Adventure, November 1915 — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

The Gold Lust Henley’s rough hands on his shoulders held him helpless, subsided. “Even with the ropes off you will find yourself incapable of doing much damage for at least the first few minutes,” said the Chinaman in tones that mocked in their evenness. “You will give me the posi- tion? “Otherwise, ” he went on after a pause of a few seconds, “the lady may have to suffer annoyance.” Addams’s fury spent itself at the realization of the position of the girl he loved. There was no question now as to the gold, though, had it been merely the matter of his own safety, he would have fought to the last. Now he was out-tricked by a master of stratagem. “How do I know you will keep your share of the bargain—that Miss Winton will be cared for?”’ “Tut—tut—my dear man,” answered the Oriental. ‘You must take my word for it. All I want is the gold. For your life, your friend’s, the girl’s, I care nothing. They are absolutely valueless to me. So, in exchange for your information, I shall present them to you. There will be a little inconvenience for a little while, that is all.” The utter lack of sentiment in the cold tones gave them conviction. Capitulation was the only way of escape. Raging in- wardly, Addams gave the figures. The Chinaman set them down in a notebook. “Varying considerably from those in the Herald,” he said. “‘Now to verify them.” “You can do that easily enough,” said Addams coldly, resolved to end the matter. “Tf you will rip away the name label in the breast-pocket of my coat you will find the longitude marked on the under side. In the same place Mr. Winton has the latitude.” The Oriental deftly opened Addams’ coat and with the sharp blade of a small pocket- knife severed the threads of the label. “J must compliment you on your in- genuity,’ he said. “I must confess to hav- ing overlooked that, which was very care- less of me. Henley will return your valua- bles and those of your friend. You may rest assured that Miss Winton shall be taken good care of until you see her. we shall not meet again.” He swiftly cut the cords at Addams’ an- _kles and wrists and motioned Henley, who had set down the contents of Addams’s pockets on a bale, to the door. As for us, “T shall leave you this,” he said smiling, and tossed something soft and clinging on to Addams’s knees. gy’s hair. Addams’s numb limbs refused to answer to his will. His arms were powerless, as if they had been torn from their sockets. Henley’s face darkened the grille. “Good-by, Mr. Fox,” he sneered. “If I’d had my way Id have taken the gal along, too, to see if her hair matched the gold. I may do it yet!” With a supreme effort Addams stood up, It was the lock of Peg- 41 forcing his paralyzed arms to action and ~ stumbled to the door. Henley with a laugh, spat through the grating at him and limped away. CHAPTER XVI AH SING R half an hour Addams forced the reluctant circulation back into his arms by kneading them. His shoulders were humps of living pain as he worked them as well as he could against the pro- testing tendons and muscles. On the bale he found his match-case with the other things that Henley had restored, and he used them one by one in a futile search of some possible way out. He won- dered what had happened to Selim, clench- ing his fists at the way the tables had been turned upon him. Suddenly he remembered his watch and struck one of his last matches to read the time. It was midnight. He held it to his ear to reassure himself by the ticking, think- ing it had been far later. It was a sad ravel to disentangle and no easy matter for the strongest of men, physi- cally and mentally distressed, as was Ad- dams, to center his best efforts upon the patient untwisting of the snarl. One end of the thread was plain: the prime necessity of getting free from his surroundings. But the following of it was beset with knots and twists. | The whereabouts and welfare of Peggy was aggressively his foremost thought. The problem was many-sided at its best. With Peggy found, Jim Winton loosed, there was a bare chance of getting to the island first. The Wavecrest he knew could outsail the lumber schooner, though the course was be- fore the wind and with the latter’s larger CORMELOOC cS (E@) =|