CHAPTER XXIV

PERK RIDES IN THE GHOST BOAT

"Quack--quack--quack--quack!"

Perk chuckled at the clever way Jack imitated the outcry of a startled feathered pilgrim from the Far North--old shooter as he was, Perk felt confident he himself would have been deceived did he not know whence the sounds proceeded.

He listened intently, hoping they might not be disappointed in their expectations. There came an answering call from a point close by--it gave Perk a positive thrill--then Jethro must have already arrived, spurred on by his burning desire to pay his debt of hatred long since over due.

Jack waited a dozen seconds, after which he again sent out his call, repeating the first one exactly--four quacks.

"Gee whiz! somepin's amovin' over yonder, matey!" whispered the excited Perk, as they peered through openings in the leafy curtain by which the airship was so deftly concealed.

"I see it," answered Jack, also feeling a thrill of satisfaction, in that their great scheme gave positive indications of being about to start off with a bang. "It's some sort of boat okay--too dark yet to tell just what shape the same may be. There, it's coming out of hiding now."

"An' a powerboat in the bargain--Jethro's crate, I shore reckons; but hot-diggetty-dig! see haow fast she's a headin' thisaway, yet yeou caint ketch even a ripple, or hear the exhaust one teeny bit. A ghost boat, I'd call her, partner, blamed if I wouldn't."

Jack chuckled as if amused.

"Mr. Herriott put me wise about that," he explained, softly. "It's one of the big improvements Uncle Sam brought about in that old craft, in order that it could do the work so much better--and safer. You see, the overboard motor that's been installed in place of the old one is up-to-date, and has its exhaust away down deep, so it can swing along without any of the racket most power-boats kick up. It's used a great deal by fishermen, who troll for game-fish, and would expect but scant captures if their boat kept spluttering away as the old type used to do. Get that now, Wally?"

"Jest what I do, ole pal; an' say, aint it won-der-ful what things they're inventin' these days--talk 'bout there bein' nawthin' new under the sun, why, hardly a day slips past that we doant hear or read 'baout stunnin' discoveries. That certain is a happy thought. But here he is, clost to us, pard."

"Hello! thar!" came in a low, discreet voice, as the oncoming boat slowed up by degrees.

"It's okay, Jethro--we're on hand as promised!"

As Jack said this the other gave a low laugh, as though greatly pleased to find his new employer so prompt, and evidently a man of his word.

He was soon leaning from his seat in the cockpit of his ancient powerboat, (in which he had for some years been engaged taking parties out from Charleston for their fishing, or shooting) and grasping first the extended hand of eager Perk, then that of Jack Ralston.

He had been put wise as to their real identity, but warned to meet them under their assumed names, so as to ward off any possible risk of discovery. So it was he lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper as he spoke after the handshake.

"Ah 'low as how yuh reckoned ah mout be some slow agittin' hyah, suh; but since they fixed up my ole dickey boat, she shore do step along like smoke."

"Glad to know that, Jethro," said Jack, to whom the other had turned as if readily recognizing which of the pair must be the leader of the desperate enterprize with which he had committed his fortunes so gladly. "Looks like a fine night for us to make a beginning."

"Jest what hit is, suh; couldn't be no better, ah'd say. An' ah done reckons as how they be some big doin's goin' on over tuh the station ternight."

"That sounds good to me, Jethro," Jack assured him. "Fact is, I'm beginning to believe the Fates are working in our favor right along, from the way things keep happening. Now I'm going to put the work in your hands as far as getting us in touch with these parties goes."

"I kinder figgered as how yuh'd do thet same, suh," said the confident Jethro, "seein' as how I knows the ground like er book. I aint agoin' tuh let yuh down, suh, bet yuh boots I aint."

Perk had not tried to break into this brief confab; truth to tell he was engaged just then in keeping "tabs" on Jethro's manner of speech, so as to determine how close to the real thing he himself had come when trying to play the part of a genuine Birmingham son of Dixie.

"How are we going to start this racket?" questioned Jack. "All get in your boat, and close in on the working station, so we can see with our own eyes just what sort of a show they're putting up."

"Them's ther ticket, suh," he was promptly told, showing that the guide had formed some sort of a general plan of campaign. "I be'n right up agin the level groun' whar them airships land, an' watched what was happenin' lots o' times. 'Taint no great shakes agittin' clost tuh thet workin' bunch, 'case they don't reckon they's a single stranger inside o' ten mile. They'd shore skun me alive if they'd run ontuh me; but I knowed my beans, an' how tuh fool ther best o' 'em."

Jack liked the way the other talked--it showed that Jethro had considerable self-confidence; also that the consuming passion running like hot lava through his veins was not apt to warp his judgment in the least. He could be depended on to keep fairly cool and discreet under any trying condition; and should matters ever come to a showdown, such a man would fight like a South Carolina wildcat, of that Jack also felt assured.

"Then we'll leave the ship concealed here back of this screen, and climb aboard with you, Jethro," Jack told him. "I put it up to you to say when we ought to make a start."

"Right away'd be ther right thing ter do, suh," came the answer; after both Jack and Perk had changed to the reconditioned powerboat. "Yuh see, it's sum way tuh go, the river's so crooked in places; so I kalc'late things they'll be fair hummin' by ther time we gits thar."

"Just as you say, Jethro; but perhaps we ought to take certain things with us--no telling just how soon we might find a use for the same. Wally, climb back, and pass them over to me--you know what I mentioned I'd like to have along."

Evidently Perk had committed the list to memory, for he handed the articles over in rapid succession--guns, along with other things that must have been a rank mystery to the staring Jethro, though he made no remark.

"That's all, Big Boss," observed Perk, once more changing to the powerboat, and the seat he had just started to warm up.

Not the ghost of a sound of passing vapor came to Perk's strained ears as the boat picked up a certain amount of speed, heading directly for the near-by river, which Jack had called the Yamasaw. Perk could hardly believe there could be such a thing as throttling the noisy clamor he had always associated with the passage of a motorboat, usually heard over the water from a distance of several miles. Truly the wizards must be hard at work these days, performing near-miracles right and left--first the aircraft's noisy discharge conquered; and now the humble powerboat reduced to absolute submission.

Jack quickly noticed that Jethro was making no great attempt to force his smoothly working new engine. He could conceive of several good reasons for this caution--in the first place there was no need for haste; then again they would be going with the rapid current while descending the crooked stream; and last of all he could readily understand how there might be a variety of obstacles here and there, blocking their passage--logs, and huge boulders, which would surely cause the boat to founder, should they crash against some snag head-on.

On the return journey, whenever they chose to come back, the case must be different, since they would have the current to buck against, and necessarily much more power would be called upon to make decent progress.

However, Jack was not figuring as to just when that retrograde movement would come about--Perk had handed over a variety of things they would require if they chose to linger for a day and another night at least, even to some "eats"--catch Perk neglecting _that_ part of the supplies--not if he was in his sane mind, he had told himself with unction.

Well, here they were gliding along down the river, just as Perk had so many times vividly pictured in his mind, with darkness all around them, and only Jethro's intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the stream, and its various outjutting snags, standing between themselves and a cold bath.

Perk thrilled with deepest satisfaction. From this time on he felt assured all sorts of exciting happenings would be the order of the day or night; and no longer would he feel bored by inaction. The war against the desperate smuggler gang was on, and the outcome could not possibly be delayed much longer than forty-eight hours, he felt confident.

Half an hour and more had now passed since their start on the inland voyage, and several times they found the angry water foaming up around them as if eager to drag the adventurous voyagers down into its unknown depths. But always Jethro maintained a perfect grasp on the situation, parrying this rock, and that snag, as though he possessed the eyes of a cat.

It was simply amazing how he managed, and Perk found himself growing deeper and deeper wrapped up in sincere admiration for one who could display such wonderful skill, such fearless handling of a frail boat in all that turgid, leaping water.

Finally Jethro began to slow up, and the others knew from this that evidently they must be drawing close to the place for which they were aiming. Yes, several times when it happened the water was more calm, Perk felt positive he caught the faint sound of human voices, as though reckless men might be making merry with some sort of liquid refreshment that loosened their tongues, and made them feel unusually jolly.

So, too, did he glimpse signs of growing light, and figured that doubtless fires might be burning, with supper cooking. Fed up with a desire to set eyes on what lay so close by, Perk counted the minutes as the boat continued to move smoothly along.

Finally he found that Jethro was propelling it by hand, the noiseless engine having stopped its pulsations; and a minute later they lay back of a screen formed of hanging Spanish moss and clinging vines, quite as effectual so far as concealment went as the curtain hiding the airship.

"Git out hyah, suh;" whispered Jethro in Jack's ear; "rest o' ther way we gotter tuh go afoot."