The Sky Pilot's Great Chase; Or, Jack Ralston's Dead Stick Landing

Perk grinned and knocked that head of his again.

“Guess you said somethin’ that time, partner. These youngsters sure have old chaps like me on the run for keeps. But I got a notion there are a few things the ol’ guys c’n still manage an’ as long as I’m able I reckon to keep goin’, with aviation my chief diet.”

“Well,” said Perk, “never give up the ship as long as you’ve got an ounce of steam left in the boiler,” and Jack turned his head once more to the supply of dry food and cold coffee that Perk had set out for his attention.

An hour afterwards he insisted on taking the controls once more. Perk, in hopes that he might be thinking of dropping down when some tempting lake came in sight, said nothing, though figuring on broaching the subject presently when the sun sank a little further toward the western horizon.

The obstreperous head wind that had delayed them for so long still hung on, though very likely it would die out at sunset. If they had failed to cover all the ground such a run might have given them, at least they were far advanced on their way.

Then something happened, for suddenly Perk missed the steady roar of the motor and on looking up discovered the ship was pointing down as though in a direct glide. His first belief was that, just as he had hoped, Jack was bent on taking advantage of an opportunity to drop down on some lake ahead.

“Goin’ to use the pontoons again, eh partner?” he called out as if to show his companion he himself had been figuring on the chances of doing that thing when to his amazement he heard Jack saying in a steady voice:

“Case of necessity – got to make a dead-stick landing – hold yourself steady now, Perk, and leave it to me!”

XVII

JACK’S DEAD STICK LANDING

Perk proved game all right – not the least bit flustrated or upset but just took it as a matter of course – an incident likely to bob up in the checkered life of any airman and with which doubtless he had himself been acquainted in days that were long since gone.

He did, however glance swiftly ahead toward the spot where in all probability, barring further accidents, the amphibian would be apt to make contact.

“Gee whiz! what born luck that guy does have!” was what flashed through his brain for what did he see before him but a sheet of water, one of those lovely little lakes over which they had passed again and again and which at all times had excited both his curiosity and his envy.

“Oh! if on’y he c’n make it,” Perk kept saying half to himself and perhaps hardly conscious of his eagerness in the matter, for only too well did he know how lessened their chances of avoiding a bad crash would be if they could hit that water harbor when they struck on a slant.

It was a critical moment for the success or failure of the entire expedition, for even though neither of them were killed outright they might be injured so seriously that the object of the flight must sink into oblivion in comparison with the task of getting the wounded one to a doctor.

Then in addition to those chances, what if their ship became totally disabled? At that distance from civilization it would be next to impossible for it to be salvaged and in consequence the costly amphibian would prove a total loss.

No wonder then, that for the brief few seconds previous to their pontoons striking, both of the chums found their hearts ceasing to beat in so far as their knowledge told them – at any rate, they held their breath in anticipation of the worst.

To be sure there was an enormous amount of splashing as though some ancient rock had chosen to alight in that little mountain lake. Once Perk was sure they must capsize and lose everything but just in the nick of time Jack cleverly shifted his position and this seemed to right the boat.

Jack had done wonderfully, considering the handicap under which he labored. The spot where they struck was about two-thirds across the lake so that it turned out they had plenty of room to glide ahead after the first rude shock was over.

The two occupants of the cabin boat turned, as if by some instinct, to grin at each other. No one, to observe their apparent indifference, would have dreamed what a close shave they had just encountered for landing with the stick absolutely inert is not the nicest thing in the world and has caused more than a few bad crashes in which life was snuffed out or at least sadly battered.

“Huh! couldn’t a done it any better myself,” remarked Perk, making a wry face as though to tell his pal to interpret those words in the light of a joke which circumstances did not bother Jack in the least. He had a high estimation of his comrade’s abilities and pluck and rather fancied Perk might be a bit better than himself in some things connected with flying. No ace is such a complete master of his calling that he has no rival worthy of the name.

“Well, we’re down, seems like,” ventured Perk after taking a survey all around the wonderful little body of sparkling icy water where they had so miraculously dropped from near the clouds.

“That part is attended to, and sooner than I had figured,” stated Jack with a shrug of his shoulders that spoke volumes.

“Say, was you meanin’ to pick out one o’ these lakes for a campin’ place tonight, eh, ol’ hoss?” demanded Perk, “’cause I had it all fixed to coax you to do that thing. Kinder hankerin’ some for a layout ashore, where we c’n have a cookin’ fire, an’ stretch our legs as we feel like.”

Jack nodded in the affirmative.

“I had that all arranged in my mind, partner,” he admitted, “but from the way things turned out, the ship didn’t mean to wait on my pleasure. You’d think she had fallen in love with this special body of water, from the hurry she was in to make it. Just the same we got off mighty lucky, boy.”

“Sure did, Jack, and now the next question is, can we hop off from here when the right time comes along?”

“No trouble about that, I reckon,” replied Jack after a quick glance around. “These steep mountains shut things in kind of tight but just remember, brother, that these are not the old days, when ships needed a half mile down-grade runway so’s to get up enough speed to be lifted from the ground and the same goes for an amphibian or seaplane.”

“Hot ziggetty dog! guess you must mean the notched wings, eh, partner?” blurted out Perk.

“Just so, and I calculate I can take her out of this hole in the mountains as slick as grease, – when we’re ready to get busy,” was Jack’s superbly confident declaration, said not as a boast, but with the calm assurance of one who knew what he was talking about.

“Wonder what did ail the boat to make that stick go dead so you couldn’t get a wiggle outen it?” Perk mused as though something brought his thoughts suddenly around to the fact that thus far neither of them had any thorough knowledge concerning this cause of the sudden forced landing.

“We’ll get around to that right away,” the other told him, “but even if we should learn what we want to know, and must find out, there’d be no reason for us to climb out of this snug nest this afternoon that I can see.”

“Bully for you, Jack, ol’ hoss, I was jest hopin’ that’d be our programme. Kinder took a likin’ for these sweet little lakes an’ wouldn’t mind spendin’ a night on the bank o’ this one. Might somethin’ turn up to give us a whirl – never c’n tell, I guess, what’s goin’ on away off here in the wilds, where two-legged critters are as scarce as hens’ teeth.”

That was the same old Perk showing his deep-seated love for action. It had grown upon him over across the big water, at the time he was with the balloon corps in France, and became a part of his very nature ever since so that he could not keep from sighing for a change whenever stagnation set in.

Accordingly Jack led the way and they began a minute examination of the stalled motor. Both of them were more or less proficient in all matters connected with airplane engines, although it seemed as though a new species of trouble was springing up every little while, requiring fresh study in order to master the problem.

A whole hour was spent in checking things up before Jack discovered what ailed the hitherto perfect mechanism in which he had come to place the most implicit confidence. He proceeded to show Perk what he had thus found out and to demonstrate the surest way to correct the fault.

“After all, that’s one on me,” Perk soon frankly admitted, “but I kinder guess you’ve solved the riddle, ol’ hoss. Next thing to find out is whether we c’n fix it out here so far from everything.”

“No great trouble about that, partner,” said Jack. “You play a while and let me dig around – not any too much room for two guys to work in and fact is I won’t need any help – if I do I’ll call you.”

“Okay with me, Jack, since our left wing jest tips the shore I guess I’ll step off an’ have a look around. Everything looks quiet enough, so mebbe there’ll be no need o’ me luggin’ that heavy machine-gun along.”

“Suit yourself about that, partner,” remarked Jack in an absent-minded way, as though his thoughts were pretty much taken up with the job he had on hand.

So Perk went ashore and began to prowl around, that being one of his customary amusements when the opportunity presented itself. He walked here and there so as to get various glimpses of the glorious sheet of water – bent down and drank his fill, remarking upon its ice-cold character, coming as it did from melting snow on the caps of near-by mountains or possibly from some hidden glacier that dated back many centuries.

All around him was a dead silence, broken from time to time by a chinking sound, made as he knew, by Jack laboring at the stubborn motor.

“Huh! seems like this might be a dead country away up here,” Perk told himself as he continued to climb around among the masses of huge rocks that in the centuries past must have rolled down the abrupt slopes. “Not a hoof or a claw movin’, when I kinder spected to glimpse a bear mebbe or it might be a panther, p’raps a Canada lynx.”

“Hey Perk!” he heard Jack calling and then came the loud staccato notes of the motor, sounding as sweet music in Perk’s ears.

XVIII

AROUND THE CAMPFIRE

The rejuvenated motor continued to sing most merrily as Perk hastened to cover the back trail leading to the ship nesting upon the quiet lake.

“Huh! I jest knew Jack could get the hang o’ things,” he told himself in high glee, “makes a big clatter I’ll tell the world, but after you’ve been forced to drop down agin your will, they ain’t nuthin’ in natur so sweet as the drummin’ o’ a ship’s motor. Some fine day mebbe we’ll have the good luck to be runnin’ a boat with twin motors, so if one kicks off the duplicate c’n carry on.”

After he joined his mate and duly examined what Jack had done, the sound of the beating motor ceased since there was no need of wasting any more juice to celebrate the happy occasion.

“That trouble will never happen again with me,” Jack was saying with grim earnestness. “I know just how it must have come about and expect to put the kibosh on any repetition.”