Wings Over the Rockies; Or, Jack Ralston's New Cloud Chaser

by Ambrose Newcomb

  XXI

  COMBING THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS

  Jack admitted to feeling a trifle disappointed when his talk withSuzanne afforded no signs of a clue upon which to build a structure;although truth to tell he realized how almost absurd that hope had been.

  Surely Buddy's disappearance could hardly hinge upon anything that hadever taken place in his old home town--such a cheery, companionable ladcould not have any enemies--Suzanne had not hinted at such a thing as ajealous rival in the field, who might give way to wicked thoughts.

  No, the whole occurrence must be what everybody believed--a sheeraccident, such as was liable to happen to any air pilot braving theelements day and night in the pursuit of his regular vocation. He hadgone down, so now the only trouble was to locate the scene of his mishapand, as Perk at another time had been heard to say "pick up the pieces,"meaning no offense by such a remark.

  "If you don't mind," the girl was saying shortly afterwards, "I'd likevery much to be allowed to use your glasses. I possess good vision, andperhaps the great stake I have in this search might make me argus-eyedindeed."

  "Certainly you may make use of them," Jack told her, reaching out tosecure the binoculars, showing her how to work them to meet with thebest results. "If you do happen to see something that excites yourinterest, just call our attention to it--sometimes two pair of eyes arebetter than one, you know, Miss Cramer."

  So she sat there, staring down as they moved swiftly through the realmsof space; but not too swiftly. She seemed to be trying to cover all theground possible, ever and anon lifting her gaze to sweep a look at moredistant objects.

  Again and again she would stop in her movements as if to concentrate herscrutiny upon one particular spot; Jack, watching with sympathy fillinghis heart, could imagine how the poor girl must be suffering even thoughfailing to show it. He would feel a spasm of eagerness on each occasionof special scrutiny only to lose it again as she continued her search ofthe grim countryside that was so bleak and so unpromising.

  Meantime Jack was keeping one eye on the lower heavens, with theexpectation of sooner or later discovering some far distant movingobject, that he would know must be some other air craft, doubtlessengaged in the same mission of humanity and mercy that employed alltheir own efforts.

  It turned out that he had not held these expectations in vain, for alongabout the middle of the morning such a tiny blur was discovered faraway, which grew somewhat larger as the minutes passed.

  Upon calling the girl's attention to the moving object that to theunaided eye might just as well have been set down as a wheeling buzzard,she quickly pronounced it to be a plane, sweeping at a low altitudeabove the rocky mountain peaks, as though those aboard were scrutinizingthe depths and heights that lay underneath, just as she had been doing.

  She cast frequent eager glances in that direction, while not allowingher interest in the wild terrain over which they continued to pass, toslacken. Jack could detect a certain wistfulness in the way she watched,just as though she might be wishing them all the favors of Heaven inmeeting with success.

  The ship swung around, and went off in another direction, as though thepilot might be following out certain ideas of his own. While it was yetin plain sight, though growing fainter in the lower haze, she uttered alow cry, and said excitedly:

  "Oh! look Jack, look over in the north--another ship, and a cabinbiplane at that. Do you think they are working on the same lines as therest of us?"

  Jack reached out a hand for the binoculars, and took a good survey;after which he announced that everything seemed to point that way.

  "They're keeping low down, also moving quite slowly; and if on a regularflight they would be doing neither of those things, you understand. Yes,and I have no doubt that within a hundred-and-fifty miles of this spotin every direction there are twenty--thirty such ships, large and small,with each pilot doing everything in his power to be the lucky one tofind your Buddy."

  She continued to observe the two planes as if lost in serious thought,to finally say with a little catch in her voice, for she still had theearphone harness attached to her head:

  "I wish them every success possible; for it does not matter who thelucky pilot is, every one of them will be remembered as long as I live.The only thing that counts is to find _him_--alive!"

  As if to emphasize the yearning that was in her heart the girl stretchedout both hands toward the two distant ships; and there was something sopathetic in the mute action that neither of the other would ever forget.

  Then, as though just as sanguine as ever she accepted the glasses fromJack to continue scanning the ground they were passing over, hoping tosooner or later meet with a glorious success.

  Jack himself was far from feeling the same enthusiasm--doubtless it wasbecause of his superior knowledge of the vast difficulties staring themrudely in the face; then again he did not have that true love for Buddybuoying him up, as was the case with Suzanne.

  Perk was thinking that since noon had rolled around it might be just aswell that they munched a trifle of food, so as to conserve theirstrength, with a long task ahead of them, when once again the girluttered a cry. Perk not being equipped just then with ear-phones couldnot catch what she was saying so excitedly; but at least he was able tosurmise its tenor--she had undoubtedly made some sort of discovery, forher face was marked by animation, and she kept pointing down toward somepart of the rocky country, trying to direct Jack's attention to it.

  Perk saw his chum take the binoculars and follow up the particular linein which Suzanne was pointing. Long and earnestly did he stare, with hereager eyes glued on his face. Then Jack sadly shook his head, as ifdeciding in the negative.

  Whatever it was she had seen to thus arouse false hopes his good sensetold him it was not worthy of their further investigation. Thisnaturally caused her to be bitterly disappointed, although she managedto bear up bravely, and even smiled whimsically--pitifully Perk calledit, for he was deeply interested in the wild search, and hoping with allhis heart it might turn out successful, though his good sense andtraining told him only a near miracle could accomplish this.

  None of them seemed to have much appetite save Perk, and that alwayshungry individual was never known to refuse an opportunity to treat hisclamoring "tummy" to an extra meal--Suzanne hardly touched a morsel andwhen Jack tried to persuade her that she owed it to herself to eat, sheshook her head and told him it would choke her if she did.

  Then once more was the everlasting vigil resumed--indeed, while theothers munched a snack the girl had kept the glasses almost constantlyemployed, as though under the conviction that if any slackening of herobservation came about that might prove to be the undoing of the wholescheme--a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; and ten minutesrelaxation in the way of covering the ground they were passing overmight be fatal to their success.

  Again about the middle of the afternoon she once more believed she sawsomething calling for a closer scrutiny. This time she was not soexcited as on the previous occasion, possibly taking warning; but shepressed the binoculars on Jack--Perk still handling the controls--anddirected his attention to what she believed was a smudge of smokearising from amidst the side of a steep mountain where the rocks werepiled up as though giants had been playing ten pins.

  Once more did Jack bend all his energies to figuring out what the smokecould mean; he disliked telling her it did not offer any real hope, forhe could see that it was the end of a forest fire, such as may have beentailing up the long ravine for many days, and feeding on all manner oftrash falling from the scraggy pinon trees that managed to cling to theotherwise bare walls.

  The poor forlorn girl broke down and cried bitterly when once more herhopes were dashed to the ground. Perk shook his head, and gritted histeeth, for it greatly disturbed him to hear her weeping; Jack tried tocomfort her as best he could, in a man's clumsy way. Soon the fit woreaway, and Suzanne was her own brave little self again, the look ofsublime co
nfidence once more coming into her face. And so the weary huntwent on as the sun slanted down the western heavens, with a cruel nightahead of the searchers.