XIV
THE BOOTLEG PACK-MULE TRAIN
"What's up?" demanded Jack as if he could surmise from his companion'speculiar question that Perk had made a pleasing discovery of some kind.
"Lady Luck's gone an' picked us out again to play us for favorites, ol'hoss," Perk told him, at the same time half rising in his eagerness topoint out something far ahead.
Jack possessed very good eyesight and as the sun chanced to favor himjust then he could manage to make out a snake-like line of small objectsthat appeared to be moving slowly along in zigzag fashion, evidentlyfollowing a crooked mountain trail that wound upwards toward the peak ofthe divide.
"So, that's one of them, is it?" Jack burst out, himself a bit thrilledby the spectacle after having heard so much concerning the pack-muletrains said to have been adopted by the venturesome souls engaged insmuggling operations across the Canadian border.
"With the glass here, Jack, I c'n make 'em out all to the good,"declared the excited Perk--"a fairly big caravan in the bargain, themules loaded for keeps an' toilin' along jest like they do down inMexico whar motor cars ain't so plentiful or cheap. Whee! what a sightfor sore eyes that is, buddy! Seems like you'll have somethin' to wireMister Maxwell after all. Nothin' o' a newspaper yarn 'bout _that_bunch, let me tell the world. Must be all o' twenty animals in thatstring with several boobs mounted on hosses an' armed in the bargain,'cause I c'n see the sun glintin' from guns they're holdin' as they rideahead o' the line an' in the rear to boot."
"That goes with the rest of the story, Perk," said Jack as he startedtoward a lower altitude as though wishing to secure a better view of themoving cavalcade in order to make assurance doubly certain. "Youremember we read in that clipping how they carried an armed guard alongto defend the caravan in case it was held up by a bunch of hijackers.Queer how these law-breakers make war on each other in cities, thewilderness, and even along the salt water coasts."
"Huh! got to be a part o' the game these days," grunted wise Perk, "jestlike the fish-hawk drops down with a rush, grabs up a fat fish from thelake or lagoon and in turn is robbed by the lordly eagle. I kinder guessnow that's about where they got the idea o' hijackin'--snatched a leaffrom Nature in fact. But say, what are we goin' to do 'bout thisthing--why do you strike down closer, I want to know, Jack?"
"We ought to get a better look in, for one thing," he was informed, "andif you could only work that little camera of mine once or twice so aspick up to a telltale picture of the caravan, it would be the finestevidence we could send by mail to Mr. Maxwell!"
"Glory! that's a great scheme, boy--watch my smoke! I'm somephotographer when it comes right down to brass tacks an' I'll prove itby gettin' you the smartest pictur goin' an' that's no lie either."
Perk seemed to know just where everything aboard the big ship could belaid hold of in what he would call jig-time for almost as he spoke hewas clutching the small but excellent camera that Jack owned, he beingsomething of a crank along that particular line.
"I'm meaning to swing around once or twice while lowering the ship," heexplained to his companion so that Perk might not waste a singlecartridge of film in taking a snapshot prematurely, with distance as ahandicap.
"Go to it, partner," sang out his mate quite merrily, "I'll do my littlebit when you gimme the word. Got her all fixed up for distance an' thesun happens to be jest right--say, ain't that a sweet sight, though withthem mules cavortin' like they might be scared by such a monster birdsailin' over their stupid ol' heads? An' see the guards swingin' around,shakin' them guns at us like they meant to shoo us off by lookin'fe-rocious! Zowie! but this is a heap int'restin' I'm sayin', eh Jack?"
"I bet you!" came the short answer, Jack being so taken up with staringat the greatly disturbed pack-train under the swinging airship that hecould not find time for further words just then.
Not so loquacious Perk who never knew when to hold his breath since hewas peculiarly gifted along that line and could work as well as gabbleat the same time.
"Seems like they jest don't know what to think 'bout seein' an airshipsailin' over their heads," he went on to say aloud, "an' I kinder guessnow some o' them begin to smell a mouse. Think things ain't goin' to runso slick and greased as they've been doin' right along. Another dip likethat, buddy, ought to fetch me close enough to get the snap on thebloomin' bunch."
There he held up--for a brief interval. The fact was Perk had not runout of breath but was only so intensely occupied with trying to fix hislittle camera so that the lens would take in the whole of the laggingmule-pack train that he forgot to keep on speaking.
Really it did seem as though some kindly fortune had conspired to affordall possible assistance in order to successfully carry out this littleracket on the part of Perk. Just as his waiting finger pressed thebutton the entire cavalcade came to a sudden stop. Indeed, if theactors, both two-legged and four-hoofed had intended to make agrand-stand play to the galleries they could hardly have bettered theconditions.
Perk did not stop at his first exposure but with a commendable rapidityturned on another portion of the reel and once again pressed the button,after which he burst into a roar of ecstatic delight.
"Got it that time boys, sure thing an' I bet you all looked pretty forthe set-up. Hoopla! Jack, that was a great snap you gave me an' chancesare, Mister--er, hey, what's this mean?"
He bellowed the last few words and with a very good reason for somethinghad come to pass that Perk had not reckoned on as part of the program.There was the sudden rattle of firearms from below and--the motor havingceased functioning while Jack continued his smooth dive--all around themcould be heard a strange hurtling, hissing sound which an oldexperienced war veteran like Perk instantly knew must be made bysavagely menacing bullets passing in close juxtaposition to their ship.
Then Jack had the situation in hand again as he pulled the stick backagainst his chest and with a shrill rat-tat-tat they were once moreshooting at an upward slant through space, Jack putting his craftthrough all sorts of angles in hopes of further causing thesharpshooters to miss connection.
Perk had instantly dropped the camera, though luckily it did not go overthe side as might have happened. Jack knew his mate was making a swiftsweep with his hand and could give a fairly shrewd guess what his objectmight be, knowing Perk's combative disposition as well as he did.
The worst of the danger was really past, since they had made such aspeedy getaway after that first lunge. Anxious to hold the impulsive onein check, since nothing was to be gained from further aggravating therum-runners, he continued to keep up that eccentric motion until theyhad climbed sufficiently to prevent Perk from starting hostilities ontheir side.
"Swing around and let's go down once more partner," implored Perk,keenly disappointed because his golden opportunity had given him theslip.
"Oh! I reckon it isn't worth while," replied Jack evenly as though notnearly so stirred up as his chum seemed to be and as he thus spoke kepton going, with the ship headed due northwest by north.
"But--see here Jack, you don't mean to let 'em have the merry ha ha onus, I sure hope? Why, it's got my blood het up to nigh the boilin' pointright now. On'y a little slip so I c'n reach the blamed bunch with mymachine-gun. For ol' times' sake I'd like to pepper that crowd good anhard! The nerve o' 'em, dustin' us with that shower o' lead! Might havebust our biler an' then where'd we been, tell me? Jest one swoop an'I'll be satisfied. I could get in a dozen shots before they'd have timeto crawl under their' mules."
But Jack was obdurate to his wild entreaties.
"No use Perk," he told the other through means of the handy ear-phoneapparatus. "They failed to do us any damage, though their intentionswere plain enough and remember, 'he who laughs last laughs best'. Ifyour snapshot turns out fairly decent it's bound to put a lot of thosedangerous guys in the soup when Mr. Maxwell fits out a bunch of revenuemen to round them up. In other words, brother, because of our little jobtoday the chances are
we've put the kibosh on this bootleg mule-trainracket and for keeps in the bargain!"