Adventure Magazine Cover — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

Forbidden ‘Treasure the ocean again and bringing with it his last look at the sky. From where he sat he could see the waters of the great fiord and the vista of the greater waters yet beyond. That the last word to heave itself upward from the confusion of his brain should be the name of Nora was no more surprising than that the last vision of his haunted eyes should be the white hull of the Blessed Damozel riding at anchor in the bay. He was gone past all surprise and idle wonder- ing. His eyes looked at the place where he thought he saw this phantom ship, where he imagined a small boat putting off from her side, and then they closed again wearily. The edge of the sleeping-bag flapped in the cold wind from the Vatna. CHAPTER XVI ON BOARD THE YACHT N THE cabin of the Blessed Damozel, where for two days of storm the party had been confined, Mr. Lee and Dr. Ber- wind were sitting at table, and their faces were very grave. Mr. Lee, with his thin white hands nervously clasped one about the other, his elbows on the table, sat frowning down at them as if his whole dis- pleasure were centered in his inability to control their twitching and _ trembling. Berwind, with a cigar, sat in silence. The northeast hurricane, which for the last two days had pounded them, was by this time subsiding toa moderate gale. The seas, however, still ran almost mast-high. The ship’s nose plunged with dizzying mon- otony up and down. Every now and then on the downward pitch of the stem, the humming thrill of the exposed screws ran through the yacht’s steel hull. The piping of the wind, the thud of the waves, the in- finite rattle of the vessel’s whole tortured frame combined in a bedlam of noise, against which Mr. Lee’s voice rose in a shrill shout: ‘“‘But all the boats gone, Berwind, all the boats, you say? What disgraceful man- agement!” Berwind looked at him. For the first time Mr. Lee noticed something odd in the expression of the other’s face. ‘“‘What is it, Berwind? What are you keeping from _ me?” he asked sharply. Berwind leaned forward. For a moment, as the vessel’s shoulders plunged into a 851 wall of sea, the cabin’s portholes were darkened with a sweeping veil of green. ‘Healy is coming below as soon as he can be spared, sir,’ he said, ‘“‘to report the business to you. Captain Cramer is missing.” The sick man’s face was chalky white. “‘Gone!”’ he gasped. “Lost,” replied Berwind gravely. ‘‘Cap- tain Healy is coming down to give you the story in detail. I am very sorry that we have such news to give you.” ‘“*My God!’’murmured Mr. Lee. “‘ Cramer —lost—gone!”’ In the rattle of the vessel under the vio- lent impact of the seas, Berwind could not hear the words. But he saw the lips move and the blanched expression settle on the face. Death had a piercing horror for this man. ‘You must not be too cast down, Mr. Lee,” he said, raising his voice. ‘‘It was a fearful storm and we are lucky to have come out of it alive ourselves. Re- member, Mr. Lee, the yacht is safe, the naphtha launch at the stern is unharmed and we are all here at least. Poor Cramer is lost, but luckily we have another man qualified and ready to step into his place. Take heart, sir—remember how infinitely worse it might have been.”’ Mr. Lee, seemingly unmoved by this laborious consolation, twisted his ear in his hand and continued to form words with his lips whose sound did not reach the Doc- tor. Berwind’s expression changed to a less resolute braveness as he said sadly: “Of course you had to be told, sir, but I wish with all my heart we could keep this from Miss Nora. She will grieve over it deeply. You remember when Anderson | died in Reykjavik how poignantly she felt the pity of his end, in a strange land so far from all his kin.” As he finished speaking, Captain Healy appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in oilers, whose glistening yellow wetness seemed to match the bloodless leather of his pock-marked face. He saluted respect- fully. Again the racing seas darkened the ports to a green twilight, and the screws, flung high out of the water, throbbed throughout the bones of the ship. “This is an unfortunate business, Mr. Lee,” said Captain Healy solemnly. _ Mr. Lee glared at him, then struck the table with a nervous gesture. Healy moved forward into the cabin, COmiclbook CO