CHAPTER XXIII
ON TO THE COLORADO
"Listen, Perk, I've got something you should know--something that hingeson a change of plans."
Jack was saying this at a time when, relieved from the controls he couldenter into one of the little confabs that their use of the ear-phonesallowed. All Perk had to do was to lean forward and while still handlingthe stick drink in whatever his co-pilot chose to say.
"Yeah! spit it out then, partner," was his familiar way of invitingconfidence and which meant so much with those who knew Perk's peculiarsayings best.
To be sure Simeon Hawkins was sitting close beside Perk, and what Jackmeant to confide in his running mate could never be intended for hisears but despite this elbow to elbow touch there was not the slightestrisk of his being able to pick up a single word, owing to the clamorkicked up by motor exhaust and propeller.
"We're going on a bit further than was arranged," said Jack, concisely.
"Huh! meanin' we don't pull up when we strike the border, eh, what,Jack?"
"Just that, brother--the going is good, and we might as well keep movingtill we drop down on the Metropolitan Airport grounds."
"Whoopee! you mean at Los Angeles, don't you, old hoss?" demanded Perk,apparently considerably surprised by his pal's bald statement.
"Righto, Perk."
"How come, Jack?"
"Get this fixed in your noodle," said the resting chiefpilot--"circumstances often alter cases, they tell us; well, when wefigured on halting at or near the border, close to the Gila River,things hadn't happened such as have hit us since then."
"Meanin' the storm, Jack?"
"That was one thing," admitted the other.
"Knockin' us out o' our reckonin', like, an' makin' us take a forcedlandin' on the open prairie where we run across that flimsy ol'shack--does that cover what you mean, Jack?"
"After a fashion it does," the other told him, adding: "like the play ofHamlet, with Hamlet left out, it falls flat. You omitted the chiefreason for my making this change in plans."
"I guess you must mean Simeon here, eh boy?" asked Perk, as if suddenlywaking up to the fact.
"Sure thing--what are we going to do with _him_, tell me, Perk? It'd beimpossible for us to lug him everywhere we mean to go, flying acrossinto Mexico, and baiting the wolf in his own lair, as you might say.He'd be a constant hindrance to our being free to act besides, we'd runa fat chance of having him give us away, just when we thought it was allover but the shouting."
"I get you, Jack--it means you don't trust his promises to lend us ahelpin' hand, and goin' back on his pals--ain't that the idea?"
"You said it," replied Jack, never bothering to drop his voice aparticle, knowing as he did that without the aid of those valuableear-phones Simeon, humped up against the side of Perk, could not havecaught what was said even though it had been shouted at the top of hisvoice.
"Well, what then, partner?" continued Perk, apparently still groping inthe dark.
"Nothing to hinder our tripping right along till we fetch up at Angeles,when we can find a way to hand him over to the Federal agents locatedthere. He's connected with the big gang against which Uncle Sam'sdeclared war to the knife; and as a material witness, ready to turnState's evidence, they'll be only too well pleased to hold him_incommunicado_, so he can't do a thing to warn the bunch the big pushis on."
"Okay, Jack. Sounds mighty good to me, you bet. I'd never a cudgeled mybrains enough to hatch up an idea like that; takes you to think o'clever dodges, old hoss."
"Then we'll consider it settled, eh, Perk?"
"Just what we will," came the confident reply. "'Bout when ought weraise the last beacon on the road to Angeles, an' lamp the field lightsat that same Metropolitan Airport?"
"Oh! if everything goes well, you might call it along toward midnight,"Jack assured him.
"Got aplenty o' gas to carry on that far, I'd guess?" hazarded Perk.
"It's to be hoped so," said Jack; "because there's some mighty toughstretches of country between the Colorado and the big Pacific city."
"Yeah! so I understand, Jack."
"And it would be a bad job for us if we had to hit the ground where youcouldn't scrape up a decent landing place with a fine-tooth comb. When Itake the stick again, Perk, maybe you'd better have a look in, so's toget tabs on our fuel tank, and tell me how it stands. From the dialfinger yonder I figure we'll have a lot more than enough to see usthrough."
"That's right, boss," affirmed Perk, after casting a hasty glance at thetell-tale figures so plainly marked.
"That settles it then," with which remark Jack showed by his actionsthat further conversation was needless.
And Simeon sat there through it all, never once dreaming how his fatewas being so calmly settled; doubtless he imagined the consultation hadbeen about something connected with the running of the cloud-chaser, andcovered facts such as would have been all Greek to him, even had he beenable to listen in.
Perk was not at all bothered by this change of plans on the part of thehead pilot--it mattered little when they managed to drop down at theairport--chances were the ground lights were kept on full through thewhole of each night, since air mail planes would be apt to come and go,some of them having been thrown out of their regular schedules by densemountain fogs, or head winds that cut down the customary speed.
Perk, also, was well acquainted with the courtesy to be encountered atall such well conducted flying fields, where every one would be eager todo whatever was possible for the comfort of those who chose to visitsuch ports, and show little or no undo curiosity connected with thereason for their coming.
True, they might turn out to be a bit short with the "eats;" but Perk,who knew the ways of his pal so well, felt certain Jack would see to itthey had a chance to "fill up" as soon as they could strike an openrestaurant, of which there should be no lack in such a wide-open city asLos Angeles, with its sporty crowds at Hollywood.
The afternoon was moving on apace, and there cropped up fresh thrillingsights every little while, for Perk to stare at through his usefulglasses. They were following the course of the famous Gila River towardits confluence with the still better known Colorado, which hundreds ofmiles further north passed through the Grand Canyon country, mostmajestic in a panorama sense of any region on the face of the globe.
Along about nightfall they might expect to pass over Yuma, located closeto the junction of the two rivers. Perk wondered once or twice why hispal had not decided to land there, and turn the prisoner over to someone in authority; but he felt certain Jack had good reasons for notattempting this.
"Mebbe, now," Perk told himself, with Jack again running the ship, whilehe attended to some of his own manifold duties; "he guessed there mightbe a bad crowd at Yuma--fellers apt to be in cahoots with the same gango' daredevils Simeon here was connected with; and who might even try toeffect his escape, so as to shut his trap--even go so far as to knifethe poor skunk to make sure he didn't peach. Oh! yeah, that's the wayJack looked at it, bet your boots it must be."
Soon afterwards the sun gave notice that it was about to withdraw behindthe line of mountains lying toward the west. Jack had his bearings, andexpected to be able to pick up the flash beacons arranged for theconvenience of the air mail corps in their night flights to and from LosAngeles. So thoroughly has this all been mapped out, with the signals tobe found about every ten miles, that a pilot can see as many as threeahead at one time, depending on the altitude at which he may be flying.
Such wise precautions had been taken that would make night flying justas safe and easy as during the daytime one thing only cropping up fromtime to time to raise trouble, and cause delay was the presence of thefogs that were apt to rise from the deep canyons, to blot out thosefriendly gleams of flashing light marking the air mail course from startto finish.