Adventure, January 20, 1922 — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

72 stopped by any human order; it might be decided by the addition of a stout arm or two on either side. Impatient though he was to investigate the purpose of the canoes on the lake, Davies nevertheless found. time to think that this unexpected quarrel could easily simplify matters for himself and his loyal lads. tery. He hesitated before joining in to ask Goliath how it started. “Dat’s de myst’ry, cappen,” grinned the ° black: ‘‘Fust dey begin a-chatterin’ *bout de forest debbils, den somebody say es *twas nuttin’ but some trick ob yours, sar. Dey say, whar you gone all alone wid dem Injuns? Dey ask whut de Frenchman done to git kill? “Den Missis Nell she yell de black he at Swan, who say yo’ too much white-lib- bered ’cas you already curse him when ye shot de soldier, and maybe you hav secrets dat yo’ keep from de res’. So dat remin’ Cook ob Missis Nell’s bein’ hyar, an’ he grin an’ step for’ard to grab her. I watch mighty close, but she say wait. “Den Swan he ’clude to hab a tussle hisself, an’ dar yo’ is, cappen. Dem two cappens butted inter each odder lak rams, an’ fo’ I c’d shout all han’s is mixed up lak langrage iron.” “Hold a while then,” said Davies. He was keenly scanning the entire scene of battle, which was lit up increasingly by the full moon rising clear of the trees. Behind him lay the placid lake, and though he could see an end of Solenti- name from where he stood, he saw no canoes. In the clear space between forest and shore, a natural amphitheater of half-moon shape, the ground was trampled and dark- ened in patches by fallen men or the blood that ran from men still fighting. And the circumstance that lent a touch of ghostli- ness to the scene was the absence of shots, pistol or musketry; the fight was waged with steel alone, except where men dis- carded all made weapons and resorted in the final test to teeth and claws. Without seeing her, Davies was aware that Nell had slipped away from her Indian escort and was crouching at his side, pant- ing: with excitement. He was too intent upon something happening which puzzled him to give her a glance. He patted her on the shoulder to let her know he was aware But the reason for it all-was.a mys-_ Adventure of her presence, then with a curt exclama- tion he muttered: “There! See Gohath? Did ye see: it, Nell? Five men I’ve watched back there by the trees, fall one after t’other wi’out a blow struck at ’em to the sight. D’ye mark how the rascals stop their fighting a spell and glance in uncertainty where th’ dogs drop?”’ ‘“‘Aye,” Nell uttered tensely, “and more, too. Can ye see naught more, Ed?” Then she laughed shortly, and added: “O’course ye can not see what [I see, knowin’ Cook’s lads imperfectly as ydo. Hark. Every one o’ yonder rogues that ha’ dropped like rotten medlars wiout seeming cause is ‘one o’ the dogs who went in John Cook’s own sloop, Ed. Look closely. Never a man o’ thine falls thus.” “Dat ain’t lak fightin’ no mankind!” growled Goliath, his ebony visage gleaming in the moonlight, his teeth revealed in a wolfish grin, his great dark eyes wide with dawning fear. ‘‘Dar! See?. Anudder drapped, an’ ’tain;t no man hittin’ at him nudder!” It was uncanny how men were picked off with such surety. Like the men who had fallen on the march, Davies surmised that these were victims of that hidden foe which even the Indian, with all his forest lore, had been unable to reveal. But one thing made him pause still longer before putting his own weight into the fight to bring it to a con- clusion: Swan and Cook swayed in a dead- lock. On both faces stark ferocity had settled like a mask; Swan’s beard was slavered with red froth; Cook’s face was grim, cold, and bloodlessly pale. From the iron body- armor of each red streams ran down body and legs to the turf; and the fight was bound to go to that one whose muscles longest bore the terrific strain of the grip they were in. Each gripped the other’s knife-wrist in the left hand; each had twined his right leg about the other’s; and there they swayed, like two stags, bearing with every nerve, fiber and heartbeat against the other’s effort to overcome his resistance. The main battle had already come to a point where a single fresh arm might decide it. The Cadiz men had fought stoutly until backed against the forest trees, then made such an unexpected stand that their foes wavered half-heartedly. Davies snatched a comprehensive glance’ GComiGchdoo C S (C@