Adventure Magazine Cover — page 110: what you’re looking at

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

ee ee eee Face.” 100 “And an hour later, when the inland peaks were softening with the new day, there came out of the south the Luzon and her cohorts—their probescis-like prows throwing spray so that it glittered in the morning sun like a god’s fistful of jewels. In fan-shape formation they spread out in front of the harbor entrance. And when the opposing fleet did show up, it never stopped turning a wheel, but steamed by, far out at sea. The prize wasn’t worth the effort. “Atoonyak we landed at Point Barrow again; made a special trip to de it, in fact. And when he and his interpreter were going over the side, the latter, carrying the mys- tery-box, slipped. The box struck the gang- way steps and split open. And what do you suppose slid into the sea? “Phonograph records! “Yes, sir, that old spell-weaver had made the entire ‘trip to the States for the sole THROWING Adventure purpose of getting for his people one of the white man’s magic boxes and recerds. And, moreover, he had gone clear to Washingten to get them: thinking, doubtless, that such pewerful medicine must ef necessity come only from headquarters. It had taken him weeks to make the trip. Perhaps he had been shrewdly waiting at Pert Townsend until the bustle of our getting under way told him the time was oppertune to beard us for the return trip. “When he saw his records vanish he would have jumped after them. And then he wanted to embrace Captain Millete when the latter ordered the entire collection of records for the ward-room machine given to him. ~ “Somewhere up north of the Arctic Circle tonight he’s probably doing his shimmying incantations for his peace goddess to the jazziest tunes ever canned!” THE FACE by Thomas S. Miller O KILL your enemy without shedding blood is the motive behind most of the bad ju-ju or charms of West Africa. To spill bleod is to spill the life— release the spirit, that is; and spirits lurk around to take horrible revenge. So the black tries to rid himself of his enemy by charming sickness on him. | Of these charms none are held in deeper horror and terror than “Throwing the The victim becomes aware that a face has been thrown on him by rong a face everywhere he goes. Probably his enemy has let him know he has thrown the face and his fears do the rest. Anyway he begins to see a face in places where a face would not ordinarily be—on the thatch of his hut, on the walls, in his mealie pot, in the bush—indoors and out of doors, day- time and night-time, a little way offi— always a little way off, neither coming near- er nor going farther. Not a fancied face— a picture in the air—but a real flesh-and- blood face Go where he will, look in front or look behind, the face is always there where he looks. A great horror of it possesses him. He — sick. He grows so sick he wants to die. And that is the way it generally ends—in suicide, which gives the charmer the laugh on him, for he will meet that face in the next world. He can not get away from it. It would be no good to hunt down his charmer and kill him, even if the charmer didn’t take special care to keep away—go off on a visit to another tribe till his victim has com- mitted suicide; it is no good killing the charmer, for that person himself can not re- move the curse; for when he put the charm on the other, something of himself went with it. For that reason the curse is used only in cases of great rage or terrible injury and mad hatred. Eomicbooks Cor