“Shucks, on’y a stinkin’ kiote after all, skulkin’ ’round to see if he c’n stir up a little grub o’ any kind. Get out, you varmint!” and he waved his gun above his head while starting to run forward.
This completely demoralized the cowardly prairie marauder, so that he took to his heels, and quickly vanished in the near distance. Perk found everything all right when he gave the stranded plane “the once over”; and being satisfied that there was nothing to be feared from a coyote prowling around in search of a supper or breakfast, he returned to the shack to report all well.
Jack was busily engaged making certain notes, and reading others connected with their present business, as jotted down in his memorandum book in a peculiar brand of short-hand all his own, but which would appear as so much Greek or Choctaw to any one else.
“Better turn in, and get a few winks of sleep, brother,” he told Perk, who had yawned once or twice as he sat before the fire. “I’ll wake you up in about an hour or so when you can take your turn playing sentinel, until the dawn shows up.”
“Just as you say, old hoss,” came the ready reply; “fact is, I’m a bit drowsy, an’ could get away with a few winks; but don’t forget to wake me when the hour’s up, remember.”
“That’s all right, partner,” Jack told him, laughingly; “we’re in this game thirty-thirty, and you’ll have your turn, depend on it. Now get busy, and don’t you dare snore above a whisper either.”
“If I do jest gimme a poke, Jack—tryin’ to break myself o’ that nasty habit but I got to have help, you know—no feller ain’t wholly responsible fur what he does when he’s asleep.”
In due time Jack aroused the other, and himself sought a brief period of forgetfulness in sleep. So the balance of the night passed, and morning came with a clear sky, and a promise of decent weather for the continuance of their flight.
CHAPTER XXII
OVER ARIZONA DESERTS
Perk must have dreamed about that hot coffee treat he had been promising himself, for when Jack opened his eyes he found his comrade already watching the bubbling pot, from which delightful odors were commencing to escape in the way of steam.