II
PERK GROWS SUSPICIOUS
"I swan if it don't beat all creation what stuff these newspaper boys doturn out when they're put on the job o' pickin' up sensational news,"Perk was saying some time later as both he and his companion weresatisfying their hunger with such viands as appealed to their taste uponthe bill of fare.
"What ails you now, comrade?" asked Jack, smilingly for he always foundthe strongly expressed likes and dislikes of his chum a never failingwell of interest that frequently brought out one of his seldom usedchuckles.
"Why, seems like they never let a chance get past to fetch Lindberghinto the picture, no matter if he's three thousand miles off as the crowflies. Here one account tells that it's '_reported_ our distinguishedair pilot's set out to lend a hand at findin' poor Buddy Warner,' who,the story goes, 'used to be a blanket pal o' Lindbergh's away back inthem balmy days when Charles jumped with his little chute at countyfairs an' did the barn-stormin' racket. Not that he wouldn't be on thejob if on'y he didn't happen to be away off around New York right now,up to his eyes in business connected with the new air line he's at thehead of. Course lots o' good folks'll swallow this story without aquestion but it's jest a sample o' wild newspaper stuff--no man c'n beon the Atlantic coast an' out here in the Rockies at the same time.Gosh! but they do pull the wool over some people's eyes thesedays--anything for a sensation an' to get the jump over the other cubreporters."
"But Perk, we do happen to know that there are quite a number of notedpilots out scouring the entire region and sticking to their job likeleeches, under their sporting slogan 'do as you'd be done by'."
"Sure thing, partner--that's legitimate news and not faked," agreed theother with a grunt as he speared a small boiled onion of which he wasvery fond, and thrust it into his mouth. "Lindbergh is a wonder, as weall know, but there's a limit to his activities and it ain't fair towant him to take hold o' everything that comes along. Now he's doubledup and took him a wife. They reckon nothin' c'n be carried throughwithout his name bein' tacked on somehow or other. 'Taint fair to thatboy, an' them's my sentiments."
Jack shook his head and looked serious.
"Then the mystery is as deep as ever and they haven't yet found out whathappened to poor Buddy?" he asked, to which Perk shook his head in thenegative, saying:
"Never a thing--all wrapped up in a black fog--he started off in highspirits and with a joke on his lips an' then disappeared like he neverwas. Hang it all, why couldn't I have been doin' some other sorter jobwhere they might 'a' let me off for a spell? Nothin' I'd like betterthan to comb the hull countryside in hopes o' findin' that bully boy--hetold me once 'bout that mother o' his'n. I kinder guess she must be apeach, he thought so much o' her. Lands sake! but it might even kill herif her boy ain't never heard from again. I'd give every dollar I got inthe wide world--which ain't boastin' none I know--if only I was a freeagent an' goin' on my own hook."
"Hard luck, partner," soothed Jack, laying a hand on the arm of his palas if to sympathize with the impulsive one; "but of course that's out ofthe question, you and me--we're under a contract that can't be brokenrecklessly, no matter what happens and we've just _got_ to keepeverlastingly on the job till our time is up when we can either renew orget out."
"I guess you got it down pat, Jack," agreed the other with a heavy sighthat told of his regret being genuine. Perk was one of those queer chapswho are born with a stubborn itch to find _anything_ that is said to belost which would account in part for his having thrown in his fortuneswith both the Northwest Mounted Police and now the United States SecretService.
"Besides, there was a sort of intimation in that late letter from theBig Boss," Jack went on to say, "that seemed to hint at something bigcoming our way before very long so all we can do is to keep hoping forsome luck and doing our daily stunt flying so as to learn all thewrinkles connected with our new cloud-chaser as you like to call theship we're attached to right now."
"Why do you keep on turning your head a little while you're eating I'dlike to know, Perk--got to seeing things again, like you did oncebefore, I remember?" continued Jack.
"Huh! I'm jest takin' a peep in that mirror over there partner," repliedPerk in a low tone that had a slight air of mystery about it, Jackimagined.
"Pretty girl this time struck you where your heart is soft, eh, buddy?"Jack inquired with a chuckle.
"Not this time old hoss--take a squint yourself--see them two fellerssittin' at the corner table, where they c'n watch us?--well, seems likethey take a heap o' pleasure keepin' tabs on us while we sit here andgobble. I'm wonderin' who and what they are also why they bother to keepan eye on our actions right along."
"Yes, I can see them out of the tail of my eye," Jack told him. "Don'tyou remember the pair in the big touring car that kept ducking afterus?--I reckon these boys are that same couple. Did you notice themsitting there when we came in?"
"Nothin' doin' that way, Boss," Perk told him with a positive ring tohis voice. "I chanced to turn my head a few minutes after we got settleddown, an' they were walkin' over to that corner like they'd sized up thetable as if it suited their plans. Ever since, they've kept talkin' inlow tones, an' watchin' us like I've seen a fox do, hidin' in the brushan' waitin' for a fat young partridge to come close enough for him tomake a spring and grab his dinner."
Jack refused to become flustered, even if Perk showed signs of beingannoyed.
"Oh!" he went on to remark casually, "chances are they may be some ofthose pests of newspaper boys, scenting a scoop of a story for theirsensation loving sheets--competition is so keen these days they lieawake nights I'm told, and accept all sorts of chances of being kickedout if only they can get the right sort of stuff to build up into athriller."
"Mebbe so, mebbe so," grumbled the indignant Perk, "but anyhow I don'tlike it a bit. That dark-faced guy strikes me as a pretty tough sort o'scrapper, one I'd hate to smack up against in a dark alley an' the otherain't much shakes as a good-looker either. Jack, do you think they knowwho we are and got some sort o' grudge against us on 'count o' the tradewe foller, eh, what?"
"Oh! it might be so," replied the other, "anything is possible and whilewe've been lucky enough to hide our light under a bushel all the timewe've hung around the Cheyenne airport, we couldn't expect to keep thatgame up indefinitely, you understand. After all, we hope to be pullingour freight and slipping out of this burg before long. So we'll justkeep our eyes open for stormy weather and be on our guard."
"Hot ziggetty dog! I sure do hope now they ain't meanin' to bust in onour fine ship an' play hob with her--wouldn't that jar you though,partner?" and Perk could be seen to grind those big white teeth of hisas if gripped by a spasm of rage almost beyond his control. Like theArab whose love for his horse is said to exceed any affection for hiswife, most sky pilots feel an overpowering regard for their ship inwhich they risk their lives every time they jump off and Perk waspeculiarly built that way.
"That would be a calamity for a fact," admitted Jack, giving the two menunder suspicion another little survey, "but we've got a good guardkeeping tabs over the boat and he's empowered to shoot if some one triesany funny business out at the hangar, so I reckon there's nothing toworry over in that direction."
Perk continued to grumble, half beneath his breath, showing how he feltunder the skin about the matter. Jack on his part skillfully directedthe low conversation into other and more cheerful channels so thatpresently, after the two strangers had passed out of the restaurant,Perk seemed to put them aside as "false alarms" and entered into thediscussion of the merits of their beloved cloud-chaser with a modicum ofhis usual good nature which was just what his chum wished to havehappen, so as to clear the atmosphere, which, in Perk's case was gettingconsiderably muddy.