CHAPTER IX
WHEN THE DAWN CAME
"Kinder looks like we'd hit civilization again, eh, ole hoss?"
With the dawn coming along thus high up above the surface of the earth,it was still night down below, save where numerous electric lights, onthe streets, and along the railroad lines, especially within the limitsof the yards, dispelled the shadows. Some of these were continuallyshifting; and since Jack had dropped down latterly until they were notmore than five hundred feet above the level ground, only for theirhearing being overwhelmed by the noise of their own speeding ship, theymight have easily heard the puffing of switching engines, together withthe rumble of many freight cars, possibly the loud whistles of somefactory warning its employees it was time for them to be thinking ofgetting their breakfast, preparatory to another long spell in the cottonmills, or other places of labor.
"Here's Greenville, where we strike off on our own," Jack announced, ashe made a right turn, and depending entirely upon the needle of thecompass, took up a new line of flight--no signalling for switches,puffing of a steam engine for a start, nothing save a turn of the wrist;and without the least friction the airship was heading in the directionof Charleston, still far distant as the crow flies.
The lights began to grow dim in their rear, and before long the lastvestige of the bustling South Carolina city faded out of sight.
But undoubtedly the dawn was steadily advancing, so that already Perkhad been able to get fugitive glimpses of the ground they were sosteadily passing over. He knew he would be feeling better when able towatch the panorama spread out like a vast chart under the swiftlyspeeding air craft, with towns, villages, and hamlets following in eachother's train; the country itself dotted with innumerable cabinsoccupied by negro workers of the wide stretching plantations, wherecotton, corn, and perhaps tobacco, would appear to be the staple cropsharvested.
It was indeed worth while watching when daylight came upon the surfaceof the earth, and the sun could be seen in all his glory by those whohad the privilege of an elevated observatory.
Perk settled himself down for a period of "loafing," having noparticular duties needing attention. His main thought was concerned withthe fact that they were swiftly passing over South Carolina, and gettingcloser to their main objective, where the remainder of their orderswould be handed over to them as per prearranged agreement.
He indulged in numerous speculations as to just when and how Jack wouldmake his attack upon the entrenched forces of the defiant clique,latterly giving Uncle Sam so much bother; and persisting in their thusfar successful smashing of the patrol boat blockade along the coast,through the agency of numerous swift air smuggling craft--how many theremight be Perk had no knowledge.
Well, just wait until he and his best pal got fairly started in the goodwork, and possibly some of those defiant pilots would be numbered amongthe "has beens," having mysteriously vanished from the ken of theirfellow law-breakers.
"I shore doant want to brag," Perk told himself, as modestly as he couldfind the heart to be; "but jest the same I been along with Jack more'n afew times, when we run up agin sech gay birds; an' it was allers thesame ole story over an' over agin. Right naow a good many cells inAtlanta, Leavenworth, an' a few more penitentiaries air filled by ladswhat reckoned nawthin' could beat 'em at their pet game; yet there theybe, behind stone walls, an' nary one chanct in a thousand to break away.Huh! hope hist'ry repeats in this new adventure we're right naowembarkin' on, that's all."
Such confidence in a comrade bordered on the sublime, yet according tohis light Perk felt he was justified in believing Jack to be at the headof his class--without a peer, yet modest withal, shrinking from praise,and content to let the heroes of unsurpassed air flights, as well as allmanner of broken records for speed, endurance, and like exploits, baskin the spotlight, while he was satisfied to do his full duty, andafterwards remain unknown to fame.
Jack apparently still had a little fear lest something his best palmanaged to do, when off his guard, might throw all their labors into thediscard. On this account, and because they were now bearing down closeto an important point in their schedule, he took occasion to once moredelicately hint along such lines.
"For perhaps the last time, partner," he went on to say, soberly; "we'veboth got to get a firm grip on ourselves, and try to actually _live_ theparts we're about to play. Let's consider we're actors, with a criticalaudience in front, watching closely to see if we leave any break back ofwhich our real character may be seen."
"Huh! I like thataway o' puttin' it, Big Boss," snorted Perk, withoutthe slightest hesitation; although he must have suspected that Jack wastrying to impress this point particularly on his, Perk's mind--"I'll trymy darnedest to keep athinkin' a thousand eyes and ears they be on tome, searchin' fo' some knothole in the fence to peep through, an' gimmethe laugh straight. Go on an' say some more 'long them lines, buddy--Ikin stand it okay."
"An actor to be a success must have the power, the ability to throw offhis own ways and character, to assume whatever queer quirks marking therole of the person he is pretending to be. Try and forget you wereYankee born, and swap places with a son of Dixie, filled with venerationfor those heroes in gray, soldiers of Lee, Jackson, Forrest, and all theother leaders of the sacred Lost Cause. You can do it, I'm dead certain,if you keep your mind steadfastly on that business alone, and forget alot of other less essential matters."
"Shore I kin, an' I mean to, partner--yeou wait up an' see haow I'llpull the wool over their eyes--I'm Wally Corkendall, an' I was bornedan' brought up in Birmin'ham, where them bully stories o' the coloredfolks that make yeou laugh like fun keep acomin' from right along.Yessuh! I done tole yeou I may be a man o' the world; but Dixie is mydwellin'-place, Birmin'ham my ole hometown."
So Jack let it go at that, and indulged in the hope his pal would notfall down in a pinch--it meant a matter of life and death with them, inview of the desperate type of men with whom they would soon be at closegrips.