soon as nightfall makes it safe to get
a move on."

"That suits me fine, Jack old hoss. I'm right sick o' keepin' our nose
stuck so close to the ground--me for the high places where I c'n get my
lungs filled with clean air--this swamp stuff don't make no sort o' hit
with me, I'm tellin' you. Gosh! looky at that bunch o' measly big
pelicans flappin' their wings as they fly close to the water, headin' to
some island where they have a rookery, like as not. An' Jack, honest to
goodness if I didn't see the head an' knobby eyes o' a monster scaly
'gator stickin' up out o' the water in the lagoon jest now. Got me
goofy, this sorter thing, an' I'm asighin' for the air lanes two miles
high."

"I understand just how you feel, Perk, but hold your horses a bit. Hurry
is something we've got to fight shy of in this game of hide-and-seek
with these dangerous smugglers of the gulf coast. As smart a group of
men as we can ever claim to be, have bucked up against the gang and
dropped out of the chase--more than a few of whom have disappeared
mysteriously, and up at Headquarters it's believed they've met with foul
play. This big Mex gulf hides a heap of secrets and has ever since old
Blackbeard and that crowd of buccaneers used to sink Spanish galleons
after looting them of their gold cargo and sending hundreds of poor
wretches to a watery grave."

"I'm wise to all them facts, partner," piped up Perk, grinning amiably,
"an' I sure don't hanker after bein' sent down to that port o' missin'
men in no hurry. I'll stick it out on this line jest as long as you say
an' try to keep from grumblin'. Thar goes the last o' the rotten stuff
overboard, Boss, an' we're all clear again. While we're a'waitin' till
the last speck o' daylight slickers away, wouldn't it be right smart if
we set our teeth in some o' that fine grub I laid in, to keep us from
starvin' to death?"

"Suits me okay, buddy; suppose you trot it out and we'll pas the time
away bolstering up our strength--no telling what we may have before us
tonight if we happen to strike rich pay-dirt."

Accordingly they busied themselves with what to Perk especially was a
most agreeable occupation, for it must be confessed that the Maine lad
possessed a fairly good appetite while his capacity for storing away
good things was something close to marvelous.

So the night settled down around them--sounds indicative of a Florida
coast camping ground began to make themselves manifest--mullet jump