Part 8 (1/2)

CHAPTER XI

PERK HOLDS THE FORT

First of all Perk set about getting the one boat that had been left aboard the s his green material hich he intended to cover the exposed deck

There was little trouble about acco that and when he dropped into the rowboat with a pair of excellent oars in his possession, he felt considerably encouraged

So he started to poke around, hoping to run across some island that was le This he succeeded in doing withouta mass of dwarf saw palmetto that would yield hies such as would stab cruelly unless one took care to handle the pal with a vireen stuff, after which he returned to the sloop and proceeded to scatter his e all over any exposed part of the contraband vessel

It necessitated a second trip before he felt satisfied for whatever his shortcoht be in other respects, Perk always tried to fulfill his whole duty whenever he tackled a job

By the ti wet” as he called it, with ”honest-to-goodness sweat,” not perspiration, but it orth all it cost to be able to feel that the sharpest vision on the part of a sky pilot passing over the spot, and even equipped with powerful binoculars, would not be able to detect the presence of the sequestered runaway sloop

”Good enough,” he told himself, as he lay down to rest a bit and scan the blue heavens so as to learn whether there was any sign of a cloud chaser froroves allowed hiave a little start, and proceeded to strain his eyes so as todot he had noted far away to the north or nor'east proved to be a circling buzzard, keeping up his eternal weaving to and fro in search of a belated breakfast after his own peculiar kind

So the ti there areens,” as he fancifully called the ca warmer, and induced soht as the one he and Jack had just passed

Later in thehe sat up, took another cautious look around at the clear sky, and then proceeded to enjoy a good, old-fashi+oned s pipe _a la Dawes_

Noon found hi the Governive him what assistance he required so as to turn over the captured sloop and the contraband it carried, both above and below decks

At one time Perk out of curiosity--as well as a desire to be in a condition to state the amount of spoils he and Jack had ”corraled” in their swoop upon the fighting slers and hijackers--took a pad of paper and a pencil and proceeded to go over the entire vessel, securing a rough invoice of the nun, burnt brand

Then a teripped him, and, as he took another ”eyeful” sweep of the azure arch overhead, to again find the coast clear, he tortured hio with his otherwise dry midday snack of lunch

”Huh! no use talkin', I jest _can't_ stand it any longer--got to have h tide Nothin'

to prevent reens I noticed heaps an' heaps o' dry wood, broken branches, stems o'

palht as well tote thethat coator wantin' to climb ot down in this queer old country

Anyway, here you go, Perk, coffee pot an' all”

He was soon busily engaged in building his little fire, hoping no hostile eyesabove the tops of that pal his coffee pot as it stood on the tilting firewood, a job that required constant vigilance if he hoped to save its precious contents froan to fill higed, like a Turk, and sing gulp after gulp of the aether it proved to be as satisfactory a little lunch as Perk had partaken of in so the entire contents of his coffee pot, he concluded it would be just as well for hins of the fire, and return to the sloop

He had good reason to shake hands with himself because of this exhibition of caution, for later on, as the afternoon began to lengthen, with the sun starting doard the western horizon, he suddenly began to catch faint sounds such as sent a sudden thrill through his whole nervous systeht like hu up his head the better to listen, and applying a cupped hand to his right ear ”Yep, that's a fact, an' over in that quarter to boot,” nodding toward the northeast where his instinct told him the mainland must lie, even if some miles distant

So, too, he decided later that the suspicious sounds kept growing louder, froed the speakers were slowly but surely approaching his hiding place