Adventure Magazine Cover — page 150: what you’re looking at

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

140 “ ‘Thank the Lord!’ I said. “TI shouldn’t have said that, of course. But I felt so relieved, so thankful, I couldn’t help myselt. But old Brinkman was mad. Oh, my! «“ ‘You hard-baked devil, you!’ he said. ‘It makes you happy to see my poor little girl suffering! You vampire! You ghoul! You infernal brat of original sin!’ “But I didn’t mind. I was too excited to listen. “ ‘Now or never!’ I said, pulling him along with me. ‘Ever and forever. We have got to have a death-bed marriage!’ “You everlastingly —— son of Satan!’ said old Brinkman. “But I didn’t mind. I pulled him along. “* “Now is your chance!’ I said. ‘Now is the appointed time. Now or never! The opportunity that will never come again!’ It was so excited I talked like a coe evangelist. ~ “She was in the saloon. Joe was there and the steward was there. She was in a bad way, sure enough. She was pale and so weak she could hardly lift her eyelids. I tiptoed over to her and looked her over carefully. No, she was not at all good-look- ing. Joe was right. I tiptoed back to the rest of them. “ “Hush? I said. “She is in a bad way. She is dving. She has a tumor on the brain. She has all the symptoms—faintness, pres- sure in the brain, and spells of vomiting. She can’t live the night out. One of my sweethearts died of it. I know,’ said I. “‘TIsn’t there anything we can do?’ said her old man. He was trembly. He evi- dently thought I was handing him the gospel. “ ‘Nothing,’ I said solemnly, ‘except to grant her dying wish‘and pray for her soul.’ “T tiptoed over to her, bent over her, and tiptoed back again. “ “Hush! I said, holding up my hand for silence. ‘She says she loves you, Joe, and wishes to marry you before she dies.’ “““Ne?’ said Joe and edged toward the door. : “* ‘Joe,’ I said, ‘we all know she loves you. Joe, if you don’t grant her last wish in this world you are a scoundrel and a quitter. You have accepted her attentions in life and now you would desert her at the door of death! Joe,’ I said, ‘if you leave her now I never want to set eyes.on you again in this Adventure world, and if I see you in the next you will be burning in ——! ‘I was so excited that the tears ran down my cheeks. Old Brinkman was crying like an old woman and the steward was sniveling into a dirty handkerchief. ‘Joe weakened. ‘Are you sure she will die?’ he said. ““*Joe,’ I said, ‘if my life is worth any- thing to you, you can have it if she is alive tomorrow morning!’ ‘She does look bad,’ said Joe. “All right,’ said Joe and sighed. “TI shook some sense back into old Brink- man’s carcass and we clinched the matter then and there. Oh, my! Oh, Lord! What a night! What a night! only seasick. We ran into smoother weather and she recovered and was as happy asalark. But Joewasmad— Oh, how mad he was! He didn’t speak to me for days and when he finally did he accused me of having tricked him and swore like a bandit. “It broke his spirit entirely. When we touched at Plymouth to coal, he was the first to go ashore and get drunk. Oh, he drank steadily after that, off and on, and became a regular guy. But he made life mighty unpleasant for me. When he was drunk he swore he would kill me when he got sober, and when he was sober he threatened to kill me as soon as he got drunk. So I was in constant danger of my life. “T left the ship as soon as we got back to New York and Joe stepped into my shoes. A year later there was an addition to the family, and Joe persuaded old Brinkman to go ashore and watch the kid. Joe has been running her since, the Aunt Louisa I mean, he and that ancient speed maniac, old Haw- kins.”’ George paused and knocked the ashes from his pipe. “Vou said it was a triangle,” I said. “Well, wasn’t it?” said George. “There were old Brinkman and his daughter and Holy Joe. That makes three angles, doesn’t it?” “And there were you,” I said. makes it a quadrangle.” “Oh, I,” said George. “I wasn’t in it. I was only an innocent bystander trying to keep out of trouble.” “SHE didn’t die, of course. She was “That GOMIIGooOoO S (© iin