Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

608 afier little while,” he added with an em- ‘phasis that made the two women shudder, and set the skipper’s blood to boiling.” “You talk like a foolish man, Badoun. Suppose you kill, have treated you right.” get conviction into his words. He knew that if the Malays got clear in the boats it was not far to land, where the bush would swallow them. ‘‘ Why do you want Mr. Samson?”’ At that one of the men by the com- panion sprang forward. It was the one the mate had foully kicked. Even now he limped, and his face was convulsed with rdge. He broke into a volley of Malay. The skipper stopped it with a bellowed command, backed by Badoun, who put his hand on his fellow’s naked chest and pushed him away. ‘ “You hear what he say?” said Badoun. “‘ Better you give him up, Twan. We sure get him. We kill all. I think perhaps we not kill women; we take along in boat. What you speak, Tuan?” “ No?” roared the skipper, and slammed the door. Sweat shone on his face, his eyes were troubled. “Pretty soon two bells strike, Tuan,” persisted the serang.” Much better you change your mind before that time.” The eyes of all of them swung to the cuddy clock. It was twenty minutes .to - three. “ Pinckney,” said the skipper curtly. “ See if there is a sail in sight, or any sign of wind?” The second mate looked out through the after ports. ‘“ Nothing,” he said simply. Samson had turned to Sykes. ‘What did he say?” he asked. His lips were dry, and he licked at them. The supercargo surveyed him contemptuously. His dislike of the mate boiled over. . “ He says you kicked Telak, and they’re goin’ to carve the bloody ’eart out of yer, Unless we give you hup!”’ “I gave you my orders about mistreat- ing the men, Samson,” said the skipper accusingly. ‘“‘ Now you’ve brought us to a hard pass.” There was silence in the cuddy, save for the suave ticking of the clock, beating out you hang. Always I It was hard to. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “the seconds that lay between them and death—for the women, worse.. ‘ Give ’im hup, I say,” said Sykes. The skipper frowned at him, but he paid no at- tentiqn. ‘It’s ’im or the rest of us,” went of the supercargo. ‘“ And then,” he jerked his head at the two women. ‘“ Ne time to be mealy-mouthed. ’E did it. got us, sooner or later. Listen to ’em jab- berin’.” The Malays had evidently come aft, as- sembling outside the little cuddy. “ Between him and the women,” said Pinckney. “I votes hiss.” The skipper looked from the mate to Mary Leigh. She was deathly pale, her eyes fixed on the mate. Then they shifted to him. But he could read nothing in them but dumb entreaty. Her aunt had taken up a kris from the rack, her face set in strained resolution. | Suddenly Samson broke down. ‘““ My God!” he said, and the hand he held out shook like a leaf in the wind. ‘You're not going to give me up, to them? They wouldn’t keep their word. They’d— Mary—you—you—?”’ The skipper’s face hardened at the Afary. He seemed to be waiting for a sign from the girl. But she, too, appeared to hold back for his decision: It was up to him, the commander. He knew Badoun, he felt certain that they would, at that moment, be satisfied with the "body of the mate. Later—? His eyes roamed about the, ca- bin. The hands of the clock had- passed on to twelve minutes past five. Twelve minutes. His face became a carving of stone save for the almost ampenceptivle movement of his lips. ‘We'll not give you up, ” he said, and the contempt in his voice held the sting of a whip-lash. ‘‘ White men don’t work that way. Nor white women, I fancy.” A glance came over the face of.the girl. It was ratliant as she gazed at the skipper. But he did not see it. He was opening the locked drawer of the cabin, taking from it a little case, that contained his drugs. As they watched him, fascinated, he took up with steady hand a vial half-filled with white pellets. Two of these he dropped into his palm. 6A ric ina rorr [ (C(O) DOO They've —