Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

as we oe eS The Secret of Caprice ee 93 shouts of the men inside as he sprawled at full length upon it; there was a shot and then another, and he felt a red-hot twinge in his left shoulder. Instantly all was confusion around him. His own men rushed in over his prostrate form while the three inside tried to rush out. Ward tried to rise, but was thrown back by the last of his companions who stumbled into him, recovered himself, and ran on. Pandemonium reigned in the little shack. The smell of burned gunpowder made the air pungent; shots resounded from every side, and through it all curses and: shouts and cries of pain made the night hideous. Almost as*suddenly as it had begun the turmoil ceased. Ward saw that a bullet had shattered one of the lanterns, and that a stream of flaming oil was pouring over the floor, but Carl noticed it at the same time, and smothered it with handfuls of earth from the dirt floor. Then, with an odd sense of personal de- tachment, Ward realized that he was grow- ing dizzy. He felt no pain, but a weakness that he could not understand swept over him, and he closed his eyes a moment to allow the vertigo to pass He heard the movements of men around him, the sound of talking, of giving orders, of the cursing of the conquered. Then some one touched him, and he heard Carl’s anxious voice. ‘““What’s the matter, Chief?” the mechan- ician asked. “T hurt my shoulder when I knocked the door down,” Ward said. “Have we got them all?” “Tying them up now. Greiner’s all right, and—what do you think? Mr. Conway’s there, tied tight up in a bunk. They’re loosening him now. He was gagged so he couldn’t make a sound. We didn’t know he was there until he started to kick. John Drummond’s here, too.” “Thank God!” Ward exclaimed fer- vently. “I'll go—” He tried to rise, but an excruciating pain shot through his right shoulder. Involun- tarily he put his hand up to it but withdrew it quickly, looking at it with amazement in the dim glow of the lamplight. It was covered with blood. “Ask Mr. Conway to come here,’*he said. Til lie quiet until my shoulder.stops hurt- ing.” As the mechanician walked away Ward again put his hand to his shoulder and felt his coat-sleeve soaked with blood. He real- ized then what had happened. He remem- bered that, just as the door crashed in under his weight he had seen a flash of fire from ~ the window. It was Carter’s gun. The captain’s bullet had missed its mark and had shattered Ward’s shoulder. Phil Conway, stiff and sore, and rubbing himself ruefully, hurried over to him with hand outstretched. Ward half rose and grasped it warmly. - “Knew you’d stop in here sooner or later,” beamed Phil. of course, so you didn’t have time before. I’ve missed you, really. Had no idea I should ever want to see you so badly. Hello; what’s the matter?” Ward, with a moan of pain, sank back upon the dirt floor, his hand again seeking his shoulder. Phil saw the motion and put his own fingers on the spot. He drew them away quickly, with a gasp, as he felt the blood. “Oh, I say, you fellows,” he called. “Come here quickly. Mr. Fenton’s been shot. Come on! it all, hurry!” But Ward did not hear the last of the sentence. The hut and the lamps and the men about him suddenly began whirling in mad circles all about, and then complete ““You’ve been busy, . oblivion came to him as he lost conscious- ness. CHAPTER XVIII ‘| NEED YOU VERY MUCH”’ Or, A perfect September morning, with the warm sun caressing his back and the cool breeze fanning his cheek, Ward Fenton, swathed in blankets, sat in his in- valid’s chair on the lawn of the Blaydon country place on the Severn River, below Baltimore. The red clay cliffs at the lawn’s © edge fell steep and picturesque to the lap- ping waves of Round Bay, where it opened up from the river for its splendid sweep of the high shores.’ Far across the waters he could see the wooded mound of St. Helena’s Island, its fine trees flaming red and gold with the com- ing of Autumn, and, to the northwest, where the bay natrowed and became the river again the dazzling white gleam of sand banks shimmered through the haze. _Everywhere was color. The trees rioted in their changing garbs of splendor, the Eomichooks com