Chapter IV: Part 4

So Jack had to tell her how the entire world of flyers were like a company of blood brothers; an injury to one being resented by the entire calling--that their universal braving of the elements, and meeting similar perils in their daily work, made a bond like no other on earth, a kinship of like interests.

She was as yet only a novice, but already she had begun to have something of a similar exalted feeling toward other air pilots, so that it was not difficult for Suzanne to understand his meaning.

She told them not to worry about her--that she could easily make herself comfortable in the limited confine of her cockpit. True, it had no roof for shelter; but that bothered her not at all she told them, since she had camped many times in the open without even a canvas tent, or brush shanty; and besides, the stars were shining brightly overhead, showing they need fear nothing in the way of bad weather during the night.

Perk again assured himself that she was a mighty sensible and clear-headed little girl, and that if there were only more like her, perhaps--well, there couldn't be, and besides he'd never have the chance to run across any of that class--it just wouldn't be his good luck.

It was something to make Jack look back to that same evening for years to come. He as well as Perk had spent many a night in camp, when on fishing trips, or it might be hunting hikes up in the big woods; but no other camp could have such a royal setting as this one did.

The lofty walls running up as if to touch the star-decked sky, and as they knew full well that with those vivid colors making a nature painting beyond all imagination, that the loud song of the happy river flowing through the greatest gorge in all the wide world, that the blazing campfire, throwing up soaring sparks seemed like bright messengers of hope to Suzanne as she sat there drinking it all in. It filled to the brim the longings connected with the missing air mail pilot. Then, too, there was present that air of eternal mystery such as would be apt to brood over the spot where ages back the Zuni, and other Indian tribes, had lived in those quaint stone houses still to be found all through the hundred miles of the Colorado Canyon.

Perk knew very well that as a rule there was no danger from wild animals--that frequently parties made it a point to spend at least one night camping in the canyon, just to say they had gone through such a weird experience; and he had never heard of them being disturbed by man or beast.

Just the same, with this glorious chance opening up to him, Perk was persuaded to imagine himself constituted as the sole guardian of the fine girl aviatrix, into whose company they had so strangely fallen. Then, too he welcomed the opportunity to again handle that sub-machine-gun, which had been placed in his possession by the Government at the time he and Jack were running down the smuggling ring leaders on the Florida Coast, and a return of which had never thus far been demanded by the authorities.

Jack realized what was in the mind of his chum when he saw Perk looking over that powerful weapon with infinite joy; and while he did not imagine for a minute that there would arise any chance for requiring its services, still, since it afforded romantic Perk a good excuse for posing as a vigilant sentry, Jack held his peace, taking it out by giving his pal a few significant sly winks, to which the other deigned to take no notice whatsoever.

Neither of them knew what arrangements Suzanne had made for sleeping in the limited confines of her cockpit; but she bade them goodnight, and climbed aboard with the greatest nonchalance imaginable, as though this thing of camping out under all manner of inconveniences might be an old story with her, as indeed Jack thought was more than probable.

XVIII

THE VIGILANT GUARD

It had been arranged between Jack and his mate that it would be just as well for them to fetch their blankets ashore and settle down on the sand for the remainder of the night.

In the first place, Jack thought it would not look very nice if they went aboard their anchored amphibian and left poor Suzanne there alone. Although she had not mentioned the matter at all, he felt sure it had given her a few qualms and that in her mind she really hoped they might decide to camp there by the fire.

Then again it would add to the girl's peace of mind, should she chance to be lying awake, unable to lose herself because of the haunting fears connected with the mystery of Buddy's fate, to raise her head and look around to always find that cheery fire blazing, dispersing the gloom in the immediate vicinity.

Last of all neither of them was so fond of doubling up and trying to forget their bodily discomforts aboard their crate, that they could afford to pass up a golden opportunity to sleep on solid ground, though to be sure they were able to make the best of anything when duty bound.

So Perk went aboard by means of their ferry and returned with both dingy gray blankets as well as something to serve as pillows, since they had never made it a point to travel with such "soft stuff" as Perk always scornfully termed them.

"You turn in whenever you feel like it, Boss," Perk had said with a grin. "I'm not a bit sleepy, it happens an' 'sides I jest feel like havin' another whiff or two--somehow this 'baccy seems sweeter to me than I ever knowed it to be."

"It should," Jack told him, and evidently there must have been a significant emphasis attached to those two words to make Perk look so queer and finally grin in a most ridiculous way like a boy caught robbing the jam jar or the cookey pot, and at a loss to explain the situation.

Accordingly Jack rolled himself up in his covers, fixed his head rest to suit his own notion, turned his back on the blazing fire and lost all interest in everything saving getting his fair quota of slumber.

Perk sat there and smoked three pipes one after the other. Then feeling a little draught of cool air on his back he dragged his blanket to him, wrapped it around his form, and gun across his knees, continued to sit with his back against a big boulder he had rolled down the sandy stretch for some purpose or other.

He continued to sit there like one of the sentries they say were found at their posts when the ruins of Herculaneum were cleared of the accumulated ashes of centuries, close to the grim old volcano. Proving how in those military days a soldier stuck to his post though the heavens might fall upon him.

Twice Perk got up, threw an armful of fuel on the dying fire, smoked a round of that "sweet" tobacco, cast a look of concern over toward where the stranded plane lay, shook his head doggedly and resumed his former position alongside the big boulder.

Apparently he had resolved to stay on duty throughout the entire night, and since Perk had a vein of doggedness in his disposition the chances were he would stick to his guns.

Perk may not have noticed it, but more than few times his chum's covering would move just a trifle, allowing him to peep out and on each occasion Jack would chuckle as if vastly entertained, after which it was sleep again for him.

Midnight came and went.

Stars shone down upon the lonesome camp, gradually wheeling westward until each in turn passed beyond the lofty rim of the canyon walls while others climbed the eastern heavens to take their turn at peeping and eventually follow the track of those who were by that time doubtless setting beyond the genuine western horizon.

It must have been something like two in the morning when Perk waking up from a disturbed nap, in which he was beset by a pack of savage timber wolves with only a stout cudgel as a means of defense, caught a sound that sent a delightful quiver chasing up and down his spine.

"By gum! what was _that_ now?" he asked himself, at the same time moving the gun from his knee to a more elevated position.

His tingling nerves announced the delight that filled his heart in contemplation of a possible chance to show how he could play guardian to a camp where innocence slept. Suddenly awakened from such a wild dream, Perk was in fine condition to see a pack of ferocious, gray, hungry, four-footed pirates of the waste places creeping up here, there, everywhere, with the intention of taking the camp by strategy and devouring every solitary inmate.

His fire happened to be low so that the light even close by could hardly be called worth while. Again Perk caught some sort of sound--to his excited mind it seemed similar to an animal's nails scratching the dry sand just at that point where the high river tide was wont to reach its peak during the flood season.

Perk redoubled his efforts to see something moving while he nervously fingered his modern shooting iron, so radically different from those old guns used by the pioneer settlers of the virgin West in the early days of the far-flung frontier.

Now his quivering changed its character to certainty and rapture. Most surely he had caught a fleeting glimpse of some object that was slowly and cautiously creeping up toward the slumbering campfire.

A wolf--just one of the precious pack that had bothered him in his late dream--but then he had only himself to consider, whereas now it meant three separate human lives in peril. How his teeth gritted as he mentally called the slinking beast every opprobrious name he could think of, his finger meanwhile playing with the trigger that, once pulled, would start the long line of cartridges contained in the endless belt to discharging like a pack of firecrackers popping to commemorate the birthday of the good old U. S. A.

Yes, there could be no longer any doubt--he had not deceived himself after all, as he was beginning to suspect. Now the thing had ceased to move and was starting to rise up on all four legs, as though to be in readiness to answer the call of the pack leader when it came time to charge.

"It's goodbye to you, sneaker and robber on four legs!" muttered Perk grimly as he put the butt of the gun up to his shoulder, covered the half seen figure, and pressed the trigger.

A burst of firing instantly followed as the mechanical gun commenced to bombard the particular spot where Perk had discovered the first of the oncoming pack. The reports came thick and fast, following on each others' heels and so it would continue to the end of the string unless Perk himself stopped the mechanism.

By the time he had thrown half a dozen leaden messengers at that one point, he felt he had effectually rid the world of one thief and marauder for which he should have the thanks of every decent person. Then Perk started to swing his arm from left to right, fully anticipating seeing a host of monster companions of his initial victim bounding forward and coming within range of the line of fire from his still spitting machine gun.

Nothing of the sort greeted his astonished eyes--in fact there was not the first sign of a single monster raider--only Jack indignantly bawling him out and demanding to know what in the devil he meant arousing the entire camp with such a racket, and spoiling the rest of the night for sleep.

So Perk instantly shut off the deadly stream of fire that was expected to slay the whole pack of fiendish wolves as he swung his gun around with a circular movement.

"Whatever ailed you Perk, to set that thing going like mad?" Jack demanded, as he scrambled out of his enfolding blanket and advanced toward his chum, keeping a nervous eye on the gun meanwhile as if afraid Perk, whom he believed had been dreaming, would start it going again.

"Wolves--heaps an' heaps o' 'em--dreamed they had me cornered, with on'y a club to hold the pack off--then I woke up, and sure as you live, they was acomin' right in on us--saw one whoppin' big feller right over yonder an' let him have the whole works. Looky yourself Jack--honest to goodness he's lyin' right there where I knocked him cold."

Jack gave him a laugh and hastened over to see for himself just how much truth there could be in what the other had said with so much earnestness.

XIX

OVER-ZEALOUS PERK

"Perk!"

Strangely enough, while the late sharpshooter had seemed so positive concerning the identity and present status of his victim, he had not displayed the eagerness one might reasonably expect in such a sturdy guardian of the camp, to follow at Jack's heels.

"Yeah! what is it, old hoss?" he now asked, keeping one eye on the cockpit of the nearby Stinson-Detroiter, under the belief he saw a slight movement there, as though the girl pilot had been suddenly awakened from her sound slumber and was peeping out to ascertain the cause of the late terrific bombardment.

"Come over here and see your monster timber wolf," Jack was saying.

Perk shrugged his shoulders, as though some dim suspicion of the truth might be already knocking at the door of his valiant heart, but since there was nothing else to be done he stiffened up and walked with soldierly tread to where Jack ominously awaited his coming.

"There he lies, fairly riddled," the other was saying, pointing as he thus greeted the arrival of the vigilant one. "He never had a chance to even give a single peep after you opened up on him--must have imagined yourself away back again on that Argonne front and sending another Hun ship down wrapped in flames, eh Perk?"

"Huh! he don't look _quite_ as big as I guessed he was," admitted the now contrite marksman, beginning to weaken. "Mebbe I wasted too many slugs on the onery critter--sorter shot him to pieces you might say."

Jack laughed and Perk started, under the belief that evidences of feminine amusement drifted out of their cockpit close by as though Suzanne understood, and was not only interested but highly entertained in the bargain.

"That's a good one partner, for you sure _did_ knock spots out of the poor little yellow sap--chances are he followed some party down here yesterday, got to hunting around on his own hook, and missed them when they started up Angel Trail. Then he discovered the light of your fire here and hoping he'd run upon real friends who'd toss him a scrap of meat, was crawling up to investigate when you blasted him with that fierce volley. Poor confiding little beast, a victim of mistaken identity."

"Migosh, a prairie dog!" muttered the astonished and mortified Perk, gazing ruefully down at the huddled mess before him, not too plainly seen on account of the fire flashing up only fitfully, being in need of more fuel.

"It's all right, Perk old man," soothed Jack, knowing just how mean his chum must be feeling, with that unseen girl a witness to his upset and her low gurgles of laughter coming distinctly to their ears in the bargain, "your intentions were okay, and you certainly did pot him neatly. No danger of any poacher stealing from a camp where you've taken up your post as sentry. That vivid dream you mentioned must have got on your nerves and when you discovered a moving figure, naturally enough your first thought was of sneaking four-footed mountain wolves about to make a raid."

"Hot ziggetty dog! I sure must 'a' had the jimjams all right," chuckled Perk, beginning to throw off that stupid feeling of being only half awake and even able to laugh at the joke on himself.

"Jack," said a merry, girlish voice just then, "tell your friend not to be worried about me. I've shot more than a few wolves and coyotes for I was born and brought up in the cow country you see. It's all right, Perk, don't feel badly about it. I know it was just to stand up in my defense that made you so speedy on the trigger. Only gave me a little scare until I guessed what it all meant. I'm going to sleep some more, though it's a hard job to get Buddy's frightful predicament out of my mind."

"And Perk," said Jack, throwing an arm affectionately across the shoulders of his mate, "you turn this job over to me now and get a few winks before morning comes creeping along out of the east over there to start us on our way again. I'll sit right here, holding your old cannon and woe to the wolf, coyote or even another yellow cur that dares to sneak in on us."

So after all Perk was not feeling so very badly on account of his fiasco, though it did make him grimace to remember that those bright eyes of Buddy's best girl had been an amused witness to his humiliation.

He did not say another word, but humbly handed over the sub-machine-gun to his companion and dropped down near the fire upon which he had tossed a fresh supply of fuel. Secretly he was meaning to be up at peep of day before Suzanne would be stirring, in order to drag the victim of his fusilade some distance away from their camp so that her curious eyes might not be offended by sight of the wreck of a little harmless prairie dog.

The balance of that wonderful night, spent alongside the Colorado in the famous canyon of the painted walls, passed without a single thing happening to further disturb them.

In the east, where the mountain peaks made a ragged horizon, the first faint fingers of pink were commencing to streak the low heavens when Jack saw his chum moving off toward the spot where lay the victim of his deadly aim. He instinctively understood what Perk was aiming to do and on that account refrained from calling out or otherwise taking any notice of his being abroad.

When Perk came back ten minutes later and washed his hands down at the river brink, Jack only chuckled, as though it tickled him to notice how the flinty-hearted Perk--only with regard to his indifference toward all female persons--had discovered that there might still be a few--not many, perhaps--girls who were sincere and loyal to the one to whom they had pledged their hearts--lucky Buddy Warner, with all this uncertainty regarding his fate--at the worst there would be _some one_ to always mourn his passing.

On came the day, and Perk busied himself in getting a good cooking fire going, remembering what a delicious supper the girl had prepared on the preceding evening; and his mouth now fairly watering with hopes of another turn at that royal ambrosia which some people without sentiment will call plain "coffee."

Suzanne presently joined them, after washing her pretty face down at the running water, which was icy cold, and most refreshing indeed. Then she busied herself at the fire, ordered the meek and obedient Perk around after the manner of most petty and pretty kitchen tyrants; but the fine odors that were soon filling the rarified air buoyed up Perk's spirits wonderfully and he raised no rebellion.

And the breakfast to which they soon sat down was just as delicious as fancy had pictured; indeed, the only thing amiss so far as the ravenous Perk could discover was the fact that it might give out before all of them had had a sufficiency.

"Now, let's get busy transferring that gas to our tank, Perk," Jack observed, as they finally arose. "We'll have to get our boat up on the shore, you observe--a case of Mahomet going to the mountain--let's go, partner."

This was not so difficult as it might seem; for the sandy shore was shelving, and once Jack gave her the gun the amphibian literally "walked up" to where they wanted her to be, alongside the Stinson-Detroiter plane.

Perk produced a length of small rubber tubing, and made use of it as a siphon. Once the gasoline was started, by suction--Perk attended to that part by sucking the air all out, and getting a mouthful of liquid to pay him for his trouble, which he ejected with a grimace--it continued to flow until the tank aboard the amphibian was plumb full.

"I can scare up several five-gallon empty tins," suggested the wise Perk, "that might be filled, and stowed away somewhere--that would give us a reserve stock, plenty I guess to carry us to the nearest supply base in case our tank went dry."

"A mighty good idea, boy," was Jack's comment, he being glad to see how the other was recovering from his late depression.

They finally had everything settled--Suzanne had put up her little "sign," to let curious-minded folks wandering that way know who owned the abandoned crate, and that it was to be let absolutely alone until she came to salvage it. Then, too, she had made up her little package of "essentials," which she meant to take along when they zoomed off to start the real search for lost Buddy Warner.

As they settled down in their places, room having been found for the girl pilot, Suzanne waved her hand a bit sadly toward her impotent crate, as though certain high hopes she had been entertaining were now fallen in ruins; then she smiled again, watching closely to see Jack gripping the stick and letting in the gas to the attendant spark, when they were off.

XX

AN UNSUBDUED SPIRIT

Backed by plenty of daylight there was no difficulty at all experienced in mounting. The sand was packed quite hard as sometimes happens at the seashore, particularly in highly favored localities like down at Daytona Beach on the eastern coast of Florida, where the speed races are run every season. After the wheels contained in the aluminum pontoons left the ground not a single obstacle stood in the way of their climbing steadily upward, until presently they could look out over the sweep of rough country surrounding that strangest of all Dame Nature's trick pictures--the Colorado Canyon.

Jack had his plans all laid out, built upon his charts, and the general fund of knowledge gleaned from some of the newspaper accounts that he had kept by him; after shuffling the pack, and discarding all unsupported versions as unreliable guides for stranger air pilots to go by.

Having set the course Jack had Perk handle the stick, for it was his intention to have a good talk with Suzanne, something he had not managed to accomplish thus far.

She understood just what he had in mind when he took up one end of the earphone harness, and made motions; for the racket was too fierce to think of trying to make his ordinary speaking voice heard--indeed, she had already shown a certain amount of curiosity concerning the apparatus, possibly knowing what it was intended for, although never herself having as yet had occasion to make use of such a means of communication when in flight.

He soon had the straps adjusted to suit her small head, and then proceeded to arrange his own end. His main purpose was far from being connected with anything like curiosity, for somehow he had a faint hope something she could tell him might open up a line of reasoning, and produce a live clue, which was just what was lacking in his plans.

"I'm meaning to ask you some questions, Miss Cramer," he went on to say; "in hopes that you may be able to give me some little valuable hint; for up to now everybody must be working more or less in the dark. You see, all that's known to be positive is that Buddy took off from a certain station where he delivered some important mail, picked up a local sack, and then took off at a specified hour and minute. After that he was not heard from again--failed to show up at either of the succeeding stations, and was awaited in vain at the end of his run.

"For a time nothing much was thought of his delay in turning up; because of any one of several things that might have held him back--fog, head winds, or some trifling trouble compelling him to make a forced landing, which in this dreadful country of rocks and gullies among mountain peaks usually is attended by serious difficulties, especially the getting off again when the trouble has been attended to."

Then he went on to tell her what he had deducted, after carefully getting the gist of what all the newspaper men had discovered up to within twenty-four hours of the present time; the deeply interested girl listening eagerly, and occasionally nodding her head, as though quite agreeing with his reasoning.

"Now," Jack went on to say--after bringing his story down to where he and Perk had received their orders from Washington, took off, butted against a most tenacious fog belt, and finally brought up at the Canyon, where they made her acquaintance--"Tell me please, when and how you first heard that Buddy was missing, if it would not be too painful a recital."

"Oh! that will not keep me from speaking," she hastened to say, trying bravely to keep the tears from dimming her eyes: "nothing could be too painful for me to endure if only it works to _his_ good in the end. We read the dreadful news in the daily paper that comes to Ma Warner's home every morning, it being mailed in the big city not a hundred miles away. She always hunts up the aviation column the very first thing. Why not, when she has an only son who is known as an experienced and reliable air-mail pilot and also knows that she is going to have a second ambitious flyer in the family soon, if all goes well, and I find Buddy.

"Of course we were very apprehensive, what with the neighbors running in to sympathize, and cheer us up. Later on that same day a reporter from the very paper in which we read the first news about Buddy, turned up, having motored over across country, eager to pick up enough interesting facts at the humble home of Buddy's anxious mother to make a thrilling story for his editor.

"They have been saying some very kind things about our Buddy since he disappeared so suddenly and mysteriously. He was one of the best liked air-pilots in the whole corps, I read again and again; and oh! what a thrill it gave us both to realize how he was even being compared to Lindbergh himself. Could anything be said to make a mother's heart thrill more with joy--or that of Buddy's best girl also?

"To be sure," she went on, with a winsome little smile, "he had never done anything great, to make him famous, in the way of wonderful stunts, or long perilous flights over wide oceans, and such, but every one seemed to know how his heart has always been wrapped up in the cause of aviation, and that he would be willing to lay down his very life if by doing so he could advance the day when flying will be much safer than going by train or boat."

Jack soon realized that there was no hope of learning anything from this source capable of opening up a promising line of thought. Suzanne was only too eager to tell everything she knew, but after all it amounted only to an exhibition of her affection. How she conceived the madcap idea of herself starting out, "only a half-baked pilot" she called herself in humiliation, just hoping that something--she knew not what, for it would have to be in the nature of a near miracle, as Jack very well knew--would have to come along to draw her to where her Buddy must be lying, waiting and praying for needful aid.

Jack knew very well, although not for worlds would he have hinted at such a thing in her hearing, that since three full days had by this time gone by, poor Buddy must long since have passed on. Unless of course some Good Samaritan had found him where he lay injured and perhaps starving, and taken him in charge. A happy accident like this was one chance in a thousand because of the uninhabited wilderness.

She had pictured the old mother striving to believe God would surely keep her boy safe in the hollow of His omnipotent hand, so that Jack had to wink pretty fast in order not to let her see the tears in his own eyes--such confidence and assurance was really beautiful; and for one thing it caused Jack to resolve more than ever to let no ordinary obstacle daunt him--for the sake of that fond mother and this courageous if ill-advised young lady who just refused to yield to despondency even when the skies looked most gloomy, and hope hung by just a slender shred.

"Depend upon it, Miss Cramer," he told her, gently, after he realized that nothing was to be gained by pressing her with further questioning; "both Perk and myself are booked in this game, and we mean to leave no stone unturned in trying to find Buddy. Others who are engaged in the search will make all manner of sacrifices too. So great is the warmth of feeling for that faithful mother who is forced to stay at home, and leave the sacred task to strangers. If concerted effort is able to accomplish anything we'll succeed; if all our efforts fail us, you must try and believe it is for some wise purpose which we cannot see with the weak human eyes."

She looked at him with an expression that made Jack realize how much of her confident spirit was make believe--that deep down in her sensible heart she knew very well what terrific chances there were against success coming to reward their efforts--that much of this had been assumed in the hope of buoying up the falling hopes of that poor mother, left bereft of her only boy, the stay and pride of her aging years.

He saw her clamp her white teeth together as if forcing herself to brush aside that sinking feeling, and show the old dauntless spirit that had thus far carried her safely through a sea of doubts and fears.

When she spoke again it was with a ring in her voice that thrilled him to the core--he only wished he could take on a measure of that indomitable nature that would not give up.

"But we'll find him," she was saying, slowly but fiercely; "I just know we will, that's all--his mother needs him, his only girl needs him, and we've _got_ to bring him back to his old home--alive, or--dead!"

XXI

COMBING THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS

Jack admitted to feeling a trifle disappointed when his talk with Suzanne afforded no signs of a clue upon which to build a structure; although truth to tell he realized how almost absurd that hope had been.

Surely Buddy's disappearance could hardly hinge upon anything that had ever taken place in his old home town--such a cheery, companionable lad could not have any enemies--Suzanne had not hinted at such a thing as a jealous rival in the field, who might give way to wicked thoughts.

No, the whole occurrence must be what everybody believed--a sheer accident, such as was liable to happen to any air pilot braving the elements day and night in the pursuit of his regular vocation. He had gone down, so now the only trouble was to locate the scene of his mishap and, as Perk at another time had been heard to say "pick up the pieces," meaning no offense by such a remark.

"If you don't mind," the girl was saying shortly afterwards, "I'd like very much to be allowed to use your glasses. I possess good vision, and perhaps the great stake I have in this search might make me argus-eyed indeed."

"Certainly you may make use of them," Jack told her, reaching out to secure the binoculars, showing her how to work them to meet with the best results. "If you do happen to see something that excites your interest, just call our attention to it--sometimes two pair of eyes are better than one, you know, Miss Cramer."

So she sat there, staring down as they moved swiftly through the realms of space; but not too swiftly. She seemed to be trying to cover all the ground possible, ever and anon lifting her gaze to sweep a look at more distant objects.

Again and again she would stop in her movements as if to concentrate her scrutiny upon one particular spot; Jack, watching with sympathy filling his heart, could imagine how the poor girl must be suffering even though failing to show it. He would feel a spasm of eagerness on each occasion of special scrutiny only to lose it again as she continued her search of the grim countryside that was so bleak and so unpromising.

Meantime Jack was keeping one eye on the lower heavens, with the expectation of sooner or later discovering some far distant moving object, that he would know must be some other air craft, doubtless engaged in the same mission of humanity and mercy that employed all their own efforts.

It turned out that he had not held these expectations in vain, for along about the middle of the morning such a tiny blur was discovered far away, which grew somewhat larger as the minutes passed.

Upon calling the girl's attention to the moving object that to the unaided eye might just as well have been set down as a wheeling buzzard, she quickly pronounced it to be a plane, sweeping at a low altitude above the rocky mountain peaks, as though those aboard were scrutinizing the depths and heights that lay underneath, just as she had been doing.

She cast frequent eager glances in that direction, while not allowing her interest in the wild terrain over which they continued to pass, to slacken. Jack could detect a certain wistfulness in the way she watched, just as though she might be wishing them all the favors of Heaven in meeting with success.

The ship swung around, and went off in another direction, as though the pilot might be following out certain ideas of his own. While it was yet in plain sight, though growing fainter in the lower haze, she uttered a low cry, and said excitedly:

"Oh! look Jack, look over in the north--another ship, and a cabin biplane at that. Do you think they are working on the same lines as the rest of us?"

Jack reached out a hand for the binoculars, and took a good survey; after which he announced that everything seemed to point that way.

"They're keeping low down, also moving quite slowly; and if on a regular flight they would be doing neither of those things, you understand. Yes, and I have no doubt that within a hundred-and-fifty miles of this spot in every direction there are twenty--thirty such ships, large and small, with each pilot doing everything in his power to be the lucky one to find your Buddy."

She continued to observe the two planes as if lost in serious thought, to finally say with a little catch in her voice, for she still had the earphone harness attached to her head:

"I wish them every success possible; for it does not matter who the lucky pilot is, every one of them will be remembered as long as I live. The only thing that counts is to find _him_--alive!"

As if to emphasize the yearning that was in her heart the girl stretched out both hands toward the two distant ships; and there was something so pathetic in the mute action that neither of the other would ever forget.

Then, as though just as sanguine as ever she accepted the glasses from Jack to continue scanning the ground they were passing over, hoping to sooner or later meet with a glorious success.

Jack himself was far from feeling the same enthusiasm--doubtless it was because of his superior knowledge of the vast difficulties staring them rudely in the face; then again he did not have that true love for Buddy buoying him up, as was the case with Suzanne.

Perk was thinking that since noon had rolled around it might be just as well that they munched a trifle of food, so as to conserve their strength, with a long task ahead of them, when once again the girl uttered a cry. Perk not being equipped just then with ear-phones could not catch what she was saying so excitedly; but at least he was able to surmise its tenor--she had undoubtedly made some sort of discovery, for her face was marked by animation, and she kept pointing down toward some part of the rocky country, trying to direct Jack's attention to it.

Perk saw his chum take the binoculars and follow up the particular line in which Suzanne was pointing. Long and earnestly did he stare, with her eager eyes glued on his face. Then Jack sadly shook his head, as if deciding in the negative.

Whatever it was she had seen to thus arouse false hopes his good sense told him it was not worthy of their further investigation. This naturally caused her to be bitterly disappointed, although she managed to bear up bravely, and even smiled whimsically--pitifully Perk called it, for he was deeply interested in the wild search, and hoping with all his heart it might turn out successful, though his good sense and training told him only a near miracle could accomplish this.

None of them seemed to have much appetite save Perk, and that always hungry individual was never known to refuse an opportunity to treat his clamoring "tummy" to an extra meal--Suzanne hardly touched a morsel and when Jack tried to persuade her that she owed it to herself to eat, she shook her head and told him it would choke her if she did.

Then once more was the everlasting vigil resumed--indeed, while the others munched a snack the girl had kept the glasses almost constantly employed, as though under the conviction that if any slackening of her observation came about that might prove to be the undoing of the whole scheme--a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; and ten minutes relaxation in the way of covering the ground they were passing over might be fatal to their success.

Again about the middle of the afternoon she once more believed she saw something calling for a closer scrutiny. This time she was not so excited as on the previous occasion, possibly taking warning; but she pressed the binoculars on Jack--Perk still handling the controls--and directed his attention to what she believed was a smudge of smoke arising from amidst the side of a steep mountain where the rocks were piled up as though giants had been playing ten pins.

Once more did Jack bend all his energies to figuring out what the smoke could mean; he disliked telling her it did not offer any real hope, for he could see that it was the end of a forest fire, such as may have been tailing up the long ravine for many days, and feeding on all manner of trash falling from the scraggy pinon trees that managed to cling to the otherwise bare walls.

The poor forlorn girl broke down and cried bitterly when once more her hopes were dashed to the ground. Perk shook his head, and gritted his teeth, for it greatly disturbed him to hear her weeping; Jack tried to comfort her as best he could, in a man's clumsy way. Soon the fit wore away, and Suzanne was her own brave little self again, the look of sublime confidence once more coming into her face. And so the weary hunt went on as the sun slanted down the western heavens, with a cruel night ahead of the searchers.

XXII

AN AIR-MAIL WAY STATION

Once they sighted an isolated town in a valley, but this failed to arouse any particular enthusiasm. If anything had been seen by those who lived in such a remote place, the glad tidings would have long since been sent out to the world, since it must be understood how the entire country was alive with eagerness for a satisfactory solution to the mysterious disappearance of the young air-mail pilot.

Jack rather imagined that this might be the place where Buddy Warner turned up missing--where at a certain hour his schedule was to have brought him down from his sky trail to leave and pick up the mail--but alas! he had failed to come to time, and day after day an increasing number of scurrying planes continued to scour the surrounding country in the endeavor to pick up a clue.

Jack could make out the landing field with his naked eyes but when Suzanne pressed the glasses on him without saying a word, he proceeded to make good use of them.

A plane had just landed, possibly in the mail service, for there was more or less bustle in its vicinity and he could see a small Ford car starting off, as if with a bag or two of letters.

Apparently their passing over failed to excite the people, for while they were staring up and displaying a certain amount of interest, they made no signals, showing there was no good news, as possibly the girl had been hoping.

"They have been seeing any number of ships passing over during the last few days, I reckon," he told her, just to have something to say, and perhaps also relieve her evident distress a little, "so understand that nothing has been found, or the joyful news would be transmitted by radio or wire."

Taking it for granted that he had figured correctly, Jack altered his plans. If Buddy had never made his goal and delivered the mail at this station, the chances seemed to be that he could hardly have gone past--that whatever happened to him must have occurred before he came to this place.

This being the case, they would show the part of wisdom to swing around and start back the way they had come. It would be a good policy to zigzag back and forth so as to cover all the ground possible. Jack had taken particular care to find out what he could as to the sort of night it was when the disappearance took place. Whether there was any kind of bad weather and which way the prevailing wind chanced to be blowing, for that must be taken into consideration in order to get as close to the facts as possible.

So now when about to head back, he knew just which side of their late course must call for their serious attention. Another thing he kept before him was the important fact of eight or ten hours apparently wasted. Night was approaching and they could not have even the slightest hope of making any sort of discovery.

Since in following out his new plan of swinging back and forth each few miles, covering only short distances ahead, by the time twilight fell they would not be a great distance from the valley in which that town on the air-mail route nestled. What was to hinder them seeking it out again, and finding a safe harbor for the hours of darkness?

When he found a chance to talk with Perk, changing the ear phones from the girl to his chum, now resting up after a continuous service of many hours, the latter absolutely agreed with everything Jack advanced.

"Shucks! we couldn't 'spect to strike anything while the night lasted, just keep moseyin' around to kill time an' in that way usin' up a whole bunch o' gas, 'sides mebbe losin' track o' our job. Yep, I'd say it'd be a good thing all 'round for us to drop down an' give the girl a chance to rest."

That seemed to settle it, insofar as Jack was concerned for it was always good in his mind to have his partner agree with him, Perk being no fool but an experienced airman of many years standing.

The seesaw movement gave them an opportunity to cover considerable ground, even while they made but scant forward progress. Jack was not at all concerned about this lack, his one desire being to effectually scour the country so as to feel they had not been lax in their duty.

He took mental notes as they went along, so as to always remember just what course must be pursued in order to fetch them back to the cozy little valley set like a gem in the heart of that inhospitable mountain territory. This was only in keeping with Jack's customary system of preparedness. A habit that had proven most valuable to him more than a few times in the past.

They were once again over the high elevations so that it was necessary to change their altitude frequently in order to keep within reasonable distance of the ground which they were searching for a clue. Now they had to climb in order to clear a lofty peak and immediately afterwards drop down so as to comb the further side of the rocky height, as well as the deep ravine lying between the several mountains in the mighty chain.

It was interesting work, but with such slight chances for success, much of the glamour was lost for Jack. As the friendly sun was about to drop behind the western horizon, so jagged, so fantastic in contour, they must soon give up the flight for that day and hasten back to the valley town where a safe landing could be effected and a decent meal secured, something to tempt poor, disconsolate and yet brave Suzanne to break her long fast.

Already it was growing difficult to distinguish objects in some of the canyons and defiles over which they sailed, indicating that they might be missing something of value. Accordingly Jack swung abruptly around and rising like an eagle on the wing, started to go back.

He could see that Suzanne noticed this abrupt change in their course for she displayed some uneasiness. He motioned to Perk to let her have the earphones again and proceeded to explain just what must be done.

At first the girl was distressed, for to her mind it looked as though her staunch friends might be growing weary of their hopeless quest and meant to abandon it altogether, but as Jack carefully explained why it was necessary they should land for the night while the opportunity offered and that nothing would be sacrificed in so doing, Suzanne began to comprehend and nod her head in approval.

"We can stop over and get rested up instead of keeping on this gruelling task without the slightest chance for accomplishing anything," he told her finally, though immediately adding: "that covers the night only, for as soon as morning comes we shall start out, fixed to keep going all day long."

"I understand just what you mean, Jack, and I don't know how to thank you both for all you are doing for me--for Buddy--for Ma Warner, waiting there at home and hardly sleeping a wink as she thinks and thinks and prays her boy may be given back to her safe and sound."

Jack did not say any more, he could not because by now his own hopes were diminishing at a rapid rate. Was it any wonder that such should be the case when three full days had now crept along since the air-mail pilot vanished into the realms of space, and never a single word coming back to explain his fate?

For the sake of this brave girl, so ready to risk her own life in the service of the one she loved, he must try to keep up a confident front. If it was ordained that she too must see her hopes crushed, at least he and Perk would have the satisfaction of knowing they had done everything in their power to bring her great joy. So too, that anxious mother in the far away home, what gratification it would give them if they could dry her tears and be helpful in bringing her boy back to her arms.

They were now nearing the valley where the little way-station on the air-mail route lay between its majestic sentinel snow-clad peaks. Jack meant to circle twice at least, so as to get a good idea as to how the ground lay for by now daylight would be giving place to dusk in that valley, and visibility not all they could wish, so it would pay them to be very careful.

Jack could see that Suzanne was greatly interested and he knew just why. Here at this mountain station, Buddy was in the habit of landing every time his flight took him back and forth. Doubtless he had made friends with some of the town folks, especially those connected with the flying field for his was a nature that always attracted people. It agitated her to realize that she might even hear him spoken of in the highest terms, and what pride such a thing must stir up in her young heart!

Jack was circling the field and constantly dropping lower with each round so that he had already been able to pick out the exact spot where he meant to land.

XXIII

PERK LOSES HIS VOICE

Knowing that one of Perk's failings lay along the line of talking a bit too much on occasion, Jack had taken pains to warn him against too much loquacity when making a night halt in this mountain town.

He had had occasion to take his pal to task along similar lines more than a few times in the past. Perk was too apt to forget that secrecy was always a leading card with all reliable members of the service in which he was enlisted.

That he emphasized this fact on the present occasion did not mean there was a particular reason for keeping the lid on, lest some desperate character hiding in the isolated place from the long arm of the Government's deputies try to do them harm--but simply on general principles.

Only too well did Jack know there were men who had reason to hate all having any connection whatever with the Secret Service--men who had been sent to Atlanta or Leavenworth, to pay the debt they owed organized society. Through the entire period of their incarceration never a day had passed without their renewing a vow to sometime or other to get even with the members of that organization responsible for their imprisonment.

When their wheels came in contact with the ground in a perfect three point landing, they found themselves greeted by a number of men, ready to proffer any assistance that might be required, especially when it became known that the strangers intended to stay over night.

The presence of a girl pilot aboard the visiting craft also aroused additional curiosity for likely enough this may have been the very first time the town had ever played host to a genuine aviatrix.

Perk, to make doubly certain he did not babble, decided to play dumb as much as lay within his power. He could talk hoarsely as though suffering from a bad cold and loss of voice, a tricky game that gave him secret amusement, Jack rather suspected.

Jack soon learned they would surely find good accommodations at one of the hotels and a man who introduced himself as Caleb Cushman kindly volunteered to carry them there in his five-passenger car, handily near by.

This neighborly offer Jack immediately accepted, asking the other if he could wait a few minutes until some arrangement was made for storing their crate in a convenient hangar. Everybody seemed eager to oblige, and Jack really had to choose between three separate generous offers from as many parties.

He had already discovered that a man wearing a pilot's outfit and who seemed to be in some authority, named Bart Hicks, was in addition to being in charge of the field, an instruction pilot whenever some young fellow aspired to learn the ropes, after fulfilling the examination necessary to being licensed as a full-fledged air pilot.

So it was the part of diplomacy on Jack's part, when forced to make a choice, to accept this man's offer under the belief that the amphibian would be better cared for and secured against any possibility of harm. Of course he had no reason whatever to fear any rough-house treatment, but long years ago young Ralston had learned the wisdom of "locking the door _before_ the horse was stolen" and thereby saved himself considerable trouble.