“Yes, I know you like a book,” Jack told him with a smile.
“Get a bellyfull when you had that confab with Mr. Adkins?” demanded Perk.
“I’m filled up to the brim with all kinds of material, which by degrees I’ll have to sort out, keeping only what strikes me as essential,” came the answer.
“I see—sorter separatin’ the chaff from the wheat,” mused Perk; “an’ if it’s a fair question, old hoss, which way do we head when we take off?”
“You might call it due northeast,” Jack told him; and then, as his companion uttered a startled exclamation, as though vastly surprised, Jack gave a quick glance around as if to make certain that no one was dogging their footsteps, after which he lowered his voice almost to a whisper, to add: “but that would be only for a blind, in case hostile eyes were watching our departure from the flying field; for after we’ve cleared a dozen or more miles we can make a complete circle, and point the nose of our boat squarely west!”
“Good boy!” snapped the relieved Perk; “sounds a heap more like it. You sure did throw a big scare into me, Jack, ’cause it’d been ’bout settled ’tween us that the game had ought to be played out there in the boundless waste spaces around the border.”
“Yes, everything points that way so far,” he was assured; “but no more talkie at present, Perk—we’ll keep bottled up until inside four walls, where no spy can steal our thunder. Slim’s knocked the underpinning away from a bunch of fine schemes looking to his undoing, simply by finding out what the big game happened to be, and then bursting the bubble by a scoop. We don’t intend to dish our business that way if it can be helped.”
“Wall,” drawled Perk, with his best Yankee effect, “guess not if we know our stuff, an’ c’n roll our hoop.”
As they walked along toward their hotel Perk kept up a constant lookout, as though endeavoring to make some more or less thrilling discovery—never a man, black or white, did they meet but that he was made the object of a severe scrutiny by the suspicious one; however, they reached their objective without his having run across any reason for making a decision; and shortly afterwards they were securely lodged in their room, the door locked, and a couple of easy chairs inviting them to take things comfortable, which they lost no time in doing, being wearied from so much trotting about—flying men as a rule not enjoying a reputation for pedestrian feats.
A long and serious confab followed, both speaking in low tones; Jack on his part explained the mass of information he had accumulated, and answered the flood of questions asked by his comrade, as well as he was able; until he found a chance to go deeper into things himself he could not make definite statements concerning a number of points that were a bit hazy, and needed confirmation.