Part 10

They were now fully launched on another day's weary though eager search, with no one being qualified to prophesy what the outcome of the new flight would be. Jack had mapped out in his mind the country over which he meant to fly with little save his own conception to assist him.

One thing was sure, when they had covered a stretch of several miles in a straight run, it could be set down as certain nothing had missed their close attention and that there would be no necessity for returning over the same ground again. This was a fight to a finish and a clean-up as they went along, so Jack kept hugging that tiny hope to his heart and wondered what the eventual outcome of the adventure would prove to be. As yet it was a toss-up, as far as he could see.

XXV

THE NEVER SAY DIE SPIRIT

"Hot ziggetty dog! all set now for another long spin, combin' the country as we go along, eh partner?"

Perk had no sooner arranged his head-phones after seeing that Jack had his fixed for service, than he commenced business at the old stand. Perk was just burning to get certain things out of his system that had been dammed up by his playing dumb on the previous evening.

"So far as I know nothing has been overlooked Perk--if only that left wing aileron doesn't play us a dirty trick and fall off, we'll be alright."

"I tell you I tested it an' it's okay, Jack, don't crab my game if you have any respect for my feelin's. When I say a thing's all to the good it's there, every time."

"Forget it brother, we've both been under a heavy strain lately and apt to show undue anxiety. Today ought to prove which way the wind's going to blow for us. See, already she's at the old job, covering every rod of ground with the powerful glasses. All I can say is I wish her all the luck going, poor kid."

"But just the same you ain't any too--er--sanguine--is that the word I want, partner? A sort o' yearnin', hopin' but kinder afraid things mightn't turn out so well in the end?"

"I get you, Perk, and according to my notion there are three of us in the same boat right now. I'm holding the ship in right along, so we'll make certain nothing gets away from us."

"Yeah, an' by the way Jack, didn't I see our good pal, Bart, stick somethin' in your pocket jest before we skipped off--looked kinder like a piece o' paper to me--did you ask him for his home address or somethin' like that?"

Jack laughed.

"So you saw him do that, did you, old Hawk-eye--no, I didn't ask him for anything in that line--he did more than enough for us as it was."

Perk seemed to be consumed with curiosity which he made no attempt whatever to smother, for after a bit of grunting he went on to say suggestively:

"Huh! that looks a whole lot queer to me, partner. Why should Bart Hicks want to act like he might be an informer, tryin' to hand you a leadin' clue to a smashin' big mystery an' on the sly in the bargain? Huh! seems to me he must 'a' had some good reason for doin' sech a stunt as that!"

"Thunder! Perk, if you don't make me think of the picture we used to see in the magazine ads, where a baby in a bathtub is reaching out to get hold of a cake of soap with a well known brand on it with the words 'He won't be happy till he gets it.' Right now you're just eaten up with curiosity about that slip of paper Bart crammed down in my pocket and there'll be no peace in the camp till you know its contents."

Perk unblushingly chuckled, as if ready to "acknowledge the corn."

"Lemme have the stick, partner," he hastened to suggest, "I'm jest as fit as a fiddle to lay things out for a few hours, an' mebbe it'll tone me down some."

"Oh! all right brother, here you go then."

The transfer was made "as slick as grease," according to Perk's mind and so Jack felt in his coat pocket to immediately draw out a sheet of paper, evidently torn hastily from an account book, and upon which there was considerable writing, none too legible.

He fastened his eyes on this and Perk could see that whatever the tenor of Bart's secret communication was, it appeared to afford Jack considerable interest. Several times as he read on he nodded his head, as if agreeing with certain statements in the missive, all of which redoubled poor Perk's eagerness to have a share in the proceedings.

"Well, that certainly takes the cake," Jack was heard to say after he had evidently reached the finish of the note.

"Ain't you goin' to let me in on the fun, partner?" begged the other almost pathetically. "I'm sure all het up with a desire to know what's goin' on."

Jack nodded his head again and then started to relieve his chum's mental burden.

"Seems like the joke's on us, Perk, old boy," he began.

"Joke hey? Bart Hicks played one on his unsuspectin' guests then, did he?" Perk grumbled as if terribly upset. "I didn't think he was that sorter cad."

"Oh! you'll take that back after you find out what I meant by the word 'joke'," Jack hastened to assure him. "Listen, partner, I'm going to read you the whole letter, because it's no easy job to get the hang of Bart's handwriting. Reckon he wasn't great shakes at penmanship when he went to school, for he does spell something fierce, but I'm going to keep this, all right, for it's a cinch Bart outsmarted two fellows who reckon themselves some clever at their business. But listen and grab what he says here."

"Go to it, old hoss," begged the waiting Perk most eagerly.

"'Hats off, boys--I'm on to your curves okay. Happens I got a younger brother a holding down a job in the same crowd you run with--mebbe you remember young Doug Hicks, him that fetched in all by his lonesome the four ginks makin' up that slick gang of international crooks doin' business as the Keating Bunch'--what d'ye think of that, Perk, Doug Hicks turning out to be the kid brother of our new friend, Bart, isn't that the limit though? Well he goes on this way: 'He often mentioned both you lads in his letters to me, and when you introduced yourselves I just knocked wood, but didn't let on I got the drift of things. But say, don't you worry any, boys, I'll never leak a drop, so your secret is as safe as a new dollar bill. Go to it, and fetch in Buddy Warner, for if anybody can do that, it's bound to be you two. So-long. Your friend, Bart Hicks, all wool and a yard wide.'"

Perk was making all manner of queer faces as though this wonderful disclosure had taken his breath away but through it all there struggled that happy-go-lucky grin of his, to proclaim his full appreciation of the contents of the flying field test pilot's unique communication.

"Jest what that gink is--all wool and a yard wide--honest goods, you bet every time," he finally managed to say with numerous chuckles accompanying the words. "Sure we know Doug Hicks, the boy who's goin' to make a name for himself in the Secret Service one o' these days, if he don't get bumped off by some hijacker's lead. Queer what a little ole world this anyhow--kickin' up against Bart Hicks in this jumpin'-off part o' the country. We sure do strike the strangest happening in our line o' work, don't we?"

"We certainly do," came the quick reply as Jack folded up his letter and put it carefully away. "While you're doing duty brother, I'll get busy with some calculations I have in mind. Keep her headed just as she is, and in half an hour we'll bank and come back along a parallel line, so as to cover all the ground up and down, up and down, through the whole day."

It was gruelling work, but the only possible thing they could do if they meant to make certain that they had investigated every rod of that terrible terrain that lay on every side, looking as though at some remote time in the past, nature had been turning things topsy-turvy and making a mad havoc with the entire land of gigantic rocks and sink holes.

So two whole hours crept along with a number of abrupt turns, now north, again south, steadily covering the ground. But sad to say there had as yet been discovered nothing to breed sudden hopes and expectations. Haze there had been in patches, owing to some humid condition of the atmosphere in certain quarters, but never the first sign of friendly smoke curling upward in spirals, nor yet a glimpse of any sort of half concealed mountain lake such as had been described to them by Bart Hicks.

It was now drawing on toward the middle of the day and Perk having turned over the controls to his chum at the latter's request, was taking things easy, having relieved Suzanne of the binoculars which he handled with the skill born of long practice.

Several times during the morning the girl had begged Jack to take a look and tell her if she had deceived herself in thinking there was some favorable sign ahead or on either side. Much as he would have loved to confirm her wildest hopes, Jack found himself doomed to give a disappointing answer and so see the look of anguish that passed over her erstwhile eager, smiling face.

The grim truth must be faced--there was no break so far to the monotonous cruelty of the landscape with its unpromising features the only result of all this search.

Then too, other discouraging happenings came along to add to Jack's concern. For one thing, the wind was increasing and at times striking them head on so as to cause more or less unsteadiness to the flying boat, as well as upsetting certain of his calculations.

This was not at all to Jack's liking and he showed it by his repeated upward glances, as though endeavoring to read the impending weather conditions by the looks and movements of the clouds passing over.

It was also becoming more and more treacherous as their work took them up and down, now soaring above some outlying crag mass and again dipping into a valley that seemed only a fit abode for the grizzly bear in search of lonesome districts where the feared human, with his magic stick that spit fire and smoke and painful missiles, could never come.

Would their entire day be put in without a breath of cheering hope? Must they turn back, and possibly spend yet another dreary night in the little valley town, dispirited and with the poor girl in despair?

It began to look that way, even if worse might not be their portion. So it can be easily understood that when Perk got out some of his sandwiches nobody seemed to be hungry save himself, which deplorable fact was not at all to the genial fellow's liking.

Even the usually even-tempered Jack was beginning to show signs of the long strain, though he managed to conceal it as much as possible out of consideration for the suffering Suzanne; but it was hard to assume a hopeful face when up against a tough proposition as they undoubtedly now were.

The wind was getting stronger, there could be no discounting that positive fact which added to Jack's concern not a little, for he realized that should a storm come along it would put an effectual end to all their hopes of accomplishing anything. Perk too, had taken the alarm and was also sending occasional glances aloft.

XXVI

CRATER LAKE

Along about an hour after Perk had made his lonesome midday lunch and marveled at the fact of his being able to only devour three of those toothsome sandwiches the chef at the hotel had put up at his order, things had arrived at such a point that Jack felt it was only the part of wisdom for him to do whatever lay in his power to keep track of their bearings.

If that rising wind kept on increasing in strength so that it even threatened to wind up in a genuine smashing gale, the chances were they must either make some sort of a forced landing, or else climb up above the storm clouds so as to avoid new and more appalling perils.

In so doing they would lose track of their points of contact and be compelled to go all over the same ground again or take chances of picking up the broken thread of their search wherever they had to drop it.

Thus hard set, Jack began to try and take note of various unusual formations--using the binoculars in so doing--that, stamped on his receptive mind might serve as landmarks just as "targets" do the harbor pilots when fetching a deep sea vessel in through the shallows to port and safety.

Sometimes small fishing smacks, driven from a promising field by wind and huge billows, are able to mark the spot by an anchored empty water keg and in this way are able to find the fruitful spot when the weather moderates. Such a stratagem however is not available to the air voyager, whose only resource lies in a retentive memory.

When another half hour had slipped by, Jack began to once again entertain a hope that this emergency might not reach a culmination. If anything, the wind had lost a modicum of its fierceness and twice he discovered a little break in the cloud ceiling by which they were covered, as though the sun were trying to peep through.

Thus things were going along as the middle of the afternoon was reached. Perk at the controls was mentally comparing their condition to that of a shipwrecked crew of a sunken vessel; out of water with their hearts almost in their throats with anxiety, shading their eyes with their hands and searching along the horizon for signs of a sail. Somehow the comparison gave Perk much concern, and he tried to imagine the great joy that must fill the souls of that forlorn little company when suddenly one of their number shouts out the glorious news: "Ship ahoy--a steamer's smoke smudge to larboard!"

But it was only Suzanne asking Jack to please take a look and tell her what that lumbering, ungainly object might be which she had discovered moving across the rocks under the keel of the flying boat.

"I never happened to run across one before," Jack presently explained, "but I'm sure it must be a Mountain Charlie, as I understand people out in California call the silvertip grizzly bear. Some monster in the bargain, Miss Cramer and you'll agree with me when I say I'd rather be here than there."

She nodded her head as if to let him know he was right but when Jack saw a shadow pass over her face he understood what was in her mind--that her poor wounded Buddy might be lying there helpless, with that savage monster drawing nearer and nearer, sniffing the air and following the scent that sooner or later would take him to the spot where the fallen air mail pilot lay.

She shuddered and put a hand in front of her eyes nor could she be induced to make use of the glasses again for quite some time. She evidently feared lest she once more glimpse that horrid hairy animal, shuffling along in his shambling fashion, ready to attack any creature that came in his way, be it bird, beast or human being for was he not the king of the mountain fastnesses, utterly unafraid?

Jack felt convinced fortune was proving kindly disposed toward their mission of humanity. That troublesome wind was slowly but surely diminishing in force and gave promise of finally dying out in another hour or so. At least they were not going to be forced to call the search off as long as daylight served. Jack had not as yet decided in his mind what to do after twilight came and the face of the country became blotted out in the gathering gloom of night.

It might be possible for them to keep going, in hopes of discovering the tempting glow of a campfire among the tall trees of the timber belt; but discretion would more than likely force them to give up operations until yet another day.

The risk would be much too great, flying at that low altitude across such a dangerous wilderness where at any minute some unseen rocky cliff might suddenly rise up before their speeding aircraft bringing about an unavoidable crash, an explosion and--oblivion!

And then it came to pass, after all those weary and distressing hours of search--this time Suzanne uttered a shrill shriek and trembling all over held out the binoculars toward Jack crying:

"Oh! tell me if I am going out of my mind Jack! Is that really and truly smoke curling up from over there?"

She clung to his arm and continued to point, trying to keep her hand from wobbling to and fro because of her emotion.

Jack quickly focussed upon the object that had caught her attention. Perk understanding what it must all be about, even if unable to catch the meaning of what was being said, watched Jack's face, well knowing how it was sure to register his thoughts.

"Smoke it is, for all the world!" Jack declared, immediately adding further words of good cheer; "and as true as you live, I can catch a gleam of sunlight falling on clear water!"

"Crater Lake, Jack?" demanded the duly thrilled girl, now all aglow with renewed hope and expectation.

"It must be," admitted the other, still looking through the glasses, "we were told there is no other body of water in this entire section. You know Bart said that old hermit was believed to have his hideout close by the ice water lake, for smoke had been seen rising of mornings when the air-mail carrier went through a bit off his course."

He made a gesture to Perk the other readily understood. It meant that he should immediately bank and go back again on the same track so they could have yet another opportunity to use their eyes and learn if things were as hopeful as they had been led to believe.

Jack managed to glance in the direction of the girl close by. It was plain to be seen that Suzanne was tremendously agitated by this sudden discovery of both the secret hideout of the so-called hermit and the nearby Crater Lake, concerning which they had heard accounts from Bart Hicks.

Not a single word passed her tightly compressed lips but in her whole demeanor there was an expression of wonder, eagerness and fear--the last no doubt on account of certain possibilities that, after all their efforts they might have arrived too late or else that the hermit had seen nothing whatsoever of the long missing flyer.

Jack too, knew they were banking on what must be called a long chance for thus far it was only a mere surmise that caused them to seek out the hidden retreat of the man who shunned his fellows. Not a single thing had come to their notice to affirm that Buddy Warner had ever flown over Crater Lake in any of his passages to and fro, although his usual course lay within a few miles of the extinct volcano.

"I'll take the stick now, Perk," he announced as they once more caught a glimpse of that curling, eddying smoke column and then sighted the cliff encircled lake of the mountains.

One thing Jack had already settled that the sheer rocky walls did not entirely encompass the sheet of water. There was a section at the near end where the ground sloped down to the very edge of the lake. Jack could see this with his naked eye--no further necessity existed for using the magnifying binoculars, he concluded.

Then of a sudden Jack felt a warm glow pass over his whole body. What was this he saw projecting from the lake close to the shore? He had on some other occasion looked upon a wrecked plane partly submerged in some body of water, fresh or salt and here he found himself staring down at a similar object.

This would tell the story, Jack thought, better than any words could do. Some aviator must have attempted to drop down upon the lake, perhaps to ease the shock of contact when forced to descend through an accident to his outfit, that was a positive thing and what was more reasonable than to conclude the unfortunate airman must be the missing pilot for whom so many flyers were scouring the whole country up and down, east and west?

He half opened his mouth as though to call the attention of Suzanne to his thrilling discovery and then stopped short. She would find it out for herself quickly enough and if there was a bitter disappointment awaiting the brave girl, far be it from him to hasten the coming of her grief.

Now they had begun to circle the lake itself and once directly over the body of water, Jack could see it was indeed a real gem. A small but select sheet that, save for the presence of the hermit close by, had probably never been fished by a single white man. A perfect trout preserve, he told himself, in the ecstasy of a born fisherman.

It was what Perk would call a "reg'lar cinch." There was not the slightest reason to hold back, for never an obstacle could Jack discover calculated to give them trouble in making contact with the water. Once safely floating on the surface of the mysterious lake, they could taxi over to a position close to the sloping beach where a landing might be effected in order to search for the hidden retreat of the lone settler.

Once, twice, three times did he make a complete turn around the circular pond and then having his plan laid out, he dove down until close to the shimmering surface when he suddenly leveled off and then gently continued the drop, to fall upon the bosom of the beautiful harbor almost as lightly as a wild duck would splash down from on high.

And then Suzanne discovered the half submerged ship, with its nose out of sight and its tail pointing up at the northern sky. It was a melancholy and ill-omened spectacle indeed, speaking as it surely did of some unfortunate airman's swift plunge from lofty heights to strike the tiny lakelet. Indeed, it might even have been his intended target when the terrible drop was first begun. Suzanne gave a cry and held out her quivering hands toward the wrecked plane as though all doubts were now removed as to her Buddy having dipped down into this pool when his ship became unmanageable.

XXVII

THE END OF THE AIR TRAIL

The crisis for which they had been preparing during the entire aerial trip was now a reality. Before many more minutes had passed they would know that which they came to find out--whether Buddy had clung to life during the long, agonizing interval, or had "gone west," as so many in his perilous calling had done before him in a blaze of sacrifice and glory.

They were now floating on the surface of the little mountain lake in the midst of the most wonderful surroundings the human mind could imagine. Here centuries ago had been the wide vent of an active volcano and at intervals from this same opening, now so quiet and peaceful, there had undoubtedly burst forth vast waves of molten lava accompanied by sulphurous smoke and thunderous sounds, as though nature had broken her chains and meant to reshape the whole western world.

Later on, when his mind was more at ease, Jack Ralston could in some measure paint the terrible picture and in his mind imagine he saw the bubbling lava, rolling down the side of the rocky mountain with frightful havoc all along its tortuous course.

Just then, however, but one matter engaged his entire attention. Where was the strange hermit of Crater Lake? Why did he not show himself when he surely must have watched their coming and successful descent? Had he been able to save the life of Buddy or would they be shown a mound of earth amidst the heaped-up rocks where the valiant young air-mail pilot lay in the sleep that knows no earthly awakening.

"Look yonder, Jack--somethin' movin' among them bushes!" Perk was saying in his ear, for since the engine no longer kept up its roar and the propeller had ceased functioning, it was possible for them to hear ordinary sounds. "Mebbe now it might be that four-footed ole grizzly b'ar an' I ort to get my rattler o' a machine gun in hand."

"Don't bother about that, Perk," Jack told him, "see, it's a man, and chances are we're going to meet the queer old hermit of the mountains right now."

Even as Jack was thus quieting the fears of his chum, the object of their observation walked into full sight and was hastening to reach the border of the clear-water lake close by where the only sign of a beach occurred.

He was not a startling figure at all and seemed garbed in ordinary clothes that had evidently been selected for long service when far away from tailors and housewives. His face was bearded and his hair white but he strode along with a swinging step that told of bodily vigor and good health.