Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 13, 1920 — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

380 ing the fugitive of his loss. He took it very quietly; in the light of Captain Wil- son’s lantern I saw his face as he looked into his daughter’s upturned eyes and smiled. It was a gentle smile, patient as if the man had grown accustomed to bear- ing disappointment. She patted his waxen hand. Even the skipper, whose obstinate dislike of his passenger persisted to the last, showed embarrassment as he looked on that mute display of affection. _ Two or three pin-points of light were dancing about out there on the wreck. I pulled my watch from my pocket and had a look; it was well along after five o’clock, and as I glanced eastward I saw the white- ness on the sky’s edge above the crest of the ragged mountains. Dawn was coming on, “ Hark!” Larson cried, and pointed sea- ward. Something was happening aboard the schooner. It all came faint with distance, but unmistakable in its suggestion of. tur- moil. A voice, then another, followed the upraised voices, a banging as of heavy foot- steps on the canted deck. Then just a barely perceptible interval of dead silence, terminated by a shrill cry which I would have taken for the call of some frightened sea-fowl had I not been certain that it was one of those men. The lights were mov- ing. We stood there for a long time and watched them zigzagging as they grew fainter with the increasing of the dawn’s radiance. Now and again the stillness was broken by the rattle of a block or the noise of boxes being dragged about. Evidently they were provisioning the two yawls. When that wild outcry had come across the hidden waters I had seen the girl grip her father’s arm and he nodded as if in confirmation of some unspoken comment. They stood a little ways off to one side from us, watching the darkness as if they looked for some unknown redemption. The dawn came on. By imperceptible degrees the shore line emerged from the thinning shadows. The schooner grew vis- ible, a ‘blot at first against the surface of the gently heaving swells, and then took shape until the tilted masts were outlined. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Of a sudden, as briskly as an expected guest who has managed to make his ap- pearance during the moment when the at- tention of those awaiting him has lapsed, the sun shot forth. Instantly the placid bay turned deep blue, the crescent beach gleamed like bur- nished gold; the dots of moving men upon the Dora’s deck were distinguishable. We strained our eyes to watch them. The skipper and I stood there on the sands striving to make out what was going forward, but Ross shouted the big news while the rest of us were still uncertain. ‘A boat,” he cried, “ and coming ashore.”’ One of the yawls was drawing off in the direction of the beach. “Now,” the skipper said to me, “ that’s main strange. What d’ye make of it, Mr. Dolan?” - I shook my head: It was be- yond my conjecture. Then came a fresh riddle. There was only one man in the yawl. The second yawl was putting off to sea. It shot out from under the schooner’s uptilted bows and we caught the flash of the oar-blades as they came up dripping water. The rowers were pullirig hard as men who want to get away from some- thing. Now we stared at the outgoing boat, and it grew smaller every time.it rose to the crest of one of the low swells. A little speck of brownish black, it dropped into a shallow trough and we turned our eyes again to the other boat. This one had barely moved. And as we looked we saw now that there was no sign of flashing oar, no movement on the part of any one.\ And only one man was aboard. ‘By the livin’ man!” the captain mut- tered. ‘ He’s adrift!”” Then with a queer catch of his breath and a smothered oath: “No. Not that. I see the oars. But why—” The question trailed off with a quick indrawn breath. To my mind there was something pe- culiarly strange about that boat. Larson, Ross and the skipper all stood peering at it, their faces set. Miss Langton and her father had turned their backs as if they could not endure the suspense longer; the girl was helping him up the slope of the 0)(0\(0) mn SS) G (EC) im