Part 12 (1/2)
He co to be in place--trust Perk for that
”Soher ceilin' an' you'll see it Headin' to cross over our trail in the bargain, I guess”
”A crate, all right,” coht had i object
”Looks like it ulf--d'ye think from some Mexican port, Jack?”
”Like as not,” assented the other ”These crooks -off places, but alith a specified landing field ahead”
”Then you figger,” continued Perk, ”he , fetchin' chinks across or ht in Paris, and shi+pped to Mexico on the way to New York, eh, partner?”
”Chances are three to one that's what it means,” Jack told him
Perk continued to wield his important binoculars and presently, when the lofty plane was passing over, he stated his opinion
”'Taint _hiht to know a Lockheed-Vega crate, no ht either, 'cause you see I used to run one o' that breed for nearly a year when I took a whirl at the air-o till I had a bad crash an' quit cold”
”That settles it then, partner,” said the pilot, still observing the speck swinging past out of the tail of his eye ”I hadn't any idea it could be the same chap you had your little picnic with some hours back, for you told me he'd blown off toward the east”
”Jest what he did,” replied the observer ”Ginger pop! but ouldn't I give right now to know jest whar that galoot was ets over the land How 'bout that, old hoss?”
”It h not as ht be ”We'll sift things out in good time, and for all we know, run across a few surprises in the bargain”
Perk studied that last part for aback of his words, but it proved tooout mysteries, and so he dropped it ”like a hot potato,” as he told hier had by now disappeared entirely, although theyup soinclined to make use of the capable silencer just then
Perk had made up his mind that the unknown aviator, even if other than Oscar Gleeb, was undoubtedly working the same profitable line of business as the pilot of the Curtiss-Robin shi+p So, too, Perk considered it worth while to try and figure out the exact course of the high flyer as he was probably e was likely to prove useful to the mental probleator aboard a runted Perk after figuring out his probleuy's really striking in to hty near the saht cross if we both kept on goin' long enough”
He studied thisif Jack also realized the fact and had kept silent about it for good and sufficient reasons
It afforded the a the idea to his heart that possibly the chance iven Jack and himself to locate so business was going on--the prospect of their's being the force to deal the outlaw organization a killing blow brought in its train the thrill he loved so well
Then caed his course radically, heading directly into the east where lay the peninsula of Ponce de Leon, seeker after the Spring of Eternal Youth, and finding instead, a land of flowers
Perk knehat this evidently h up the west coast and was now bent onfor that inland sheet of fresh water he had mentioned to his comrade as a likely place for theht
The uncertainty was keeping Perk keyed up to a high tension--so told him in no uncertain tones that Jack had a vastlythat lake than the ht uess, for when he atte in a shoreless sea of doubt and uncertainty that was baffling, to say the least