Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 4, 1925 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

80-4 about ihe way this chap will conduct him- self, because Barker says that from all he hears, our friend upriver has toed the line proper ever since he arrived in Borneo. Sober and all the rest of it. Can handle Dyaks first class—that’s why weve going to take him on. If we have any trouble coaxing him into the bargain, Marcia, please assist us with your nicest smile.” She smiled at the half turned head. “ T'll do my best, Uncle Chichester.” The next moment, with an inarticulate exclamation, he caught up one ofethe auto- matics, thrust it before him in the direction of the forest and fired. And amid a scream- ing and a swishing, there fell something dark brown among the brilliant green boughs. Then came a single, dull thump. “Got him!” Wray sang out triumphant- ly. He had a complexion like a woman's, and now the pink of it deepened with pleas- ure. ‘“‘ That’s the fourth I’ve bagged in Borneo! Say! What do you know!” She was still leaning forward. “ But why do you kill poor, harmless little mon- keys?” she asked, and the question was almost tearful. ‘‘I mean, uncle, that as long as the men can’t get this one for food and—and don’t need food, anyhow. Oh, please don’t shoot any more! It—it spoils everything!” Wray put back his head and laughed. “So you've brought me along down here,” he replied, “‘ with new pistols, and all the rest of it, and now you don't want me to kill anything!” She did not answer that, but leaned back. He also leaned back, but continued to stare up at the forest wall. Bright and blinding, the jungle tell into quiet again. Under a cloudless sky that every moment grew paler and more misty, as the sun climbed above the river and the heat increased, the line of praus trailed steadily through the water, making way with gradually diminishing speed as the Malays, tiring with their work, slowed the movement of their paddles, while their bare, streaming backs glistened more and more. Though the scene was so bright and even cheerful, and though the warm air was heavy with the new and strange scents of the Jush jungle, two of the white passengers ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. —the men—were soon dozing with shut eyes, Barker with a half smoked cigarette drooping from his long and languid fingers, and with that set smile still upon his sleep- Ing face. But Marcia still watched out from under the curved hood of her boat. Ahead there were those shining brown clusters which were her own boatmen; to the rear, between the braced, bare, yellow feet of her Chinese servant, was the rippling track of the fleet. Elsewhere the river was unruffled and oily. It was not until high noon that the forest opened; now here, now across the stream, to show a small rice field, or a glimpse of low hills that were a misty blue. Wray wakened, fretting at the heat. “ Not very exciting, eh?” he called to the girl. ‘““T’ve seen several native huts,” she called back. “ Tronwood ”—this time it was Barker speaking, turned squarely about in his prez. ‘“That’s the only wood that the ants won’t eat up.” As Marcia did not reply to his informa- tion, he flicked his dead cigarette into the water, lighted another and settled back once more, smiling into the oily water just ahead of his boat’s prow. Gaps in the forest became more frequent now, and there were cleared spots planted with bananas, or there would be a small garden of pineapples about some poverty- stricken hut, little, ill-kept and standing high on stilts. In every grove and close to every such hut, a pole stood up from which hung bits of colored rags, all such poles marking the position of Dyak graves. After these few breaks in the green bar- riers of vine-linked and vine-festooned trees, Once more the path of the praws was like a monotonous, dun-tinged road between green cliffs. Up and down that road sounds carried with startling clearness. “Uncle,” Marcia called, “ what comes out of all these miles of jungle? Anything?” Wray nodded, and apparently thrust out his chest. “A lot of raw products of one kind and another,” he answered vaguely. “ But just what raw products?” He guffawed. ‘“ Hear that, Barker?" he COM NOOK CO