ry
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, passed 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 g