Perk wound up with one of his rollicking laughs; everything seemed to create merriment in his soul just now, after that royal breakfast; though perhaps he was running away ahead of the dry facts, and counting his chickens before they were hatched out of the shell. But Perk was confident the sly fox of a Slim would find himself snagged in the net one of these days, and the clever guy who handled things would turn out to be an aviator and sky detective named Jack Ralston.
Jack some time afterwards, had just aroused from a short nap, when Perk, who had been pondering and grumbling to himself, tossed out another question, as if to disclose what was troubling him:
“How about it, old hoss, do you b’lieve them dicks we left behind after they’d floated down from a high ceilin’ with their chutes, got outen the scrape, so they could a hiked to some nearby village or town, an’ took the first train headed for Orleans, reckonin’ we must a’been on the jump thisaways?”
“I’d say the chances all point that way, Perk,” Jack told him, without the slightest hesitation.
“Jumpin’ crickets! if that’s a fact why, a feller might run acrost the slick pair any old minute—meet ’em right face to face!” Perk went on to say, as if the fact gave him more or less concern.
“I suppose then you’d recognize the chappies with just one look, eh, what about that, partner?” asked Jack, laughingly; at which the other grinned a bit foolishly, to admit he had serious doubts on that score.
“Shucks! didn’t either o’ us get a peep-in at their monikers, worse luck—had them helmets and goggles in place right away, like they didn’t mean to give us a single look-in. S’pose now they got the high sign on us boys?”
“On a venture I’d say that was always possible,” replied Jack, soberly; for this very point had occurred to him, and was as yet unsettled in his mind. “Nobody knows how long they may have been in Atlanta—Mr. Adkins assured us Slim seemed to have all sorts of strings out, so as to learn in advance of any bunch of Government agents taking the field against his giant bogus money monopoly; and for all we can tell those two may have been spying on us most of the time we were around Candler Field, getting our ship ready to take to the air.”
“Rotten luck, I’m sayin’, and too much one-sided to suit me,” growled Perk, frowning savagely. “Here we got to do our work in the dark; while that smart cuss holds all the high cards in the pack, an’ c’n trump our ace any time he takes a notion.”
“No need to worry about that, comrade,” said Jack, soothingly. “You must remember that when we move along we mean to disappear as if heading into the thickest belt of pea soup fog ever seen—in that way they’ll lose all trace of us, and we can play our cards as we choose, making up for a different breed of sky travelers, so as to dope the cleverest kind of spies he can send out. While they’re left guessing what’s become of us we’ll be doing our little tracking job, and hour by hour, day after day, keep on creeping closer to their secret stronghold, wherever that may prove to be. Those are some of the things we figured on doing, Perk, don’t forget.”