Part 6 (1/2)
Thecustomer, thanks to the treatment he had met with in the merry time the rival parties had had aboard the sloop, but at least he knehen he ell off and so in Jack's o easy hiave theain the pair set out to finish their exploration of the object of their latest ”strafing” feat when a battle had been brought to an abrupt close with all hands in full flight si of a couple of innocent looking tear-bo factions
This time it was Jack who made the discovery Perk saw hied tarpaulin that seemed to cover some bulky object toward the stern of the sloop After that one look Jack gave the orn covering a hitch and a toss that sent it flying revealing so that caused Perk's eyes to stick out with astonishht
”Wohat's this I'ine or I'm a crocodile from the Nile! Why, this must be what they call an auxiliary craft, fitted to use canvas or hoss pohichever fills the bill best You c'n ditch me if this ain't what I'll call luck
An' heaps of it”
”I had a sneaking suspicion we'd run across so like this,”
confessed Jack, who nevertheless seemed just as well pleased as his co a chance to shi+p a cargo as rich as this one in a tub like this with only rotten sails to speed the craft if she happened to run afoul of a revenue cutter or one of those new sub-chasers the Coast Guard's been fitted out with And now the problem's been solved, just as we hoped it would be”
”Meanin' we c'n get somewhere without tryin' to tow the ru and tiresoested, with considerable aniine, Perk, and tellif it becaated and it was not long before he ventured to give his decision
”Seems okay to me, Boss Course I can't jest say for sure till I tries it out, but the chances are three to one she'll work for me”
”We'll soon have a chance to put that to the test, for it's our only way to hang on to our spoils and have sohin' to see how things keep happenin' jest to suit our crowd, old hoss,” Perk went on to rereat rate ”Dothe shi+p behind the sloop, partner?”
”Not that you could notice,” he was inforet up a thousand feet or so and kind of play the part of an aerial scout, just like you've toldone of those war sausages, known as blimps in these up-to-date times No objections, have you, Perk?”
”What, uess not,” the other exploded ”Why, it'll be jest a rummy time with this kid, runnin' off with the old sloop and a prisoner on board to boot I'ht in action at last, after waitin' so long, an' ding-dongin' around till we both got stale But how 'bout draggin' that ere round--think we c'n tackle the job between us, Jack?”
”Oh! That can be put through without much trouble, I reckon,” Perk was assured by the confident one ”I think if you investigate you'll find they've got some sort of winch, a bit like the old-fashi+oned windlass we used to wind up whenever we pulled the old oaken bucket up from the country well Let's take a peek and uess verified, for there was a winch, with the rope of the anchor attached; all that would be necessary was to start winding and by th the anchor must be hauled out of theuntil needed again
”No use of our stickin' 'round these diggin's any longer, partner,” Perk suggested ”The canvas is all clewed up or reefed, whatever they call it, so on't have it flappin' around after the shi+p gets under way
Say the word, Boss, an' leave the rest tohas been said as to what port we'reto strike out for,” observed Jack, ”and that's a matter of considerable importance
First of all it would be apt to queer our business so, or even Key West; for soet on to the facts and like as not we'd have our pictures printed in all the papers A fat chance we'd stand to do anythis contraband conspiracy up the back, after _they_ got through telling things”
”Well, I guess now that would queer our game, wouldn't it, partner?”
bleated the annoyed Perk, then brightening up as he eyed his chu further interesting re that particular line, he went on to add: ”S'pose I'ot all fixed up for us to foller”
”All things considered,” began Jack, thus urged, ”I reckon it would be the best scheet the rurove islands on the outer edge of which we lay loith our crate so nicely caed For that matter we could cover the deck the saer is bound to coh Oscar Gleeb, the Gerood toaround overhead, and have n of trouble,” continued Jack, ”and also keep tabs on you while on the trip south Of course we don't know just what speed you can coax out of that rusty old engine, but even at a et in hiding before sun-up”
”Easy enough, Boss, and et the far away gru just e cli at the tiht be that second tub turnin' tail an' puttin' for the shore”