Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘Then, just as I was recovering my senses and getting to my feet, the other two piled — 22 Adventure “And I, like a perfect idiot, fell right into the trap. “Oh, yes,’ I said. “ “Here’s the owner’s stateroom.’ And with that, I took them all over her until they could see plainly that there wasn’t anybody else on board. Stu- pidity, that’s all it was—crass stupidity.”’ “Still,”’ Ward reassured him, “there ap- parently was no reason why you ’ shouldn’t.’ “No. Well, we went up on deck and climbed down the ladder and then one of the men said, ‘We don’t know much about this gear. Would you mind coming over and seeing what you think the trouble is?’ “Cunning, wasn’t it? Getting me on to their boat without the slightest trouble or fuss of any kind.” “You went with them?” “Of course. I understand gears pretty well and I thought they were simply what they pretended to be—men with mechanical trouble that they did not understand. “But, fortunately, as I was walking along with the man who seemed to be the leader, I thought I heard one of the men behind us chuckle softly to himself. It seemed to make me see the whole thing in a flash. ‘Just that little chuckle made it all as plain as daylight and there I was, in a pretty quandary—eh?”’ “So you yelled for me?” “No; not at once. I stopped, trying to think just what to do to get them to the tents. I knew if you heard us coming, you would be better prepared to help, and one of us would have a chance to get Carl’s re- volver. 3 “But, the moment I stopped, they saw that I understood. The fellow I was walk- ing with turned to the others, said sharply, ‘Quick, fellows, get him now,’ and made a spring for me. “He was rather clever about it, too. His _ Jeap landed him fairly on my back with his left arm tight around my throat and his right hand over my mouth so that I could not utter a sound. But the very force of the attack really defeated its purpose, for it carried me off my feet and I fell sprawling on my hands and knees with him on top of me. So I played the old wrestling trick, bucked like a bronco and he went flying over my head, his arm nearly breaking my neck as the force of the throw tore it loose. It stunned me for the moment and made everything whirl around and I felt too dizzy to rise. on top and I went down again. One of them managed to get another strangle hold on me to keep me from yelling, I guess, and we went at it for all we were worth. It was really quite exciting for a while. ‘The leader yelled, ‘Get the gag, Matt!’ and I felt a cloth slipped over my face and down tomy mouth. I knew that that would end the whole thing, so I gave a final des- perate heave, putting the strength of my whole body into it, and managed to shake off the grip around my neck. That’s when I yelled for you.” Ward nodded grimly. “Tt’s a wonder they didn’t tap you on the head with the butt of a gun,” he said. “That would have silenced you more ef- fectually.” ‘“‘That’s the odd part of the whole affair,’ Phil replied. ped fighting against me at once. them turned quickly to the leader and cursed. “Thought you said there was only one,’ he said. ‘“That’s all I thought there was,’ the man answered, and then the other man said to the leader, ‘Shoot back, Cart; plug him.’ But the man Cart said, ‘No; I - haven’t got a gun, and besides, there mustn’t be any killing yet.’ That seemed to me— why, old chap, what’re you looking at me that way for?” He paused in surprise for Fenton was staring at him open-mouthed. “You say one of them called the leader ‘Cart’? he demanded. “Yes; I heard it plainly. Odd, too; never heard such a name before. Now ‘Carl’ is common enough, but ‘Cart’——” “Tt’s short for Carter,” said Ward. ‘‘Car- ter was the chief paid hand on Caprice.” It was Phil’s turn to stare in astonish- ment. “By gad!” he cried. ‘That simply con- firms the conclusions I had drawn from this affair. You’re sure Blaydon’s man was named Carter?” “Quite sure. Miss Blaydon and I dis- cussed him as among those possibly con- nected with the disappearance of her fa- ther.” “Did she suspect him?” “On the contrary. She declared most positively that such a supposition was pre- posterous. Carter’s father, she said, was raised and educated by her grandfather and “When you fired, they stop-. One of | (E) mm Eomicbooks