Adventure, November 1915 — page 180: what you’re looking at

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

ex “a Y © 2 * ou ys ay > .~ at ’ j ) i at AD Peat a Ar vy . "CON TAee th sy oe ek , - 178 I pressed her arm encouragingly. After a moment she continued. “And then he came to life—and in such a manner! I screamed when I saw him on the Mauresubia. He swore and made me go down into the little boat. “Oh, the shock, when I realized the truth. When I discovered it was a colossal robbery, and he the leader. And then you appeared, and I thought you were one of them. I—lI wanted to diel”’ She paused, wrestling with her emotion, and I murmured gentle endearments over her bowed head. “But you must not hate him; you must not judge him,” she went on. “It was his nature that drove him on; he could not help himself. All his life he was in trouble. No one could rule him, even when a boy—ata- vistic, they said he was. He cared only for me, and for the urgings of his lawless spirit. He could not help his life—his nature flout- ed control.” “T know, dear, and I do not judge,” I told her. “There are many men like that in the world. You meet them in the out- places. He was born too late, your brother, a thousand years too late.” We sat silent, Mary and I, staring into the fire. Our hearts were full and close to- gether, closer even than our shoulders, which touched. I think we both forgot Dooin completely. In the flames I saw my own words curl into a picture. I saw the feral likeness of ~ Roger Dacy. His great body was garbed in ancient dress, a shield was on his arm, a great two-edged sword in his hand. The raven helmet topped his ruthless, smiling face. “A thousand years too late,’”’ I mused. “What a Viking the man would have made!” It was Dooin who dispelled the vision, and rudely. — “Holy smokel awed voice. My mind wrenched back to reality. I looked. Mary screamed and fell back upon the sand. I cried aloud. For standing on the beach, not twenty yards distant, was Dacy himself, or his wraith. In the weird half-light of the early morning he was an unreal, spectral vision. Save for the cotton trousers that clung dripping to his form, he was naked. A soaked bandage was twisted turban-wise Look!” he cried in an Adventure | about his head. He returned our stare, and his great chest heaved. The movement squelched my supersti- tious thrill. I realized that this was no fantom, but a living man just out of the water and weary from a long swim. He came toward us. He paused at the fire’s edge and stood looking down at Mary’s unconscious form. ‘The flames ruddied him and showed the lines of weariness upon his face. “Poor girll’”’ His soft, muttered words broke the spell that enthralled us. Dooin stirred uneasily, but Dacy’s eyes swept to my face and held me transfixed. His eyes glowed. “T lose. It is Fate,” he said in his quiet voice. ‘Guard her well and cherish her.” Without another word, he turned and started down the beach. There was a stag- ger in his step. “Halt!” barked Dooin. The little man was on his feet, rushing forward, his revolver in his hand. Dacy whirled about. “Hands up!’ snapped Dooin. Dacy made no move to obey the com- mand. His arms dangled by his side. Doo- in paused, some eight feet distant from the other, his weapon aimed. “T am an officer,” he stated. my prisoner!” I had found my feet by then, and was running toward them. Mary was upper- most in my mind. “No, no, Dooin!’’ I cried. that gun! Leave him go!’ The words were still on my lips when it happened. There was fully eight feet of sand between the two, and Dooin moreover held a gun pointed at the Captain’s head. “Vou are “Put down But Dacy suddenly bridged that gap with a single movement of his body, a lion-like leap, so swift that my eye caught but the flash of his form. He was upon Dooin, crushing the little man in a giant’s hug, and forcing up the hand that held the revolver. There was a blinding flash as the weapon exploded. A tearing, searing agony stabbed me through the breast. I was lying upon my back on the sand, looking up at the sky. I remember there was a star that was just going out. As a man hears a voice in a dream, I heard Dacy’s voice. “By ——! I am sorry,” it said. CORMICMOOOKS (©)