Adventure Magazine Cover, October 10, 1921 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

86 some of which were not at all polite but all of which were mightily interesting. And despite all discomforts, fatigue and the minor incidents and accidents which often lead fellow-travelers in the wilderness to bickering and bitterness, no friction de- veloped between the men of the North and the men of the South. Not that the Peruvians were at all obsequious or servile. They were a reck- less, lawless, godless gang, perpetually bearing themselves with the careless in- solence which had characterized them at first, blasphemous of speech toward one another— but never toward the North Americans. Disputes arose among them with volcanic suddenness, and more than once knives were half-drawn, only to be slipped back under the tongue-lashing of the hawk-nosed pun- tero Jose, who condemned the disputants completely and promised to cut out the bowels of any man daring to lift his blade clear of its sheath. Five minutes afterward the fire-eaters would be on as good terms as ever, shrugging and grinning at their passengers—particu- larly Tim, who, shaking his head dis- gustedly, would grumble: “Aw pickles! Another frog-fight gone bust!’ Yet Tim, for all his disparagement of these abortive spats, knew full well that any one of them held the makings of a deadly duel, and that Jose’s lurid threats were no mere Latin hyperbole. He realized that the red-crowned bowman ruled his crew exactly as any of the old-time buccaneers whom he resembled had governed their freebooting gangs—by the iron hand; and that though these men sailed no Spanish Main and flew no black flag, the iron-hand government was needed. He saw also that the rough-and-ready courtesy of this crowd toward their pase sengers was due largely to the attitude of Captain McKay, who had enforced their respect at the start by his soliderly bearing and retained it ever since by his military management. For the captain, experienced in directing men, conducted himself at all times as a commanding officer should; he saw all, said little, treated Jose as a subordinate officer, and left the handling of the crew entirely to him. His aloofness forestalled any of that familiarity which, with such a gang, would have led to contempt. Adventure On the other hand, his avoidance of any assumption of meddlesome authority pre- vented the irritation and dislike which free men inevitably feel for the self-important type of leader. Thus he cannily steered himself and his mates between the two rocks which might have wrecked the ex- pedition before it was well started. And Knowlton, ex-lieutenant, and Tim, ex- sergeant, seeing and understanding, fol- lowed his example. So the days and nights rolled by, the miles of never-ending jungle shore fell away behind and, save for the occasional out- breaks between members of the crew, all was serene. To all appearances the Peru- vians were whole-heartedly interested in serving their employers faithfully, and the North Americans were gliding onward with no thought of insecurity. Yet appearances frequently are deceptive. In the heat of the day—in fact, before the broiling sun neared the zenith—Tim and Knowlton habitually fell asleep inside the toldo, not to awake until two hours before sunset, when, according to the routine agreed upon, the night’s camping- place would be sought and two or three of the Peruvians would go into the bush with rifles, seeking fresh meat. McKay never slept during the day’s traverse. Nothing escaped his eye from the time when he emerged from his mosquito- net in the misty morning until he entered it again by firelight. The men in the boat; the floating alligators and wading birds of the water; the flashing parrots, jacamars, toucans, trogons, and hummers of the air; the yard-long lizards and nervous spider- monkeys of the tangled tree-branches along shore—all these he watched quietly as the boat forged on. And the sinister Francisco, watching him in turn, and the paddlers throwing occasional glances his way, came to regard him as the only alert member of the trio. Wherein they erred. The truth was that every one of the three adventurers was on his guard. Tim had not forgotten the last words of his boon companion Joao, and at the first oppor- tunity he had quietly passed on that warn- ing. Moreover, McKay and Knowlton, without discussing the matter, had medi- tated on the unexpected assistance of Schwandorf, the speed with which the crew had been obtained and the promptness of Jose to accept the first payment offered. COmiclbooks Cc C@