Adventure Magazine Cover — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

su dden mW, y yes, of course, ” said she with the air of one impatiently recalling an unim- ~ portant item. ““Well—you see I left the watch as usual, _ busy stoking, and found them—all dead. , “What!” “Ves, dead. Lying about there with the shovels and rakes in their hands as if they’d all gone to sleep suddenly. Just the same as the people we found in the saloon.” - Already made nervous by the double happening, Vi started at the swift patter of shoes on the companion stairs. A sharp cry was followed by the slap of feet on deck. They both turned in time to see Chi Loo dart out of the door, flit across the deck and » up the bridge ladder. “What on earth!” began Carnell. “Look! The face in the port!” ejaculated Vi, arresting the Second by clutching his arm and pointing with the other. 2 From the companion door projected a long, hairy arm surmounted by the head of an ape, which, grimacing, vanished. CHAPTER X AS SOON as the ape had disappeared, Chi Loo descended apparently as calm _as if nothing had ever occurred to ruffle his bland serenity. “Chi Loo wolk; make tiffin,” he explained. “Wild man catch um. No got nice knife; Chi Loo mus’ go velly quick.” “But where did he come from?” demand- ed Vi, glancing at the companion door. “No know. He come long. Chi Loo go ~ catch um.” “But he’ll tear Chi;Loo to pieces,” “Won t he?” queried Vi. “Ves. Wait here, Chi Loo,” SBeamaeeded ~ Carnell, ‘and I'll get a revolver. There’s two in the chart-house.” The last words reminded Vi of her uncle. “Oh, poor uncle!” she murmured. “But, _ Mr. Carnell, the orang-outan couldn’t have killed him, could it? Nor the other people? =e — .T can’t understand it. They strangle, don’t S-eee Ne se e3 ae “Ves, I think so. But we must find out. Se - Will you go on the bridge and keep a look- e: out, Miss Kelvett? Steet f0E ’a’d there and we'll hunt up this beast. a ao = eet 23 Lee, pee and call the inen} savvee?” Till rouse the crew. _ parted. For once Vi obeyed. eked question. He The horizon was as deserted as usual. Auto-— matically she lighted a cigaret and leaned over the rail, pondering on the death of her uncle—which was evidently caused by the same medium as those of the crew and passengers—and wondering what signifi- cance that ‘ape could have. An ape strangles or at any rate uses its terrible paws. The victims had died all together. Impossible, she decided, to con- nect the deeds with a brute. Suddenly she recollected the bite on the arm of the little girl. That undoubtedly was done by the ape, but even then that offered no further solution of the mystery. Even supposing that the beast’s teeth were poisonous—and she had never heard that they were—he could not have bitten them all simultaneously. Absurd. What, then? And that voice singing hymns at night. That couldn’t have been the ape. Had he, the singer, been Selwyn drunk? Had the orang-outan already killed him? It appeared ferocious; and any man unarmed would be like a doll in those great, hairy arms. Some of her natural resistance seemed to have evaporated. She suddenly felt weak and helpless; unable to cope with something that appeared to be coiling around them; indeed, it seemed as if the ship were haunt- ed. “Rot!” she muttered at the thought. There must be an explanation. But whatever that was that wouldn’t be of much use if they were all going to be done to death. She saw Chi Loo emerge from the fore- castle followed by the five men who were left of the crew. The little sea-lawyer - Gregory was at the head, arguing excitedly about something. The second mate, who was waiting on the break of the bridge, “hailed them. “Ere, mister,”’ demanded Gregory,“ wot’s this chink gassing about a bleedin’ mon- key?” “Listen, men,” said Carnell, “something serious has happened. There appears to be an orang-outan loose on board. From what Chi Loo says the beast appears to be dan- gerous. It’s gone below and——” “W’ere’s the Old Man?” queried one man at the back. “Now be quiet a moment and listen,” . ~~ a —— = ~ me ae as -co faniicele 0)(0) =e Se as oe - ~ a 5 eee OE eee ey SSE ee cto. “(Me wee assented Ci ise and de- PEs: ®