The fire was now burning brightly so that the whole immediate vicinity seemed lighted up. Jack involuntarily cast an inquisitive eye in the direction where the stranded ship lay with one wing dipping in the river. So familiar had long acquaintance with the various models of flying boats made Jack, that as a rule it required only a single glance to tell him the make of any ship he was seeing for the first time.
“A single-seat open-cockpit Stinson-Detroiter, if I know my onions,” he was telling himself, “and I’ll be hanged if I ever did know of the mail being carried in these days aboard one of those older types of craft. Looks like it had been used more or less in the bargain. I understood, somehow or other, that Buddy Warner was using a cabin ship—but he might have changed over to this for some reason.”
Still this fact was perhaps the entering wedge that started a dim suspicion in Jack’s mind so that after entering the small boat and having Perk wield the dumpy paddle, he eyed the waiting figure of the wrecked pilot as if making some sort of decision.
Just then Perk gave one of his queer grunts and in a husky whisper that barely reached the ears of his chum went on to say:
“Jack, would you b’lieve me, that there ain’t our Buddy a’tall—never did set eyes on this here youngster, for a fact. Hot ziggetty dog! now ain’t that the rottenest luck ever?”
Jack made no reply, but Perk’s discovery only justified the suspicion that had been forming in his own mind. Then they had had their drop into the canyon all for naught—at least so far as the discovery of the missing air-mail pilot was concerned.
True, the other was in something of a predicament, but he did not seem to be seriously injured and when another day dawned his need of assistance would surely be discovered by those connected with the big hotel, so that after all his troubles were only for a brief while.
Still, they had made the swoop and being on hand it would hardly seem decent and courteous for them to hold back, when possibly they could be of more or less help.
This being the case, Jack held his own counsel and made no answer to Perk’s show of disappointment that almost bordered on resentment He stepped out of the boat on to the sand when the bobbing craft grounded and waited for Perk to toss the rope to him so their clumsy craft might not yield to the wooing of that treacherous current and pass down-stream, leaving the pair of them marooned.
Now that he found himself close to the stranger, Jack could see that he appeared to be a mere wisp of a lad. His helmet was on his head, with the goggles pushed up, he wore what seemed to be almost new dungarees for they had a fresh appearance in startling contrast with those he and Perk wore over their other clothes to take up all the grease and oil that of necessity must be met with aboard any ship that required a motor for propelling purposes.