Part 8

Perk produced a length of small rubber tubing, and made use of it as a siphon. Once the gasoline was started, by suction--Perk attended to that part by sucking the air all out, and getting a mouthful of liquid to pay him for his trouble, which he ejected with a grimace--it continued to flow until the tank aboard the amphibian was plumb full.

"I can scare up several five-gallon empty tins," suggested the wise Perk, "that might be filled, and stowed away somewhere--that would give us a reserve stock, plenty I guess to carry us to the nearest supply base in case our tank went dry."

"A mighty good idea, boy," was Jack's comment, he being glad to see how the other was recovering from his late depression.

They finally had everything settled--Suzanne had put up her little "sign," to let curious-minded folks wandering that way know who owned the abandoned crate, and that it was to be let absolutely alone until she came to salvage it. Then, too, she had made up her little package of "essentials," which she meant to take along when they zoomed off to start the real search for lost Buddy Warner.

As they settled down in their places, room having been found for the girl pilot, Suzanne waved her hand a bit sadly toward her impotent crate, as though certain high hopes she had been entertaining were now fallen in ruins; then she smiled again, watching closely to see Jack gripping the stick and letting in the gas to the attendant spark, when they were off.

XX

AN UNSUBDUED SPIRIT

Backed by plenty of daylight there was no difficulty at all experienced in mounting. The sand was packed quite hard as sometimes happens at the seashore, particularly in highly favored localities like down at Daytona Beach on the eastern coast of Florida, where the speed races are run every season. After the wheels contained in the aluminum pontoons left the ground not a single obstacle stood in the way of their climbing steadily upward, until presently they could look out over the sweep of rough country surrounding that strangest of all Dame Nature's trick pictures--the Colorado Canyon.

Jack had his plans all laid out, built upon his charts, and the general fund of knowledge gleaned from some of the newspaper accounts that he had kept by him; after shuffling the pack, and discarding all unsupported versions as unreliable guides for stranger air pilots to go by.

Having set the course Jack had Perk handle the stick, for it was his intention to have a good talk with Suzanne, something he had not managed to accomplish thus far.

She understood just what he had in mind when he took up one end of the earphone harness, and made motions; for the racket was too fierce to think of trying to make his ordinary speaking voice heard--indeed, she had already shown a certain amount of curiosity concerning the apparatus, possibly knowing what it was intended for, although never herself having as yet had occasion to make use of such a means of communication when in flight.

He soon had the straps adjusted to suit her small head, and then proceeded to arrange his own end. His main purpose was far from being connected with anything like curiosity, for somehow he had a faint hope something she could tell him might open up a line of reasoning, and produce a live clue, which was just what was lacking in his plans.

"I'm meaning to ask you some questions, Miss Cramer," he went on to say; "in hopes that you may be able to give me some little valuable hint; for up to now everybody must be working more or less in the dark. You see, all that's known to be positive is that Buddy took off from a certain station where he delivered some important mail, picked up a local sack, and then took off at a specified hour and minute. After that he was not heard from again--failed to show up at either of the succeeding stations, and was awaited in vain at the end of his run.

"For a time nothing much was thought of his delay in turning up; because of any one of several things that might have held him back--fog, head winds, or some trifling trouble compelling him to make a forced landing, which in this dreadful country of rocks and gullies among mountain peaks usually is attended by serious difficulties, especially the getting off again when the trouble has been attended to."

Then he went on to tell her what he had deducted, after carefully getting the gist of what all the newspaper men had discovered up to within twenty-four hours of the present time; the deeply interested girl listening eagerly, and occasionally nodding her head, as though quite agreeing with his reasoning.

"Now," Jack went on to say--after bringing his story down to where he and Perk had received their orders from Washington, took off, butted against a most tenacious fog belt, and finally brought up at the Canyon, where they made her acquaintance--"Tell me please, when and how you first heard that Buddy was missing, if it would not be too painful a recital."

"Oh! that will not keep me from speaking," she hastened to say, trying bravely to keep the tears from dimming her eyes: "nothing could be too painful for me to endure if only it works to _his_ good in the end. We read the dreadful news in the daily paper that comes to Ma Warner's home every morning, it being mailed in the big city not a hundred miles away. She always hunts up the aviation column the very first thing. Why not, when she has an only son who is known as an experienced and reliable air-mail pilot and also knows that she is going to have a second ambitious flyer in the family soon, if all goes well, and I find Buddy.

"Of course we were very apprehensive, what with the neighbors running in to sympathize, and cheer us up. Later on that same day a reporter from the very paper in which we read the first news about Buddy, turned up, having motored over across country, eager to pick up enough interesting facts at the humble home of Buddy's anxious mother to make a thrilling story for his editor.

"They have been saying some very kind things about our Buddy since he disappeared so suddenly and mysteriously. He was one of the best liked air-pilots in the whole corps, I read again and again; and oh! what a thrill it gave us both to realize how he was even being compared to Lindbergh himself. Could anything be said to make a mother's heart thrill more with joy--or that of Buddy's best girl also?

"To be sure," she went on, with a winsome little smile, "he had never done anything great, to make him famous, in the way of wonderful stunts, or long perilous flights over wide oceans, and such, but every one seemed to know how his heart has always been wrapped up in the cause of aviation, and that he would be willing to lay down his very life if by doing so he could advance the day when flying will be much safer than going by train or boat."

Jack soon realized that there was no hope of learning anything from this source capable of opening up a promising line of thought. Suzanne was only too eager to tell everything she knew, but after all it amounted only to an exhibition of her affection. How she conceived the madcap idea of herself starting out, "only a half-baked pilot" she called herself in humiliation, just hoping that something--she knew not what, for it would have to be in the nature of a near miracle, as Jack very well knew--would have to come along to draw her to where her Buddy must be lying, waiting and praying for needful aid.

Jack knew very well, although not for worlds would he have hinted at such a thing in her hearing, that since three full days had by this time gone by, poor Buddy must long since have passed on. Unless of course some Good Samaritan had found him where he lay injured and perhaps starving, and taken him in charge. A happy accident like this was one chance in a thousand because of the uninhabited wilderness.

She had pictured the old mother striving to believe God would surely keep her boy safe in the hollow of His omnipotent hand, so that Jack had to wink pretty fast in order not to let her see the tears in his own eyes--such confidence and assurance was really beautiful; and for one thing it caused Jack to resolve more than ever to let no ordinary obstacle daunt him--for the sake of that fond mother and this courageous if ill-advised young lady who just refused to yield to despondency even when the skies looked most gloomy, and hope hung by just a slender shred.

"Depend upon it, Miss Cramer," he told her, gently, after he realized that nothing was to be gained by pressing her with further questioning; "both Perk and myself are booked in this game, and we mean to leave no stone unturned in trying to find Buddy. Others who are engaged in the search will make all manner of sacrifices too. So great is the warmth of feeling for that faithful mother who is forced to stay at home, and leave the sacred task to strangers. If concerted effort is able to accomplish anything we'll succeed; if all our efforts fail us, you must try and believe it is for some wise purpose which we cannot see with the weak human eyes."

She looked at him with an expression that made Jack realize how much of her confident spirit was make believe--that deep down in her sensible heart she knew very well what terrific chances there were against success coming to reward their efforts--that much of this had been assumed in the hope of buoying up the falling hopes of that poor mother, left bereft of her only boy, the stay and pride of her aging years.

He saw her clamp her white teeth together as if forcing herself to brush aside that sinking feeling, and show the old dauntless spirit that had thus far carried her safely through a sea of doubts and fears.

When she spoke again it was with a ring in her voice that thrilled him to the core--he only wished he could take on a measure of that indomitable nature that would not give up.

"But we'll find him," she was saying, slowly but fiercely; "I just know we will, that's all--his mother needs him, his only girl needs him, and we've _got_ to bring him back to his old home--alive, or--dead!"

XXI

COMBING THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS

Jack admitted to feeling a trifle disappointed when his talk with Suzanne afforded no signs of a clue upon which to build a structure; although truth to tell he realized how almost absurd that hope had been.

Surely Buddy's disappearance could hardly hinge upon anything that had ever taken place in his old home town--such a cheery, companionable lad could not have any enemies--Suzanne had not hinted at such a thing as a jealous rival in the field, who might give way to wicked thoughts.

No, the whole occurrence must be what everybody believed--a sheer accident, such as was liable to happen to any air pilot braving the elements day and night in the pursuit of his regular vocation. He had gone down, so now the only trouble was to locate the scene of his mishap and, as Perk at another time had been heard to say "pick up the pieces," meaning no offense by such a remark.

"If you don't mind," the girl was saying shortly afterwards, "I'd like very much to be allowed to use your glasses. I possess good vision, and perhaps the great stake I have in this search might make me argus-eyed indeed."

"Certainly you may make use of them," Jack told her, reaching out to secure the binoculars, showing her how to work them to meet with the best results. "If you do happen to see something that excites your interest, just call our attention to it--sometimes two pair of eyes are better than one, you know, Miss Cramer."

So she sat there, staring down as they moved swiftly through the realms of space; but not too swiftly. She seemed to be trying to cover all the ground possible, ever and anon lifting her gaze to sweep a look at more distant objects.

Again and again she would stop in her movements as if to concentrate her scrutiny upon one particular spot; Jack, watching with sympathy filling his heart, could imagine how the poor girl must be suffering even though failing to show it. He would feel a spasm of eagerness on each occasion of special scrutiny only to lose it again as she continued her search of the grim countryside that was so bleak and so unpromising.

Meantime Jack was keeping one eye on the lower heavens, with the expectation of sooner or later discovering some far distant moving object, that he would know must be some other air craft, doubtless engaged in the same mission of humanity and mercy that employed all their own efforts.

It turned out that he had not held these expectations in vain, for along about the middle of the morning such a tiny blur was discovered far away, which grew somewhat larger as the minutes passed.

Upon calling the girl's attention to the moving object that to the unaided eye might just as well have been set down as a wheeling buzzard, she quickly pronounced it to be a plane, sweeping at a low altitude above the rocky mountain peaks, as though those aboard were scrutinizing the depths and heights that lay underneath, just as she had been doing.

She cast frequent eager glances in that direction, while not allowing her interest in the wild terrain over which they continued to pass, to slacken. Jack could detect a certain wistfulness in the way she watched, just as though she might be wishing them all the favors of Heaven in meeting with success.

The ship swung around, and went off in another direction, as though the pilot might be following out certain ideas of his own. While it was yet in plain sight, though growing fainter in the lower haze, she uttered a low cry, and said excitedly:

"Oh! look Jack, look over in the north--another ship, and a cabin biplane at that. Do you think they are working on the same lines as the rest of us?"

Jack reached out a hand for the binoculars, and took a good survey; after which he announced that everything seemed to point that way.

"They're keeping low down, also moving quite slowly; and if on a regular flight they would be doing neither of those things, you understand. Yes, and I have no doubt that within a hundred-and-fifty miles of this spot in every direction there are twenty--thirty such ships, large and small, with each pilot doing everything in his power to be the lucky one to find your Buddy."

She continued to observe the two planes as if lost in serious thought, to finally say with a little catch in her voice, for she still had the earphone harness attached to her head:

"I wish them every success possible; for it does not matter who the lucky pilot is, every one of them will be remembered as long as I live. The only thing that counts is to find _him_--alive!"

As if to emphasize the yearning that was in her heart the girl stretched out both hands toward the two distant ships; and there was something so pathetic in the mute action that neither of the other would ever forget.

Then, as though just as sanguine as ever she accepted the glasses from Jack to continue scanning the ground they were passing over, hoping to sooner or later meet with a glorious success.

Jack himself was far from feeling the same enthusiasm--doubtless it was because of his superior knowledge of the vast difficulties staring them rudely in the face; then again he did not have that true love for Buddy buoying him up, as was the case with Suzanne.

Perk was thinking that since noon had rolled around it might be just as well that they munched a trifle of food, so as to conserve their strength, with a long task ahead of them, when once again the girl uttered a cry. Perk not being equipped just then with ear-phones could not catch what she was saying so excitedly; but at least he was able to surmise its tenor--she had undoubtedly made some sort of discovery, for her face was marked by animation, and she kept pointing down toward some part of the rocky country, trying to direct Jack's attention to it.

Perk saw his chum take the binoculars and follow up the particular line in which Suzanne was pointing. Long and earnestly did he stare, with her eager eyes glued on his face. Then Jack sadly shook his head, as if deciding in the negative.

Whatever it was she had seen to thus arouse false hopes his good sense told him it was not worthy of their further investigation. This naturally caused her to be bitterly disappointed, although she managed to bear up bravely, and even smiled whimsically--pitifully Perk called it, for he was deeply interested in the wild search, and hoping with all his heart it might turn out successful, though his good sense and training told him only a near miracle could accomplish this.

None of them seemed to have much appetite save Perk, and that always hungry individual was never known to refuse an opportunity to treat his clamoring "tummy" to an extra meal--Suzanne hardly touched a morsel and when Jack tried to persuade her that she owed it to herself to eat, she shook her head and told him it would choke her if she did.

Then once more was the everlasting vigil resumed--indeed, while the others munched a snack the girl had kept the glasses almost constantly employed, as though under the conviction that if any slackening of her observation came about that might prove to be the undoing of the whole scheme--a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; and ten minutes relaxation in the way of covering the ground they were passing over might be fatal to their success.

Again about the middle of the afternoon she once more believed she saw something calling for a closer scrutiny. This time she was not so excited as on the previous occasion, possibly taking warning; but she pressed the binoculars on Jack--Perk still handling the controls--and directed his attention to what she believed was a smudge of smoke arising from amidst the side of a steep mountain where the rocks were piled up as though giants had been playing ten pins.

Once more did Jack bend all his energies to figuring out what the smoke could mean; he disliked telling her it did not offer any real hope, for he could see that it was the end of a forest fire, such as may have been tailing up the long ravine for many days, and feeding on all manner of trash falling from the scraggy pinon trees that managed to cling to the otherwise bare walls.

The poor forlorn girl broke down and cried bitterly when once more her hopes were dashed to the ground. Perk shook his head, and gritted his teeth, for it greatly disturbed him to hear her weeping; Jack tried to comfort her as best he could, in a man's clumsy way. Soon the fit wore away, and Suzanne was her own brave little self again, the look of sublime confidence once more coming into her face. And so the weary hunt went on as the sun slanted down the western heavens, with a cruel night ahead of the searchers.

XXII

AN AIR-MAIL WAY STATION

Once they sighted an isolated town in a valley, but this failed to arouse any particular enthusiasm. If anything had been seen by those who lived in such a remote place, the glad tidings would have long since been sent out to the world, since it must be understood how the entire country was alive with eagerness for a satisfactory solution to the mysterious disappearance of the young air-mail pilot.

Jack rather imagined that this might be the place where Buddy Warner turned up missing--where at a certain hour his schedule was to have brought him down from his sky trail to leave and pick up the mail--but alas! he had failed to come to time, and day after day an increasing number of scurrying planes continued to scour the surrounding country in the endeavor to pick up a clue.

Jack could make out the landing field with his naked eyes but when Suzanne pressed the glasses on him without saying a word, he proceeded to make good use of them.

A plane had just landed, possibly in the mail service, for there was more or less bustle in its vicinity and he could see a small Ford car starting off, as if with a bag or two of letters.

Apparently their passing over failed to excite the people, for while they were staring up and displaying a certain amount of interest, they made no signals, showing there was no good news, as possibly the girl had been hoping.

"They have been seeing any number of ships passing over during the last few days, I reckon," he told her, just to have something to say, and perhaps also relieve her evident distress a little, "so understand that nothing has been found, or the joyful news would be transmitted by radio or wire."

Taking it for granted that he had figured correctly, Jack altered his plans. If Buddy had never made his goal and delivered the mail at this station, the chances seemed to be that he could hardly have gone past--that whatever happened to him must have occurred before he came to this place.

This being the case, they would show the part of wisdom to swing around and start back the way they had come. It would be a good policy to zigzag back and forth so as to cover all the ground possible. Jack had taken particular care to find out what he could as to the sort of night it was when the disappearance took place. Whether there was any kind of bad weather and which way the prevailing wind chanced to be blowing, for that must be taken into consideration in order to get as close to the facts as possible.

So now when about to head back, he knew just which side of their late course must call for their serious attention. Another thing he kept before him was the important fact of eight or ten hours apparently wasted. Night was approaching and they could not have even the slightest hope of making any sort of discovery.

Since in following out his new plan of swinging back and forth each few miles, covering only short distances ahead, by the time twilight fell they would not be a great distance from the valley in which that town on the air-mail route nestled. What was to hinder them seeking it out again, and finding a safe harbor for the hours of darkness?

When he found a chance to talk with Perk, changing the ear phones from the girl to his chum, now resting up after a continuous service of many hours, the latter absolutely agreed with everything Jack advanced.

"Shucks! we couldn't 'spect to strike anything while the night lasted, just keep moseyin' around to kill time an' in that way usin' up a whole bunch o' gas, 'sides mebbe losin' track o' our job. Yep, I'd say it'd be a good thing all 'round for us to drop down an' give the girl a chance to rest."

That seemed to settle it, insofar as Jack was concerned for it was always good in his mind to have his partner agree with him, Perk being no fool but an experienced airman of many years standing.

The seesaw movement gave them an opportunity to cover considerable ground, even while they made but scant forward progress. Jack was not at all concerned about this lack, his one desire being to effectually scour the country so as to feel they had not been lax in their duty.

He took mental notes as they went along, so as to always remember just what course must be pursued in order to fetch them back to the cozy little valley set like a gem in the heart of that inhospitable mountain territory. This was only in keeping with Jack's customary system of preparedness. A habit that had proven most valuable to him more than a few times in the past.

They were once again over the high elevations so that it was necessary to change their altitude frequently in order to keep within reasonable distance of the ground which they were searching for a clue. Now they had to climb in order to clear a lofty peak and immediately afterwards drop down so as to comb the further side of the rocky height, as well as the deep ravine lying between the several mountains in the mighty chain.