Part 12

As he cast his burden on the red ashes some of the smaller stuff started up instantly, causing the immediate vicinity to appear as though illuminated by a flash of vivid sunlight.

Perk heard a sound that was not unlike a loud sniff. This startled him and his returning animation was hastened when he caught a low growl, thrilling him to the center of his being.

Instantly he stared in the quarter from which these strange sounds proceeded. A movement concentrated his attention on a certain point. Some object that resembled a bulky, dark, living thing commenced to rise up until the startled Perk though it would never stop growing.

There it was standing before him--the same monster he had seen from his seat aboard the air ship. A full-grown grizzly, the "Mountain Charlie" of the California ranchers and hunters, a very giant of devilish ferocity and unafraid of anything that walked on two or four feet, monarch of the foothills and canyons of the mighty Rockies!

The grizzly growled again, this time with added vigor as if wanting the wretched invader of his hunting grounds to thoroughly understand he would put up with no trifling and that he must speedily "skip the ranch" unless he wished to be scattered around the whole neighborhood in pieces.

"Holy Smoke!"

That was as far as Perk got in starting to express his agitated feelings for the standing bear had made a movement that started him toward the campfire and the amazed aviator. Perhaps by this time Jack may have also awakened but Perk gave no heed to such a possibility. As the self-appointed guardian of the slumbering camp it was up to him to stand like a rock in its defense.

No right or left tackle on the gridiron ever made a more furious plunge in an effort to stop the hurtling progress of the enemy player carrying the pigskin toward the goal posts than Perk set in motion just then, urged on as with a goad by the necessity for clutching that firearm upon which he was depending so much.

He landed in a huddle, snatched at the gun, dropped it in his wild excitement, pawed around for what seemed a full agonized minute but which evidently lasted less than five seconds and finally found himself clutching the object of his mad groveling. Even then he got mixed a bit and was presenting the butt of the weapon toward the oncoming growling bear when, recognizing his mistake he managed to swing it around.

Another blunder just then might have cost him dear but Perk, now fully alive to the emergency cooled down sufficiently to move the little lever which would start the machine-gun to spitting out its discharges in one--two--three style as long as the belt of cartridges held out and he, Perk, refrained from shutting off the mechanism by which it was worked.

The bear was not twenty feet away when this hurricane of lead began to rain upon him with oft repeated thuds. His growls had been followed by the most dreadful roarings to which those near-by cliffs had ever echoed. He dropped down on all fours, shuffled this way and that, like a boy trying to evade the attacks of a swarm of maddened yellow jackets whose nest he had the temerity to strike with a club. But all without avail, since the now equally aroused Perk had only to switch the muzzle of his little cannon a trifle to continue bombarding him right along.

The gigantic beast rolled over this way and that, stroke to get upon his feet again, his bellows becoming less vociferous as his wounds increased with frightful rapidity. There could be no telling when Perk would ever have stopped firing only that a hand grasped his weapon and turned it upward toward the starry heavens while the voice of Jack roared in his ear:

"Hold hard, brother, you've got him shot full of holes as it is. What's the use ruining his hide? Some day you'll be proud to rest your feet on a rug made from a genuine old grizzly you potted all by yourself out here in the Rockies."

So the fully aroused Perk managed to curb his warlike spirit a bit and shut off the flow of deadly missiles.

"Gosh amighty Jack, did you see me knock the ole hippopotamus silly when I opened on him right smart? Some ruction while she lasted, I'll tell the cockeyed world! Gee whiz! he's kicked his last an' there he lies as quiet as a lamb."

"He's your meat okay, buddy," Jack assured him after which he turned to explain the meaning of the frantic outburst of firing for both Dr. Reeves and Suzanne were in the doorway of the shack, demanding to know what it was all about and if anybody were hurt.

"Huh! on'y one that's hurt real bad lies over yonder with his toes pointin' up to the skies!" laughed the proud marksman. "Reg'lar he-grizzly, with a bellow like a range bull. Tried to rush me, don't you know, but it turned out he couldn't chaw lead an' so he quit cold. An' me, I'm figgerin' on having the smartest rug you ever set eyes on made from his hairy hide if I c'n trim it from his carcass come mornin'. Some stunt for little Perk to put on the boards, if I do say it myself, as oughtn't."

"Queer how I have managed to keep the peace with that scamp for so long," observed the doctor with a whimsical laugh, "and then he chooses to go on the warpath just when I happen to have company for the first time in years. But that was the proper caper, Perk, and you deserve to have a beautiful rug to show when telling this thrilling exploit to your grandchildren."

"Wow! go easy on a feller, please, Doc," expostulated the embarrassed Perk, "why, I ain't even got a girl yet. You see, they gimme the razzberry, mebbe 'cause I'm so handsome. But I'm meanin' to get that rug fixed up, if the pelt c'n be dragged off the big varmint in the mornin' an' that's that."

Examination showed that although a number of the bullets sprayed forth so promiscuously by the ardent sportsman had punctured the hide of the bear, these small holes would not prevent its being repaired and made useful, if one chose to spend a little time and cash for the desired result. So while Perk absolutely refused to call his vigil off and get some sleep, he had the comforting assurance that his work had not gone for naught.

"Yeah! don't try to cramp my style, partner," he told Jack who was trying to argue that lightning seldom struck twice in the same place, "course I understand how that grizzly ain't goin' to gimme another scare, but how do we know that he ain't got a mate an' if she comes prowlin' around this roost an' runs across her big boy lyin' there all bloody and cashed in, why she might go on a tear an' smash things into kindlin' wood. Yep, I'll finish the night on my post. Time to pick up any lost sleep when we're back in old Cheyenne jest loafin' an' waitin' for orders to start out on a fresh job."

Knowing how stubborn Perk could be when he took a notion, Jack made no further attempt to persuade him and the last he saw of the bear-killer, Perk was sitting there, his back against a stump, with the formidable machine gun across his knees, all set for business at the old stand. Let all the silvertips in the entire Rocky Mountain section step up and give him a dare, with that wonderful gun that reminded him of old days in France when he was with the La Fayette Escadrille, flying for France and her allies, he felt equal to a full dozen of the shaggy beasts.

So the balance of the night passed and finally came the dawn of a new day that would thrill the nation with the startling news covering the finding of the missing air-mail pilot.

XXX

BRINGING IN THEIR MAN

With breakfast out of the way Jack called what Perk termed a "reg'lar council o' war," for there were numerous matters that would have to be settled before they could take off and head for civilization.

Dr. Reeves gave it as his opinion that if great care were exercised, Buddy could be transported to the nearest town but the injured mail pilot absolutely refused to go unless his prized letter bags accompany him, such was his devotion to duty.

Then there was Perk also as set on having that valued bear skin, removed with the help of the doctor, who had learned the art of skinning an animal while cast upon his own resources. Besides, there would be two others aboard the amphibian which was apt to make things a bit crowded.

However, Dr. Reeves soon settled the matter by declaring he did not mean to accompany them. Another day, if Jack and Perk wished to have it so arranged, they could come for him. He had some things to accomplish that would take a few hours and there was no necessity for him to be on hand when Buddy reached town to create the wildest kind of excitement. Indeed, the eminent surgeon admitted he rather shunned anything that would be apt to put him in the limelight.

"If there's anything I'd dislike," he told them modestly, "it would be to find myself in the spotlight I hope to just slip back into the harness again and the public need know nothing save that I have changed my mind about retiring from the profession for good, having discovered that there is still more or less usefulness in my brain and fingers that ought to be put to the service of suffering humanity."

So it was arranged and without more delay than was absolutely necessary they managed to get Buddy aboard the amphibian, Jack and Perk having arranged an original floating dock that could be pushed alongside the cloud-chaser, rather than try to work the plane ashore.

The transfer was duly carried out and with such care that Buddy felt very little pain. Next the air mail, so long delayed in delivery, was stacked in various cavities so as to not take up more room than was necessary together with a rather messy bundle, Perk's prized future bearskin rug which he seemed to value more highly every time he gave it a look.

Everything was now ready for the hopoff and Jack figured on no trouble whatever in effecting that since the lake was long enough to permit a fair run and immediately after leaving the water he expected to start banking so as to circle and climb upward.

Dr. Reeves shook each of his new found friends by the hand and was unusually warm in saying his goodbye to the happy Suzanne. The bravery shown by the newly fledged aviatrix in taking great chances of meeting disaster when striking out to join those who were searching for signs to tell where the young air mail pilot had crashed, aroused his full admiration and he did not hesitate to tell Suzanne as much, greatly to the delight of the listening Buddy.

Standing on the sandy shore of Crater Lake the man who had come back watched the wonderful amphibian, of which the two pilots were so proud, rush across the surface of the lake, the first modern flying boat to ever splash through those ice-cold waters, and then jumping upward, cleave the air like a monster bird, circling twice, three times, to finally take off in a bee line for the town where Jack and the others had passed the preceding night.

They arrived at their destination before an hour had passed and amidst the most intense excitement and a growing, cheering mob of men, women and children, the injured mail pilot was taken to the hospital, there to be cared for until Dr. Reeves joined him later on.

Of course Suzanne refused to be parted from her Buddy. She claimed to be a pretty fair nurse and indeed, her very presence acted like a tonic to the patient who could not keep his sparkling eyes off her pretty face for more than a minute at a time.

Jack had impressed every one with his desire for secrecy. If it could be avoided, no mention of his name or that of Perk, or their pictures, was to be given to the bustling newspaper men who would quickly be rushing in from every quarter by motor, train and airship, eager as hounds in the leash to grab up bits of news that could be woven into one of the most thrilling stories of the day to set the whole country agog, east, west, north and south.

Thanks to the care thus taken, the real facts connected with the finding of Buddy Warner were fairly well kept from the public press. All sorts of fantastic accounts were published and some even managed to bring out the names of the pair most intimately connected with the great stunt but they were so distorted that Perk had considerable fun in trying to make them out. He declared a wizard would have his hands full with the job and that most people must believe the modest heroes, who fled before being interviewed were foreigners, to judge from their unpronouncable names.

Wishing to finish his work as soon as possible so that he and Perk could clear out before most of the keen-eyed reporters arrived, Jack concluded to hurry back to the lake, pick up Dr. Reeves and what few things he would like to carry away from the hideout where he had spent so many solitary years and once he had been landed in the airport, say a hurried goodbye to all and pull out eastward bound for Cheyenne.

That was the way Jack Ralston usually put things through. While most others would be still making up their plan of campaign, Jack was apt to be doing things with a rush and getting results. They had followed the best rules of the great organization in which they were humble cogs, let no grass grow under their feet, found what they sought and, with a Garrison finish, brought in the man they were after and whose name was on everybody's lips during those few hectic days.

Duty done, it was up to them to vanish from the picture in order to keep the public from knowing how the Government's Secret Service had been mainly responsible for the finding of the missing air-mail pilot.

And so that same afternoon, while fresh squads of eager newspaper men were arriving hourly at the hitherto almost unknown town that had become famous over night, Jack and his pal were bound east, with a consciousness that another triumph could be laid at their door, even if, as happened so many times, the full story must be kept under cover so that the people of the underworld, in which so many of the activities of the Service were conducted might not be made familiar with the names and faces of its most energetic workers and thus be placed on their guard.

Of course it would not be long before further instructions might be expected from the Washington Headquarters detailing Jack and Perk to some fresh field of labor where once more they would find themselves pitted against some of the most nimble-witted lawbreakers known to modern days. That the adventurous pair would acquit themselves with credit can be taken for granted for they were always earnest, hard workers and as a rule able to accomplish the most difficult of jobs submitted to their charge by those who managed all such matters in the National Capital.

In the pages of the next volume of this series of thrilling stories covering the exploits of the Sky Detectives, the title of which is "_The Sky Pilot's Great Chase_; or, _Jack Ralston's Dead-Stick Landing_" will be found further lively happenings when the daring pair are sent forth to cross the international boundary and speed into the far North in the effort to apprehend a fugitive from justice whose arrest and return to Washington had become a matter of the greatest moment to the authorities. How they outwit the lawbreakers and finally get their man, makes this a story replete with thrills and exciting situations.