CHAPTER XIV
SKIRTING THE GULF
There was some shooting going on back there, for although of course thewatchful Perk failed to catch the sound of discharges of guns, he didsee flash after flash, proclaiming that the police, under the impressionthat important criminals were beating them to it, wished to show theirwarlike spirit by such a bombardment.
If the flying missiles came anywhere near the ascending plane that factwas not manifest to the two occupants of the cockpit; their movementsmust have been too speedy for such an attack to be successful and almostimmediately they had risen beyond the danger line.
Perk was feeling vastly relieved, for it would have been a bad beginningof their special mission were they detained for days in the Southerncity, while the agents of the great counterfeit league held the upperhand.
He could see with the last glimpse he had of the aviation field that allthis lively accompaniment to their take-off had created considerableexcitement--people were running back and forth, like milling cattle whenstampeded in a furious thunder storm and Perk even fancied there wassome sort of a movement as though a ship would be sent after them inpursuit.
That troubled him not a bit, because already they were leaving the fieldfar in their wake, and would really be lost in the gathering shadows ofcoming night before any pursuit plane left the ground.
Besides, had they not already had one experience along those lines, andcompletely worsted the persistent enemy, sending their boat down inspirals of flames, with the two occupants forced to "bail out" in orderto save their lives?
So Perk put that possibility completely out of his mind and busiedhimself with more practical affairs. First of all he was desirous ofcommunicating with his comrade and to do this they must have thoseindispensible head-phones clapped to their ears.
He was already applying his own pair with a confidence inspired byfrequent applications, after which he managed to get Jack equipped withthe other pair.
Steadily they continued to ascend, and swing around until they faced theeast, following the plan Jack had outlined to his mate. Not too high didthe pilot urge his craft, since such a course was apt to bring them inthe sunlight that still lingered along the upper air lanes.
"Well, they turned out to be a hot bunch all right, partner," was whatPerk observed, when he had the harness adjusted and the ear-phone meansof communication in shape for use.
"You reckon they must have fetched the police out with them, do you,Perk?" demanded the one at the stick, as he kept an eye on his dialsspread across the black dashboard in front of the cockpit.
"Yeah! just what they did, old hoss," returned the other, vehemently,but accompanying his remark with a loud chuckle that told of secretamusement, he being excessively fond of anything that smacked of a joke;"an' they kept up a runnin' fire at us, let me tell you--could see theflashes spittin' like fire crackers on the Fourth o' July."
"All of which sounds like they must have told a pretty wild and woollyyarn to the cops, to make them want us as bad as that, eh, Perk?"
"Makes me think they got an idea this ain't goin' to be just a ordinaryman-hunt, but something worth while; we should worry, Jack. Mebbe theya'ready see the handwritin' on the wall, an' mean to try an' upset us inthe start, 'fore we get agoin' full tilt. Notice you've gone an' headedeast, partner."
"It may fool them; but whether it does or not, Perk, such a move's ourproper caper. When we've gone something like ten or fifteen miles we'llget on the curve, swing around to the south, and then when in sight ofthe gulf turn due west; after that we'll be on our way to the placewhere our work is waiting for us."
"Huh! had an idea you'd just climb till out o' sight, an' then crossover the city and river--how 'bout it, Jack?"
"Too much risk to begin with," came the ready reply, showing how Jackalways planned ahead; "you know how a rushing boat can be heard clearlyeven when lost to sight among the clouds. It might be those same smartchaps, backed by the authority of the police, would commandeer a ship,and cruise around over the city, so as to learn if we _did_ come back soas to line out into the heart of Texas; to make sure such a giveaway ofour plans can't upset our calculations we'll cross the delta of theMississippi close to where it joins its muddy waters with the gulf."
"I get you now, partner, an' let me say I guess that's the safest gamewe c'n play. Time don't count anything wuth while with us on this tripbut results are what we crave."
"You said it that time, boy, the Big Boss has confidence in our beingable to fetch home the bacon, and we're bound to prove he didn't makeany mistake in putting us on the job."
All this time they continued to zoom along like a frightened wild duck,and it was not long before Jack was turning the nose of his ship towardthe south. The night had not as yet settled down over the earth,although they were holding an altitude of several thousand feet and bystraining his eyes a bit Perk was able to distinguish objects farbelow--he could tell when they passed over a large sheet of water,probably Lake Ponchartrain, with narrower cuts winding through vastmarshes, and seas of waving reeds; also begin to catch fugitive glimpsesof the still distant Mexican Gulf stretching away to the mysterioussouth.
This was all deeply interesting to Perk, always on the lookout for freshand novel scenes; for as it happened, thus far in all his wanderings hehad really never looked upon that historical sheet of salt water;although reading many a rattling romance of the days when buccaneers andpirates haunted the sub-tropical waters of that same gulf, lying in waitfor the Spanish galleons laden with gold bars taken from the prodigallyrich mines of Mexico and Central America.
In Perk's mind those historical personages, like Blackbeard, and hisfellow rovers of the Black Flag, lent a glamour to the great body ofwater that was apt to thrill him through and through whenever he allowedhis gaze to fall upon its restless surface, and dark secrets of the pastages.
Shortly afterwards their course was again altered, with the shipswinging into the west. It would seem to have been something likeextreme caution on Jack's part but from all accounts, as well as fromtheir own experience with the desperate gang that had given Uncle Sam somuch trouble, the scoundrels had a tremendous game at stage, and wereready to go to any lengths to protect the profitable conspiracy frombeing smashed.
"Safety before speed" had always been Jack's slogan, which could beaccounted one of the leading reasons for the success that had come tohim in the various vocations he had followed--as a county fairbarn-stormer, then in the regular air mail service, and now finally withthe celebrated Secret Service arm of the Government, entrusted with oneof the most abnormal duties ever given out to its members.
It was not too dark for Perk to know when they were passing over theseveral outlets to the mighty river; indeed, he was even able todistinguish an ocean going steamship heading up toward the city of NewOrleans; for its lights were plainly in evidence and those who chancedto be on deck could probably catch the throb of their motor, since theair was unusually still, allowing sounds to be heard at great distances,especially when in the air.
Then finally they left the water behind, and found themselves passingover great stretches of sugarcane, and bamboo thickets, with cabins ofthe humble blacks in little hamlets, sometimes villages of the lowlands,where, as Perk plainly recollected, recent terrible floods had wroughtsuch damage.
So the night wore on, and thus far nothing had occurred to cause themthe slightest worry. If their cunning enemies suspected them of planningto go west, and baiting the chief in his lair, there was nothing as yetto show that they were making arrangements to intercept the airadventurers on their way.
An hour--two of them passed, and still they kept making rapid progress.The moon was long above the eastern horizon, although occasionallyobscured by passing clouds but Perk told himself it was a pretty fairnight, all things considered, and that he had "no kick coming."