CHAPTER XIII
ALL THANKS TO SIMEON
"Bully again!" Perk faintly heard his cool pal call out, against the rowtheir motor exhaust was keeping up.
There was considerable excitement in camp just about that time, althoughto be sure Perk was showing most of the same.
The fog was in retreat after all those tantalizing hours of holding thefort--there could no longer be any doubt concerning this fact. He couldeven see how it was being blown off toward the north by increasing puffsof agitated air; and meanwhile that line of pearly hue in the east waswidening by spasms, until faint touches of rosy light painted theskyline as with the brush of a magician artist.
Perk had adjusted their useful ear-phones, for he felt confident theywould want to exchange congratulations, in that the long and tediousnight had finally come to an end, with what promised to become a "dandy"day opening up before them.
Jack laughed to himself when he actually caught his relieved brotherpilot humming a fragment of a little popular love-song they had beenhearing several times of late in the "talkies" they patronized when inold San Diego; and which evidently had been echoing in Perk's brain eversince; though if accused of "getting soft" the other would mostcertainly have indignantly denied the fact, and vowed he had never had abest girl--or any species of girl--in his whole natural life.
So things continued to brighten more and more, with Perk straining hisvision from time to time in order to be the first to discover "landahead,"--in other words sight the far-distant earth below them.
It came at last, after he had thus stared as much as half a dozen times;and he had the proud satisfaction of informing his comrade of theinteresting fact. There was a vein of triumph in Perk's voice; one wouldeasily think he must be a modern Columbus announcing the discovery of anew world; and yet it had only been one solitary night since last theywere in touch with their old friend _terra firma_--solid ground.
Just the same that had proven to be such a memorable night, so filledwith thrills, and accumulated anxieties, so gloomy in the midst of thegreatest fog pack in history, that really Perk might be excused forshowing undue jubilation over this, their ultimate deliverance.
"Hully gee! partner!" he called out suddenly; "I kin see it, that'sright; an' say, she sure _does_ look good to me."
"Meaning the earth, I reckon, eh, Perk?"
"Nawthin' less, buddy--fog's a climbin' aout like hot cakes--soon wontbe a single wisp left, I take it. But gee! what a pictur' itmakes--never did set my lamps on sech _turrible_ stuff afore--looks likeOle Nature had busted loose in tryin' to pile up rocks as big asskyscrapers in little Ole New York, some o' 'em as big as the highesthill in the Catskills. What a place--what a place, I'd say agin."
"Does look a bit rough," admitted the noncommittal Jack, after himselftaking a swift survey.
"A bit rough--huh! yeou jest can't ekal it if yeou trips all over thisRocky Mountain country fur weeks, that's a fact, Jack Ralston. Seemslike we was abeatin' the record right along on this here jaunt--thethickest fog--the longest night--an' neow the beatenist country ever! Ifit keeps agoin' like that we're bound to run up against the wust gang o'holdup men that was ever heard of."
"Had that idea in my mind from the start, so it isn't going to surpriseme much if it comes true," Jack calmly informed him.
About this time Perk discovered that the last retreating phalanx of thelate fog belt had passed from his sight, dissolving in thin air as itseemed. The early morning, as viewed from that great altitude, was mostcharming indeed, with those fleecy white cloudlets all around them.
The speeding plane ducked in and out of the groups as though playing theold childrens' game of tag, or else hide-and-seek. Perk himself likenedthe picture to the gridiron, being especially fond of football games aspracticed along the Coastal Slope around Thanksgiving time, and lateron, when the East was battling with its chilly blizzards--in imaginationhe could readily picture their ship to be the man who had the pigskinbag held tightly under his arm, and kept darting this way and that,eluding the outstretched hands of would-be tacklers, and dodging allinterference, on his wild dash to make a much needed goal.
It gave him a delightful thrill to thus compare their passage with theone hero whom he most admired--the prodigy to whom his favorite collegewas indebted for their greatest victory, when defeat had seemed soperilously near.
"Take over the stick, Perk; I reckon I'd feel better if I stretched myarms and legs a bit," the wearied pilot now announced; to which theother only too gladly acquiesced; for many times during the last fewhours he had hung over his mate, as if trying to influence Jack tochange places.
"Yeah, an' Jack, while yeou're 'bout it jest sample the grub--coffee'sfine an' dandy, as well's steamin' hot. Goes through yeou like'lectricity in this cold atmosphere."
"After I've had a good look through the glasses, to see if there's anysign of the targets Brother Simeon marked down on his rough pigeoncarrier chart we're depending on to see us through."
That was just like Jack--duty always before pleasure. His emptystomach--the lovely view Perk had been drinking in so eagerly--all suchtrivial matters must wait until he had attended to much more importantones.
Perk might have expected to hear him say what he did, since from longexperience he was fully acquainted with his pal's methods of carryingout his business calls. Perk also knew quite well that he could neverclaim to be such a Spartan, since the "fleshpots of Egypt" usuallytempted him to take precedence, when it became a matter of choicebetween them.
Long and earnestly did Jack examine the ground below. He had given Perkinstructions to make several long dips, each time flattening out againon a level keel; and during all this time he was engaged in staringthrough the magical lens that brought far distant objects so close hecould even distinguish the character of the bark on such trees as cameunder his observation.
At such times as they were moving on the level Perk managed to also scanthe scene below them. They had by now greatly reduced their distancefrom the rugged landscape, being not more than something like fivethousand feet aloft; but stare as he might Perk, even with his keenvision, was unable to discover a single moving object--it was as if theyowned the whole world for the time being--a weird sensation that ratherawed imaginative Perk.
About this time the one at the controls saw his companion keeping theglasses focussed on a certain point, as though he might have discoveredsomething encouraging there--possibly an upstanding object such as hadbeen noted on that invaluable if crude penciled map.
"Hot-diggetty-dig!" Perk muttered to himself, as he felt his pulsesquicken once more, "don't I jest hope he's struck ile--run acrost somepiled-up crags that might a served Simeon as a good marker. But greatsnakes! heow air we agoin' to drop daown anywhere when there aint nary asign o' level ground as big as my red neckerchief; an' us a wantin' astretch a hundred feet, long--as much more as we kin find?"
So he tried to keep still while waiting to hear anything of interestJack might have to report. Most certainly the other must have made somesort of discovery, or believed he had at least; for he continued toscrutinize that particular section of the rocky ground just ahead in away that looked promising to his anxious partner.
Finally Jack lowered the binoculars, with Perk watching his face as ifhoping to read good news reflected there.
"No doubt about it, I'm glad to tell you, Perk," Jack was saying; and ifthere was a trifling vein of relief in his voice one could hardly wonderat such a thing, after their just passing such a wretched night, andflying blind through the long hours, with but faint prospects ofstriking their goal when the coming of dawn allowed of an observation.
"Hey! does that mean yeou got a squint o' somethin' worth while,partner?" cried Perk, solicitously.
"Just what it does," the other assured him. "Swing around in a circle,and I'll let you have a look for yourself, buddy."