Adventure Magazine Cover — page 168: what you’re looking at

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

a —. ae. . . <4 et ea iy fa 8 EO ep , ye ge < Pe ety oe a i, ee te Ott > a ts - = ‘ - A ma toe > ; . o 2 } but we aren’t regular robbers. didn’t look like a reputable king’s ne on ‘the king’s business. “You be come to hang~us all, cap’ n” blurted the speaker. ‘“‘We’ve heered you got the king’s commission to take pirates. Maybe we’ve fell into a loose step or two, Cap’n, give us a chance, and we'll uncover a nest of the kind you’re alooking for.” He pointed a long finger toward® the wooded shore. “See that ship, cap’n? That’s the Reso- lution, Culliford, skipper, and one 0’ the hardest ships in these parts.” Kidd turned and gave a long look at the rakish Resolution, from this distance even, a. vessel evidently of speed and unlawful purpose. “Til go back with you,” declared Kidd, briskly. They all returned to the canoe and set off for the Resolution. The delegation must have been astonished at the audacity of Kidd’s returning with them to a known pirate, with a commission in his pocket to hang the crew of the Resolution if necessary, and returning aft that with absolutely no protection. They had always known = man for a queer one. Just as cooily as if he were mounting ‘his own proper ship, Kidd stepped on to the decks of the Resolution. The rowers joined their mates in the waist of the vessel and pointed with thick thumbs as Kidd ascended to the quarter-deck;-where Captain Culli- ’ ford, as much puzzled. as any one, shuffled forward in his slippers to do the honors. All about went the whisper that the king’s gees with power of death, had come amid Kidd and Culliford shook hands and pres- ently sat down together under a sail stretched as an awning against the beat- ing sun. All hands breathed just a wee bit easier. Pretty soon they heard Culliford crying to his negro servant for the materials of ‘“Bomboo.”. The strain slackened no- ticeably. Their captain was a match for the king’s man. If they had got to “ Bom- boo” things might yet be well. Taking the sugar and limes and dark thick bottle the servant had brought to him, Culliford himself, as a gracious host, prepared the drinks. The crew from the forecastle and waist watched until both the august noses were buried in the mugs and then knew_that all would be well. _ Adventure ‘dering. work was simply intolerable. All was, indeed, very well. Up there on the quarter-deck the two skippers were laughing loudly. Said Kidd, as the Bom- boo moved within him: “Harm you, Culliford! see my soul. efry in you.’ We have said the captain was a great Why man, I’d hand at picture words—he could use them even in a sociable way. One thing led to another, the cordiality increased, and when before I'd harm at length Kidd walked a little jiggingly to | the canoe he was laden with a very consid- erable gift of silks from the treasure chest of the Resolution. He sent back the canoe with an equal present of shirting stuff, and more, much more than that in view of his ~ commission, the next day he supplied Culli- ford with two guns, Now, that was the extreme of disloyalty. Not only not to apprehend the piratical Culliford—that was inexcusable—but actu- ally to make him more efficient in his plun- If by some clairvoyance, his Britannic Majesty’s Admigalty could have seen this horrid trans- action the very building itself must have tremored. It may be that Kidd here was acting ac- -cording to a policy to which the logic of cir- cumstances had compelled him. As soon asthe canoe from the Resolution came to him, he discovered that his arrival had been a considerable shock to the sailing commun- ity of Madagascar. Gossip flies about a port as quickly as about, a street. Two things, therefore, presented themselves for his choice; he must either engage the pirates in action or reassure them by companioning with them. Madagascar was to be the last big chance to clean up the balance of the Quedagh Merchant’s cargo, the final market. As a king’s man he could not remain there indefinitely without expecting to be at- tacked by a combination ‘of lawless men,. who saw in him only the king’s authority and punitive power. Whether this thought particularly directed him or not, his visit to Culliford, one of the leading pirate com- manders there, was undoubtedly in the way of appeasement, and not the mere fraterniz- ing of colleagues. This situation being smoothed out, Kidd went seriously to work to sell his wares. According to the chronology of the record, this could not have taken a very great while. And now the day for which they all had > CJ (ECO AMUCE JOOKS Col