Adventure Magazine Cover, December 18, 1919 — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

Ul) Ai lt ih ESS PURDUE, pulling heavily on the wheel of his husky catboat to resist the rudder strain of running down the wind, had great difficulty in resisting the temptation to burst into guffaws of laughter. That, it seemed, was about the one thing which could dull the extreme point of the wonderful joke. It had never occurred to him that he would hesitate at using any means he could devise to remove from his path a human being who got too much in his way. That the victim himself, however, should push open the doors to a trap by which he could be sent to his last con- scious moment dead sure that he was not being murdered, but believing that he owed a debt of unspeakable gratitude to him, Jess Purdue... Well, that was Jess’s idea of the su- preme jest of his career. “Tt all comes o’ bein’ so stuck on himself that he thinks a man can’t help likin’ him even after he’s went an’ took away his girl.” “Beg pardon, captain, did you say something?” There was an eager concili- atorifiess in young Hasting’s manner. His attitude was beyond Purdue’s com- prehension. A man of wider and clearer Ni yy ANY ma perceptions would have recognized in- Billy Hasting one of those cheerful demo- crats who may acquire other ambitions but can never entirely get over the born 31 al " | AGAIN ST ul iti | cure ql | Nita ye M.A.CAIN desire to make friends with anything showing an even remote resemblance tq the human. Purdue started guiltily, stared searchs ingly into Hasting’s face before he made “Jest talkin’ to myself, I reckon. I— I was thinkin’ it was a pity you and me hadn’t got acquainted earlier in the Summer.” It was obviously almost on the tip of Hasting’s tongue that the lateness of their acquaintance was not due to any fault in his behavior. possibly unpleasant and let it go with: “Wish we had. If I’d had this ride eight weeks ago, I imagine I’d go home a more enthusiastic water-man. This is really fun. I'll know what kind of a boat reply to buy next season, anyhow, only I have. a feeling a man needs your experience | to handle a thing like this.” “He ought to know how to swim well before he-tries,’ Purdue vouchsafed in response. He was amusedly aware that the other’s avowal of enthusiasm for his boat was at least partly an indirect compli- ment to its owner, not considering the hint at his superior handling of it. “He knows so well I'd ought to kill him,’ was the fisherman’s inward comment, I really ain’t goin’ to.” “Smoke?” Hasting invited a moment ; He avoided the comicbooks “that he don’t dare quite hope - nag wy? pte ee Fhe dd