“I reckon you’re right there, buddy; but for the present we mustn’t have much thought for amusing ourselves—everything we do should have a decided bearing on the carrying out of our game.”
“Shore thing, boss,” agreed Perk, not at all dismayed at having cold water thrown on his high hopes; “but if so yeou happens to git a good chance to knock over a brace o’ fat mallards, in carryin’ aout the duckin’ part o’ aour program, why, there aint any crime ’baout makin’ a nice cookin’ fire ashore, be they, and havin’ real wild game fo’ supper? We gotter eat to live, yeou knows, an’ I’m right fond o’ duck, when in camp.”
Jack grinned, and shook his head, even though smiling, as if he found his chum’s specious argument unanswerable.
“We’ll leave all that to the future, brother,” he told Perk; “it isn’t always advisable to cross a stream until you come to it.”
Then he went on to reel off still more of the information passed along to him by his late host; and while many things he told may not have seemed as important in Perk’s eyes as the two just mentioned, nevertheless he tried to pay strict attention, and asked numerous questions, to convince Jack he understood all he said.
“And before we take off for a spin,” Jack added, as an after thought; “we must get all the raft of things aboard the amphibian we fetched here to use in our work. There will be other necessary stuff to pick up from time to time, as we advance along our road; for we’ve got to remember that once we make the grand getaway we’ll not see the floodlights or boundary zones of Charleston aviation field again until we’ve won our game; or come back defeated, as others have done before us, men supposed to be as clever as they make them in our particular line.”
“Then we got a big day afore us tomorrow, eh, what, partner?”
“Looks that way, buddy,” Jack lost no time in saying; “and on that account I reckon now we’d better call a halt on this talkie, and hit the hay. For one I’m about as sleepy as they make ’em, and ready to crawl between the sheets, leaving tomorrow to look after itself.”
“Meanin’ to run up an’ see the gov’nor tomorrow, any?” queried Perk, as he started to take off his shoes, and suppressing a big yawn while so doing.
“I made an arrangement to get over to his house tomorrow night, should I have further questions to put up to him,” Jack admitted. “Then again there’s always a chance of some later important news coming in from Headquarters, such as we ought to hear about without delay, since it could bring about some sort of change in our plan of campaign.”