Really Jack was saying this so as to comfort his mate; he realized that Perk had received a severe shock at sight of the diamondback crawler and it might affect his desire to do any prowling around after nightfall which would throw the entire burden of so doing on his, Jack"s shoulders. Besides, there was a fair chance that the snake would have withdrawn from his self-imposed task of guardian of the swamp trail and taken himself off to other pastures.
They resumed their forward progress, with Perk keeping a watchful eye out for other lurking perils--how were they to know but that an angry bobcat, bent on disputing this invasion of his tangled realm, might make a sudden spring from some limb of a live oak and land upon their backs to commence using his keen claws, tearing and stripping and snarling like a devil, such as these beasts always were reckoned in such sections of the country as he, Perk, had hunted.
Ten minutes, fifteen, pa.s.sed then Jack again caught his chum"s arm and with a finger pressed on his own lips to betoken the necessity for silence, pointed to something ahead that must have just caught his attention. And Perk, looking, saw a sight that afforded him a sense of satisfaction both deep and profound.
CHAPTER XXI
THE MYSTERIOUS COQUINA SHACK
"Hot Ziggetty! so _this_ is where he dropped down, is it?" Perk was muttering in subdued excitement as his astonished eyes fell upon a plane bobbing on its pontoons in a sheltered little cove, "meet that spruce Lockheed-Vega bus, partner, that clipped past away over our heads, an"
the woozy pilot never dreamin" our crate was within a hundred miles o"
him. Kinder guess the pirate roost must lie around here somewhere."
"That"s a dead sure thing, Perk," whispered Jack, "and chances are it"s hid in the midst of that live-oak clump yonder, where I take it the land lies high and dry."
"I swan but this is gettin" real excitin" an" suits me okay," breathed the duly thrilled Perk, who felt there was no longer any reason for calling things tame.
"By changing our base a bit," suggested Jack almost as equally pleased over their success as his nervous chum, "we might even be able to get a squint at the shack, let"s try, buddy."
He lost no time in creeping inch by inch along toward the right, having apparently figured out that such a course would give them a better all-around opportunity to gratify their curiosity.
It proved to be a wise move for presently they managed to glimpse what seemed to be the corner of a small cottage, built of coquina rock and altogether attractive in appearance, proving that the Big Boss never hesitated to spend money when he could secure results.
"Huh!" gurgled Perk, stretching his neck so as to see better through the narrow opening that served them as a lookout, "some toney, strikes me, considerin" the desolate country round-about this section. Must be his high-hat tastes foller him, no matter where he goes--sorter dude, I"d call him, partner."
"That may be," agreed Jack, "I understood he ran in that groove but just the same they say this Kearns is a real he-man an" can put up a warm sc.r.a.p when necessary--the dude racket is only a thin veneer hiding the genuine article. I was warned never to let him get a chance to beat me to the draw--some call him a rattlesnake, only he lacks that reptile"s honesty in always giving warning when about to strike. Don"t forget, Perk, in dealing with this slick article you"ve got to be on your guard every minute of the time."
"Glad you told me that, Jack, I might a"been fooled, an" treated him as a soft guy. Looky thar, will you, boy--two--three fellers jest swarmed out o" the shack an" gone into a huddle like they had some sorter game to set up. Wonder now if one o" the bunch could be _him_!"
"I reckon not, Perk," came in a low tone from Jack, whose head was only a few inches away from the other"s, "none of them answer the description that was given to me. I even saw a snapshot taken of several society folks in front o" his Miami castle, with him standing in the center. One of this lot"s the flying man connected with that crate--you can see he"s still wearing his greasy dungarees and has his helmet on his head, like he expected to be hopping-off any minute now; a second chap is short and thick, not at all like the one we"ve come so far to buck up against, while the third, while tall, looks like a roughneck skipper of a speedboat."
"Guess you hit the nail on the head, Jack," muttered the convinced Perk, for they were at some little distance away from the consulting trio, and their whispers could never have been heard with the dead leaves on nearby palmetto trees keeping up their harsh clashing when whipped by the gusts of wind.
Both of the spies must have had a host of speculations pa.s.sing in review through their active minds as they lay there watching the conspirators so earnestly talking and gesticulating. From time to time Jack and his chum would cast further glances in the quarter where the trim aircraft lay anch.o.r.ed, bobbing up and down like a restive horse eager to be off.
What did they fetch on their voyage through the upper air lanes, coming from some unknown port--hardly "case stuff," Jack told himself, since s.p.a.ce aboard the Lockheed-Vega crate would be limited--then it must be either yellow c.h.i.n.ks trying to crash the gates of the country that banned some of their race as undesirable aliens, or possibly the winged courier carried a batch of precious stones from far-away Paris, forwarded in a round-about, surrept.i.tious way and intended to reach a ready market in the wealthiest country in the world, of course, without paying the usual heavy customs duty--which saving alone would likely reach well into six figures.
The trio seemed to have finished their discussion, whatever its nature might have been, for they sauntered down to the edge of the water where the man in the dungarees proceeded to embark by means of a small boat that he could leave secured to the mooring rope of the amphibian when he took off.
"Making off to pick up another cargo, I reckon," Jack ventured. "And so this is where our friend has his secret hideout at such times when he so mysteriously disappears from his big show place near Miami? Mighty interesting, I"d call it and the chances are he"s been keeping up this double play racket for many months, perhaps even for years, for he came to Florida not long after the war, fishing for tarpon down around the Ten Thousand Islands where we lay concealed lately."
"But what"s the big idea, partner?" Perk wanted to know--"why under the sun does he play both ends o" this queer game--what"s the sense o" his havin" this wee shack in the wilderness when he could carry on his racket just as well on the eastern sh.o.r.e?"
"Just because he fancies the idea of keeping his two personalities as far apart as possible, Perk. Uncle Sam"s Coast Guards, revenue officers and even Secret Service men fairly swarm around Miami most of the year so they"d be apt to make it more or less unpleasant for the elegant Oswald Kearns in his society functions if he had his pals dodging in and out of his princely palace. He prefers to drop over here in this desolate place instead when he has a lot of business to transact. He"s a wonder, all right, in his double line, Perk, and not to be underrated, understand."
"Seems that way, partner," grumbled the other quickly adding, "there goes the Lockheed-Vega spinnin" out o" the lagoon to the open lake so"s to get up enough speed for the take-off. Must be somethin" mighty special to coax that pilot to risk bein" seen in open daylight. So he used to fish in them pa.s.sages "tween the mangrove islands years ago, did he, Jack?"
"Sure did, and they told me his guide some years ago down there used to be a notorious smuggler and gulf-stream pirate, no other than Jim Alderman, right now in the jug over at Fort Lauderdale on the eastern sh.o.r.e and waiting to get a hempen collar for murdering three law officers in August two years back. Of course, he hadn"t started his real career of crime when he used to be a guide for Roosevelt, Zane Grey, the writer, and some other famous sportsmen."
"Do tell," murmured Perk, duly thrilled by what his pal was telling him concerning one of the most turbulent characters known along the Florida coasts since those days of old when buccaneers like Blackbeard, Gasparilla and others of their ilk roamed the subtropical waters and swarmed aboard such unfortunate Spanish galleons as chance threw their way.
"I wouldn"t be surprised," Jack went on to whisper, "if he goes under quite another name while over in this hideout and even manages to alter his looks more or less. He"s capable of playing many parts if he"s half as good an actor as I suspect. But we"ll be apt to know a heap more before a great while slips by."
"There he goes, Jack, swingin" off toward the east in the bargain, but then it"s just as easy for a flier to strike across the lower end o"
Florida, if the notion strikes him, day or night. Crates are gettin" to be a common sight these days down here. I read they expected to have a full hundred at Miami this very winter, takin" part in a big air derby that"s scheduled to be pulled off."
They watched the other two men walk back and enter the coquina bungalow and a little later Jack was saying:
"Strikes me we"d better pull up stakes and clear out of this, Perk, don"t forget we"ve got to pa.s.s that rattlesnake cove on the way back, and for one, I"m not so keen about doing it in pitch darkness."
"Don"t get me goofy, partner," whimpered Perk with a shudder. "But hold on a bit--mebbe now somethin"s a"goin" to strike up we"ll both be sorter glad to set eyes on--looky there, old hoss, what do you see?"
CHAPTER XXII
THE MAN OF MANY FACES
A man had come out of the odd-looking shack constructed from the coquina rock found in different parts of Florida, and formed by insects, science has decided. Neither Jack nor his companion had ever set eyes on him before, he was an entirely different personage from the short party and the longer-limbed man they had so lately been watching before the reckless pilot of the Lockheed-Vega plane departed toward the east.
This individual was also tall and was dressed in well-worn outing garments that gave him the appearance of a man of leisure taking a day off.
"Think that"s this here Kearns, partner?" whispered Perk, eagerly.
"Just who it must be, Perk," came the cautious reply. "Be careful about making any sort of little move that might catch his attention, and keep your eyes fastened on him. Whatever under the sun is he doing, I wonder?"
"Looks to me he"s got some sorter bird there--I c"n see red feathers--yep, that"s what it is for a fact, Jack!"
"Working over a bird with red feathers," said Jack, as if to himself, so low was his voice. "Now, that makes me remember something I was told only a short time back--something connected with that wonderful place he owns over on the East Coast--about birds too--stuffed birds, in fact!"
"Do you mean he"s got a collection there, Jack?" breathed the intently watching a.s.sistant in his companion"s ear.
"Just that," came the ready reply, "a mighty fine collection too, from all accounts, of native Florida birds and filling a number of gla.s.s cases. We already know this party is a man of contradictory habits, being one thing among society people and just the opposite when he gets in a different atmosphere. Chances are he"s a pretty fine amateur taxidermist--those birds have all been secured by himself and mounted in the bargain--that when he drops out of sight around Miami it"s to come over here to do some hunting in the swamps and the Everglades, eager to run across some rare bird that he needs to make his collection complete."
"Now wouldn"t that jar you?" he gasped, vastly astonished at hearing Jack air his conviction.
"I"m not much of an authority on rare birds," Jack admitted softly as he continued to use his eyes to advantage, "but I"ve got a hunch that skin he"s handling right now might be a roseate spoonbill--I"m sure it isn"t a red ibis, for the bill seems different."
"Whee! sounds queer to me, I must say Jack--such a man, such a man--to play so many different parts! Say, d"ye know I kinder guess he ain"t such a tough guy under all the varnish--must have a heap o" human natur"
under it all to fall for such a decent game as taxidecentry or whatever you call this pluggin" dead birds an" makin" "em sit up on boughs like they might be all to the good!"
"Put it mostly on that war experience he went through, Perk--they say once a man was ga.s.sed pretty badly over there, he"d always prove to be a queer fish--changeable, nervous and apt to do all manner of strange things."