Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 151: what you’re looking at

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

okippers off Georges IV AM AFTER his close shave the night ( 2) before, Captain Dan was more SAN determined than ever to heave “&” { to and head for Boston with his swordfish. Breakfast that morning had been a cheerless affair, for the crew were restless and grouchy, implying by their behavior that they were tiring of the trip and would welcome the skipper’s decision to knock off fishing for the season. On deck the fog was still thick, and it would be difficult to sight a swordfish from the mast- head. “Boys,” stated the Skipper after break- fast, ‘‘we’ll knock off today. We've got a good trip o’ fish, an’ “We ain’t got as many.as I want,” pro- tested Mel, adjusting the bandage on his leg as he rose from the triangular forecastle table. ‘‘An’ not as many as my boys want —have ye, fellers?’’ he addressed the crew he had lent Captain Dan for the summer. “Suits me—this. trip does,’ answered Crowe, and the others seconded Crowe’s opinion. Mel lighted his pipe. “Boys,” he said, ‘where there’s mack’rel, they’s swordfish. The water’s alive with bait. By goin’ in now, we’re throwin’ away good American dollars—the kind that’ll buy our folks a good ’eal back home in Novy Scoshy. An’ besides, we’d be cowards to be bound in now.” “How you make that out, Mel?” indig- nantly asked Captain Dan. “Just this,”’ replied Mel, “Ira Thomas is in these waters—an’ he knows we're here. An’ with him is that wuthless crew, Skipper, that kep’ you from bein’ high-liner. It won’t be becomin’ for us to go in before we've got a full trip. It'll look like we’re runnin’ away from him. An’ we would be, too. Is they any one here who’s scared 0’ Ira Thomas an’ his tribe o’ cutthroats?”’ 7 , no!” ‘Who'd be scared o’ them?” “Td fight any two of ’em!” retorted Mel’s weatherbeaten shipmates. “See, Skipper?” exulted Mel. “TI came out here to make ye high-liner, didn’t I? Wal, I hain’t goin’ to give up till I’ve done it. An’ that means that when the order comes to start for Boston, J’ll give it!” Captain Dan’s cheeks flushed, his eyes widened, and he gasped, speechless, at this unexpected mutiny of his benefactor. He 133 gradually got his breath, after considerable puffing, and shot back: “Why—Mel! —— yer hide, Mel! You presum’tious scut, Mel! You’re - ‘““Ain’t I right, Skipper?” asked Mel with a tranquil smile. “Right? Course you’re right!” retracted Cap’n Dan, chuckling while his plump body shook convulsively. “Tf you want to have a swordfish punch ye ag’in, go ahead an’ let him. We'll stay out a spell longer.” He went up the ladder, followed by Mel and the placated, laughing crew. The keen eyes of Shiny and the other men in the mast- head had made out swordfish on days that had been just as foggy as this. Shiny’s vision in thick weather was positively un- canny. Mel often boasted that the suc- cess of the Victory the past two seasons had been due to Shiny’s almost superhuman ability to sight swordfish on days when most skippers of the fleet knocked off fishing altogether. So the skipper started the engine, and the men took their seats in the crosstrees. Mel hobbled out to the pulpit, where he sat in the little seat slung from the hand rail, leaning on the pole and scanning the fog- shrouded water while the schooner plunged ahead. They had ranged thus for over an hour. Mel had ironed two swordfish, which were successfully hauled and killed in dories by Crowe and Pierre. Pierre had just been taken aboard the schooner with the second fish when Shiny sang out from the mast- head: “Starb’ard! Starb’ard! Hard a-starb’ard!’’ Captain Dan quickly let out the engine to get steerageway, thinking that another swordfish had been sighted. A swish of steam to port—and out of the fog burst the prow of a large ship. “The Comber!” shrieked Shiny. a-starb’ard!” But Captain Dan swung the wheel to port. It was a safe bet to dodge liners by heading to one side of them. But the Comber was not to be dealt with that way. Dan had had one experience with Captain Ira and his son Oliver in a matter of collision. And he did not trust Ira, if he was in command of the Comber as usual, to avoid a second such catastrophe. For, since his court vic- tory over Captain Dan, the skipper of the Comber was not too scrupulous to try it again. “Hard COMIGDIOOKSEEO