Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 13, 1920 — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

nant of mortality, and to make the point — plainer the three slayers had laid the opened packet in his lap. It was as if they had said: ‘“‘ You wanted them so badly; well, here they are; keep them.” But that was not all. Those fellows knew the set of the tide at this hour, and that the yawl, when cast adrift, would float inshore; they must have reckoned on its coming back to us. And the joke was meant for us as well as for the dead man who had’led them into this affair. I mar- veled at the depth of hatred, the extent of the malevolence which had prompted this bit of devilish ingenuity. No doubt about it. Disappointment had roused that feeling. Bursting open the box, in the full expectation of looking on gold, they had found—what? What /ad they found? What had they sent back to us with the dead man? Now it looked as if disappointment was not alone, as if some other strong emotion— perhaps repugnance—had led them to the murder and what followed. Indeed, the disillusionment must have been powerful and sudden to bring that sequel. Facing the stern, I faced the dead man. It seemed as if he were mocking me, as if he knew what was still to come to all of us; and, knowing, grinned because he had won. It was the fancy of a sick man. The sun was coming down hot already on my bared head; my wound was throbbing terribly. I felt the fever leaping through my veins as I rowed on. : And when I beached the yawl at last, leaping out into the sleepy wash, I reeled uncertainly; I was about to fall when Wil- son caught me. : He was the first to reach the boat, but Larson and Ross were hard at his heels. I do not think that what they saw surprised them at all; they had been watching me all the way in, and the knowledge must have begun to dawn on them when I climbed on board. They unloaded the leaden boxes, piling them in a heap above the high-water line. They.did not so much as make a move to open the one with the broken fastenings, but placed it on the pile. I did not help them. Not that day, nor B82 ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. the next, nor the next after. The wound which Lewis had dealt me had laid me out completely. And if I could tell you just what passed, I would not; for my few mem- ories are such:as I do not care to recall: utter helplessness and the crawling presence of the fever in my body. There was just one picture on which I like to look back. I often see it to this day: the girl’s face looking down into mine, very close to mine; her eyes filled with so- licitude; her lips moving as she spoke soft- ly, and her little hand holding a pannikin of water to my lips. It must have hap- ‘pened more than once—many times, I dare say—but I ‘have only the one vision in my memory. On the fourth day I awoke with my head ringing like a bell, but my mind clear enough. I got to my feet before that morning was over, only to make a fresh discovery. Our ship’s company was again divided. - The division was as sharply marked as it had been during the days of the mutiny, and although there was no deadliness of intent, there was something which was very close to out-and-out hatred. Ross, Larson, and the skipper were arrayed against Lang- ton and his daughter as unmistakably as Lewis and his followers had been arrayed against the rest of us. Just how it had crystallized I do not know, for I have not spoken of the matter to any of them since that day of my re- covery. But you will remember how it had been engendered aboard the Dora, and how it had grown during our first day ashore, when Langton tried to speak to the cap- tain about those leaden boxes. I have an idea that after I brought the yawl ashore the two groups simply pulled apart. The pile of boxes down there near the high-water line was the thing that kept the feud alive. I do not think that any of the three seafaring men ever passed them without a scowl7or a muttered oath; and it was plain enough on such occasions that they were thinking of Langton—Langton, Honduras, and our flight from San Fran- cisco Bay. The captain, the engineer, and the sailor had done their duty as they saw it by their Gomichbooks (9)