Adventure Magazine Cover — page 44: what you’re looking at

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

Fo. ae een gto ay . sere Ms, tS aot Seas Ee nf « x, be - > “- at 38 seen him since this afternoon, when he 4333 2 i Eee to ee eee 3&5 on hs Feet “ae ns : ac threw me into a hole and buried me alive.” We all had forgotten that she did not know of the fight. I spoke out promptly— too promptly. “Senhor Tom has just killed him.” I have never understood women. Know- ing that I am ignorant of their minds, I try not to be surprized by anything they do. Yet I was amazed and bewildered at ‘the result of my words. Only a little while ago our Lady Marion had been a tender, pitying girl who called our comrade “Tom” and tried to help him rise. Even his sudden kiss had not angered her. But now, hearing my abrupt news, she paled and stepped back as if he had become a monster. Into her face came the same look I had seen there when he spoke so care- lessly about the death of the man shot in his sleep. Then she turned her back on all of us and walked slowly away, looking down at the ground. ©) and Pedro and I shrugged our shoulders. Senhor Tom reddened again; but this time he did not look con- fused.. He resented her puzzling attitude. Considering what he had endured on her account, it was hardly to be wondered at. “Tf it’s not too much trouble, Miss. Mar- XII WE THREE looked at one another, shall,” he said coldly, ‘‘we should like to know just what has happened since that sneak got me from behind. Naturally “we're a bit curious.” She sank into an empty hammock near the chief, looking suddenly weary. For the first time I noticed the little hollows under the dark eyes and the tired droop of her lips. If we had passed through much since last we saw her, so had she. In fact, she must be near the end of her strength. “Never mind about it now, though,” the blond man added after observing her a min- ute. ‘Better lie down a while first.” But she shook her head. “Y’m not too tired to talk, and you may as well hear it all now,” she said. “There isn’t so very much to tell. “You were collecting wood, you remem- ber, and I was unlacing one of these boots to see if I could make it set more comfort- ably. There was a shot. I looked up and saw you on the ground. We had heard SO FR Sea ee ¥ Sey Ga Se — ae = +). apn ee ces ax Adventure Lourenco and Pedro shooting once before, and my first thought was that one of them had fired again and accidentally hit you. I started to run-toward you, but then I heard something spring from the trees, and when I turned I found that man running at me. “He was one of those two who carried me to the Hawk after I was caught at Viciado. He grinned horribly, and when [ tried to run to the hut where your gun stood he got in my way and threw me down hard. It dazed me a little, but I rolled over and got up again, and then we struggled around until he hit me with his gun. After that I didn’t know much for a few minutes. “About the next thing I did know was that I was being thrown into a boat, and then I saw him paddling like mad and the treetops sliding past. When my head was clear again I tried to get up and jump over- board—I can swim well—but he knocked me down again and tied me so tightly that I couldn’t get up any more. ‘“‘He stopped once and went ashore a min- ute, and I managed to see he was hiding our other canoe. I hadn’t noticed before that he had taken both of them, and when I found he had left you men without any boat I just shivered—I thought that now none of you could follow him. But then I thought if I could only get his gun away from him I would drive him off. And so I began trying to loosen my hands. But I couldn’t. They only became numb. “Tt grew dark, and he kept on going. He worked all night, growling every time the boat hit anything—it bumped every now and then, and sometimes it stuck. It was long after sunrise when he finally stopped _ paddling and went ashore to eat and rest. “By that time my arms were so dead I couldn’t use them, and my feet were like lumps of lead—I couldn’t get out of the boat when he untied me. He dragged me ashore and made a little breakfast, grinning that terrible grin at me while he worked, and keeping his rifle behind him. And then the Indians jumped out. “They speared. him and ‘shot him—oh, it was horrible!” She glanced around as if seeking the men who had done the killing. “But after he was dead you were glad,” Isaid. . “Well, I—I was relieved, and glad to be free of him. I wasn’t half as much afraid cComichboo Ss (E@)