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Pulp Fiction, 1928 · page 33 of 156

Argosy All-Story Weekly — "Sea Marauders" — page 33: what you’re looking at

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Argosy All-Story Weekly — "Sea Marauders" — page 33: Pulp Fiction, 1928

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= eg ee ee ae ee Tn Ce eee oe or, wie t eo = ae nme 2 Mee fz-t > a wd - " 4 ‘ - - rs 8 en a . : - = “oa tp , ’ . es Ca o - SEA MARAUDERS. 455 =": * pe a? x Sy a = - . . en a ee ce le an gk es oe Se SIN Le ee an, Mal igh awe ee A eC. PO EO OO a OT oy ee ae gad eee “ Good Lord!” he exclaimed silent- ly. “ With this gun I am a match for the lot of them.” His exultation was short-lived, however, for an empty car- tridge belt lay beside it, and there were no ammunition cases to be found. With- out bullets the gun was useless. _ It was an old gun, the type operated by a man who sits in a saddle. He in- -spected it as well as he could in the un- certain moonlight, then chuckled and unscrewed a gadget at the breech, which he thrust into his pocket. “They'll have a lot of trouble firing this again,” he thought, then he slipped into the house, felt his way to his cham- ber, found his trunk, plunged in his hands, and came up with a small box of cartridges. What should he do now? Try to hold the wireless house and frighten them with the Maxim? No, they must know that there was no am- munition for it. | He hooded and lighted a match long enough to look at his watch. It was a quarter of five. The sun would be up in little more than an hour. Much more time than that had elapsed since he had seen the betraying phosphores- cence of the boat which had brought these criminals ashore. Now if ever was his chance to get into the house and rescue the prisoners, though what a lot of unarmed and un- nerved men and women could do to protect themselves if they were rescued he did not dare consider. His nerves were tingling; he had to have action or he would go crazy. The porch was two feet above the eround, and a three-foot rail was built upon it. He reached it in safety, sprang upon it, started to swing over the rail, and struck the almost invisible wire mosquito screen which he had for- got. He landed on the ground with a thud, sprang up unhurt. ANG! Bang! Bang! At right and left men were firing toward the noise. The moon was out. He could only drop on his stomach and wait. ‘A man came running from the left, plainly visible. ® Steve fired point-blank at him and he fell without a sound. He leaped up and ran.swiitly toward the left along the edge of the porch, aware of pursuers, and coming to the front steps ran up them and crouched behind the porch rail, The pursuers, two of them, passed; but he was not in a position to fire on them. He cursed this contretemps which would bring the entire pack upon his heels. They would search the house and run him down. He heard shouts from the back of the house; the rest of the gang were arriving. He ran down the steps and darted down the slope toward the wire- less house, and then a searchlight from the water threw its white beam upon the beach and began to creep upward, . steve swerved, put the wireless house between him and the searchlight, and in despair, lifted himself into the long hanging limbs of a tree of great size which grew behind the radio bungalow. He was up a tree again. The searchlight played upon the front of the house and revealed three or four figures, one of which made frantic signals; and the light went out. Steve could have brought down one or two of those who had been-bathed in its lights, but it would have betrayed his hiding place, : Alarmed by the shooting, the two men left on the pirate ship had pulled up the anchor and moved up the lagoon to take a position off the beach, and then tried to discover how things were going by means of the Mamie Mur- ther’s searchlight. Steve, of course, had no means of knowing how many men were on the boat. He had killed or wounded three of the pirates, but there seemed to be plenty left. From the tree to the house was a dis- tance of fifty yards. Upon the lawn in front of the residence the pirate band seemed to be assembled. He heard comic - P s —— * « Sf _ " ~ . —~ * <6 a oe ee = ian ~~. ; x ae, Ee a ee eee ee eee OT” a _— | ee ee < Fe ee er .