Adventure Magazine Cover — page 108: what you’re looking at

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

98 “The skipper started. “*Their North Pacific Squadron!’ he ex- “*And she’s got them, too,’ I announced as I heard the far-away voice of a wireless spark make answer. “*Block her!’ ordered the skipper. ‘Drown out her spark. If those ships get here ahead of ours, it’s good-by Reindeer and everything else!’ “And then he decided to satisfy a curi- osity that had been eating me alive. Ap- parently the second message, which he had not allowed me to decode, had explained all. “*Perhaps it would be well for you to understand our position,’ he said. ‘It is this: That nation,’ and he pointed toward the destroyer, ‘wants Honak Harbor for a naval base so badly that she is willing to take a chance; she’s wanted it for years and thinks she sees her opportunity now. While the world is in turmoil over bound- aries, why not grab it on the pretext of a mythical ancient possession, just as ter- ritory has been grabbed in Europe and even the Orient, and then make a fight for it at the peace-table, she asks herself? “ “Tf compelled to restore it, well and good; everything to gain, nothing to lose. She banks on possible ill-feeling toward the United States on the part of certain Euro- powers, hoping they will strengthen er hand. “When Washington heard about it, we chanced to be the best and only bet as a stop-gap; the fleet, as those tricky devils out there well knew, was in southern waters. And so, weak as we are, we were sent. “The destroyer, of course, is a scout. Their main fleet is in rendezvous a hun- dred and fifty miles west of here, waiting word that the coast is clear. The destroyer must have arrived just ahead of us. “And now, if they get here before our ships, we will have to dislodge them by main force. Yet if they find us here, await- ing the first overt act, as the diplomats would say, theyll never make the first break. They'll quit!’ “T had closed my sending key, and tightened the set screw until the contact was permanent. The spark was roaring steadily, while the ship’s lights dimmed as the heavy load was thrown on the little generator in the engine-room. “ “Tf nothing gives way, that’ll hold them,’ Adventure I told the captain. ‘No ship lying as close as that destroyer can possibly send a mes- sage through the interference of our spark.’ “T stepped out of the wireless-room to be free of the spark’s din. Far out, the destroyer’s lights still showed. I chuckled as I thought of the invectives her wireless operator must be heaping upon me as he tried to make himself understoed through the terrific commotion in the ether my wire- less set was Causing. | “Thus, upon a contrivance of copper wires rested the peace of two nations. If our set held up under the strain; if the sturdy little dynamo below did not falter, or. an overcharged circuit fuse under its hot burden, succor for the checkmated destroyer might not arrive until our fleet appeared. If some weakened part gave way and the destroyer’s ape got his message through—— | AI |‘AS Ileaned over the rail, speculating, 5 % some one sidled to me and there was & Atoonyak, and behind him, his satel- lite, The latter still lugged the mysterious box—in fact, Atoonyak had never per- mitted it to be out of the reach of either as long as they had been aboard the ship. In the tense moments just past we had all but forgotten the little old priest, yet here he was, grinning toothlessly and amiably. Just to see what he would do, I tried to make him understand the situation. “ ‘Look’s like the old boy’s goddess of peace is about to jilt him,’ I told the interpreter. “She seems to be losing her punch, although she’s still on the job,’ and I pointed toward the northern sky, where the ghostly glow of the aurora was begin- to show. “Of course, the native didn’t understand half of what I said, yet he obediently hissed and clicked at the old priest for half a minute. At my motion toward the north, Atoonyak faced that way. ‘The delicate, whitish light that heralds the coming of the gorgeous phenomenon began to spread over the sky. 3 “A word from Atoonyak and the inter- preter placed the box directly in front of the priest, as he faced the pole. And then Atoonyak’s body began to sway as I had seen it do before. Slowly, from side to side he weaved, while from his lips came the weird croon. Gomichooks (G0)