The Frontier, May 1926 — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

We had only a few steps to take; but when we arrived there, our hearts fell. There was no gig in sight. “Back, den!” cried the skipper. “See—der gun!” We dodged back among the trees as a gttn roared on board ship, scatter- ing slugs through the foliage all around us. But all had taken cover, and no one was hit. Hurriedly, then, we took stock of the situation. Johannsen was hob- bling painfuly down the slope, with a bullet in the calf of his right leg. Suggs had been killed by Dumphey’s cutlas, The judge had been shot through the flesh over his ribs, on the left side; my own face was blackened with powder, and the lobe of my right ear had been shot off; while Killifer had a deep cut in the thigh. Uncle George also displayed a bleeding scalp wound and a dented belt buckle, where a bullet had struck and glanced. The death of Suggs, and Johannsen’s lee wound left us with only six men who could be counted on as able to bear muskets; and some of these were doubtful, if fever set in. But the buccaneers, on the other hand, had suffered much more heavily. The dead man on the slope, killed earlier in the day, and the three who had just died cut their number to fifteen. Of these fifteen we saw at a glance that Gunderson would never aid them again, ever 1f he were lucky enough to survive; for he had been shot through the body, and was now groan- . ing in dire pain. Two others, we knew, had been severely wounded prior to ‘this, so that we had now but a dozen able men to cope with. One thing gave us immediate aid, and this was the finding of three bot- tles of brandy. It strengthened our wounded wonderfully. We also listed in our loot four tobacco pouches, four pipes, a flint and tinder, four sailor's clasp knives, six muskets, three cut- lases, five pistols, four powder horns, four shot pouches, and a large sack of provisions which they had brought ashore. Then, after staunching the wounds of our enemy, Gunderson, as best we could, and performing a like service for ourselves, Captain Van Tassel and O’Donnell took position with two mus- kets apiece near the shore. Firing from behind tree trunks, they kept the buc- caneers aboard ship dodging behind the bulwarks while we removed our loot and assisted Killifer and Johann- sen up the slope to the cavern. THE DEVIL'S CALDRON CHAPTER XIII THE CALDRON SEETHES ——| E reached the cave without further cas- ualties. The very daring of our sud- den, savage attack ~ | had dumbfounded eter} the buccaneers. We heard Gentry roar- ing like a lion on board the ship; but he could not force his men to stand at an open gun port; and such musket shots as were fired at us while O’Don- nell and the captain reloaded were hur- ried and badly aimed. Finally, when the last pair of us was over the breast- works, the pirates ceased firing alto- gether, and kept out of sight behind the bulwarks. We were glad enough of the re- spite, for Killifer and the judge were bleeding profusely; and Johannsen was suffering intensely with the ball in his leg. We managed to staunch the wounds of the first two with cool water from the spring, while Uncle George, gritting his teeth, made shift to extract the bullet from the quarter- master’s calf with our only surgical instrument—a_ sailor’s clasp-knife. Strong as Johannsen was, he fainted dead away when the ball came out at last, and Uncle George was little bet- ter. But a drink of brandy brought them round again; and at last we were able to stretch out on the sand for a much needed rest. “I suppose,” said the judge, “that we're cocks of the walk now on shore, at any rate, and Gentry won’t make another attempt to get the treasure. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he sailed away to get hands with better stomach for his work.” We all agreed that this seemed likely ; and that night, when the skip- per and O’Donnell had returned, and we heard the men on board singing at the capstan bars, we listened with a mixture of relief and despair. They were raising the anchor, we thought, to sail away; and though this meant a cessation of fighting with buccaneers, we still had the possibility of cannibals to think of, and a dreary battle for mere existence as well. Even when we heard the plunge of the anchor Jater on, we were not much heartened. It meant that Gentry had moved out of gunshot from the shore, but might only be waiting until morn- ing to sail away. No one said any- thing about surrender, but even the in- . domitable skipper could offer no plan 27 * to better our situation, We fell asleep at last in anything but an optimistic frame of mind. Losing sleep through a trick at sen- try go, as well as my smarting ear, I was awakened from a dead stupor some time after daybreak by a cry from O’Donnell. A signal was being flashed from Kidd’s Mauley, he said, and all of us rushed to the barricade. A thin morning mist still hung over the bay and around the base of Kidd’s Mauley, but not so thick that we could not see the hazy outlines of the ship. It lay at anchor in the middle of the bay, almost directly to eastward of us. And there, on the northern side of the peak to southward and at a point near the top, was a buccaneer holding aloft the burnished bottom of a pannikin, This he moved back and forth, now exposing it to the sun, now swinging it to his side. “A ship—or canoes,” said Uncle George. “See there? He’s down be- hind that shoulder so they can’t see him signal from seaward.” “Ve see,” said the captain. up aloft mit a telescope.” I was not long in gaining the top of the bluff, from which I commanded a good view of Morgan’s Bay. And I had no sooner looked than my blood seemed to freeze within my veins, There, rounding Bowsprit Bluff, be- tween the reefs and shore, were nine big canoes. They were equipped with outriggers, and a sail each, forward; and there were between six and eight savages in each craft, most of them swinging long paddles. They were heading al- most directly toward me on a course which, I judged, would bring them to the beach in Cannibal Cove, an inden- tation in the coast-line between Kidd’s Mauley and Middle Point. I ran to the edge of the bluff and shouted my news to the captain. He stood there a moment below me, lIook- ing up as though momentarily stunned, but in a trice he had jerked himself to- gether. “See vere dey lant, und don’t let ’em see you!” he ordered. “I pring up your breaksfast.” A gig was now racing from the ship down Drake’s Bay toward Kidd’s Mauley with six men at the oars. Be- fore my breakfast reached me, this gig had picked up the two sentries and was pulling back to the Anthony Wayne, while the savages, without changing their course, headed directly toward Cannibal Cove. My uncie, the captain and O’Don- Gomicbooksscom “Jack,