Argosy All-Story Weekly — "Sea Marauders" — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

SEA MARAUDERS. pirates with what loot they discovered and without injuring Lovering and his guests it would be the part of wisdom for him to lie low in hope of avoiding capture; but he feared there was no such possibility. The motto of ancient pirates was “‘ Dead men tell no tales,” and it was ‘a policy likely to commend itself to these up-to-date followers of the ma- rauders of the Spanish Main. He had been close enough to inspect them and he knew them for savage brutes, probably the scum of the Ba- hama bootlegging industry, which had been badly damaged by the admission of American cruisers to Bahama waters. If they withdrew from the island leaving the inhabitants alive, Steve would have that wireless repaired and war vessels on their trail in a few hours. ‘There were lovely women in the band of prisoners, and these beasts might slay the men and carry off the women to a more horrible fate upon the vessel which lay at anchor some- where in the dark lagoon. What could he do? If he attacked them and killed some of them he might seal the fate of the prisoners, but were they not doomed anyway? Was not he their only hope? What would Mildred think? She knew he had not been captured, for he wasn’t among the prisoners. She had heard the pirate chief demanding if he were among them. Mildred would ex- pect him to strike a blow for the rescue of herself, her father, and her friends. E had been moving swiftly to- ward the ocean side of the island while he considered the situa- tion; now he stopped and began to re- trace his steps. He was at the moment in a patch of woods, and he continued until he came to the edge of the little forest. The moon was coming up, but its light was intermittent because there were many clouds in the sky. Trees here a 453 and there and shrubs cast dark shadows. He looked up the slope and saw the house, dimly outlined, a quarter of a mile distant, and observed that all lights were out. He wondered at this, for he supposed the pirates would be searching the house. There was better generalship among the marauders than Steve supposed, which explained the darkness of the house at the moment. Captain Gibbons had disposed his men about the grounds with instructions to lie low and keep a sharp lookout for the wireless man, who was armed, and to take care not to expose themselves to a sharp- shooter. He lay on the grass a hundred feet from the front of the residence with “Pedro and Watson, and talked with them in whispers. “This feller can’t hide on this island,” he was saying, “ but he might pick a few of us off if we started hunt- ing for him in the dark. All we got to do is wait until daylight and we'll nab him easy; then we’ll have nothing to ‘worry about, and we can take our time going through the house. I hate this slaughter business. You’re sure it's got to be done, Pedro? ‘That blonde is a beaut.” “It is an unfortunate necessity,” said the Spaniard gravely. “Yah. But there must be thirty people, half of them women. How are we going to do it?” ‘Gettin’ soft-hearted in your old age,” sneered Watson. “ Lock ’em in the house and set fire to it. Pot any- body that runs out.” | “No,” said the Spaniard. “ ‘That’s too horrible. was that?” I’ve got an idea—what < HAT” was a pistol shot which sounded as loud as the report of a cannon on the silent island, and it came from behind the house. was followed by two answering shots, and then a fusillade. comicbooks — le>> ~ ar te ee i ade 7 —s = = = ‘ on Pct P ~ =j ae one sk ee vs Nia — 2 ee Reha ee oe et eX mee Hes 3 2 Se ex: Ke 5 tS ee wt ele ; ete, ms = 2 ore ee oe = Fe in Nm en SO i" > ae i ae yO eae Uh EN RS ice RM, Pree ge he ee le te eee RO CL Ne Gm LS Te a eee en aa eae iy 5 Se = TS Oe en Pe LOR Le BE ES OR f