CHAPTER XXIX
NEARING THE GOAL
They had now reached that most thrilling point in their bold venture,where they would have to "watch their steps" most carefully, lest anincautious act precipitate a calamity that must end all their hopes aswell as snuff out their lives.
This breeding place for inflammatory embers of Mexican revolutionarydisappointed political generals, and their immediate retainers, wasabout as safe for the two sky detectives as a cage of Bengal tigerswould have been once let their presence be suspected, and the entireneighborhood would be scratched over as with a fine-tooth comb in theendeavor to discover their hiding place and should they be rounded up itneeded no magician to prophesy what their fate must be.
Jack led the way, with Perk following at his heels, every sense on thealert. The native cougar of that historical group of mountains couldhardly have crept along with greater care than did the two human sleuthhounds of the law. Every advance was attempted only after a carefulsurvey of the entire neighborhood--at the sound of some faint bird-callJack would sink down and flatten himself upon the ground, his examplebeing imitated by his shadow.
All this caused their progress to be exceedingly slow but time did notenter into their calculations so much as security--many hours must passere Jack could figure on the arrival of those upon whom everythingdepended and they might as well make use of the entire morning inclimbing higher and higher toward their ultimate goal.
Once when they chanced to be resting their tired limbs, snug in asheltered nook behind a mass of brushwood, Jack turned and looked back.The site was especially fine for looking out on the level stretch towardthe spot where they had landed during the preceding night.
Perk, watching the actions of his comrade, could easily give a closeguess as to what Jack had in mind. This opinion was made more convincingwhen he saw the other get out the useful binoculars, and apply them tohis eyes.
Keenly he kept tabs on the others and was finally thrilled to note thepleased nod Jack gave as if wholly satisfied.
Perk touched him on the arm, and as Jack turned made motions with hishead, while his eyebrows went up, his expression without a single wordbeing spoken signifying:
"How come?"
"Take a look for yourself, and tell me if you can get the first glimpseof our old crate" suggested Jack.
"Nothin' doin," whispered Perk, after a most diligent search; "an' if wecan't get a whiff o' the boat, with these glasses, I kinder guess nobodyain't agoin' to locate it with their naked eyes."
"Which same lets us out from any danger in that quarter," came softlyfrom Jack, whose face for the moment lost some of the strained look ithad borne during the last few hours.
"Never saw a better sample o' camouflage when I was across the big pondalistenin' to the smash o' the rip-roarin' German guns," asserted Perk;and then "dried up" when he saw the other press a finger on his lips.
Higher they climbed, like monkeys, taking all manner of desperatechances when necessity arose but so cautious was Jack in leading the waythat nothing amiss came about, every obstacle being successfullysurmounted until shortly before the noon hour they found themselves in aposition to spy upon the camp of their intended prey.
Jack was intensely interested in what he now visioned. The old crater,resembling an immense football bowl, as adopted by some Easterncolleges, looked as though it might have proven well nigh impregnable asa fortress where the fighting Yaquis were able to hold an army atbay--which feat history records as an actual fact.
Scattered about the depression were scores of rude dwellings, some builtof rocks, while others more modern had walls composed of sun-bakedbricks, known throughout all Mexico as _adobes_. Men and women, alsochildren, could be seen moving about, preparing the noonday meal orpartaking of their customary frijoles, hot tamales, or it might be maizecakes cooked in the hot ashes of fires, and with black coffee as abeverage.
The picture appealed to Perk, who delighted in novel scenes nor did itseem to lose any of its thrill from the fact that, as he very well knew,the men he was staring at so eagerly were most likely as tough a brandof desperadoes and villains as could be grouped together anywhere onearth--ready to fight, hold up trains, or commit all manner of pillageat the drop of a hat.
He marveled at the sagacity shown by Slippery Slim in deciding to joinforces with these firebrands of the back country, with the idea of thussecuring the greatest safety for his own lawless operations.
All this while Jack had been keeping close watch, in hopes of being ableto pick out the figure of the man he had been deputized to bring back tothe States so he might be prosecuted for his crimes, and sent toAtlanta. There he would possibly end his days in seclusion, with a largeportion of the Southwest breathing more freely since they need no longerfear the avalanche of counterfeit currency that had been demoralizingbusiness for such a long spell.
After all it was Perk who made the discovery, he chancing to becarefully handling the binoculars at the time. He handed the glassesover to his mate, and told Jack just where to look, using as few wordsas possible, and keeping his voice very low.
Long and earnestly did Jack follow the movements of the remarkablecharacter who had been described in his hearing so many times. Whatsatisfaction it afforded him to know he was actually in sight of the biggame and if only his plans carried through his hour of triumph wassteadily drawing closer and closer. In imagination, as he continued towatch the moving figure, he could vision the pleasure it would affordhim when he could turn in his report to his Chief, and mark it ascompleted.
The afternoon drifted along, and night approached. Nothing could be doneto hasten the crisis; they must wait patiently, and continue to shapetheir plans until the expected smoke signal told them Morales and hisrough riders had reached the foot of the Sierra Madres ten miles furthersouth and when assured by means of a counter signal that everything wasworking well, start to cover the last lap of their long ride, leavetheir mounts at a safe distance, and complete the journey on foot.
When darkness fell the picture was even more fascinating to Perk thanbefore, with a number of fires lighting up the huge bowl, the sound ofwomen chattering in Spanish, and children playing just as all youngstersmight do while from time to time he could catch strains of music,telling that some amorous swain might be practicing on his guitar, asall who have a drop of Spanish blood in their veins invariably love todo when at leisure.
Perk doubtless made many a grimace while partaking of the lightrefreshment afforded by the tough pemmican Jack had produced, as theirsole means for staying their empty stomachs for when the evening breezewafted some of the odors from the cooking fires down below it almost sethim wild with a desire to partake of hot food. But he knew what he wasup against, and sternly repressed the inclination to groan his protest.
It was one of the longest nights Perk ever knew. The mountain air, too,was cold, especially along toward the last few hours and since they weredebarred from the joy of indulging in a campfire, Perk could only liethere and shiver. He never was so glad to see the pink sky in the eastas on that occasion.
The day was but a repetition of their former afternoon with their solerecreation being the chance it gave them to watch Slippery Slim'smovements whenever he appeared coming out of what seemed to be a cavernof some sort from which at several times when the racket from manytongues died down Perk could catch a strange rumbling sound, accompaniedby what seemed to be a blow, and which he could easily believe must bethe working of the printing press that had been carried all the way fromthe States in order to be able to produce those wonderfully clever notesthat had deceived many shrewd bank tellers by their deceptive qualities.
Then at last Jack discovered, just as night had begun to fall, threecolumns of smoke rising toward the heavens from far down the wildSierra, telling how that Morales and his troop had arrived, and that thecurtain was about to rise on the last scene of the international drama.
CHAPTER XXX
JACK GETS HIS MAN
Immediately on discovering the welcome signal, Jack dispatched Perk toput a match to the heap of brush they had arranged well out of sightfrom the depression where the skeleton revolutionary army was slowlyassembling its pitiful force of the dissatisfied generals who had beencounted out in the last national election.
Perk understood what was expected of him, and managed to send up asingle smoke signal, allowing it to have but a brief life and thenhastening to smother the fire. As Morales was expected to be on thewatch for just such a sign, he would lose little time in starting tocarry out his part in the attack.
"In three hours they will be climbing the mountain by way of the oldYaqui trail we followed," Jack was telling his chum, when the otherreturned to his side, flushed with the success of his labors. "It istime for us to make a forward move, so that we may be ready to strike assoon as the camp quiets down and corral our man, leaving it to Moralesto carry the fort itself by storm."
This they set about doing without any further delay. Dodging from rockto rock, taking advantage of every outlying spur, as well as patches ofhardy bushes, and other objects that were likely to conceal theirmovements from any watchful eyes but always creeping downward, theycrawled along like two great lizards such, as Perk could remember seeingwhen in the Philippines.
By the time they were ready to slip into the underground pressroom ofthe lawless printing company's plant, Jack figured the three hours hadjust about expired, and that it was now up to them to make the firsthostile move that would precipitate the assault.
In thus deciding to make a start he was influenced by seeing an agreedupon signal from the same hiding place he and Perk had held for so manyhours, and which told him the troopers had finally succeeded in climbingto the position assigned to them when plans for action were formed.
Flattening themselves out against the dark wall of a small cliff Jackand Perk glided along until they arrived at that aperture in the solidrock they knew to be the entrance to the wonderful underground retreatthat had been described by Simeon at the time when in his desperation hegave his confederates away and from which they had watched Slippery Slimcome and go during those long hours of their espionage.
Slipping inside, they found themselves in a corridor that led into thebody of the mountain with a gleam of light beckoning them to advance. Inthis fashion they kept moving, gliding from one point to another, untileventually they had a clear view of the little machine that was workingso industriously in turning out the bogus money, hour after hour, asthough the demand were without limit.
How Perk did stare, and hold his breath when realizing that they wereupon the verge of accomplishing their great undertaking. Slippery Slimwas doing no actual manual labor himself, but he kept close watch overthe two men who ran the press, closely scrutinizing the printed bills asif to detect the slightest inaccuracy, and correct it without delay.
No wonder, Jack told himself, the product of his skill had startled thefinancial world by its genuine appearance, when such a master in hisparticular line took such personal pains to see that the work wascarried out in its most minute details.
In whispers Jack informed his backer what his duty would be when theroar of guns and hoarse shouts from without announced that the pickedtroopers had actually launched their long deferred assault. Jack hadtaken it upon himself to close in on the chief worker in that littlecoterie, and have the glory of capturing Slippery Slim unaided butmeanwhile Perk might find plenty of action in holding up those twoothers who were second in importance only to the leading figure.
The tension had become almost unendurable when suddenly there broke outa frightful uproar--women were shrieking, children's high pitched voicestold of intense alarm; men gave tongue, and above it all guns began tosound with deadly import, until the basin rocked with the dreadfulclamor.
Jack waited no longer, but giving Perk a kick on the shins to tell himto get busy he rushed headlong toward Slippery Slim, holding hisautomatic ready for instant service, knowing as he did that such adesperate bad man as Slim was reckoned from all accounts, would not beapt to surrender so long as there remained the slightest chance for agetaway.
Nor was he mistaken in judging the character of the man who had so longdefied the shrewdest detectives of the United States Secret Service forwhen Slim found his way to the open air barred by such a determinedlooking figure, he snatched out his handy gat and made as if to openfire.
For once he was just a trifle too slow with his service gun, for Jack,clever lad that he was along the line of firing off-hand, managed tosend a bullet through Slim's right shoulder that crippled him, so thathis own weapon went rattling to the stone under his feet.
"Put 'em up!" Jack was saying, covering his man as he spoke and havingno desire to commit suicide, Slippery Slim obeyed the call; andinstantly afterwards suffering the painful ignominy of having his wristsencircled by a pair of nice new steel bracelets.
So far so good, with Jack, his own share of the capture an accomplishedfact, able to turn in order to lend Perk a helping hand. It was notneeded, for Perk had descended on those two muscular chaps like athunderbolt, knocking one down with a terrific jolt under the chin andcausing the other to look along the short barrel of his blued automatic,he having discarded the repeating rifle for the time being in favor ofthe easier handled pocket gun.
When the trio of discomfited rogues were all handcuffed, Jack and hisreliable partner turned and faced the other way, so as to be ready for arush, should some of those valorous generals decide to take advantage ofthe defensive security of the rock cave, and bolt into its gaping mouth.
This being actually attempted they met with a demoralizing surprise whenthey found themselves the objects of a hot fire, that brought about acomplete right-about face movement and presently forced theirignominious surrender to the gallant Colonel Morales and his fiercefighters, who had once before gone through an interesting campaign inthat same old extinct volcano vent, with warlike redskins as theiropponents.
The end was not long in coming, with many of the would-be revolutionistsholding up their hands in complete surrender others escaping by losingthemselves along the scraggly sides of the mountains and not a feweither slain outright, or seriously wounded.
Jack and his chum had a chance to meet the doughty Colonel Morales,pride of the Mexican army, and be congratulated on their clever work ofrounding up such a jack-o'-lantern, fly-by-night as Slim Garrabrant. Ofcourse the two comrades were eager to start back to the other side ofthe border, since complications might come up over their legal warrantto arrest a criminal so badly wanted by the Washington authorities, butwho had made his headquarters south of the international line.
Accordingly they handed over Slim's two lieutenants, who would have toanswer to a charge of being hand-in-glove with those plotting generals,and doubtless find themselves incarcerated in a Mexican dungeon for someyears, a fate that made Perk shudder to contemplate.
While he stood guard over their prisoner, Jack sent Perk off at dawn,mounted on one of the cavalry horses, and accompanied by a soldier whowould fetch back both animals, Perk's duty being to get the strandedship off the ground, and drop down at a more convenient spot closer tothe former mountain stronghold of the tiger-like Yaquis.
By nightfall they were hundreds of miles on their way over Arizona andNew Mexico, Jack having decided to carry his prisoner, whose wound didnot prove to be very serious, though painful enough--all the way toWashington, and present him to his superior, with his customary air ofnot realizing that he had done anything extraordinary.
That this thrilling feat was only a common occurrence in the lives ofsuch intrepid manhunters as serve the Government through the agency ofthe Secret Service and that from time to time Jack and Perk might withreason be expected to duplicate such adventurous feats can be set downas certain; indeed, the title of the next number in the Sky DetectiveSeries, "_Eagles of the Sky; or With Jack Ralston Along the Air Lan
es_,"a tale of the smugglers of the Florida Coast, will grip the reader fromstart to finish, and prove to be one of the most thrilling stories everwritten for lovers of action and valor.
THE END
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Transcriber's notes
1. Silently corrected typographical errors, many unmatched quotes; retained non-standard spellings and dialect.
2. Italic text in the original is delimited by _underscores_.
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