Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 148: what you’re looking at

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

sie a. oe = ; -- 950 “You swim heah?” eyes widened in stark amaze. “How else? Boats are not included in _ Chokee regulations. The last prisoner who made his get-away through the swamps is _with fervor. still in the mud. Slipped through a por- ridge hole among the big eels,” he added “T took my chance with the sharks!” “Why fo’ you run away?” Kum de- -manded blandly. The boy chafed the reef wounds on his hips and body thoughtfully, and again the apologetic grin softened his tense, drawn features. His fingers played about a tiny -miniature, fastened by a string to his wrist. The sea water had softened the knot that held it there. He regarded: it thoughtfully. “ Why does a man run away from prison? Why does a man limp out of hell? Ask the sharks and the eels, Chink. They’re good ~ guessers.”’ ‘Fhe Chinaman shrugged and was silent. From the forest track that led to the in- terior came the long drawn baying of - -- hounds. The sounds rose in fleeting sobs and died away somewhere in the black ‘smudge of bhutang jungle in the north. ‘in the employ of Conlon. The boy nodded and grinned again. “The police and the pups!” he said softly. ‘*“ Blood money for the black trackers when they get me, Chink! What’s the betting?” Despite his easy manner the Chinaman detected a flash of despair in his eyes. Well he knew that the Samarai police were on the fellow’s trail: Not a reef or palm _ belt within fifty miles of Malanga jail would remain unexplored by the sleuths of the law. Moreover Kum Ling had known Mike ~Conlon in his day, and was dimly aware that the noted desperado had met his death at the hands of one Chard, a schooner hand A year before the noise of the affair had blown over the -North Australian parts and around the pearling banks of Thursday Island. But beyond arousing a few caustic press com- ments anent the growing slackness of the police administration of New Guinea in _general, the incident was forgotten. Even -Kum Ling could not remember the cause of the shout. The Chinaman’s — lice is heah! man. He come to catch yo’ himself! ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. The voices of men and the baying of dogs converged slowly but surely in the -direction of Beetle Creek. The Chinaman shuffled in and out of the hut uneasily. ‘* Maybe they come heah!” he muttered. “Yet there is no trail of him across the water!” He walked to where Chard still crouched in the beach sand and eyed him narrowly. ‘The police are comin’!” he announced gravely. ‘“ There is no place for you to hide!” Chard leaped to his feet, but the China- man’s hand restrained him. ‘ Yo’ make blood trail foh the dogs if yo’ move flom heah!” he warned. “‘ Why make trail?” Chard remained rooted, his shapely bare feet planted in the incoming tide. “That’s sense,” he answered with a quickening of his numbed faculties. ‘“ And —what next?” he questioned almost wist- fully. “No next if yo’ move an inch!” the - Chinaman told him. “ Keep your dam feet in the water!” It seemed hours before the Chinaman spoke. The clamor in the bhutang forest grew louder each moment. Ever nearer it drifted. The high pitched voice of the tracker, at variance with the dogs, beat shrilly on the tense silence of the beach. Kum listened until he caught the sound of a white man’s voice calling angrily to the dogs. He turned quickly to the ex- pectant Chard. “One white feller, commissioner of po- Mistah Lester. Welly big Him one great man in New Guinea. Evelybody kow tow to Mistah Lester!” the Chinaman babbled in his excitement. ‘‘ He no likee me fo’ havin’ yo’ heah!” “Damn him!” Chard fumed. Already he felt the iron bracelets cicking over his wrists. *“* They are comin’! ” the Chinaman quav- ered. “One black fellow tracker, two dogs an’ Mistah Lester!” i Kum’s glance wandered across the beach _and back to the Stygian gloom within the -tmangroves. Well he knew there was no hiding place the Papuan tracker could not _ ferret out. And Kum was certain that this straight limbed boy criminal had made up Oo (E©) comi Ebooks