Part 9 (1/2)

Really he had taken it for granted that such would turn out to be the case, since occasions without nulers wished to take alien Chinamen from some schooner or speedboat by means of which the first part of their journey to the Proh, when it would be necessary for the plane to drop alongside the boat fron ports andto Perk--he felt positive that it would be the first tiht it out with a taxiing seaplane on the subtropical waters of the great gulf

The outcome of course was hidden behind a haze of ht never live to tell the story but then that sort of uncertainty had been his daily portion during his thrilling service on the French front and its coain after all these years of less arduous labor only

Now the flying shi+p was passing directly over his place of concealus-eyed pilotto do so, continue his scrutiny along thefar into the south?

Perk saw hia but his trouble for his pains Indeed a sense of heavy disappointrip his heart when he saw the other suddenly bank and swing as though ain

”Zowie! kinder looks like he _did_ glimpse somethin' that struck him as wuth a second scrutiny,” chuckled the anxious watcher, that delicious thrill onceover his whole frame

Indeed, it was ahiler pilot discovered the ed deck below or not

He was only hoping that the other ht not take a notion to fly overhead and try to drop sos looked a bit suspicious to hiet a faint whiff of the tear-gas that had drenched the slers' boat at the time he himself hurled those two bo hi but pleasing for him to contemplate

This time the Curtiss-Robin sped past not much more than three hundred feet above, so that he could plainly gles, that was projected from the cabin

”Darn his nerve, if he ain't wavin' his hand to ed if he didn't, by ginger! an'

now the fun's a'goin' to start right along Wow! this is what I like, an' pays up for a wheen o' lazy days How the blood does leap through a feller's veins when he feels he's in action again Oscar, old boy, here's wishi+n' you all the compliments o' the season an' I hereby promise to send back whatever you throw aratulation when hesurface of the little bay close by, showing that the pilot intended to make his little splash, and take a look at the hidden sloop with its illicit cargo of many cases that had been so mysteriously snatched from the hands of those hom he was in close association

This was as Perk would have it if given any decision in the matter Once the amphibian started to taxi toward hi, each with asuch a weapon equally balanced Could anything be fairer than that, Perk asked hi for business at the drop of the hat?

The plane hadthere like an enormous aquatic fowl of soht turn as thoughto co up h these up-to-date contraband runnersto keep up with the inventions of the times, for undoubtedly this pilot had no silencer aboard his craft to effectually ine

However, this was no tis when the et” the ex-war ace, or the other put him out of action when the battle was on

Perk shi+fted his gun so that itsseaplane in its advance Let Oscar but make a start in his projected bombardment, and Perk stood ready to ansith a similar fusilade that must rather astonish the other, for as yet he could have no assurance that the concealed sloop was ure the seized craft had been hidden here and temporarily abandoned until such convenient time as the captors could return with recruits and run it to soht be turned over to the proper authorities

Just the saood policy tothe boat's deck with a round or two of searchingto board it

Whatever way the cat was going to jump, Perk knew the issue was bound to be joined before many more seconds slipped past, and he held himself ready

CHAPTER XIII

WHEN GREEK MET GREEK

The seaplane had stopped short, although its engine still rattled away as vehemently as ever Perk understood the reason for this--Oscar reat as on, but apparently his later experiences had cooled his blood to some extent and he did not mean to be too rash

Doubtless he could by this time plainly make out the sloop which was so skillfully concealed, especially from the air above, and thereair about it that called for caution He was not such a fool as to blindly walk into what ht prove to be a clever trap, set by a bunch of those despised Governly he considered it good policy to hold off and pepper the sloop fro any boarding and seizing it for its rightful owners