Adventure Magazine Cover — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

‘812 pins, and marlinespikes. These they dis- tributed along the deck fore and aft, to be ready at any point of attack. Manuel looked out to sea. His mates must be warned somehow. Instinctively his eyes turned to the colors at the masthead. Half an hour later some one in the mate’s boat saw the flag at half mast, and within ten minutes’ time both boats were pulling for the ship. Coming up on her quarter, they were like to run into the trap set for them, when the boy, hailing them from aloft, ac- quainted the mate with the disaster. The crew rested on their oars, and the mate, taking in the situation at a glance, ordered the boy to cut the main-top-gallant sheets and go forward on the stay and cut the halyards of the head-sails and clear them from the yards. At this moment the same negro who had killed the Captain leaped upon the taff- rail, waving aloft his bloody cutting-spade and showing his teeth. Spying his brother heathen in the mate’s boat, he spoke quickly to him in his native tongue, evidently invit- ing him to join the party, for the other shook his head. Instantly, with the agility and ferocity of a tiger, he leaped upon the deck, seized the cook’s ax and threw it with such precision and velocity, though a ship’s length distant, that it cut through the fel- low’s borrowed shirt as he stooped to avoid the blow, and creased his black hide the breadth of his back. This sally opened hostilities, and for the next few minutes the air was thick with fly- ing missiles from the ship, the belaying- pins striking the boats with such force that they were broken to pieces; but no one was hard hit. During this fusilade some one was seen to leap over the thwarts of the mate’s boat, run forward and pick up a harpoon from the rack. It was the third mate. Standing in the bows, a fair target for the belaying-pins and cooper’s hammers that came flying overhead, Clough began throwing the har- poon at the black on the taffrail. Each time the iron fell short, only to be dragged back through the water and thrown again. The savage kept his place without flinching and greeted each attempt with a loud laugh. ‘“‘Ease ’er for’ard a bit, mates,” begged Clough at last; ‘‘just a boat’s length, an’ I'll spit that nigger an’ haul him aboard like @ porpoise!” But the boat’s crew, cowed and sullen, backed out of range of the mis- Adventure siles. That thin trickle of blood down the side of the ship, where the Captain had first fallen against the rail, had taken the cour- age out of them. A parley followed, everybody chipping in. Some one proposed boarding from both sides at once, but the mate balked at that, saying the risk was too great. Then he him- self proposed that both crews take one boat and proceed to the Sharon, leaving him be- hind in the other to await the outcome. There was an uproar at this, the second mate showing his disapproval by allowing his boat to drop astern out of hearing. Clearly, to attempt to board from such a low craft as a whaleboat, in the face of such an array of weapons and savage resistance, would be a bloody undertaking. Some of the men clamored to set out for land, five or six days’ sail distant. For answer the mate pointed to the water-butt. ‘There was not enough water to last half the way. The third mate chimed in with another plan. He said he would go aboard over the bows, if the boy aloft would cut the fore- royal stay and let the end fall overboard so he could climb by it to the jib-boom. He would take a lance warp in his teeth and make use of the lance when he got on deck. But it was no go; Manuel was too weak to climb to the royal mast-head. AC Darkness came at a long stride, and for a little while the moon showed to the westward. Against her pale beams the spars and lines of the Sharon stood sharply out. Then the moon followed the sun into the sea. Oppressed by a common fear, instinctively the two luckless boats drew together for companionship, but at a safe distance. A few of the men fell under the thwarts asleep. Others talked in low tones or sat staring through the darkness at the ship, as though, by the intensity of their gaze, by the strength of their eye-balls, they would pierce the gloom and follow the movements of the savages. The mate sat huddled in the bows, looking at the water. He had quit; he didn’t know what to do. Suddenly Clough was seen standing up in the boat, in the act of stripping off his upper garments. ‘What the ”” began the mate. “Do ye mind,” said Clough, “‘the stab- berd window being open this morning? I’m THE sun went down into the sea. cComiclbooks ©