“Quack—quack—quack—quack!”
Perk chuckled at the clever way Jack imitated the outcry of a startled feathered pilgrim from the Far North—old shooter as he was, Perk felt confident he himself would have been deceived did he not know whence the sounds proceeded.
He listened intently, hoping they might not be disappointed in their expectations. There came an answering call from a point close by—it gave Perk a positive thrill—then Jethro must have already arrived, spurred on by his burning desire to pay his debt of hatred long since over due.
Jack waited a dozen seconds, after which he again sent out his call, repeating the first one exactly—four quacks.
“Gee whiz! somepin’s amovin’ over yonder, matey!” whispered the excited Perk, as they peered through openings in the leafy curtain by which the airship was so deftly concealed.
“I see it,” answered Jack, also feeling a thrill of satisfaction, in that their great scheme gave positive indications of being about to start off with a bang. “It’s some sort of boat okay—too dark yet to tell just what shape the same may be. There, it’s coming out of hiding now.”
“An’ a powerboat in the bargain—Jethro’s crate, I shore reckons; but hot-diggetty-dig! see haow fast she’s a headin’ thisaway, yet yeou caint ketch even a ripple, or hear the exhaust one teeny bit. A ghost boat, I’d call her, partner, blamed if I wouldn’t.”
Jack chuckled as if amused.
“Mr. Herriott put me wise about that,” he explained, softly. “It’s one of the big improvements Uncle Sam brought about in that old craft, in order that it could do the work so much better—and safer. You see, the overboard motor that’s been installed in place of the old one is up-to-date, and has its exhaust away down deep, so it can swing along without any of the racket most power-boats kick up. It’s used a great deal by fishermen, who troll for game-fish, and would expect but scant captures if their boat kept spluttering away as the old type used to do. Get that now, Wally?”
“Jest what I do, ole pal; an’ say, aint it won-der-ful what things they’re inventin’ these days—talk ’bout there bein’ nawthin’ new under the sun, why, hardly a day slips past that we doant hear or read ’baout stunnin’ discoveries. That certain is a happy thought. But here he is, clost to us, pard.”