Adventure Magazine Cover — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

614 For the man’s likes and dislikes had al- ready turned topsy-turvy. He was now as sick of ship life as formerly he had been of that on shore. And he babbled continually and very lovingly of terra firma, of moist hollows among the wet rocks, of raw sea- gulls, of occasional feasts upon the putrid blubber of a stranded whale. He told us that he had a ton or more of whale buried on the island; and that if he could not come at it soon he feared it would pass its prime. The clothes, too, that he was made to wear aboard ship fretted him cruelly. He was as sorry to remain aboard as he had been re- joiced to come. Early the next morning Carrol presented himself on the landing, bearing a white flag; and after a somewhat heated discussion be- tween Jili and Ah Fing, was brought off in the boat. He carried himself with com- mendable bravado, but it was evident that hunger pricked him and that he was really sick with the cold in his head. “¢Jim,” said he to me, “that was an awful thing you did to Todd.” “Don’t give me the credit of it,” said I, “though I dare say it was no more than he deserved.” ““So it wasn’t you?” he said. “‘ Well, I’m glad; it wasn’t nice to think that a white man had done it. I suppose you'll be sur- prised to hear that ve come on an errand of mercy. Ah! Good morning, Lichee.”’ ‘“‘Morning,’”’ said Lichee, and grinned. “Tt’s about Blake,” said Carrol, and he seated himself heavily on the deck and leaned against the mainmast. “Excuse me—but,” and he smiled ruefully, “I’ve been up all night with him; but we can’t do anything for him. I’ve come to ask you in common charity to take him aboard. You- *ve got medicines, haven’t you, and whisky? He’d have a chance here.” “What ails the man,” said Bessie, ‘ ~ at shouldn’t ail him?” ‘“‘T suppose it’s pneumonia,” said Carrol. “Tt began with a heavy cold, and now he’s delirious, and burning up with fever.” Bessie pointed to the closed door of the cabin. “In there, Mister Carrol,” she said, “‘are five dead men who were kinder to me than brothers. Now you ask me to take one of the men that murdered them aboard the ship and nurse him back to health and strength. I'll tell you what we'll do for you, Mister Carrol! We'll take him aboard Adventure and we'll nurse him. If he dies—well and good; if he doesn’t die—if he recovers— well, then, just as soon as he’s well enough and strong enough to understand what’s happening, we’ll hang him as high as he can be hoisted on the end of a rope. And you can put that in your pipe and smoke it!’ “Jim,” said Carrol, “have you no in- fluence among these heathen?” ‘Not enough,” said I, “to turn their human natures upside down, any more than my own. ‘Those dead men in there were like brothers to me, Carrol. And I can find it in my heart to think of this Blake’s plight with positive satisfaction, God for sive me!” “It’s a hard world,” said Carrol, ‘and Blake’s blood is on your head, Jim, not mine.” “T guess there’s little room left on you: head for anybody else’s blood, Mister Car- rol!”’ said Bessie tartly. ‘And now if you- ’ve said your say, I guess you’d better be moving.” He rose to his feet, staggering a little, but with a show of temper. “All right!” he said, ‘‘all right! But answer me this—where do you all come in? Here you are, to be sure, and very snug, tc be sure—but the treasure’s with us; and you're no nearer to it than you were before you ever heard of it! So if at any time you have any reasonable overtures, just let us know.” “Carrol,” said I, “we have discussed that subject already among ourselves under two heads. It was first proposed to go ashore and hunt you people down like so many quail, from rock to rock, from gully to gully, from your first hiding-place to your last, and there exterminate you. But the vote went against that plan. And the present idea is to leave you severely alone e Carrol laughed sneeringly. “You better!” said he. ‘‘__to leave you severely alone,’ I went on, ‘until, one by one, you have gone where Blake is going, and by the same road. How long can you people hold on to your miser- able lives—on that barren rock? Will the green beech stems burn, even supposing that there is a dry match left among you? How long can you eat raw gull? If the rain holds off, you will die of thirst; and if the rain falis—and indeed I felt a drop not COmiclboookSs.G©