Trackers of the Fog Pack; Or, Jack Ralston Flying Blind — Story, Setting & Ideas

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In Category - Childrens Adventures

Authors: Newcomb, Ambrose Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2014 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Detective and mystery stories; Air pilots -- Juvenile fiction; Aeronautics -- Juvenile fiction; Secret service -- United States -- Juvenile fiction Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 56,015

Reading time 244 min

Text sections 30

For Trackers of the Fog Pack; Or, Jack Ralston Flying Blind — Story, Setting & Ideas, the stored edition analysis reports 56,015 words, 4 hr 4 min estimated reading time, and 30 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 29.1 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Detective and mystery stories,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #45973

Ambrose Newcomb's 1931 aviation adventure opens with Jack Ralston and Perk in San Diego, then strands them up a tree besieged by a silver-tip bear. The excerpts show how the story balances aerial mystery with grounded survival, using Perk's dialect and Jack's steady voice to guide readers through a series of escalating predicaments.

Editorial Edition Score 4.8/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg45973

Read the Text

Perk were trusted members of Uncle Sam's wide-flung Secret Service organization; and on account of their clever and conscientious work, often entrusted with some of the most dangerous and difficult missions engaging the attention of the high "muck-a-muck" (Perk's definition) authorities at Washington Headquarters.

"What puts you in the dumps so, Perk?" Jack was asking, after noticing for the tenth time what a frown had settled on his chum's usually smiling phiz. "Dinner knocking harder than customary; or did you get a letter from your best girl, breaking off the engagement? Strikes me you're fast becoming a chronic crêpe-hanger these days."

"That's all hot air--boloney I'd call it, as yeou know right well, Jack!" Perk flung back. "Chow was all to the good--ain't got nary a best gal, an' never did have, neither--they're all rank pizen to me. Guess again, Mister."

"Then what _does_ ail you, boy--something gone wrong with your plans--can I do anything to ease the strain? I'd go a long way to get you out of that black look, partner; you're worrying me a heap I allow."

The other stopped short on Main Street's pavement, and looked his companion straight in the face, actually smiling a bit in the bargain.

"Yeou _would_ do jest that, ole pal, wouldn't yeou? I know I'm a tarnel fool to get stewed like this," he burst out; "an' orter be ashamed--I'm meanin' to kick outen it right away. Fact is, it's the same ole story, Jack--I'm gettin' fed up by things goin' too smooth. Guess it's in the blood--my Yankee ancestors they was all men o' action, doers o' things that called fur courage an' double risk. They set their seal on me, seems like; fur ever since I was a kid I've been on the hunt fur adventure by land an' sea; yeah, an' o' late years, in the air besides. That's all I gotter say; but blood'll tell ev'ry time."

"Well," remarked Jack, looking much relieved it could be seen. "I more than half suspected this, Perk; but cheer up--the longest lane must have its turning. Meanwhile we're getting our regular pay from our Uncle Samuel, remember!"

"But not earnin' a red cent, jest the same, which is what upsets me most," continued the complaining one. "Makes me feel like I'm sorter pensioned off, an' ain't worth the snap o' my fingers to the Service. Huh!"

"Nonsense, boy, that's a silly way of looking at things. We're just resting up after that difficult job we pulled off, with the help of the Mounted Police, far away up in Northwest Canada.[1] That successful flight, and arrest, earned us a vacation, our superiors believe; which I for one have enjoyed immensely. Now I'm feeling fine, and fit for the next commission the Big Boss decides to hand out to us."

"Hot-diggetty-dig! then I sure hopes it drifts this way right quick," Perk eagerly observed. "I kinder guess them racketeers an' their crowd o' bootleggers must a got things mighty near sewed up, when the Department lets us loaf away our time out here on the Gold Coast. If it keeps on we'll be apt to forget heow to handle a ship, an' get air shy--neow _wouldn't_ that same be a tough joke on us poor guys?"

"Little danger of such a thing coming to pass, Perk--it's a whole bit like swimming--once you learn how to keep afloat it's good for a life-time."

"Mebbe so, Jack--I got a hunch it's the same way with ridin' a bike used to be--first few days yeou felt stiff in all yeour joints, ev'rything out o' kelter; but when a chump got used to guidin' the skittish wheel along it came as easy as fallin' off a log. Honest Injun, neow, Jack, ain't yeou any idea when we're apt to grab an order to get goin' again?"

"Any old day I'm looking for the same, Perk."

"Gosh! that don't strike me as givin' much encouragement, partner," Perk told his mate, aggrievedly.

"I wrote in ten days ago," Jack went on to say, quietly, "to say our ship was in first-class condition, while we were on deck, waiting for orders."

"Bully for yeou!" snapped Perk, brightening up visibly, as though, like a war horse at the scent of burnt powder making his nostrils quiver with anticipation. "I'm right neow yearnin' to set eyes on a different landscape than sleepy ol' San Diego, an' slow towns borderin' on the same."

Perk only stated a truth when he referred to his adventurous life. He was considerably older than his running mate, having been over in France when only eighteen years of age, handling a sausage balloon on the fighting line, and running into numerous close corners, having been shot down at least twice.

Continue Reading →

The first chapter, 'Perk Sighs for Action,' establishes a pattern of contrast that runs through the excerpts: sunny San Diego is described in leisurely detail, yet Perk—introduced as 'this grumbler amidst such perfect surroundings'—immediately signals impatience. The narrative voice, formal in exposition but colloquial in dialogue, shifts quickly from tourist-brochure calm to the urgency of a bear siege. By Chapter XVII, the same bear has pinned the pair in a tree for over half an hour, and the tone has become claustrophobic and comic by turns. New readers should note how the author uses Perk's dialect ('some stickin'-plaster,' 'tent aout') to inject humor into tense situations, while Jack's measured replies ('Keep quiet, and don't do anything to stir him up') anchor the scene. The excerpts give no hint of the 'Fog Pack' or 'flying blind' promised by the title, so the ground-level ordeal may be a detour or a setup for aerial action to come.

A Slow-Building Opening

The opening chapter devotes several paragraphs to San Diego's balmy breezes and tourist throngs before introducing Perk as 'one individual sauntering along Main Street' who does not share the general joy. This leisurely pace contrasts with the series' earlier titles—The Sky Detectives, Eagles of the Sky—which promise immediate airborne action. Instead, Newcomb uses the first pages to re-establish Jack and Perk as 'trusted members of Uncle Sam’s wide-flung Secret Service organization,' a recap likely aimed at new readers. The dialogue that follows is sparse; the narrator tells us Perk 'sighed for action' rather than showing him in it. This slow burn may test readers expecting a quick takeoff, but it also sets up the bear encounter as a sudden escalation from idleness to peril.

Perk's Voice and Jack's Calm

The excerpts reveal a clear division of roles through dialogue. Perk speaks in a heavy dialect ('Gee whiz! he sure is some wheeze, I’d say, Jack'; 'What if the ole geezer takes a notion to tent aout here at aour tree'), while Jack uses standard English and a reassuring tone ('Oh! let’s hope it doesn’t turn out so serious as all that'). This pairing is a staple of adventure fiction, but Newcomb gives Perk more than comic relief: his complaints about numbness and slow starvation ground the danger in physical discomfort. Jack’s warnings—'Keep quiet, and don’t do anything to stir him up more than he is already'—show him as the strategist. Readers can watch how this dynamic plays out when the action shifts from the tree to the air, if the later chapters deliver on the title's promise of flying blind.

The Bear as a Narrative Device

The silver-tip bear is not merely an obstacle; it becomes a timer and a tension gauge. The excerpts track its behavior in detail: it 'moved around the base of the tree, now on all fours, and again raising up to his full height with ferocious growls.' Perk’s fear of a prolonged siege—'What if the ole geezer takes a notion to tent aout here at aour tree'—turns the animal into a threat of slow starvation rather than a quick mauling. Jack’s worry that the bear will interfere with 'any sort of business' hints that the pair have a mission beyond survival. The bear’s persistence also forces the reader to wonder how the story will resolve this standoff without violating the rules of the setting: no convenient rescue appears in the excerpts, and the characters have no tools or weapons mentioned. The resolution, when it comes, may test the story’s commitment to plausibility.

What the Title Promises vs. What the Excerpts Deliver

The full title—Trackers of the Fog Pack; Or, Jack Ralston Flying Blind—suggests aerial pursuit and obscured vision, yet the excerpts are entirely earthbound. The 'Fog Pack' does not appear; the only fog is metaphorical, in the sense that the characters are trapped without a clear escape. The phrase 'flying blind' might refer to a later incident, or it could be a metaphor for acting without full information—a state Jack and Perk certainly experience while treed. Readers should note that the excerpts cover only the first seventeen chapters of thirty, so the airborne elements likely dominate the second half. The bear siege may be a prelude, establishing the duo’s resourcefulness before they face a more sophisticated adversary. The contrast between the ground-level ordeal and the sky-bound title is itself a clue to the story’s structure: the heroes must survive the wilderness before they can take to the air.

These excerpts offer a narrow window into a longer work, but they reveal a writer who builds tension through physical detail and character contrast. Perk’s dialect and Jack’s composure create a familiar but effective partnership, while the bear siege shows Newcomb’s willingness to slow the plot for a set piece. Readers who enjoy the survival sequence may find the aerial chapters equally methodical; those eager for the 'Fog Pack' mystery should be patient. The story’s full arc—from San Diego streets to a tree in the wilderness to whatever skies await—remains to be discovered in the remaining thirteen chapters.

That same feeling of being caught between danger and wonder—Jack up that tree with the bear below—kept circling back to a quieter memory of the Ohio River nights. There's something about those old stories, like The River Motor Boat Boys on the Ohio; Or, The Three Blue Lights — Background and Themes, where the dark water holds its own kind of waiting. I found myself thinking about that long after closing the page.