Adventure Magazine Cover — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

ne the two “cai. beat stant She ‘their lanterns lighted, finding no trace of any other’ survivor. _. “But ‘they can’t all have been sucked aa ‘down with the Hesperus, could they?” “==. ~ queried Vi. oe “Mebbe, and mebbe—sharks,”’ said her == _~uncle orimly. _-—s«sHle tacked over to the other boat and, ordering the second to keep as close as possible, turned and ran before the wind. _ Then the captain had an examination made Of the food-supplies and water. The keg fastened in the middle of every boat and -__ supposed to be kept constantly replenished, Eas a matter seldom attended to in tramps before the war, proved to be only three- quarters full and leaking. eae A case of emergency rations was missing. Whether in the general confusion it, had been lost overboard or whether it had been omitted by the mate whose duty it was to see that it was placed there, they could not know. The captain said nothing, but in the light of the lantern Vi saw his face become very grave until a meek voice murmured apologetically— “Chi Loo catch um some, but not velly ~~ muchee.”’ : ‘Not velly muchee” for nine mouths was true, but at any rate the seven-pound tin of biscuits, a ham and apparently an apronful of canned goods snatched at hazard were better than nothing. The water was the more serious problem. Captain Kelvett immediately ordered all the food to be placed in the locker of the stern-sheets on _ which he sat, and a man was specially told off to guard the precious keg in such a posi- tion that the drips would fall into the bailer. | “Are you all right, Vi?’’ queried her uncle when at last the men had been divided into watches. “Yes, uncle. But where are we making for?”’ questioned Vi. \ “Andaman Islands,” he replied. “Oh. How far from ae are we now, then?” “Ssh!” warned the captain in a low voice. “Nearly two thousand. Unless we pick up a boat that means ten days with the ——sibreeze—if it holds.” ~~. “But can’t we make for Africa, cap’n?”’ inquired Selwyn. = - “No. Can’t attempt to beat against this monsoon although it’s so much ae and —— Sos se beae = or see Sse =e = eee. no likely | por fr to Mombasa.” — <> Selwyn. ‘“There’s no ie to discuss that yet, Mr. _ Selwyn,” put in Captain Kelvett. sure to pick up a boat. We’re more or less right in the shipping lane. both better try to get some sleep before dawn.” as thwarts and the excitement of the catastrophe Vi was lulled by the heave and sinking sigh of the boat running before the breeze. She awoke to stare in bewilderment at a triangle of sepia against a glare of crimson cut by a swaying line of sapphire. Below this mass developed slow- ly the head of a man with an enormous DESPITE the hardness of the “But haven’t we enough food?” began “We're | Now you'd | mustache above a garment which insisted upon being a woolen nightshirt, as was con- clusively proven by one hairy leg. The leg projected over a rim of white upon blue and a fantasy of bodies sprawling in a con- fined space which heaved in rhythm with the crimson world. An excruciating pain in the center of her spine insisted upon recognition. As swiftly and as crudely shadowed as a picture upon a screen, reality returned. She was made conscious of the actuality that she was pillowed within the arms of Selwyn, staring bewilderedly at the profile of her uncle against the pallid stars of re- treating night. “Don’t!” she exclaimed sharply and sat up. | “Well, your uncle’s steering and you were falling off the thwart,’’ he said sharply. She stared at him, noticing the unshaven jaw and dirty face, the expression of which seemed somehow to have changed, to have become more serious with a hard line, savage, around the mouth. The boat was still running before the breeze to the steady seethe of the foam behind her, toward the crimson glare, which was rapidly changing | id gold. Save for the other boat to — to p the South, there was nothing beneath the vast bowl of the sky. Two thousand miles, her uncle had said— ten days; and a shudder of apprehension shook her as she recalled the state of the © larder and water-supply. Stories of ship- wreck and the sufferings of abandoned sailors clamored- at et mind. But. ia = € os fe Se ey = é Se — , a eS — tre SS es x = —<— — Se eel = ee ae s aoe [Seas @) | | 0 \ I aan : ——— a aS aS == —“,. ¥s oYo) Mi ee F ss a u ar! eae