After dinner had been disposed of they again repaired to their room, Perk having an armful of papers with which he meant to pass the time while his chum was chatting with the Government agent, and picking up quantities of fresh information to add to what he had already accumulated.
Jack had him promise faithfully not to think of stepping out of the room, and to also refrain from opening the door to any caller.
“We’re stacking up against a desperate bunch of dare-devils, don’t forget, comrade, who’d hold life cheap—at least any other life but their own—if it had to be snuffed out in order to further their evil ends. In a case like this it’s a whole lot better to overrate your enemy, than to think too cheaply of him. Have a pleasant time, and I’ll be back inside of a few hours. So-long!”
CHAPTER XIII
Picking Up Facts
When Jack found himself shaking hands with his newly acquired “second cousin” one keen glance seemed quite enough to tell him Mr. Casper Herriott was a man after his own heart—genial, with a warm handclasp, yet possessing a firm jaw, a keen eye, and all the marks to signify that the Government had picked out the right type of business executive when he was placed in his present position of authority at the port of Charleston.
So, too, did he appreciate the delightful lady who gave him her hand and a wise smile, as though she considered it rather amusing to thus meet a relative of her husband who had bobbed up out of a clear sky, and seemed to be such a worth-while young fellow, just the kind any lady delights to have enter her home, and meet her children.
These latter were a boy of about ten and a delightful little miss of perhaps six or seven, so pretty that Jack could hardly take his eyes off her bewitching face. He decided that of course they could not have been taken into the secret, and actually believed him to belong to their father’s family.
For some little time they sat and talked on general topics; the children presently going to bed as though their time had arrived; also expressing the wish that they would see the new relation again very soon—evidently Jack had made as favorable an impression on the youngsters as upon their parents.
Mrs. Herriott soon turned the conversation into aviation channels, as though realizing that certain information she had been desirous of obtaining along the line of the new fad might be furnished by this wide-awake young chap, who moreover, she had undoubtedly been told by her husband, was one of the brightest and most successful of the men of the Government Secret Service active roll.
Jack, being filled with knowledge pertaining to his life calling, the mastery of the air, took extreme pleasure in giving her explanations to her queries that apparently afforded the lady much satisfaction.