Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

> es —— — -s F Y Vy . a 4 ~ in ben mae > et eee = aT: S33 as ‘ S a Se ‘ ~ ‘ rw he Ss aa € - = ~ ed . = 52 - Adventure the fire. Ducking under~the wires, he reached into the hull, tore the extinguisher . from its rack, turned: the handle and, leap- ing to the blaze, pumped the chemical upon it. In a few seconds it died down and he was left in darkness. “Good!” said Carl’s voice. “Wait till I get the lantern and we'll see what it was.”’ The light showed them their blankets piled up against the sidewall of the tent and the smell of gasoline told its story of inter- rupted incendiarism. They stood gazing down at it ruefully, Fenton with the lust for revenge g g in his eyes. But his thoughts were broken by the arrival of Stephen Blaydon who came lumbering in to them. : . “That’s those infernal beach-combers I told you about, I'll bet,”’ he boomed in his big voice. ‘I’m going to get those fellows; you see if I don’t. Any damage?” He came in and stood beside Carl, mut- tering angry curses as he saw the evidences of attempted destruction. Fenton, too angry to trust himself near the man, backed away, his hatred blazing from his eyes. He was about to blurt out his accusation when he heard a whisper behind him and, turning, saw the shadowy form of Nellie Blaydon at the flap. The girl beckoned to him. He went over to her. “‘Please!’’ she whispered, grasping his arm with fingers that clutched and quivered, “I know you know! Please, for my sake, say nothing to him.” CHAPTER XI ALLIES cue was gone before he could answer. He saw her dim figure merge with the deep shadows of the shore as she made her way back to the yacht, and for the mo- ment he was strongly tempted to rush after. her, to demand an explanation, to claim it as his right now that the tangle of events was involving the destruction of his own _ property. And he longed, also, to speak a word of reassurance to her. He wanted to let her know that she had one stanch friend who would stand by her in her predicament. “For my sake,” she had said, and again _ came the memory of her words on the deck of Caprice, “I need you very, very much.” For her sake, he resolved, he would do anything. He would even master the rage that consumed him as he heard Stephen Blaydon’s voice in the tent. He would take up the thread of events once more where _ he had so suddenly dropped it and would permit no outward sign to show this man that his blundering had revealed his vil- lainy. Blaydon’s blustering tones recalled Ward to his surroundings. He walked over to where Carl and the man were examining the charred blankets. “Look over the machine, Carl,” -he said quietly. “They may have damaged it be- fore starting the fire.” “Fenton, this is a damnable trick of those fellows,’ Blaydon said. “Why, man, I be- lieve they were trying to wreck the machine in the hopes that you would get scared off and they could sell the metal in her. Rather valuable, I imagine—that is, from the view- point of such people as these beach-combers —isn’t it?” “Quite,” Ward drawled listlessly. ‘‘Un- doubtedly that was it.” “Well, T’ll bet I'll get ’em before I’m through.”” Blaydon’s tone was blustering again. His eyes were most uneasy when they looked at Ward, but, for the most part, they were kept studiously averted. poe Sew, ace Fe eA See “Do,” said Ward, still without any show of interest. Carl in his inspection of the machine. The mechanician looked up at him curi- ously. Carl knew every tone and gesture of his employer, and something in the drawl of the few words to Blaydon had told him that Fenton was with difficulty holding himself in hand. Blaydon, apparently ig- norant of this, followed them about the machine, blustering and fuming with every semblance of rage at the attack. “Say, Fenton,” he said finally, “it was devilish stupid and clumsy of me to get in your way the way I did coming off the yacht. I was completely rattled—that’s the long and short of it. Never felt so rat- tled in my life. First I thought of doing one thing and then another, and the result was I didn’t do anything but keep you from acting. I’m mighty sorry—honest.”’ “Oh, that’s all right,”’ Fenton said. Blay- don seemed to notice for the first time the patient martyrdom of the tone. “‘____ it all, man!”’ he exclaimed, “‘you’re huffy again. I never in my life saw a man who got huffy as easily as you do. Why, you might think I did it on purpose.” EComicbooks Then he walked over to join — (E@)