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."