Adventure Magazine Cover — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

“The boys slipped me the news of what ee ” he said, “and I want to thank _ you, bo, for saving my ribs. =: get this bully yet. The way you handle ~ yourself, with twenty pounds more, I be- _ lieve you could do it.” ~ “Maybe,” said Jim Falcon, “but I haven’t got the kick I used to have. I don’t blame him. It’s that white-livered, psalm- singing hypocrite up on the bridge that lets * him do it. This mate is living up to his = training, and the captain is not.” : “Ever shipmates with him before?” asked aoe Collins, ae “No,” said Jim Falcon, “but I know __ him,” and then buried his face in the = water, refusing to talk further. Se Jim Falcon had deliberately chosen the . Lotus and Captain Melvin McRae, when eo another ship and another captain would have been just as easy to secure. McRae’s success laid alongside his own failure had struck his fancy and aroused his contempt, and the Lotus was to make a trip that appealed to him. He wondered for one thing if McRae would know him, for the two had not met face to face since Jim Falcon had been ex- pelled from college for the last time, while McRae, growing to manhood with the stigma of a model boy tagged to him, had graduated at the head of his class. He had been all the things that Jim Falcon was not and Falcon wanted to see now if the man and the boy were alike, with that curious fascination which one pathway sometimes has for another. Jim Falcon was unconscious of this, but ‘there was something about him which once seen was not forgotten, and Melvin McRae had known him at first sight and was sure of him as he fought Kinky Braune. A quartermaster interrupted Jim Falcon’s toilet to summon him to the bridge. “Going to get a bawling-out, maybe for being rude to the mate,” said Collins. “Tt’ll be my turn next.” But the captain made no mention of what he had seen on the deck. “Are you Jim Falcon of Rock Head?” Se he asked. = “Yes,”’ said Jim Falcon. o> ‘We went to school together.” oS “Yes,” said Jim Falcon. a There was an insolent indifference about ae his tone, a gio ity which silenced any offer ¥- Ta es ma = * ~ « x “ie a. — * ea ae see pat ee es Me <oF * fX 3. SS 2 = Pa 9. as os SS Some of us’ll » 7 a 7 ek, 1m = Se > 4 "Daa ~- re “s f ee! 2 —— mf Od Fae = A > aoe ea, et, a Es we Sn “ r .. . as or ~ 2.0 3 = S ee eee eg ri il ee © << ae Fs oe - ee ee ee . ne = Le Se. wens a — a Md . * - ety of friendship from the aaptatin After that | there was little to be said. “That will be all,” said the captain, and Jim Falcon went out. “Stuck up as ever,” Falcon mutteréd to himself, “and as double-faced. He ought to know that I know he’s no friend of mine.” __ * JIM FALCON began to put on. flesh almost from the first day out. Not that it showed upon him, for he grew no larger in girth. But with whole-. some food, regular hours, and nothing stronger to drink than a limited amount of coffee, his gauntness began to round out, his brittle nerves to relax, and the minute cells of his blood to find other duties than the carrying-away of alcoholic waste. Jim Falcon’s recovery was not altogether : physical. He loved a good ship, and ships had called to him long ago from Rock Head and sent him questing into deep water. Lately his voyages had been short and too long a time had been spent between them at water-front grog-shop and hotel, the out- er rind of the big clean sea, where the wrecks of ships cluttered rotting wharves and the wrecks of men cumbered dirty streets. He liked the swaggering courage with which the Lotus shouldered her blunt bows into giant seas, the steady beat of her engines and the sensitive way she had of answering a single spoke.of the wheel, biting on into smooth seas and angry seas as if there was no mystery of the deep water which she did not dare. He liked the run of the searching waves across the deck, the taste of spray on his lips and the whistle of the trade-winds through the scant rigging; and while these things grew in him, hate and intolerance toward his captain grew as well. Melvin McRae gave Kinky Braune a free hand with the crew and to every outward appearance the plan was working. With Link Collins subdued and Jim Falcon steadi- ly avoiding another clash, the mate bent the crew to his will, did with them about as he wished, until ‘they were fear-ridden, sullen, obedient only because his heavy hand waited to give punishment at the least demur, but cursing him and the captain and the ship behind his back. Melvin McRae seemed well satisfied. He dominated the brawny mate. Even Jim Falcon could not accuse him of dodging ~ the issue ete but he knew as yes as im ioe a oe —— —— Sie . = : ie Sa 5 ee oe ae —_ — = oe, = = > te ae Cm, < = Becomicneeke corns