The Sky Detectives; Or, How Jack Ralston Got His Man

CHAPTER XVII
A FIGHT WELL WON

It was no longer possible for the busy pilot to keep on his course. Every minute of his time was taken up with a desperate effort to keep from being thrown into a nose dive, that, unless miraculously conquered, would be likely to send them whirling down, to crash from a five thousand foot ceiling, and thus bring about a complete writeoff.

That however was the least of Jack’s worries – all he asked was the ability and luck to be able to fend off threatening disaster; could this be done successfully in good time they could pick up all that was lost, and once more continue their westward flight.

The battering they endured was simply tremendous, and Jack marveled at the ship being able to withstand such a horrible strain. If but a single strut gave way under all that pounding it would mean starting a series of similar mishaps such as would quickly render them incapable of keeping aloft; and with this threat hanging over their heads it can readily be understood neither of the two could be in a comfortable frame of mind.

Still it is wonderful how men thus threatened will continue to carry on, although in an almost mechanical fashion, doing just the necessary thing with each change of pace on the part of the tricky storm, and meeting successfully every near tragedy as it arises to clutch them in its grip.

No longer did Jack keep on climbing – it seemed to him that the further the staggering boat lifted the more dangerous became their situation for the air was surcharged with electricity as the zigzag lightning darted from cloud to cloud, doubling the chances of their frail craft being struck.

In fact it seemed so terrible above that he lacked the nerve to persist in the upward work, and even commenced to drop down. Perk noticing this move, hardly knew what to make of it. He was, as he himself would have expressed it, “hanging on by his teeth,” in order to keep his seat in the wildly plunging airship and on finding that the bold pilot had given up hope of finding relief in the upper regions, the fact appalled him. Could it be Jack had decided to attempt a landing, with only the glare of those repeated electrical flashes to serve as airport lights? That indeed would be next to admitting their case as hopeless, and that Jack was taking such desperate chances only as a last resort.

They were zooming along all this time as if pursued by a jinx and indeed with such weird accompaniments it would not be hard to believe the spirit of the storm took on the part of such a goblin of the air, to pursue relentlessly this bold invader of the home of the aroused elements.

Perk hit the bullseye close to the center when afterwards, in describing their experience on this night of the great blow, he vowed they were “playing dice with death,” since it seemed a bare chance that they could ever pull through alive.

Such is the life of the aviator – one hour sailing smoothly along, at peace with all mankind, envying no man his following, and feeling himself to be on the top of the world – the next and he may be fighting with might and main the mad demons of the air, his life hanging in the balance, his strength ebbing fast, and unless the little cherub aloft that is said to be watching over each sailor, whether of the sea or the limitless air, comes to the rescue, his fate is sealed, and another modern Argonaut never comes back again to the home port.

It did not seem to be any the less exciting even when they had succeeded in gaining a much lower altitude; although possibly the danger from those thunderbolts might have been somewhat abated. Perk soon realized that his pilot had no intention of trying for a landing in the midst of such a turmoil and confusion, which fact relieved his harried feelings to some extent. Indeed, it would have been a mad proceeding, and almost unheard of, since hardly the slightest chance offered for the most skillful pilot to reach the earth without disaster, such as making a ground loop, and having the heavy engine bury them under its weight.

Perk endeavored to convince himself that things were a bit easier since a lower altitude had been effected but in so doing he feared he was only deceiving himself – if anything at all things were even worse, – although the drop might not be so far, which was small comfort, since it must mean their complete annihilation if it befell them.

Perk had numerous spasms when he fancied something was going amiss with their staunch craft, although unable to decide the exact nature of the imaginary trouble. Despite all these chills, which must have been the products of his excitement, they managed to hold out minute after minute, which fact gave more or less cause for renewed hope.

Jack must indeed be almost completely exhausted, and yet he refused to give up the controls, to which his hands seemed glued as though riveted there. Perk punched his side numbers of times, but could get no favorable response, proving that the other deemed it too hazardous a proceeding to change possession of the stick while in the whirl of that shrieking gale – which was indeed only another adaptation of the old proverb “it is folly to change horses when crossing a stream.”

There was no means for communication with each other, even though they may have wished to do so, since the ear-phones had been discarded with the donning of their slickers, and could not be put back in position, owing to the sudden bursting of the storm, and the necessity for employing their hands in more useful pursuits.

All Perk could do was to hang on, keeping himself ready to seize hold should his companion be suddenly compelled to release his grip through sheer weariness – that, and keeping tabs of the weather, so as to glean the first favorable sign that came along, promising a let-up, or at least a break.

Judging from the heavy rain that had come down in such a solid stream it must be reckoned one of those dreadful cloud-bursts of which he, Perk, had so often heard, but which thus far in his experience he had never met up with. No doubt rivers would be out of their beds long before dawn although that angle of the situation did not interest them in the least, since their traveling would not be interfered with a particle, if only the air proved inviting.

Yes, soon Perk believed he could detect a lessening of the baffling crosswinds that had been so trying to the pilot, keeping him continually on the anxious seat – then, too, it struck him the floods were growing weaker in the bargain; which two facts gave poor Perk a feeling akin to joy in the region of his heart, such as he may have known on previous occasions, but that must have been far down in his adventurous past.

According to their altimeter they were something like two thousand feet from the ground, but of course never the faintest glimpse could they secure of what lay beneath them, so poor was the visibility, with all that torrent of water pouring down as might a mountain cataract.

This delightful feeling grew stronger as minutes passed – at this rate he would soon be able to influence tired Jack to renounce his frozen hold on the stick, and turn the handling of the ship over to his chum.

In this frame of mind he again nudged the other, but in turn received a negative shake of the head, which meant there was “nothing doing” – in other words, since the storm still raged, even though in somewhat diminished violence, they must not be too premature, and spoil it all just when the victory seemed about to drop into their hands.

With what Perk hoped would prove to be a last dying spurt the rain came pelting down, after which it suddenly stopped as though an unseen hand away up among the clouds, had plugged the gap, and kept any more water from running out – enough was enough, surely, Perk was telling himself when he made this thrilling discovery and for one he felt he had had sufficient rain to last him the balance of that year.

So too did the wind start to diminish its force, also coming from one direction with more constancy – some relief to Jack, that was certain, since now he could know just how to steer his turbulent craft so as to meet the force driving against it.

Then what did Perk do but start getting his ear-phones adjusted, being wild to hear a human voice, after all that fiendish roaring and howling kicked up by the raging elements.

Why, already the atmosphere had cleared enough for him to catch faint glimpses of what lay beneath them – it looked as though they had come to a stretch of country where the level prairie had changed into rougher ground, with deep swales, sometimes running into quite respectable ravines and there were indications of ridges ahead, which might even prove to be fairly high, so that it would have been tempting Providence had Jack dropped still lower, while flying blind through all that welter.

“Talk to me ’bout luck,” the grateful Perk was saying to himself, “I never ran ’cross anything like this– they told me Jack must a been born under a lucky star, an’ now I sure b’lieves it to be the right stuff they were givin’ me, an’ no taffy either. But that was some fight, take it from me, fellers.”

Shortly afterwards Jack condescended to give him the sign that he was willing to pass up the job; whereat Perk quickly superseded him as pilot, and saw the other sink back in his cramped quarters as though unable to hold up his tired arms a second longer. Apparently the relief had come not a minute too soon, for he must have been close to the point of utter exhaustion after so long and violent a strain.

Battered as the crate had been while the gale lashed them so madly, it had stood up under the buffeting most amazingly and Perk would never have occasion to utter anything saving words of praise for the model and its makers; it must be as near perfection as aircraft are being built these days of man’s victory over the savage forces of the air.

Setting his course in what he believed to be the proper direction Perk waited until Jack seemed fairly well recovered, when he was pleased to see the other take up his head harness as though he too felt the necessity for opening up communications with his running mate, which outlook gratified Perk immensely.

There were many things he wished to have made clear, and besides, he felt more than curious to learn what Jack’s next move might turn out to be – that they had drifted far from their original course went without saying but a means must be found to recover the lost ground, after which they could take up the game again just where the sudden storm had caused such a diversion.

And then the moon peeped out through a break in the clouds overhead, as though to tell them it was all over, with decent weather once more in the offing.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE DESERTED SHACK

“Well, that’s somehow I guess over, and I’m mighty glad,” was the way Perk voiced his feelings, when the clouds were rolling away, and the heavenly host of stars backed up the moon in lighting up the firmament.

“Same here,” echoed Jack, still more or less tired after his energetic battle with the unleashed elements.

“And strikes me the air’s got some chilly,” added the other; “I own up I’m shivering to beat the band right now. Where d’ye figger we might be, partner – must a lost our course in all that kettle o’ rain an’ wind, an’ drifted far to the south, eh, what, old hoss?”

“No question about it, Perk; I could feel the pull right along; still, there wasn’t a thing to do but let the old crate take the reins in her teeth. Once morning comes we’ll manage somehow to get a line on our locality, and swing back to our course.”

“Some hours off yet,” ventured Perk, whose lips were indeed trembling, as if the chill was beginning to get in its work – perhaps all that recent excitement was helping to make him shiver, as it often will, even in the case of the most valiant of men.

Jack noticed this fact, even though he himself experienced nothing similar, for some reason or other.

“See here, Perk, you ought to have a chance to sit alongside a warm fire and dry off; the rain must have got under your slicker, and I reckon now you’re slopping around in water back there. Something’s got to be done about it.”

“Shucks! boss, don’t bother ’bout me; I’m a hard-shell you must know, an’ a little dampness ain’t agoin’ to do me any harm, Jack.”

“Just the same we’ll try and make a landing,” continued the other, “if there’s half a chance; all I’d want would be to stack up against a level stretch of upland, where the drainage had carried off all that flood.”

“Yeah, that sounds all to the good, boy but what difference will it make, I want to know? After such a storm it’s bound to be some cold even away down here along the Texas-Arizona line; they call them Northers, jest like I’ve heard they do down in Florida. Forget it, partner – I’m a tough guy, an’ ain’t wantin’ to be coddled like a baby.”

“Just the same I say we’re going to land, if half a chance shows up,” affirmed the pilot, in that set way of his. “We’ll find the stuff to build some sort of fire, Perk, where you could make a pot of hot coffee; which’d do you more good than a switch of hard liquor. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.”

Perk remained silent for almost two whole minutes, during which time no doubt he was revolving in his mind what Jack had proposed – in imagination he could almost smell the delicious aroma of the coffee, boiling so merrily over the red coals and even feel a joyous sensation of warmth stealing through his chilled body.

“Okay, Jack; you win, hands down. Me for the coffee every time, to be followed by a quiet smoke o’ my fav’rite brand o’ tobac. Have your own way about it, partner.”

“Then get ready to try and make out what sort of ground we’ll soon be passing over,” added Jack, as he turned the ship earthward, and slid down on a long glide, with the motor clamped shut. “We’ll skim along close enough for you to get a good idea as to how matters stand, and yet giving enough distance to keep clear of any clump of trees, or little bald knobs of rises.”

Presently Perk assured him he could manage to get fair glimpses at what lay below; at which Jack again started on an even keel, moving with as little speed as was compatible with safety.

It was not very long before the watcher gave tongue.

“Looks good to me down yonder, partner – guess now we might make a safe an’ sane landin’ – ’specially with you at the stick. Circulate a little bit to the south, brother, ’cause it looks some better thataways.”

This Jack did, and then at another signal from the observer, he proceeded to drop down with almost as much confidence as he might have felt when making a landing on Candler Field, well lighted, and with every convenience suited to safety and comfort.

His confidence, it seemed, had not been misplaced, for they effected a very fair contact, all things considered, even though the landing was somewhat “joggly and rough” as Perk expressed it.

Once the ship came to a stop and both of them hastened to clamber out of their close quarters – “cribbed, cabined and confined,” Jack sometimes liked to say in connection with their limited cockpit, although his pal always reminded him of the fact that cabin was something only conspicuous by its absence.

Perk’s first movement was to start threshing his arms against his thighs with more or less vigor, in which he showed good common sense since there is no better method for stirring up sluggish circulation after a long period of inaction. Jack on his part commenced to check up on certain sections of the undergear, meaning to make certain he had done no damage in making connection with the earth under such unfavorable conditions.

“Everything in ship-shape, I reckon, Perk,” he announced. “And now let’s make out to find something in the line of trees, where we might pick up enough wood for that fire.”

“Looks kinder like things’d be mighty well soaked after all that downpour,” affirmed the shrewd Yankee-Canadian; “so it’d be a tough job coaxin’ stuff to take fire. But wait a minute, partner – I didn’t get a chance to tell you that I spied what looked like an ol’ tumbledown shack over to windward – I guess now it might be abandoned, but just the same, partner, we’d be apt to run across some dry wood inside.”

“Suppose you step over and take a look-in, Perk,” suggested the other. “I’ll stand by the crate here, and keep our little glim working, so you’ll get your bearings when you start back.”

“You said it, Jack,” acceded the lanky one, always eager for any sort of service; “an’ by the same token now I’ll tote my gun along – never c’n tell what sorter game you’ll stack up against on these here Texas plains, I’m told. I feel like I could knock over a wolf er two, just to get my blood to movin’ at a faster clip – how ’bout it, boss?”

“Suit yourself, Perk,” he was told, as Jack climbed back into the cockpit so as to manipulate the light he mentioned, and which would prove sufficient to serve the wanderer as a beacon when wishing to retrace his steps.

Accordingly Perk wandered off, having decided as to the quarter where he had glimpsed what looked like an old and lonely shack or cabin, faintly seen in the moonlight.

He came back in a short time, bubbling over with satisfaction.

“It’s all right, Jack – just like I guessed, it turned out to be an ownerless shack but the roof looks like it might’ve shed the rain, an’ oh! boy! heaps o’ dry wood inside, with a whoppin’ big fireplace where you could slap on the biggest log agoin’. Mebbe I ain’t glad you thought o’ this game. Come along, an’ we’ll fetch the stuff for a warm snack – coffee, crackers, an’ bacon in the bargain. Talk to me about luck, it’s comin’ to us in big chunks.”

“Oh! we’ve got to get used to that sort of thing,” said Jack, in the most matter-of-fact tone imaginable; “when you’re on such a wonderful lay as this anything’s likely to happen, and all kinds of surprises spring out at you.”

“I wonder,” was all Perk could say in reply; but he lost no time in gathering together such articles as aluminum coffeepot, skillet, cups, and such other things as he knew would be needed to complete their little midnight spread.

“I reckon it’s safe for us to leave our crate off here,” remarked the cautious Jack, “but I’ll fix things so no busybody can take-off while we’re away,” which he did without any trouble; after which they both set out to move along to the deserted shack Perk had located, lying right there, just as if a favoring Fate had designed it for their especial benefit in an emergency, as the grateful Perk told himself.

Arriving at the humble shack, that once may have housed a happy family in days that were gone, they made use of Jack’s electric torch in order to gather some dry splinters of wood, which, heaped above some paper on the open hearth, soon blazed up, and afforded them an opportunity to take a look around.

Other fuel more lasting was hurriedly added to the fire, and this done the two air adventurers took stock of their surroundings. There was nothing much to see, since the shack happened to be entirely devoid of any kind of furniture, even of the most primitive make; but the roof had stood the ravages of time, and promised to hold out for years still to come.

Perk held out his chilled hands to the blaze but only for a few minutes; apparently the possibility of brewing some “nectar” was an overpowering temptation, for presently he started to work.

In short order he had the steam coming out of the coffee pot spout, and a most delightful odor permeated the interior of that ancient shack. When the coffee was ready, Perk poured some of the amber fluid in both aluminum cups, and offered Jack one, together with a freshly opened carton of tempting crackers.

“Goes right to the spot,” the self-made chef observed, rubbing a hand across his stomach, as though experiencing the most blissful sensation there; “best coffee I ever tasted, barrin’ none, an’ say, I’ve tried it a good many places like France and Germany, as well as in Turkey too.”

“Same here,” Jack assured him, as he drained his first cup. “By the way, didn’t you say you’d fetched some bacon along over here?”

“Jest what I did, partner, an’ now I’ve had my fust swaller o’ coffee I’ll get a move on an’ soon have some o’ the same asizzlin’ in the pan.”

He started to carry out his words, with the interested Jack watching his efforts to try and make the frying pan set evenly on the fire, a feat that requires considerable knowledge of camp tactics in order to be successful. After one near spill, with Perk only saving an upset by quick work, Jack modestly broke in to give a bit of advice, not forgetting, however, that old saying about “too many cooks spoil the broth.”

“Too hot to keep hold of the handle looks like, partner; now if only we were outdoors we might find stones enough to form some sort of foundation on three sides of the fire, where you could rest your pan. Hold on, here’s this old hearth that was made of some kind of Mexican bricks – adobe they call them and it looks to me like some of ’em might be loose. Here, I’ll manage to pry a few up for you, Perk, old man – just hold – your – horses and – ”

Jack did not finish his sentence, and the cook, glancing up to see what ailed him, found his pal holding the first adobe in an uplifted hand, while he was himself staring hard into the cavity from which it had come, as if he saw something wonderfully fascinating there!