Adventure, January 20, 1922 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

Tides of Hate turned success into miserable failure and the destruction of a hundred bold fellows like yerself,’” Davies burst out fiercely, inter- rupting Kestral. He saw his opening, and seized upon it. “T tell ye, lads, John Cook means treach- ery to me this cruise-as he planned treachery before. And ’tis my treasure we seek— mine and no other’s. Did not Goliath here tell me that Cook. means to take me by surprize and wipe me out once he casts hooks on my gold? “And d’ye believe he’ll spare you? I say, ‘No!’ “He believes that I know where that booty lies. He’s foolish. ’Tis the French- man who knows, if anybody knows; and that’s nothing so sure .as to swear on, neither. “But this I know, and this I tell ye here, and for the last time: while Edward Davies lives, an’s able to lift a hand, no man robs him of the means of quitting this hunted existence without a fight for’t! Here is a ship stout enough, a crew bold enough, and a leader who will lead ye to fortune even against all the fleet John Cook and his bullies can gather against ye. “And this I tell ye again: Follow me, and by fighting for your own ends against Swan and Cook and the rest you'll be forgiven much of the world’s score against ye. De- cide to join Cook as ye thought—by which yell force me to do the same, I freely grant ye—and we're all as black bits 0’ hangman’s meat as ever shivered at rattle o’ chains! Now talk wi’ each other, and before the log’s hove again let’s ha’ -your voice en’t.” Like one man, without hesitation, the men howled in answer: “_ Cook! Huzza f’r Ned Davies!” XIT een AS IF to mark the arrival at har- (3) mony in the human elements, the greater elements of Nature declined to let the Cadiz pass farther south without supplying a foretaste of what might be ex- pected still farther south in the vicinity of the Horn. Before the Line was well crossed a wind that had faltered for days suddenly dropped altogether, and the ship lay throughout a full tally of watches rolling heavily on a glassy swell, her fabric too hot to bear the naked touch upon it, her crew fast arriving at that point where obedi- 31 ence becomes a myth unless enforced by sheer overmastery. “Aloft with ye, Goliath, and see if ye can not raise me a wind,” ordered Davies fret- fully. Even his calm nerve could be shaken by forced inaction at such a time. A gale of wind would be welcome; a fight a luxury; _anything to keep his crew from wallowing like hogs about a rum-cask, breeding unrest and perhaps mutiny. The giant black crawled aloft like a colossal ape, swarming up the mainroyal- pole clear to the truck before he paused for breath. There he hung motionless, indif- ferent to the giddy gyrations of his lofty perch, scanning the sea horizon minutely in the northern quarter. Not until he had satisfied himself by long scrutiny did he reply to the impatient hail sent up from the deck; and then he only bawled a brief ‘All right, sar!’ as he turned again and swept the rest of the horizon be- fore descending. i me, ye black monkey, are ye dumb?” demanded Davies when Goliath joined him. “No, sar,” grinned the black with a side- wise glance at Kestral in the waist, hobnob- bing with a gang of rum-swilling ruffians noisier than the rest. ‘‘No, sar; Ah ain’t dumb; but Ah sure wanted to be down yar wid yo’, sar, afo’ Ah hollered de news.” “Well, what? thine, man!”’ “Fust, dar’s a ship to de nor’ad dat looks like he mought be a fight ship. He hab he boats out ahead, an’ he p’intin’ dis way 7 “Stand by, all hands!’ roared Davies in swift alarm, and sprang to the mizzen rig- ging bent upon seeing for himself. “No bodder, sar,” Goliath grinned up at him. “Yo’ eyes no see him dat far. ’Sides dar’s a bustin’ breeze ob wind a-cookin, up in de east, an’——”’ Davies dropped out of the rigging, glanc- ing at the black as at some queer monster of the sea. ‘Kestral!’ he shouted. “Get that hamper cleared off the decks and roll up the light canvas.” He. gazed long and keenly to the east- ward, and his experienced eye detected that faint haze creeping down out of the deep blue of the glassy sky like delicate spray from blue water; and he could see now momentarily how the haze, where it merged Loose that clapper 0” Go .OO AMUG S (C@