.
"Mind if I step aout for a little while, partner; I done forgot to layin some tooth-paste, an' I'm kinder used to havin' a tube o' the samealong with me, yeou know, suh?"
Perk was the possessor of an unusually fine set of teeth, of which hewas inordinately proud, as Jack had occasion to know full well; so thatthis request on his part seemed perfectly natural.
"Certainly not, _Wally_," Jack told him, purposely emphasizing the name,as if to keep the other from forgetting how necessary it was to beforever on his guard, so as not to be caught napping. "Like as notyou'll find a drugstore handy to the hotel, and can get what you wanteasily enough. I'd rather you didn't go far away--a walk might seem likea fine thing; but when it's taken I want to be along, as two pair ofeyes and ears might be better than one, to ward off danger."
"That's okay, Mister," came the cheery reply, as Perk stepped over topick up his hat; "an' it gives me a warm feelin' 'raound my heart tohear yeou say that same--I'm never so happy as when goin' into action,yeou know right well. When I was over in France, helpin' run thatsausage balloon we used for observation purposes, it allers gimme awonderful thrill jest to see six Heinie ships takin' off, intendin' toketch us guys 'fore we could drop to solid earth, an' knock the stuffin'aout o' us with some o' their consarned bombs, which they sure knowedhaow to manufacture to beat the Frenchies all holler. So-long Ja--Mr.Warrington I'll be back agin in a jiffy."
Just the same it was fully fifteen minutes before Perk again showed up;and Jack found himself beginning to worry when the door opened, withPerk's grinning face exposed. Jack noticed that after the other enteredthe room his first act was to most carefully _lock the door_; and therewas something significant about this action, so foreign to Perk's usualcarelessness, that the other was forced to believe something or othermust have happened while he was out of the hotel, to render Perk sosolicitous.
"Got your tooth paste, did you, boy?" he asked.
"Easy enough," quoth Perk, still with that quizzical expression on hissun-tanned, homely face. "Found there was a drugstore right handy; an'seein' I was thirsty I jest stopped over to pick up a drink o' soda an'cream. That's where, things begins to happen, yeou see."
"Oh! they did," echoed Jack, raising his eyebrows as he watched the faceof the other, and noting how a grave look had succeeded the humorousone. "Suppose you tell me what it was came along while you were enjoyingyour soda?"
"Well, yeou see, partner," commenced Perk; "there happens to be a ginkastandin' close by, which I aint paid any 'tention to, bein' wrapped upin my own affairs jest then. I'd raised the glass to take a fust supwhen I done heard somebody say, right by my ear seemed like: 'Goin' tostay with us in Atlanta enny length o' time, Mister Corkendall, suh?'"
Perk evidently had a little streak of the dramatic in his composition,for he stopped just then, and eyed his companion eagerly, as if tickledto know his communication had given the usually cool Jack a bit of astart.
"Oh! you don't say, brother?" the other was remarking; "then after allthe party at the soda counter wasn't quite a stranger to you seeing heevidently had learned your name?"
"Darned if I kin make aout partner, haow he ever got wise to the fack,so's to call me Mister Corkendall."
"Go on, brother--what did you do then?" demanded Jack.
"Huh! I was a bit flustered, yeou see," explained Perk, "'cause I'd gota side squint at his mug; I reckoned I needed 'bout half a minute to gita grip on my senses; so I tilted up my glass, an' swallered a few times;and say it 'peared to me like a thousand things flashed through my poorole brain like a stroke o' lightnin'."
"Did you answer him?" demanded Jack, frowning.
"I sure did," came unhesitating the reply; "'case I jest had to. Yeousee, partner, he'd been astandin' thar right along, an' in course hedone heard me order my drink; so if I tried to play that dumb trick, ashaow yeou tole me, he'd aknown things must a been a bit mixed, an' thefat'd be in the fire. Did I do the right thing Boss, tell me?"
Jack smiled amiably again.
"That was certainly one time your mother wit _didn't_ fail you,comrade," he told the other. "Now, go ahead and let me know whatfollowed; because I've already guess
ed the man at your elbow must havebeen that Smart Aleck newspaper reporter we last saw looking over ourship so suspiciously."
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Footnote 2:
See "Trackers of the Fog Pack."