Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

- 86 savage tooth of a tiger, was a pinnacle of rock. This, thought Dunn, was probably the thing the Defender had struck. He glanced around, searching for the hull of his old schooner. _ Vision was limited to a few yards, caused by the faint rays of light that filtered through the intervening water. Great devil’s aprons, hundreds of feet in length, stretched upward. The pinnacle of rock was covered with rockweed and sur- rounded with immense swarms of tiny fish that flashed and charged. In places their passage was obstructed with marine weed which surrendered easily to the knife. It was impossible to swing the blade owing to the pressure. They were forced to draw it against the weeds and thus clear the way. 2 A globe fish, round and with a warty, spotted skin, drifted by. Vicious mouthed barracuda, long, sharp and fast, eyed them stonily. They fought their way around the huge shaft of rock. Dunn tried to yell when he saw the dim hull of the Defender, on her beam ends, her mast leaning drunkenly over. Fish, ever curious, were swimming over and around her slimy hull, as if on @ trip of inspection. The tropical waters had cov- ered her with a growth of seaweed, barna- cles, and slime. Jung saw her, too; he mo- tioned for Dunn to look. Now, it remained for Dunn to find the Moon Glow. If this was the same rock the Moon Glow had struck then he would come upon it soon. He had no verification that it was, how- ever; there might have been a dozen reefs in this neighborhood; any one of which the Moon Glow might have struck. When he thought of the chances he was taking, his heart almost failed him. Down here, out of sight, with himself alone to con- verse with, the old spirit of taking the line of the least resistance made itself felt. He half doubted his own mind. When they had been down for some time searching for the lost hull of the treasure ship, he began to surrender to the feeling of discouragement. Back and forth they had gone, but not a trace had they found of the Moon Glow. Dunn began to lag behind. His movements betrayed his spirit to Ah Jung. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. What was the use? Who knew whether she had struck this reef or not? To Ah Jung came the feeling he knew so well. His Cap’n Bill was in the grasp of the blue devils. Within the confines of his helmet he smiled. It was now up to him. Once more his Cap’n Bill needed him, and he was ready. Not a single, soli- tary germ of denunciation entered the yel- low man’s mind. His Cap’n Bill needed help. His own countrymen did not under- stand; it was the devils that had his mas- ter; it wasn’t, it couldn’t be, Cap’n Bill himself. He came closer to Dunn and motioned for him to follow. Dunn answered by sug- gesting with his hands that they signal for the ascent. Jung stepped to the hull of the Defender a few feet distant, and with his knife cut the one word ‘“‘ No ” in the slime. He drew the outline of a woman, not realizing that the figure awakened: a sharp pang of self-condemnation in Dunn’s mind. When Jung began the search anew Dunn followed, whipped for the moment into a sense of shame. That skirted figure of Florence was responsible. Dunn realized that Ah Jung was driving him onward— pricking him, as he always had done. They began anew, searching in a still wider circle, taxing their strength to the utmost. The long length of the air line behind them grew heavy. Dunn could barely see the persistent Ah Jung ahead of him. ‘‘ Damn,” he thought, ‘will he never stop?” After-a_while Ah Jung returned and to- gether they signaled for the ascent. When their heads broke the water and the men had lifted the helmets clear, and Bill Dunn found the eyes of the girl on him. Fitz asked enthusiastically, “ Find it, Bill?” “No,” Dunn answered; ‘‘ not yet. We'll have to knock off now and try again to- morrow, when the light is better.”” Some- thing—he did not know what—forced him to add the suggestion of a new trial. “ And then we can shift the anchorage of the boat,” he added. ‘“‘ We’re too far away. We found the Defender all right. We had to come up; the weight of the lines and the force of the current were too heavy.” Dunn glimpsed the girl’s face. He won- ComiclboookS.ec@©