Adventure, August 3, 1919 — page 110: what you’re looking at

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

* y: vf pS TTT a i ma wer : , 100 After that he settled back to guard the two men who were sending the boat north- ward with long, s ing strokes. It was a trip of about one hundred and ninety miles that Crawson was intending to make, and he figured that he could force the two Moros to row that distance in seventy-two hours. He had planned to run north from Tawi Tawi until he passed Zamboanga City, which is at the southern end of the-Zamboanga Peninsula. Then he proposed to change his course east and pick up the coast of Mindanao off San Ramon, which is about twenty miles north of Zamboanga City, Here he would land among the peaceable Subanos, where there were no Moros and where he was reasonably sure there would be no troops. He could not afford to meet any soldiers—or any white people at all, for that matter. He did not know just how much the author- ities knew about his raids in Mindanao or just how badly he might be wanted. After landing he intended to go into the jungle near San Ramon, tie the Moros hand and foot and hold them prisoners. There in the jungle he would remain until he could learn of some steamer that was sailing from Zamboanga to Australia. Then he would turn his prisoners loose at the last minute, slip down in the night and get aboard the ship. And the new life would begin. It was a clear night. The moon silvered the smooth, green water, and the arms of the outrigger hissed as they skimmed lightly along the surface. With his gun in his right hand and the tiller in his left, Crawson held his boat to the north. Far astern of him, low in the sky, hung the Southern Cross, symbolic of the tropics, of adventure. At his feet lay five hundred thousand dollars—not in humdrum, commonplace money but in clean, pulse- stirring jewels. The blood coursed hotly through his veins. He felt the thrill of lawlessness—of piracy. He had defied all conventions, all law. He had set aside all scruples and taken for himself what he wanted out of the wealth of the world. And now he rode, a very monarch on the broad sea, forcing by sheer power two hu- man beings to do his absolute will. Thus in exhilaration of possession, Crawson coaxed and threatened and drove the Moros on to greater effort. He knew that daylight would bring discovery and that the land Adventure it~ a) oe - ¥ D5 er 4 * a >» .+ & and the sea would then be searched in all Crawson’s direst threats, accompanied an occasional blow, failed to speed up ie swing of their oars. To make the prospect less rosy, black clouds were gathering in the heavens and the wind was steadily increas-*° * _ ; ing. About eleven o’clock in the morning Crawson saw two outri rise on the crest of a long swell well astern of him. There were at least a dozen men in each of the boats. Crawson had expected to pursued, but he hardly thought they would have overtaken him so soon, At came whining across the water. Crawson knew that it was no miracle that the Moros should have picked up his course so easily. Had he gone in any other direction, they would have sighted him just as quickly. For these were only two of a dozen boats sent out in fan-shape formation so as to cover the entire surface for miles around. The white man now prayed for the storm which he had so iy dreaded; it would at least put an end to the firing and perhaps give him a chance to elude the Moros. The pursuers were pulling now with all their might, and with the strength of their many oars they were gaining fast. It seemed but a question of time until the erstwhile general would be overhauled and taken prisoner or else shot by his own sol- diers. Crawson realized that he must do something—that in some way he must drive the two men in his own boat greater effort. He fired two shots in qui succession into the gunwales of th one shot at the elbow of each of the Moros. “Pull!” he shouted. “Pull! Or will lodge in your hides,” ee a ‘ —~ ~ comicbooks.com