Part 11

Reaching the border of the water he seemed to be giving them the "once over," as Perk called it in his suggestive way.

"There, see, he's beckoning for us to come closer," said Jack with something approaching relief in his manner. "I see what looks like a clumsy boat made from the trunk of a tree drawn far up on the shore. Reckon he uses the old tub when he feels like doing a little fishing. We'll taxi in as close as the depth of the water allows and then if necessary we can wade the balance of the way, carrying Suzanne between us."

As he turned to start his motor he had one look at the white face of the speechless girl and as long as he lived Jack would never forget the tense agony he saw stamped there. It hardly seemed as though Suzanne was breathing as she stared at the figure of the strange old man on the shore in whose hands as she well knew, lay the power of life and death insofar as her happiness was concerned. One word from him would tell the whole tragic story.

Then the motor began to hum and with a dextrous hand Jack sent the amphibian scurrying toward the beach. Perk meanwhile snatched up a pole he always kept handy for such a purpose and thrusting it into the water, sounded the depth as they went along.

When presently Perk called out just what he had been waiting to announce so grandly "by the mark, twain," Jack shut off the engine and the plump of the anchor immediately followed, Perk having that useful hook ready at his hand.

"You are searching for him, I take it for granted?" said the hermit, at the same time pointing to the wreck of the plane not many yards away with its disconsolate looking tail in the air and its nose apparently buried in the mud a few feet under the surface.

"Yes, we are one of a score and more of plane parties scouring the whole side of the Rockies," replied Jack, trying his best to keep his voice from breaking for the suspense had him in its grip as well as the poor girl. "Did you manage to save him, sir--tell us--or--or was it too late?"

He heard a low, bubbling cry, or was it a sob--at his elbow but his eyes were riveted on the tall erect figure of the mysterious recluse. The other was nodding his head--surely that could be reckoned a favorable sign. Jack again summoned his courage to the fore and went on to ask the crucial question:

"This girl, sir, is the sweetheart of Buddy Warner, whose strange disappearance has thrilled the entire nation--have pity, and relieve her dreadful suspense--is he alive?"

Another nod, and in the affirmative, accompanied by a ghost of a smile. Then came the words that would ring in Jack's ears for many a moon:

"Alive, and with a good chance for recovery, I am glad----"

"Quick! catch her, Perk!" yelled Jack as he felt the girl falling in a dead faint from the reaction. The relief proved too much for the strained condition of her nerves.

A dash of ice-cold water from the lake soon revived her and she smiled at the pair bending over her so solicitously.

"We must get her ashore without any delay," announced Jack, for he had great fears lest the enraptured girl take it upon herself to jump overboard and without any assistance from either of her guardians manage to make land.

Perk instantly dropped into the water which came almost up to his waist. It was pretty cold, but what did that matter to one so fond of calling himself a "tough old guy" and able to negotiate where others would shrink back.

Suzanne sprang into his arms as though not a second was to be lost in reaching the side of her beloved Buddy. So too, did Jack follow the example of his pal, determined not to be cheated out of the glorious sight when Suzanne and Buddy were reunited.

Once they were all ashore, dripping wet, but heedless of so little a thing under the circumstances. The master of this lonely region led them along what seemed to be a narrow, well trodden path, circulating among the piled-up rocks and trees, until presently they reached a rude shack from the stone chimney of which arose the tell-tale smoke that had been their guiding beacon in discovering the retreat of the recluse.

Suzanne dashed ahead of their guide and they heard her joyous cries as they reached the open door. She was down on her knees, her arms around a figure stretched out on a rude cot.

And so it was that Jack and Perk came upon the lost air-mail pilot whose hand they were soon squeezing with heartiest enthusiasm. Buddy was bandaged pretty well and confessed to a broken arm and quite a lot of bruises, all of which would keep him "on the shelf" for a month or so but everything was "all right," he told them and expressed amazement as well as pride when told that Suzanne had not only received her pilot's license, unbeknown to him, but even made a long and successful solo flight in the mad desire to join in the wide search for him.

The hermit was saying nothing, only listening with great interest and Jack could easily see that somehow this strange happening must have renewed his interest in the outside world from which he had for years been a stranger.

Such chattering as followed.

The happy girl turned every little while to beam upon her two faithful squires as if she could never forget how much they had done for her. Perk stared at her as though entranced. Evidently he had never imagined there could be so much loveliness in all the wide world as he saw pictured there in her rosy face with eyes like twin stars. For such a delightful little "dame" the honest fellow would have braved the perils of Niagara or the Whirlpool Rapids, if need be, to see such rapture steal over her face. The proud feeling, that he had been able to prove of service to Suzanne in her hour of blackest despair, would reward him ten times over for any bodily discomfort he may have endured. And Buddy too, he was surely worth finding--so jovial, so chummy in his ways and, lucky guy, with so dainty a "best girl" to hover over him and be his devoted nurse.

No one would ever know the part he and Jack had taken in this happy ending of the widely published mystery attending Buddy's vanishing in the night. The rules of the service to which he and his pal had sworn allegiance forbade such a thing as publicity. To have their pictures sent throughout the land, with an account of their previous successful labors in rounding up transgressors of the law, would put an effectual damper on any future jobs coming their way. It was not to be permitted under any circumstances whatever and not only the hermit, but both Buddy and his girl must solemnly promise never to disclose the names and vocation of the two airmen who were mainly responsible for the finding of the lost aviator.

That, however, was a minor matter to both comrades. They were not in the Secret Service of Uncle Sam for any glory or honors that might be showered upon them. They did not risk their lives day after day with any hope of being decorated with a Victory Cross or any ribbon telling of foreign service. It must be sufficient reward for them to feel that they had performed their duty to the best of their ability, no matter what its character and, backed by the long arm of the Law, brought wicked violators to the bar of justice, there to receive the penalty for their crimes.

One thing Jack noticed almost immediately was how everything connected with the bandaging of Buddy's broken arm had been carried out with astonishing neatness. Had he been a patient in some hospital, attended by the most famous of surgeons and with a clever nurse as his attendant, he could not have been in better shape.

Jack looked again closely at the mysterious recluse, noted the keen eye, the slender, agile fingers which moved with dexterity when he fixed up some little slip in the bandage and made up his mind that the world had undoubtedly lost one of its most gifted surgeons when this unknown man took to the woods, so to speak, for some reason never known.

Buddy was a bit weak and his host bade him not to keep talking too long, since excitement would not be good for him in his present condition--indeed he had quite enough as it was. But Suzanne begged so hard to be permitted to wait upon him and promised to keep him quiet, that she was finally given permission to do so.

Perk too, had noticed the way in which the hermit had done such a wonderfully fine job in attending to the one he had rescued from drowning after the plane had crashed; for he too, seemed to steal a sly glance in the other's direction whenever he felt he could do so without being detected.

For one thing, the near miracle of Buddy's being able to drop down into the shallows near the sandy shore had doubtless kept the plane from being wrapped in flames and possibly eased the plunge more or less.

"When I dragged him out," the owner of the shack explained to Jack and the latter noted how musical his voice seemed, so full and clear in the bargain, "he would not allow me to even look at his wounds until I had found and rescued four sacks of mail. You would have thought the contents of those bags were of greater value than his own life. That is what I'd call being faithful to a trust. But now I must ask both of you gentlemen to follow me outside where, as a rule I do my cooking. While we make ready to have supper, such as the limited stores will allow, we can talk over things and you may be able to figure just how you expect to take off again in the morning for it is too late now to consider going."

A little later on, while Jack was aboard the ship getting certain things that he wanted, Perk sidled up to the earnest old man with whom their fortunes had been so strangely thrown, and with one of his capacious grins remarked casually:

"If you'll excuse me for sayin' it, mister, I kinder guess now your name might be Doctor Whitelaw Reeves!"

When the other heard him mention that name he started as though he had been stung and looked Perk over with those keen eyes of his, and then a faint smile broke out on his stern face.

XXVIII

AROUND THE CAMPFIRE

"How does it come, my young friend," remarked the recluse of Crater Lake moving closer to the grinning Perk and apparently greatly moved, "that you are mentioning a name I have not heard spoken for the last seven years?"

"Huh! it happens, Doc, that I got some memory. Specially o' faces," candidly replied the aviator. "Course you've changed a heap since I knowed you, but back o' it all I could ketch the same look you had then when you fixed me up so dickey."

"Ah! that is what it means! So you were once a patient of mine. I hope I served you well, to cause you to remember me so long!" and the hermit patted Perk on the shoulder in what seemed to be a very friendly way.

"Hot ziggetty dog! I'm sayin' you did, Doc--looky here and see how the things healed up," and as he said this, Perk rolled up his sleeve, exhibiting a stout arm marked by a series of red lines zigzagging here and there and giving evidence of being a reminder of a most serious wound.

The hermit looked and nodded his head.

"Rather a tough proposition it must have been," he remarked with a show of interest.

"You jest bet it _was_!" vociferated Perk. "That bally English doctor wanted to take the arm off--said it'd save my life, but what use would life be to a birdman with only one arm? Then you came along and done the trick, Doc. Never could forget what I owed you. Finest operation ever done on that line, the American surgeon said afterwards."

"Ah! very kind of him, I am sure," said Perk's companion, obviously appreciating the implied compliment, "and would you mind telling me just where, and under what conditions all this happened? It may assist me to remember the particular instance out of the hundreds I handled?"

"In the Argonne, Doc--I came down in flames after sendin' two out o' four Heinies ahead o' me. 'Member you told me my mother had ought to feel proud o' her boy--which she sure was, Doc. Course it couldn't hardly be 'spected you'd 'member me, but I guessed I'd keep think-in' 'bout you as long as I lived. An' to think we'd run up agin each other like this--it certainly is a small world, as I've said before."

"While I don't happen to remember the particular circumstance, my friend," the other went on warmly, "it's a pleasure to know that you did pull through with both arms and have apparently continued to ply your dangerous, if glorious calling ever since. Shake hands with me, will you? I'm proud to renew our acquaintance and it comes at a turning point in my life also."

He glanced affectionately at Buddy lying there on his cot with the girl hovering over him, smoothing the blanket as only a woman can and lavishing looks of adoration on her hero pilot.

"For years I have been mourning the fact that after being shell-shocked on the battle line during the closing month of the war, I had lost my touch for my vocation; for a surgeon depends a great deal on his hands for the success of his delicate operations. Then _he_ came into my life as though dropping down from heaven itself. The necessity for immediately handling his injuries started me back into the old rut again and I was thrilled to discover that my finger-tips were as sensitive as ever. Then I realized that since God was so good as to restore to me that which I feared had been lost forever, it would be wicked for me to remain shut up away from my fellows when so many suffering people were holding out their hands to me for aid. My prayer had been heard and I have resolved to go back once more to labor in the field that can never have an over supply of workers."

What he said so seriously, so joyfully, thrilled Perk to the core. He felt that both he and his chum Jack had had at least a little to do with this loyal determination on the part of the once expert surgeon to again offer his services to the uncounted multitude of sufferers in every great city of the nation, and insofar as he could effect a cure, bring happiness to many a home that was now shrouded in darkness.

Later on, when Perk had a chance to tell this remarkable happening to the deeply interested Jack, and they had talked it all over, they came to the conclusion that the supposed loss of his skill as a result of his shock, was not the only reason causing Doctor Reeves to have that mysterious yearning to seek the solitudes of Nature in an effort to shun his fellow men. He may have met with some bitter disappointment, perhaps from the hand of the woman he loved, who had proved faithless. But all this was none of their business and Jack agreed with his pal when Perk declared they were treading on forbidden ground in even speculating about it.

"No matter what it was," Jack ended the talk by saying earnestly, "he's apparently gotten over that upset. Time heals wounds of the heart we know, and if he's the wonderful surgeon you say, he can do a heap of missionary work among the hospitals during the rest of his life. I'm mighty glad we've run across him and he seems to have fixed up Buddy here just prime--says he'll be able to get back on his job in four weeks and be just as good as ever."

"Bully for Doc. Reeves!" exclaimed the enthusiastic Perk, still a little dazed over the amazing coincidence of meeting the professional man to whom he owed so much.

They found that the hermit--who would be called by that name no longer if he kept his new resolution--had a stone fireplace close by his shelter where he was accustomed to carrying on such cooking as was necessary.

Perk immediately took possession of the "cooking galley" as he was pleased to call the small addition to the shack where a meagre assortment of pots and pans were hanging, and proceeded to provide supper.

He would not allow the proprietor to render the least assistance and also declined the offered help of Suzanne, telling her she could do more good as a nurse than trying to help him. He had long been waiting just such an opportunity to "sling the grub" and was not going to be knocked out of this fine chance.

Jack, knowing how the other was enjoying himself, offered no objections so Perk found himself monarch of all he surveyed and boss of the kitchen.

Perk dragged the clumsy dugout belonging to the late recluse to serve as a ferry between the anchored amphibian and the shore. Later on Jack saw him fetching a number of things up to the vicinity of the shack and chuckled, highly amused, to note that among them was the submachine gun with its belt of ammunition. He could readily surmise what that meant. Perk must have remembered seeing that monster silvertip bear waddling along among the piled-up masses of rock not so very far distant from the shack of their present host and with some dimly defined notion in his head that he might wish to again play sentinel and guard to the camp, was determined to be in condition to meet any situation that might arise.

Oh! well, if it pleased Perk to imagine dire things hovering over their heads, and if it afforded him real happiness to assume the duties of a posted sentry, why should any one wish to cheat him of such an innocent recreation? It could do no harm but on the other hand would give the vigilant one a feeling of satisfaction, thought Jack.

"Only I do hope," Jack was telling himself under his breath with a fond glance toward the object of his soliloquy, "if he's bound to save us all again, his victim turns out to be a little more ferocious than a wretched half-starved prairie dog, creeping up to smell out a bone or two thrown away after a camp supper."

Perk was a busy and willing worker for the next half hour, dodging in and out, bending over his cooking fire that had been coaxed to a point approaching perfection with several pots and pans resting on the large gridiron that the ex-hermit evidently used principally for roasting his potatoes in their skins, he being no great hand at achieving culinary triumphs. Some men are born to one profession and others excel in quite another line. Doc. Reeves' specialty was surgery, that of Jack might be set down as general excellence along the duties of an air pilot and also fairly well equipped to play his part as one of Uncle Sam's energetic Secret Service men while Perk had a notion he shone in no one particular line, but could get up about as savory a meal, under existing conditions, as the best woods guide.

He certainly surpassed himself on this particular occasion. The odors that soon began to permeate the atmosphere all around that lonesome spot caused Jack to show uneasiness, as though he could hardly wait for Perk to call them to partake of the glorious feast.

"Why, if this keeps on much longer," he told himself as he walked up and down near by as a very hungry man is apt to do when waiting for supper to be put upon the table, especially if it is in camp, where appetite reigns above ordinary likes and dislikes, "he'll have the whole neighborhood saturated with the smell of whatever he's cooking. If there's a hungry mountain lion or a half-starved grizzly within a mile of here, he'll make a trail to this nook right away. What's that Emerson wrote, that if a man invents the best mouse trap ever built the world will make the deepest kind of a trail flocking to his woods cabin to patronize him? And Perk's sure _some cook_, I admit!"

The agony was finally brought to an end and they settled down on bits of logs and a couple of ricketty chairs the self-exiled surgeon had manufactured at some time or other. A small table, also home-made, fairly groaned under the most bountiful supply of "camp grub" imaginable and the grinning Perk eager to serve it out in generous portions.

Even the injured Buddy developed an astonishing appetite. Doc. Reeves, now radiant and full of good nature at the way he had been brought back to his one consuming passion, which he feared was gone forever, declared he had not sat before such a gorgeous feast for many a long year. Suzanne too, saw fit to add her praises while she ate and ate, as if trying to make up for the several meals she had missed while laboring under such a heavy load of suspense.

As for the cook himself, he showed no sign of his late labors having diminished his capacity for stowing away tremendous quantities of food, as those who prepare meals so often declare. But there was enough for all and a bit to be thrown out for the squirrels, rabbits, or any larger species of hungry mountain denizens that might care to investigate the appetizing odors.

They sat around in the faint light of the only lamp available, used only occasionally by the doctor on account of the difficulty of transporting kerosene such a distance on muleback, and talked on a variety of subjects. Buddy was of course eager to learn what was being said concerning the mystery of his disappearance and must have been duly thrilled when Jack and Perk recounted some of the many things they had read under flaming head-lines in the daily papers coming under their observation from time to time.

When questioned, he told in simple words just what had happened. It was nothing original, just such an accident as might happen to the most skillful of air pilots, though not all of them live through the experience. Chancing to see the little lake which was not by any means the first time he had glimpsed it, since on several occasions he had flown above it while carrying his mail pouches to and from airports, he had tried to make a halfway safe landing on the strip of sand at that end of the round pond but failing by a dozen or more feet, plunged into the water.

He lost all knowledge of what happened, coming to his senses a long time afterwards to find himself on a cot with the recluse just completing his wonderful job of attending to his broken arm and the many bruises about the rest of his person.

Dr. Reeves said but little, seeming quite content to listen to the voices of his little company of guests thrown so unexpectedly upon his hands but it was easy to see he was far happier that night than he had been for many years, with the future again beckoning and looming up as a wide field where he could apply his services in behalf of his fellows.

It was decided that Buddy must keep his cot for the night. They made up one for Suzanne with several fairly well cured animal pelts, mementoes of certain beasts the recluse had shot or trapped, either for their skins or to be used as a change of diet. Jack and Perk were old campaigners, and could find an apology for a bed on the ground near the fire while the surgeon said he meant to sit on a chair in the kitchen and spend the night in general rejoicing over his good fortune in "coming back."

Jack teased his chum a bit when he saw the other lugging that sub-machine gun over to where he was going to sleep, but Perk only grinned, and nodded, as though he really enjoyed the prospect of once more remaining on guard.

XXIX

NO PROWLERS ALLOWED

Perk was more than usually sleepy when he lay down with the gun close by the fire. Perhaps he really did not expect to be called upon to defend the camp since the doctor had assured him there had never been any serious trouble from the inmates of the wilderness, though he admitted he had now and again found some evidence in the morning that a large beast had been prowling around while he slept behind a closed door.

But having made up his mind to do his full duty, Perk was not to be turned aside either through arguments or ridicule. He lay there doing his best to keep awake by reviving long since buried memories of his activities across the sea when in France.

Then he "passed out," as he himself would have termed it, to awaken and find the fire in need of replenishing. There was an abundance of wood close at hand so, still half asleep, Perk got to his knees, picked up an armful and rising to his full height stepped over to the smoldering fire.