CHAPTER XXIVSIMEON GROWS DESPERATE
It was commencing to grow dusk when they sighted the lights of Yuma, that town on the railroad leading to Los Angeles. Such a thing as a plane flying overhead was so common these modern days as to hardly excite any comment—they came and went, with seldom anything out of the usual taking place although not so very far away, among the mountains, one of the most dreadful of all air tragedies known to the annals of flying had taken place, when the great linerCity of San Francisco, lost in a storm, struck head-on against a rocky cliff, shattering the ship and causing the death of every one of those aboard, some seven souls in all.
Now they had left Yuma far in their rear, and Jack was watching to pick up the first flash beacon on the way to the Coast.
The weather continued to favor them, the heavens being almost devoid of any semblance of clouds, and the air quite cool at the height they maintained while heading into the beckoning west.
Over deserts and mountainous stretches they kept swinging along, to the constant accompaniment of the customary chorus of a bustling plane threading the mighty air lanes of the skies. The silvery stars came out in battalions to sprinkle the azure heavens like innumerable bright lanterns, such as could be seen in Old Japan during carnival times.
This was the life, Perk told himself again and again, sitting there after he had munched his scanty portion of their meagre supper, Simeon having again declined to share with them—what air pilot who has tasted of the joys of such hours could ever dream of forsaking his vocation, so long as Fortune allowed him to retain his vision, hearing, and the faculty for guiding an onrushing ship through the realms of unlimited space—not he for one, Perk assured himself, drawing in huge draughts of the clear air, and watching the wonderful beacons as they passed them by, threading the pathway of the stars as it were, straight toward their distant goal.
The night wore on, with the voyagers making splendid progress.
Jack had made no miscalculation when saying he believed they would fetch up at their destination somewhere about the midnight hour; for it still lacked more or less of that time when in the near distance they glimpsed lights telling that the city, and its nearby aviation field, must be close at hand.
Then they found themselves circling over the port, which, just as Jack had fancied would be the case, was lighted most brilliantly. Even as they sighted the field they noted a ship settling down, evidently an air mail plane that had been held up by some dense fog belt which they had fortunately missed.
“Soft snap I’d call it, droppin’ down with all them field lights to show the ground, so a feller c’n see a rock the size o’ a baseball,” was what the tickled Perk was telling himself while Jack was proceeding to make the terminal drop, with several ground attendants hurrying up so as to lend any assistance needed.
He had received his instructions from Jack, and removed the handcuffs from the wrists of the prisoner. There was no necessity for letting everybody know the facts and the sight of a man wearing steel bracelets, and gripped by an attendant never fails to excite keen curiosity with most people and especially would this be the case if he had just come by the air route from some unknown and therefore mysterious quarter.
He would keep his arm through that of Simeon, and inform him in a forcible whisper that should he attempt any “funny business” it would be at the risk of being shot down without further warning.
Jack would attend to everything necessary, such as having their crate stowed away in some convenient hangar, where it could be recovered at any time, by paying such charges as were customary.
To be sure Perk was questioned by several of the men while Jack saw that the ship was being taken care of but when he chose, Perk could keep a still tongue in his head and since he paid no attention to what was said, and never opened his mouth in the least, possibly they concluded he must be both deaf and dumb.
Perk may have chuckled deep down in his throat when he heard a few of the disgusted remarks some of the men exchanged concerning his lack of speech and hearing but he kept his own counsel; and in the end Jack came up saying he had secured a taxi to carry them to a small hotel down in the heart of the city, recommended by one of the hostlers who seemed to know what he was talking about.
Simeon had looked a bit anxious, as though wondering how their arrival at Los Angeles would affect his wretched fortunes but he made no attempt to appeal to the crowd for help. Undoubtedly he was firmly convinced that the grim Perk must be a man of his word, and that any attempt on his part to break away would prove a most serious matter indeed.
“Yeah!” Perk was telling himself under his breath when he took note of this humble disposition on the part of Simeon, “Guess now he feels it’s a heap better to be a live fool than a dead hero; an’ by jinks I don’t blame the beggar for thinkin’ thataways either.”
They were soon all three safely lodged in the taxi—which fortunately had remained up to this late hour, the driver hoping to pick up a fare—and heading for the nearby city.
Later on they entered the small hotel, and found it all the obliging ground attache at the port had said. Jack registered the party, all of them under fictitious names, since it paid to exercise due caution when on the track of big game just as it would for the big game hunter to make no sound when advancing upon an enormous tusker or “rogue” elephant whose spoor he had been trailing through forest and jungle.
“Would it be possible for us to have some supper sent up to our room?” Jack asked the night clerk who shrugged his shoulders as if dubious concerning his ability to accommodate them.
“Kindly try to have it done, if double price will have any effect,” continued Jack, using his most gracious smile that usually accomplished his purpose and at that the clerk responded by saying he would do his best but it was of course most unusual, and he hoped they would not make any complaint if the variety was not all they might wish.
“Quantity is the chief thing that interests us,” said Jack; “you see, we have come by air, and fell short of food while on our way, so that my two pals here are very near being starved; so whatever you send make it a fairly bountiful spread, please.”
Then they were shown to their room, which contained a double bed and a cot.
“I kinder guess now, partner,” said Perk, after flashing a glance around the apartment, fronting on a back lot, though up in the third story of the building, “you an’ me better share the bed, while Simeon gets his little nap on the sofy.”
“That goes, Perk,” his comrade told him “and after we’ve had supper we’ll hit the hay. After such a broken night as we had back a ways some sleep ought to be welcome, I reckon.”
“Huh! hope we don’t have to wait too tarnel long for the grub,” Perk was saying, dismally rubbing his stomach, as if to show how flat it seemed.
Jack engaged him in conversation of a general character, just to keep his mind from dwelling on the subject of eating for once Perk let himself believe he was in danger of famishing and he just could not subside but must commence to marshal all the known dishes of which he was especially fond, and keep on taunting and tantalizing himself by stringing them off as might a glib-tongued waiter in any restaurant.
After quite a tiresome wait there was a knock at the door, which Perk hastened to answer. Two waiters strode in, bearing trays laden with a pretty substantial assortment of food—quite a satisfactory display, Jack thought, considering the late hour, and that probably the regular kitchen force must have long ago turned in or else gone home.
The table fairly groaned under the assortment—Perk pertinently mentioned the fact, adding that he guessed he’d do his share of groaningafterhe had finished his supper which Jack did not doubt in the least, having a knowledge concerning the other’s vast appetite, and unbridled disposition to make a pig of himself at such times when food was plentiful.
Simeon Hawkins was coaxed to sit down with them and as his state of mind seemed to have improved quite a little, he also partook of food of which he most certainly was much in need, having fasted so long and abstemiously.
When this ceremony had been carried through to a finish, the supply of visible victuals had been wonderfully reduced; and even Perk was heard to declare he could not eat another bite, which meant he was like a stuffed turkey, fit for the Thanksgiving table.
Before turning in, Perk took occasion to “talk like a Dutch uncle,” as he termed it, to Simeon, assuring him he need not be in too upset a state of mind concerning his future, since Jack had said he was bound to do all he could to have him let go, because of what he had confided to them, and such assistance he would be able to lend the Government in convicting the head men of the lawless conspiracy along the counterfeiting line.
The other nodded his head as though he understood that, having embarked in the game of throwing down Slippery Slim, he realized there was nothing else for him to do but go through to the windup.
So confiding Perk, thinking things would run smoothly, took off some of his outer garments, and rolled into bed, as it afterwards turned out, happily choosing that side of the same nearest to the windows of their room.
Jack soon followed, and the last thing he noticed ere snapping off the light was the humbled Simeon wrapped in a blanket, and lying there flat on his back, as though meaning to get what sleep he could during that fragment of the night still remaining.
Perk was, so far as appearances went, sound asleep; but then sometimes things are not just what they seem. To tell the truth, Perk had made up his mind ere lying down that he would “sleep with one eye open,” as he called it, meaning it was his intention to keep on the alert, ready to jump out of bed at the least sign of trouble.
Perhaps when he thus decided it was with a hazy idea they might have some sort of unwelcome visitor during the night; he could not just decide how this could be but then those unprincipled agents of the counterfeiter king—like the fellow who had rifled the belongings of Scotty, the air mail pilot in Atlanta—were liable to turn up anywhere, everywhere, when least expected, and try to manipulate their bold games.
Hearing some sort of sound as of a person moving, Perk suddenly sat straight up in bed, to see their prisoner in the act of crawling over the sill of the nearby window, evidently bent on giving them the slip!