Читать книгу: «Trackers of the Fog Pack; Or, Jack Ralston Flying Blind», страница 9

CHAPTER XXIII
Perk Carries on

Apparently Jack found considerable interest in the man wearing the white cap of a cook, for he watched him keenly as he came and went, limping a little, it seemed, as though somewhat lame.

Then, as the morning drew on, Jack changed his location, as though desirous of applying his energies to another duty that claimed attention. He was away from his post all of three hours; and when once more creeping over to the friendly screen of scrub bushes, there was a satisfied look on his grim face, that gave him an air of renewed confidence.

Apparently things were working along the right path, which would mean he found them to his liking.

If Jack felt exceedingly hungry, with so little to stay the clamorings of an empty stomach, he gave no evidence of such a thing. But then he did not happen to belong to the class of “squealers,” as honest Perk often delighted to assign himself, without a blush of shame – he was built to expect three square meals per diem, and felt he had a right to “kick” when, through some misfortune they failed to come along on schedule.

The afternoon wore away slowly, with Jack in continual use of his glasses. It was a most interesting study for him, this spying upon the hideout of the greatest aggregation of badly wanted refugees from the Law he had ever run across.

What a grand haul would result if only he chanced to have a dozen of his fellow workers in the Secret Service at his call, ready to draw a net around the sunken valley, and forcing a general surrender. A good many empty cells in the Federal penitentiaries would be filled with their former occupants, Jack was telling himself, as he strove to count the idle members of the gang sunning themselves, and taking things so comfortably, as though they refused to entertain a single minute of fear concerning the possibility of the army being used by Uncle Sam to encompass their downfall.

Jack now began to anticipate the return of his comrade, judging from the manner in which he frequently turned his head, as if to listen, while a look of concern began to draw lines about his eyes.

The fact that he had seen no sign of excitement among those he was watching had given him good cause for confidence. Surely, if the presence of strangers in the neighborhood had been discovered, with possibly Perk made a prisoner, he must have noted the fact as he viewed the panorama spread out before his eyes.

It was when the descending sun had dropped well down the western sky – about five by his faithful little wrist watch – that all of a sudden he heard something drop just back of his position, followed by a low, shaky voice saying:

“Hot-diggetty-dig! say, I’m ’baout all in, for a fack – gee whiz! sech a climb, with a pack on my back that weights somethin’ like a ton. Whee!”

And there was Perk, flat upon his back, having been drawn down when he attempted to let his burden drop. Jack gained his side as speedily as he could, his mind at ease once more, his late fears having vanished like a puff of mountain fog before a rising breeze.

“Mighty glad to see you safe back, buddy – was just beginning to feel a bit anxious – but you shouldn’t have attempted to lug such a whopping bunch of stuff up this steep grade.”

Perk gave him a wise grin, and managing to find his voice he went on to say, in a jerky manner between breaths:

“Didn’t reckon to in first place, Jack – after I hitched to aplenty yeou know I ’membered ’bout somethin’ else – then saw a package o’ grub I jest did want to try eout the wust kind – so she climbed to this mounting – but it’s okay – we kin make use o’ ever’thing, bet yeour boots we kin.”

“I hope you did what I told you to – eat a good lunch while you had the opportunity?” Jack asked, solicitously, whereat the other slily winked one eye, and made reply:

“Sure thing, partner – easier to swaller the grub an’ carry same inside, than to tote it on my back. But queer haow a gink keeps on buildin’ up a appetite, fur somehaow I’m hungry as all git-eout agin.”

That was just like Perk; but Jack had to chuckle at the lugubrious expression he could see on his comrade’s expressive face as he announced this sad fact.

“Well,” he told the returned scout, “we’ll eat as soon as we get further away from the cliff; I’ve got some things to tell you that may sound interesting; but not a single word until I’ve had a chance to break my fast.”

“Great guns! Jack, ole hoss, I forgot as haow yeou aint had nary a bite all day long, while I was jest gorgin’ myself daown yonder!”

“First tell me, was the ship okay?”

“Sure was, Jack,” the other went on to state, as he managed to regain a stooping position, with the mighty pack still on his back, assisted by a friendly push at the hands of his ally.

Jack seemed to breathe easier, showing that he had really worried about the possibility of something happening to their air courier, such as must put a halt to their operations, if not entirely smashing the same.

“’Fore I started back,” continued Perk, who was now wound up, and capable of running on for any length of time, his wind being assured, “I took time to toss some more o’ them evergreens on exposed parts o’ the crate. She’s camouflaged neow to beat the band – kinder guess a galoot with the eyes o’ a hawk might pass by less’n fifty feet away, an’ never suspicion what that big mound was. But there ain’t been anybody araound there since we cut aout – I’m givin’ yeou that straight, Pard Jack.”

Shortly afterwards they settled down in a secluded spot, where the brush grew thick enough to effectually conceal their presence, assisted in this friendly task as it was by various piles of rough rocks, such as were as plentiful in that wild country as “grains of sand on the seashore,” Perk had more than once declared.

Jack held to his resolve, and refused to say another word until he had taken the sharp edge off his appetite. Just then he doubtless could appreciate how his always hungry chum must suffer between meals.

By the time he had been munching the stuff the sympathizing Perk kept putting before him, for something like ten minutes, the acute sensation had passed away.

Perk had also been doing a little side act of his own, and managed to put away a fair proportion of eatables. He was waiting as patiently as he could for Jack to start telling what he meant by the word “discoveries;” and hoping something entertaining might be forthcoming.

“I’m glad you saw fit to fetch that big flashlight, ditto the two extra dry batteries along, buddy,” observed Jack, finally; “because we’re going to find a good use for the same. I’ve entered a claim for a nice dry residence, which we can use while we’re in this region – rain or shine, cold or otherwise, it’s a sure enough jim-dandy cave!”

“Bully boy, Jack; I’m tickled pink to hear such good news; when do we move in, tell me?”

“Right away – that is, by the time darkness comes along, Perk; because it isn’t a great way off – a fissure in the big rock that looked sort of inviting to me; so I crept inside, with a splinter of dry wood that I could coax to burn. Couldn’t see all I’d have liked to, but enough to tell me the crack developed into a regular cavern, with a roof fully twenty feet up, and feeling a heap warmer than we found ourselves last night.”

“Whoopee! that sounds right fine to me, cully; I’m sure glad yeou hit sech a prize package fust shot. But I jest knowed yeou’d be adoin’ yeour stuff when I was a crawlin’ ’long daown there in the bottom land. I’m crazy to take a squint at aour new lodgin’; but I guess there aint no sech hurry.”

“Plenty of time for everything,” Jack assured him, still engaged in the pleasant task of feeding the furnace fires within. “We can have a great chin once we get settled; and Perk, I spent a full hour toting a lot of wood into that split in the wall.”

“Meanin’ as haow we kin even have a bully little fire – all the comforts o’ home, an’ nary a red cent to pay for rent, in the bargain. Ain’t we the lucky boys, though.”

“Listen! that’s a familiar sound I’m picking up, eh, what, Perk?”

“Sure is!” cried the other, showing signs of sudden excitement. “Some sorter airship headin’ thisaways. Must be that ole crate belongin’ to the boys daown in the valley; let’s git back to the cliff, an’ see what’s what, Jack.”

CHAPTER XXIV
In the Tom Sawyer Cavern

“She’s acomin’ closer right along, Jack!” Perk was saying, cautiously, as he limped along at his companion’s heels, evidently more or less tired after his long tramp, with that great pack settled on his back.

Jack realized this fact himself. He was keeping a wary eye turned in the quarter whence the roaring sound could be heard, constantly growing louder with each passing second. If he suddenly discovered the approaching plane he could give the plodding Perk the “high sign”, when both must drop down flat to keep from being discovered by those in the ship’s cabin.

As it happened the incoming aircraft was keeping low down, its pilot undoubtedly expecting to swing into the valley by way of the spreading jaws of the narrow pass.

By the time they managed to gain their old location the landing had been successfully accomplished, a fact that caused Perk to remark:

“Huh! them guys arunnin’ that crate aint no dummies at their job, sure as shootin’. That was a slick landin’ the gink at the stick set daown. Wow! See haow they’re aswarmin’ eout o’ evry shack, will yeou; like this comin’ back o’ the patched-up ship might mean it was afetchin’ ’em all sorts o’ stuff they kinder hankered after? What a soft time them rats air ahavin’, with nawthin’ to do ’cept wait fur the supper bell to sound.”

“Watch and see what manner of stuff they take out of the cabin,” advised the wide-awake Jack, with an evident hope he might learn a few “wrinkles” concerning the occupation of the confederates in this mountain retreat, by thus checking their plane’s cargo, for he had noted that it was heavily laden.

There seemed to be an abundance of willing workers now, and the way the freight was lifted out of the cabin, to be carried toward the big log cabin, told of the personal interest they had in the stuff.

“Looks mostly like grub, I’d say,” Jack remarked, keeping his eyes fastened to the useful binoculars; “and I reckon business, whatever it is they’re carrying on, must be good, for them to buy such a mountain of food, staples and fancy groceries in the bargain.”

Perk could be heard making a queer sound in his throat.

“I’m a piker if this doant beat anythin’ I ever stacked up against,” he gritted between his teeth. “Hard times, they say, an’ yet here’s a bunch o’ tough guys aloaded up with ’bout sech truck like a oil-well nabob daown in Oklahoma might lay in fur the hull winter. Mebbe I wouldn’t like to board up at this hotel fur a spell! I’d sure make a dent in their ole grub pile.”

The plane cabin was soon emptied, and apparently it had held an enormous cargo. They saw the two men forming the crew head toward the dining hall, as though to await the call to supper. Perk, having begged to hold the glasses, was eagerly staring at the pair, wearing dingy flying togs.

“Hot-diggetty-dig!” he muttered, just loud enough for Jack to hear him, “so that’s what took ole Nat outen San Diego, was it? Did somethin’ to make him want to skip by the light o’ the moon, an’ then hitched up with this ere rotten bunch o’ crooks. He sure had it comin’ to him, bein’ he’d been skatin’ on the edge o’ goin’ bad some time back.”

“You seem to know some one, Perk, from what you’re saying?” ventured Jack.

“Yeah! a galoot called Nat Tucker, once a fair sorter pilot; but kinder crooked, some folks used to say behind his back. That’s him, the stouter lad with a limp – got that onct when he had to step off a mile high, an’ his chute didn’t work as nice as it orter, lettin’ him crash when he landed in a hay field – would a been killed if it’d been rocks, like these here. Found his level okay when he struck this rotten crowd. Had a sorter nice halfbreed squaw fur a wife, too, pretty as a picture; but I heard she kicked Nat aouten the house, so he’s cleared up fur keeps. Well, he’s kinder classy as a pilot, an’ said to be a reg’lar dare-devil in his way. The boys’ll sure be some s’prised to hear what’s happened to ole Nat.”

As the crowd down in the valley had thinned out by this time, most of them passing into the big log cabin, Jack concluded there was no necessity for himself and Perk to remain any longer at their lookout point.

Once back at their former campground Jack picked up his supper at the point he had quit when the sound of the oncoming airship drifted to their ears.

Perk looked expectant, as though he still remembered that his chum had promised to enlighten him concerning various discoveries made during the day just then closing.

“I’ve been figuring things out,” Jack commenced saying, as he continued his interrupted meal, “and from a number of little things I saw I’m almost certain these banded crooks must be carrying on a bogus-money plant up here – several times when the wind changed I thought I could catch a queer sort of sound that was along the line of machinery, a press perhaps working at printing the counterfeit bills.”

“Gee whiz! I wonder!” ejaculated the deeply interested Perk, his eyes aglow with half suppressed excitement.

“Stop and figure it out for yourself, buddy,” Jack went on smoothly, as though his own mind was already fully made up. “Could anybody think up a finer and safer location for such an illegal plant than up here, where they could carry on their work without molestation? And then, when they had a good grist of bogus stuff to scatter over the western country, how easy to send it out aboard that swift airship? I warrant you they’re doing a land-office business – no stagnation in this neck of the woods, even if it’s said to be the case nearly everywhere else all over the world.”

“Gosh! doant it beat the Dutch, Jack, haow chumps like that kin lick up all the cream on a pan o’ milk, leavin’ the skim stuff to honest folks? But yeou said yeou’d picked up a heap o’ pints, which I’d hear ’bout later on. Aint that time come ’raound yet, buddy?”

“Hold your horses, Perk; that news can keep until after we get located in our new sleeping quarters. Suppose we divide up all this stuff you’ve fetched, along with what we already had on hand; so I can help tote the same. I can see with one eye how you must be fairly worn out with what you carried all the way up here. Come, let’s get a move on, partner.”

Perk did not show much signs of being so dead tired, judging from the alacrity with which he scrambled to his knees, and busied himself making up the two packs. One, which he evidently fully intended for himself, was about twice as heavy as the other; seeing which, (and comprehending the usual generous spirit of this big-hearted chum) Jack managed to pick it up when the other was not looking, and absolutely refused to surrender when appealed to.

“Not any, partner,” he told Perk, resolutely; “what do you take me for, a weakling, or a shirker? If you say much more I’ll sling both packs over my shoulder, and leave you to trot along in the rear. I’ve done nothing but loaf all day, while you were as busy as a beaver. Get out, and stay out, d’ye hear, boy?”

He led the way, and seemed to know just where he was going, passing around a dozen great rocks that barred their passage. Perk marveled at his pal’s skill and memory as a guide, never pausing to question his route, but following the circuitous trail as though he had trodden the same for a long time.

Finally, when they had descended the slope for a short distance, Jack stopped in front of a minor cliff, and pointed to the fissure in question.

“I’ll go on ahead with my flashlight, and you keep close to my heels, Perk,” he explained. “So far as I could tell there’s nothing apt to trip us up; but its just as well to be on your guard, with a clumsy bundle on your back, and your legs being a bit tottery after that long climb. Ready, buddy – then in we dip.”

Perk could not keep from feeling something of a thrill as he followed his partner into the fissure, which seemed to widen the further they advanced. Presently he could no longer glimpse either wall, and hence came to the conclusion they must have already reached the large cavern mentioned by Jack earlier in the evening.

Coming to a halt the leader shifted his hand torch in such a fashion that both of them were now able to see the walls, as well as the high ceiling of the natural cavern. Perk could not repress an exclamation of mingled satisfaction and awe.

“Hot-diggetty-dig! but aint this jest grand?” he burst forth. “Me always a feelin’ a yearnin’ inside to glimpse what yeou’d call a reg’lar cavern, like Tom Sawyer an’ Huck Finn explored, daown on the bank o’ the Mississip; an’ here she be like magic. Say, this takes the cake, partner.”

“Welcome to our new home, brother,” laughed Jack, but not hilariously; “and now to drop our packs so as to rest up.”

CHAPTER XXV
Squatters’ Rights

“Yeou doan’t reckon as haow anybody kin see a fire, if so be I started a little blaze back in here, do yeou, partner?” queried Perk.

Jack knew how the other was fairly itching just to feel the warmth of a genuine campfire, under such extraordinary conditions, and hence shook his head.

“Not a Chinaman’s chance, buddy – too many crooks in the passage we took getting here. The wood I fetched in lies just back of you; and besides, a fire will save my battery, which means a heap. Go to it then, and get busy.”

Accordingly Perk lost no time in carrying out his cherished plan, for he had always vowed himself to be a “reg’lar cat o’ a fire-worshipper;” so, the match having been applied they were treated to a generous glow that revealed much more plainly the character of the wonderful cavern.

Later on the investigating Perk discovered that another fissure, shaped somewhat like a regular tunnel, led away from the central cavern, and sloped downward.

His mind seemed to still follow up that Mark Twain idea, for he had no sooner taken a good survey at the passage entrance than he gave Jack a shrewd look, and followed this up by saying ingenuously:

“Huh! if I didn’t know we was a heap o’ miles away from the ole Mississip I’d be ’clined to swear this must be the gen-u-ine cave Tom and Huck knocked ’raound in the time they found all that lost treasure. But I wonder – ”

“What do you wonder, Perk?”

“Struck me that mebbe aour ole friend, that silvertip bear, might have his den somewhere ’bout in the rocks; an’ where’d he run ’cross a better place to hole up fur the winter than right here! Say, mebbe I wouldn’t hate to run smack on the ugly critter while we was a explorin’ some o’ the tunnels an’ passages that lead outen this here central chamber? They kinder give these here grizzlies a reputation fur havin’ long memories, jest like elephants do; an’ I bet yeou a cookey he aint never agoin’ to furget little Gabe Perkiser, what throwed a match into his hair, an’ set him afire.”

But Jack did not appear to have such a lively imagination as his comrade, for he shook his head in the negative, and tried to soothe the anxious Perk.

“I hardly think there’s any chance for such a nasty happening, buddy,” he assured the other; “though I do reckon the old chap’d never forget you, after receiving such scurvy treatment at your hands. Some time later we’ll take a look in at that same passage – these caves in the mountains often turn out to run for a mile or more, twisting and turning, to come out it may be close to the starting point, even in the shape of another fissure.”

“Say, I’d like that same trick, I’m atellin’ yeou, Jack, boy. ’Sides, bein’ partial to caves o’ all kinds an’ species I’m also given to explorin’ queer places – got me into heaps o’ trouble in my kid days, which same makes me laugh to remember. But tell me some more things yeou thunk up, or seen, while I was aout wrastlin’ fur grub.”

Jack looked at him in a peculiar way that caused Perk to wonder what he was about to spring upon him.

“Remember my telling you about that cook chap they’ve got, waiting on them, and all that, Perk?”

“Sure do, him with the s’posed to be white chef’s cap – was he any different from the general run – cook, crook, seems to me they sorter hitch like they might be first cousins.”

“There was something that seemed familiar about him, but it was only later in the day I managed to glimpse a better look at the fellow, when the sun shone full on his moniker; then it flashed on me who he was.”

“Hold on there, partner, I jest hopes yeou ain’t agoin’ to inform me he’s yet another galoot I useter know – seems like that Nat Tucker, added to aour ole friend, Slippery Slim, might be enough former ’quaintances to meet up with in sech a nest o’ flim-flam artists an’ crooks.”

“Well, I think you told me once you’d never known this party; but I had, and only a short time back I told you more or less about him. It was in Washington I used to run along with him in my work.”

“Wait up, partner – go slow ’til I ketches my breath. Yeou ain’t agoin’ to stagger me by sayin’ that this here cook might be him?”

“Just what I mean, Perk.”

“Simeon – Simeon Balderson?”

“No other, brother, undoubtedly a prisoner, and being made to serve that miserable gang of hoodlums in a menial capacity, partly to humble him, and give them plenty of chances to throw mean jibes at him as the representative of the Service they hate so much. It’s the irony of Fate, if ever such a thing could be.”

“Dead certain be yeou, Jack?”

The other nodded in the affirmative, adding:

“He must have been badly injured in the scrap before he and his companion were knocked out, for he certainly never limped like that when I knew him, only a year or so back. Possibly the second man may have been wiped out in the gun battle; though why they should spare Simeon’s life is a puzzle to me; but some day we’ll understand, since I wouldn’t think of going away from here and leaving him in the hands of those human tigers.”

“Shake on that same, ole hoss; I’m with yeou every time, ’cause it means we’re agoin’ to have some mighty stiff work on aour hands ’fore we kin send a ball daown in each alley, an’ make a clean sweep o’ the duck-pins; an’ that’s the dizzy game I sure likes most.”

There was really nothing like brag about what Perk said, as his comrade knew full well; in the past he had seen Perk put up a grand fight, and never could forget how he slashed, and cut, and struck home with any old weapon he chanced to have in his hands, until a clean swathe had been cut through the ranks of their foes. He always appeared to be a little ashamed of having lost his head, and striking blind, excusing himself under the plea that he must have been in a bit of a “tailspin.”

“Here we can stay, Perk, without running much risk of being discovered; for I hardly imagine any of those chaps would bother exercising themselves to try and find out what the country around their Happy Valley looks like.”

“Huh! I kinder guess not any,” remarked the skeptical Perk, with a look akin to disgust on his face; “they’re a heap too lazy to move, ’cept to come to their three meals a day when off duty, and kept in camp. Same men when on a raid robbin’ some border bank; holdin’ up a train; or nice healthy jobs like that, kin act like a pack o’ half starved locoed wolves.”

“I was just thinking,” continued Jack, who seemed never to lose a point worth considering, “that perhaps we’d better make sure our eats are kept secure. Such places as this cavern would be attractive dens for foxes, and such predatory varmints, who’d like nothing better than to steal every scrap of food we’ve got; which would be a serious thing, I’d allow.”

“Wall, I kinder guess it sure would, by hokey!” exclaimed Perk, quickly aroused, as the danger loomed along the line of possible starvation, “an’ it ain’t agoin’ to happen either, if I have to stick ’raound all night long. Grub an’ me air the best o’ friends; an’ I’d go a long way to defend sech a good pal.”

“Hardly be so serious as that, buddy,” advised Jack, seeing how his suggestion had awakened lively fears in his companion’s breast. “Plenty of loose stuff lying around in here, so we’ll just cache our food supplies, by covering the pile with a heavy weight no beast could budge.”

“Yeou said it, partner, an’ I’ll take a look ’raound till I kin pick aout the best place to build aour fort. Watch my smoke, Jack, boy.”

It did not take him long to find what he sought, after which they speedily arranged things to suit their idea of security.

“There she be,” Perk remarked, in a satisfied tone, as the job was finished. “If any red fox or kiote kin scratch his way under that stack o’ dornicks I’ll eat my hat – an’ ole dungarees in th’ bargain. I ain’t a luggin’ good eats all the way from San Diego, an’ payin’ aout lots o’ coin fur the same, jest to make a holiday fur four-footed thieves.”

“Both of us are dead for sleep, I reckon,” ventured Jack, as they lay on the rocky floor, Perk indulging in the luxury of a pipe of his favorite Turkish mixture for solace; “and perhaps we’d be wise to snatch a few hours while we may – we’re up against a pretty hard proposition, and there’s no telling just what lies ahead of us. How about it, Perk?”

“Shucks! I’m willin’ enuff to lay off; an’ mebbe naow I ain’t glad I done fetched them two woolen blankets along as we had on aour cots aboard the ship. They sure helped to make up a fine load; but right naow they’ll be wuth all they cost me on the hike.”

“And I’ll bless your long-sightedness in thinking of our comfort,” Jack hastened to assure him. “Bare rocks like these are hardly in the same class with a good spring bed, and plenty of covers. We’ll skip some sore bones because of having these to tuck under us, Perk.”

“I hate to let the bully fire die down,” Perk presently observed, for he never was so happy as when sitting alongside a cheery blaze, puffing at his briarwood pipe, and watching the rings of smoke sail upward.

“Oh! it wouldn’t do to try and keep it going all night,” Jack told him. “Too little stuff for burning, and hard to tote in here. I’ll keep my electric hand-torch close beside me, and if there’s any occasion for lighting up the cavern I can do it in a jiffy.”

That seemed to ease Perk’s mind somewhat, for Jack could plainly see the other was somewhat concerned regarding the possibility of their having an unwelcome visitor during the time they were resting from the fatigues of the past day.

He watched Perk making his preparations for retiring, and just as he anticipated the other was exceedingly careful to pick out a camping place as far removed from that mysterious passage leading out of the central cavern as he possibly could.

Of course the reason for his so doing was plainly manifest to Jack – he could spell it in four letters – B-E-A-R – Perk could not wholly dissuade himself that Fate meant to play him a nasty trick, and bring him into close quarters with that ferocious monster, the silvertip, or as he was known along the mountains of the Coast, “Old Eph.” The distinct smell of burning hair still seemed to linger within reach of his olfactories, and give him a reproachful sensation, as though he felt he had taken a mean advantage of the beast.

No such thought worried Jack; but then the shadow of guilt did not hang over his head as was the case with Perk.

“Don’t forget to wind up your wrist-watch, buddy,” warned Jack, shortly afterwards; as Perk still sat there on his blanket, keeping up his meditative puffing, as though he meant to see the fire to its last flickering extinction. “They’re our only reliable guide to tell us when morning comes around. In this black cave we might lie dozing until the middle of the day, without knowing how we were sleeping at the switch, and wasting precious time.”

“Hot-diggetty-dig! partner, haow yeou do jest think o’ ever’thing. On’y fur yeou I’d be like a lost lamb awanderin’ ’raound the countryside, bleatin’, an’ shiverin’ fur fear the pesky wolves’d get me.”

“That’ll do for you, buddy,” Jack sternly told him. “We’ve both got our several good and bad points; but we’re essential to each other to make up a working team, six of one, and half a dozen of the other – now, don’t let me hear you getting off any of that boloney stuff again, mind.”

“Huh! yeou lets me daown too easy, partner; guess I know my shortcomings better’n anybody else; an’ thinkin’ ain’t much o’ a long suite with Gabe, not at no time in hist’ry.”

“Well, have it any way you like, Perk; but I’m meaning to settle down for a nice nap. Just call out if you want a light any old time, and I’ll accommodate you before you can say Jack Robinson. So-long, and here’s hoping we’ll be able to get a move on before another night sets in.”

“I sure echoes that wish, boy,” muttered Perk, seriously; for he realized that they had undertaken one of the most troublesome tasks that could be placed to their credit; and would have need of all the good luck and breaks possible in order to come through.

Perk having set himself to what he considered a duty, would never let any trivial things deter him; and so he must have sat up with that declining fire until the very last feeble flicker expired; then rolling himself up in his blanket he sought relief in slumber.

Time went on, the night passed away, and there was not a solitary alarm to give Perk a thrill. Both of them were very tired, and must have slept soundly, for the first thing Perk knew Jack turned the dazzling light of his little torch full on his face, arousing him, and then remarked quietly:

“Time we were stirring, partner – I figure the dawn has got around, when we can start doing things.”