Part 21 (2/2)
”Hot ziggetty! you jest bet I won't old hoss!” whooped the delighted Perk as he squatted alongside the still writhing Oswald, his autoh to take things in charge
”Look in the room--see if the papers are safe--in the fireplace--he started to burn the whole batch and beat us to the scratch--had to give hihtened, Perk stood up and took a look then burst out in a joyous shout that would have done credit to any cow-puncher on earth
”It's all dandy, Jack--papers safe an' we got our et a chance to treat rub, 'cause my ribs're stickin' toJack's eyes ceased to sting and his vision once more became almost normal By then, too, Kearns had co hi a weapon in his ribs
Jack hunted around and found some rope hich they temporarily bound the arms and ankles of their prisoner That accomplished he er which Kearns had been so eager to destroy when realizing that at last his scorn for the minions of the law had reaped its inevitable result--the pitcher gone once too often to the well--and that his ga, ”uys Jack?”
”It'lla yellow streak and turning on his employer for State's evidence,” was Jack's quick rejoinder, the idea being quite to Perk's liking as he speedily made ht nifty an' I'ets all that's coimme with them irons Say Jack, take a look at ee whiz! but it felt like the sky'd gone an' dropped down on h there was a lovely lu very serious It was understood that there was not a ht blow in any tiet both the prisoners together and Perk, you stand guard over them while I taxi our boat around here so as to save ourselves the job of ht with you, buddy?”
”Sure is,” came the ready reply ”I'll start a little chin with our honorable guest here an' see how he likes the idee o' sittin' up next Mr Philip Ridgeway o' the Treasury Department an' findin' out that this time he's in the soup for keeps”
Already the prisoner had recovered his custo he broke out in a laugh
”Looks a bit serious forace high above all your class, for you've played a clever gaas you tossed into the roonized the smell and I want to tell you, once that hits a chap's eyes and he doesn't care if a church steeple topples down on hi back to where the shi+p was hidden and having negotiated the distance along the perilous trail without running afoul of anything, he ed to toss the palmetto leaves overboard since there was no further necessity for cae out of the narrow slip, and once on the open lake, he taxied down to the cove close to the coquina rock shack
Theytheir prisoners aboard and stowed theave her the gun and they were off
Once they found the and headed aloal, Perk slapped his pal on the back and gave vent to his high spirits
”Oh how joyful it does see, ”to be startin' on the hoed an'
nigh ready for the spit Souess boy
Mebbe the Big Boss up at Washi+ngton ain't goin' to be tickled pink when he gets the news an' knoe've grabbed Oswald by the heels with evidence aplenty to send hiht promises to be the happiest ever for the pair o' us I know I'm actin' like a loon, partner, but I jest can't help it--such bully occasions are too few an' far between in our line An' noonder where we'll be sent for the next big job we tackle?”
”We'll know all that soon enough Perk,” he was told by his comrade ”We deserve a little rest after this business is cleaned up, then we'll be ready to start out fresh and dandy, no matter if it takes us to the Wild West this tirunted Perk with the air of one as utterly indifferent as to whether he was given a mission that would take hi as he had at his side the pal who of the Government to stand for expenses
”We've worked the Mexican border to the li the Florida coast an' when the call co over the Colorado canyon, or above the snow capped ood!”
Although at the ti as a prophet, it will be seen that such was the case as the title of the next story in this series will indicate, it being ”_Wings Over the Rockies; or Jack Ralston's New Cloud-Chaser_”
THE END