Adventure, January 20, 1922 — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

Tides of Hate flashing eyes meeting the Frenchman’s squarely. “I thought you and John Cook were like brothers in this venture. ““But what of it? We shall need men, and since he seems to be alone, why, me, let’s use him, L’Escuyler.”’ “Vairee well zen. We can throw heem away after, yes. But hees batteau ees flot now. He comes.” Cook’s boat pulled within hail and paused. “Afore I come aboard ye, L’Escuyler, what’s the ship ye have in company? Is it Swanr’’ “Zat ees ze Cadiz, Capitan Edouard Davies’ sheep. He——” “Ve lie, blast yer heart!’ yelled Cook furiously. “I sank Ed Davies in. th’ Gut o th’ Straits! Speak true, man, or I come not nigh ye. I’ve encountered treach- ery enough since quittin’ Aves.” “Come aboard, John, and tip us yer flipper, man. ’Tis no dead man, either,” roared Davies jovially, leaping on to a car- ronade and leaning out in the glare of the bulwark lanthorn held for the boat’s guidance. “They told ye I was dead once before, on Aves. Did ye find me a corpse?” s ’s mirth! I wish I had!” retorted Cook, astounded. There was something in this unaccount- able appearance of a man whom he had fully believed to be lying in the Magellan Straits, if not dead at least a hopeless cast- away from a sunken ship, which gave pause to his mad impulse to blaze away with his pistols at the handsome, smiling face. He savagely bade his crew pull alongside, and in no merry mood he leaped aboard the ship to confront L’Escuyler and Davies; and the Frenchman greeted him suavely. “Hah, mon amt, Capitan Cook, eet is long we ’ave waited for you. Ees ze ozzer sheeps makin’ ze passage?”’ “| COOK glared from one to the other, and suddenly he realized that John Cook alone facing the two men who alone supposedly knew of the booty he de- sired, was a different man entirely from John Cook as admiral of a fleet having Swan for commodore. ‘Then he had expected to use the Frenchman, and Davies, after that notable mariner had joined him so oppor- tunely, until the treasure were found; and to discard both in the end. But that which might have been possible 55 backed by Swan and a squadron looked far beyond possibility when his single ship sailed in company with the two men he had meant to cheat out of their just shares. He decided to cloak both the fury he felt against Davies for the matter of that lost girl, and the undoubted astonishment at seeing the man himself after having surely sunk him and his ship in the Narrows. He followed the others into the great cabin in glowering silence. There L’Escuyler waved him to a seat, and a mulatto set out wine and meat. Davies lounged on a corner of the table, watching Cook curiously, and was about to ask him about Swan and the rest of the considerable fleet he once had, when Cook swore a splitting oath, drank off a flagon of sack and“slammed his fist down on the table, making the cabin resound like a drum. _ “By Satan’s horns!” he cried. ‘Here I am, and ye hold the gage o’ me, Ed Davies! Like a dog ye slipped away from me before we fell in wi’.Swan, though I made ye the gun signal agreed on for parley.” “°S death! Was that you, John?” ex- claimed Davies, smiling brightly. “ me, but we all forgot ’t was a war-ship ye’d taken. We took ye for a Don, o’ truth, and when ye fired that gun we ran.”’ L’Escuyler sat between them, a big, fleshy man as dark as a Moor, with greasy black hair and eyes that glittered icily like a serpent’s. Just the ghost of a smile twisted his thin lips at Davies’ outrageous tale, but his snaky eyes were colder still as he glanced at Cook, dwelling on his rétort. “°Tis a lie, but ’twill serve,’”’ came like an explosion. “’Twas but the beginning 0’ trouble. Listen, and Ill tell ye both what chanced right up to this hour, and tell me then if ever man and luck kept wider courses.” Cook swigged off another vast flagon as if suffering from drouth. Scowling darkly into the cup, he muttered a curse upon women and false friends, and began: ‘Tis all along o’ that wench, Nell Clark: Between her and you, Davies, ye’ve twisted John Cook’s tail. All debts will be paid, never fear. But now’s the time for other matters, and ye can bide in security for me. Never mind why ye ran away, Ed, and-let it pass. “IT met Swan. The rogue was glad at sight’ o’ my stout ship full o’ hearty lads CORICLOO S (C@