Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

eH wiz Vey 64 chance of their being picked up by some passing ship; and that fog lasted four days. They were picked up, however, on that same day. It was Blackie, the gunner, who found them. Early that morning Blackie crossed Felgo Bay and went hurtling over the bar and out to sea in the Dolly Dean. The Dolly Dean - was a trim little motor-launch with a power- ful engine and a world of speed. She was Blackie’s own—bought and paid for with one thousand dollars. The thou- sand dollars had been a gift of appreciation by the owners of the lost Mizznte Mine—the ship whose S O S Blackie had, by a combina- tion of patience, ingenuity and good luck, snatched out of the roaring tropical static in a remote part of the world months before. Although Blackie’s receiving that SOS message had not saved the Minnie Mine from sinking, it had resulted in the rescue of over two hundred people. Receiving that ship’s position had brought about his ad- vancement from the rate of electrician first class (radio) to the rank of gunner (radio). Thus had Blackie become an officer. To top this off it had brought him the check for one thousand dollars, with which he had purchased the Dolly Dean. The instant he.awoke that morning the whim struck him to make the trip out to Fog Rock in the Dolly Dean—it had been his intention to go out aboard the lighthouse supply tug, trailing the Dolly Dean astern. Blackie never tarried long over an idea that pleased him. Within the half-hour he was down on the water-front, bringing forth rub- ber coat and sou’wester from the Dolly Dean’s locker. A few utes later he was adongaide the lighthouse tug, lying at the dock. ‘Tell your skipper not to wait for Gunner Blackhurst,”” he called up to the quarter- master. “Pl be out on the rock before you start.” “Pretty big trip for a little boat like that, Mr. = The quartermaster’s voice died off astern of him. | _ Like a torpedo the Dolly Dean streaked ~across Felgo Bay and out toward the harbor entrance. The skipper of an inbound tramp ~ looked down over the bridge rail and won- dered what wild, whimsical lunatic that might be, heading out into the vast Pacific so early in the morning ir in a peanut-shell like that. Adventure Once headed out int6 the open sea, Blackie regulated and adjusted gas-feed and spark until he had the Dolly Dean bounding over the long swell like a thing possessed. From hollow to crest and crest to hollow - she mounted and dived, taking each long, gradual rise and fall with an ease and grace that made the gunner’s black eyes dart and sparkle. ~ He was glad, proud, elated in the owner- ship of this wild, throbbing thing of beauty and speed and efficiency. She was a doer and a goer. And had the Dolly Dean been possessed of the faculty of knowing, she in turn would have been proud of her big, handsome, black-eyed owner who, rubber- coated and sou ’westered, sat there at her tiny steering-wheel, holding her on dead west. For all the way down to the roots of him Blackie was a he—a doer and a goer, and as straight a shooter as ever wore the blue uniform. Forty miles west, over the blurred horizon lay Fog Rock. As the entrance to Felgo Bay fell farther and farther astern he noted that the Dolly Dean carried more and more port helm. That is, the farther offshore he proceeded the more apparent became the sidewise push of the goutherly-running cur- rent, and the more port helm necessary to hold her on west. Before long, even with the helm nearly hard over, she was continu- ally falling off to the south. A gasp of surprize escaped him as he looked astern. The two lofty peaks that marked the entrance to Felgo Bay, instead of bearing dead east, or directly astern of him, lay to the northeast, off his starboard quarter. He was being steadily carried side- wise and to the south of his destination. He brought her around to west-northwest. Then, looking astern repeatedly, he watched and closely checked up the bearing of the two receding peaks. Ten, twelve, fifteen miles; then the two peaks merged into the long gray shore-line, and the tiny break was no longer distinguishable. A little later the shore-line merged into’the horizon. He was nearly half way out; out of sight of the mainland, and about to come within sight of the rock. Then down out of the north came that sweeping mass of fog. With a suddenness that made his senses reel the vast stretch of water was shut off from his sight. Beyond the Dolly Dean’s vibrating bow he could see nothing but a shrouding wall of mist. - ~ P : - ; — ° - ~— _ rj — . , ; : ae: | ~ » -_ ~ * a? f = a <4. = . ee Ba . = —. “ Zio phen , ne . I im POF ne! > : —_ ; Pe — FFD ta ee . ae eee ee i | Comicbookszcom ae — . _ mt ae as So a Se “ ~ * as a. eS - - = —_ P . - ea ee ee ee ee eS Ee —