Adventure Magazine Cover, August 18, 1921 — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

The Doom Trail That was the first time I heard her name, and—why, I can not say—I heard it without surprize, as if I had always known it to be hers. It suited her, as names sometimes ex- press the character and appearance of their possessors. “‘What hath happened?” she asked in the same words the second mate had used. “You have heard,” said Murray. She shook her head. “That is not all. This—”’ she hesitated —‘“‘gentleman’s clothes are wet. Tom does not attack people without orders.”’ Murray shrugged his shoulders. De Veulle answered her, leaning across the table, his eyes burning with hatred for me. ‘You know what this man hath done, mademoiselle,’ he cried. “You know his record in the past. You know that he comes with us to spy out our plans, to thwart, if may be, what we undertake to do. Is any fate too hard for him? Why should you concern yourself?” His voice grew coaxing. “°*Tis no matter for ladies’ soft hands to dabble in.” “Then there has been fighting?” she asked. I could stand it no longer. “Fighting?” Isnapped. “Aye, if you call assassination fighting. An attack in the dark upon an unarmed man, throwing him overboard to drown as you might a blind puppy, never a chance for his life!” “Vet you are here, sir?’*she said quietly. “Tis only by the intervention of Provi- dence that I was saved—or the untidiness of our captain, who left a rope trailing over the side.” I grew sarcastic. “You were pleased to say today that it was proof of a God in heaven that I had suf- fered misfortune. Sure, will you deny that the same God hath protected me against your father’s 22 ‘‘My father?” she repeated questiongly. “Well, what is he?” I returned cuttingly. “‘Mayhap you have some pet name for a parent who practises assassination.” ‘You have no right to say that, sir,” said with spirit. “No right? Did not you yourself say Tom never, acted without orders?”’ “But—— ‘And furthermore, if this case is not enough, let me tell you that this man here— I pointed to Murray; for some reason I dis- she 103 liked to call him her father, even in wrath—“‘set a gang of rufhans to murder a friend of mine in London.” “Do you know that for a fact, sir?’ she demanded with her unflinching gravity. “I doz req MURRAY rose from his seat be- Se hind the table. ’ “Your proof, sir?” he asked coldly. “Proof?” I answered weakly. was there!’’ ‘Aye, sir,” he rejoined with dignity. “But your proof that I hired assassins?” I was silent. “As for Tom,” he continued, “‘if he had drowned you I do not believe that I should have wept many tears. You are in my way, sir. But you have no reason to as- sume from my daughter’s casual words that I was accomplice to his acts. Could you prove it before the captain or any court of law?” I saw the twinkle in his eyes and knew that he was playing with me. “No,” said I shortly; “I could not prove it,even against him. I have no witnesses.” ‘“‘And you could not even go into a court of law,” he pursued, ‘for you are an outlaw, denied benefit of law or clergy.” “Yes,” I flared in answer; ‘‘and you, sir, what think you might be your fate in New York if I denounced you to Governor Bur- net for attempted murder? Would he make use of the opportunity—or no?” The realization of this trump card I held had come to me in a flash of inspiration. Now it lay face up for all to see, and there could be no doubt it gave my enemies cause for uneasiness. Murray regarded me thoughtfully; a worried look replaced the cynical satisfaction with which de Veulle had watched my badgering; the bewilder- ment upon Marjory’s face was deepened. “T do not think I am so weakly situated as you had supposed,” I mocked them. ‘‘Aye, you may denounce me to the captain for a Jacobite conspirator, and it may be he will see fit to believe you. You are three to my one. But when we reach New York, and I am brought before the officers of the Crown, I may have a different story to tell. Think you the governor would be loath to impli- cate a French officer and the man who is leading the fight against his struggle to con- trol the fur-trade?” — “Why, I C© MICLOOKS CO