Argosy All-Story Weekly — "Sea Marauders" — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

ne SNe es Vid A RADY AD So Ae “ete Bn hee “we. 7 a ET ue Wm ote we hh Pe rd cS = ‘ : # 2 y° : > oe tO COR 6 Sk Peal vey 504 interested in having Susan Finch re- move that bathrobe. It occurred, to him that, even then, he might be cheat- ed and the tormenting question remain unanswered. A girl of her sort would undoubtedly wear the kind of bathing suit that was in vogue during the la- mented Nineties, consisting of eight or ten garments, and concealing all parts of the wearer except the head and the feet. It would be just like her to wear a ten-piece bathing suit! They reached the pier and walked out to the end. Gerald watched Susan Finch closely. ** Dive in,” she invited him. “* Ladies first,” he insisted. She removed the gray bathrobe and Gerald’s heart turned three triple som- ersaults and a backflip. Susan wasn’t wearing a ten-piece bathing suit. She wasn't wearing even an eight, a five or a two-piece bathing suit. His eyes swam as he quickly took it in. It was white, and it was in one piece and he promptly made to himself the declaration that never, in his years of attendance at the Ziegfeld revues, the Follies and the Vanities had he gazed upon so rapturous a form. Trem- or after tremor laid its hold upon Ger- ald’s heart. The question was answered at last. Her legs, a quick, furtive glance assured him, were neither knock-kneed nor bowed. They were slim; they were shapely; they were the quintessence of perfection! The owner of these varied charms was gazing at him from cool large brown eyes. Gerald, in his new enthu- siasm, took in certain other details that he had overlooked before. Her great eyes were fairly awninged by the longest, thickest lashes he had ever seen growing from a human eyelid. Her neck and shoulders and arms were delightful in their perfect symmetry. Here, in short, was a girl whom Gerald could adore with all his heart and all his soul. Susan Finch dived. It was a beauti- ful dive, a jack-knife. Her slim body ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. rose into the air from the springboard; her toes and fingertips came together in a light, gracious gesture; then she straightened out. She entered the green brine with hardly a splash, and her slim body mingled artistically with the deeper green of the depths. Never in his existence had Gerald seen tan so beautifully golden. He dived as she came up, and when his head emerged she said: “T’ll race you to that red buoy.” “ Barracuda,” Gerry warned. “Tm not afraid of barracudas,” was the perfect girl’s disdainful answer. “I’ve been in sharks’ nests in the very heart of the Gulf Stream.” “ All right,” said Gerald uneasily. * But [ never saw a barracuda yet that didn’t like a human foot better than any breakfast it could find.” They started to swim. Susan’s slim, graceful arms fairly flashed through the water. Halfway to the red buoy she was three lengths ahead of Gerald, and when she reached the buoy she was a fair dozen lengths ahead of him. Gerald’s adoration of this divinely built girl suffered a prompt relapse. He didn’t like girls who could excel him ‘at doing anything. His dislike became acute when, as she clung to an iron ring on the buoy, she commented on his swimming. “Was that the trudgeon you were trying to do?” she asked him. “Trying?” he spluttered. “ That was the trudgeon.” “It might have been,” she admitted, “af you had carried your outwater arm over like this.” She illustrated the stroke. ‘“ You swim sloppily.” “ Sloppily!’ Gerald growled. “Watch,” she said. “T’ll show what I mean.” And, pushing away from the buoy, she swam out toward the sea. she did it all so sweetly, so charm- ingly, that Gerald felt a little less angry; yet his anger returned when she criticized his attempts at correcting his stroke, ~ €om cbooks.com = A — oe | ee Se te een eS * Ln 2-2