Adventure, January 20, 1922 — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

Tides of Hate face to urge them on, grindstones whirled and bit rusted edges from steel; armorers’ forges erupted sparks while pieces of body- steel were repaired or renewed, and the gunner’s crew drew the charges of the guns, swabbed out the pieces and recharged them with fresh powder. Every man had a task; and now it was Davies himself who urged upon his men a similar action to that which had been the primary cause of the petty theft of rawhide for which he had hanged Badoes in irons to the yardarm. “T tell ye they’ll smell a rat,” protested Steve Carr, to whom Davies suggested it. “Look! Ther’s a bit o’ th’ backbone an’ a couple o’ ribs left o’ Badoes yet. If ye’d cut th’ corpus down when it begun to rot, ye might ha’ worked this now.” Davies laughed softly. He ever found amusement in the coarser notions of Carr. “Mayhap ye’re right, Steve. Weain’t all alike. No man can be all to everybody. The gunner to’s linstock, th’ steersman to’s wheel and th’ cook to th’ foresheet’s a powerful good maxim. This is mine own notion. [ll try it out wi’out askin’ help o’ ye, Steve; then the dogs won’t hold ye answerable.” “Better hold yer luff, that’s what I say!” grumbled Steve. Davies stepped to the forward rail of the poop and roared: “Belay awhile, lads.’’ The grindstones stopped; the boys at the bellows let the forge fires sink into the coals. Gunners halted, sponge in hand, gaping aft. “°Tis just come upon me as this is my saint’s day! By th’ horns o’ Satan! I was letting it pass. Make speed wi’ the tasks in hand. Armorer, clap thy fires under cover soon’s may be. Gunner, load yer pieces wi’ speed. I ha’ mind to make ye a banquet e’en though it be the last afore ye take me a ship. “Goliath, you grinnin’ dog, break out full fare o’ flesh to gorge all hands, and make the cooks start their coppers. Carr, do you break the head o’ that lousy cabin lout an he produce not every dram o’ rum and wine the ship holds. [ll have me a birthday wi’ all our jolly dogs if’t be the last gorge on earth.” The feast was spread. - The wide decks,, bathed in mellow sunlight in late afternoon, shaded in generous patches by the great sails, were filled with noisy groups of guzzling seamen whose appetites were proof 9 against any wonder where all the wet pro- visions were coming from in a short-rationed ship. a=. “Twill clean the lazaret to the corners,” growled Steve Carr. Goliath, gnawing luxuriously upon a huge beef-bone with a half-gallon measure of Canary sack beside him, was as careless as the crew as to the source of good things. So long as the sun warmed his’ big frame and his belly was not slack, he was as a child in his appetite. “Tis what I meant,” returned Davies, watching the scene curiously. His smiling face held a trace of that quality, however, which had settled there during those terrible days among the snow and ice. “Tis as I went it, Steve. Can they but drink themselves drunk enough afore the stores run out, mayhap they’ll be less hungry for the coast. “T)’ye see, but for the Islands |’ Galapa- gos, there’s no coast any nearer than the port o’ rendezvous. The dogs think ’tis only a short sail eastward to towns and harbors. And ’twill serve us evil to appear off any port before we make the final har- bor. News travels fast along the Pacific shores since Frankie Drake smoked ’em up. “So I’m holding a course straight for San Juan del Sur, Steve; and do you but get the rascals tipsy enough ye may tell ’em T’ll clap ’em alongside a galleon from Pana- ma afore they get sober. ”Iwill prove a lie, no doubt, but twill serve to keep their blasted eyes trimmed ahead instead o’ ever to the eastward. “Now mix rum wi’ their wine, and ply ’em well wi’ it. ’Twill last two watches anyhow.” XXITT aa] AS HE watched his roistering crew, Fs y rapidly growing uproarious as the == cans of liquor passed, Davies real- ized that his parting from Nell Clark might prove of greater moment than either he or she had suspected. That is, he did not believe she had any deeper motive in going than to placate L’Escuyler. - Now the situation was presented in his mind’s eye, and he saw John Cook gnawing his lips at sight of Nell aboard the French- man. All in all, his own condition was be- coming more pleasant with every hour glass turned. Go VOOKS = a (E@)