Adventure Magazine Cover — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

The Prize : 75 “Henri, this is foolish. You are not behaving as my friend. You ——” “Little fool,” he broke in—and the “‘little’’ was out of place; she was the taller of the twain—‘“‘little fool, do you think I should be acting as your friend to make terms with this blackguard pirate?”’ “Steady, my young cockerel,’’ Levasseur laughed; but his laugh was not nice. Nevertheless M. de La Place continued, undeterred: “Don’t you perceive your wicked folly in the harm it has brought already? Lives have been lost—men have died—that this monster might overtake you. And don’t you yet realize where you stand—in the power of this beast, of this cur, born in a kennel, and bred in thieving and murder?” He might have said more, but at that moment Levasseur struck him across the mouth. For Levasseur cared as little as another to hear the truth about him- self. Mademoiselle supressed a scream as the youth staggered back under the blow. He came to rest against a bulkhead, and leaned there with bleeding mouth. But his spirit was unquenched, and theré was a ghastly smile on his white face as his eyes sought his sister’s. “You see,” said he simply. a man whose hands are bound.” The simple words, and more than that their tone of ineffable disdain, aroused the passion that never slumbered deeply in Levasseur. “And what should you do if your hands were unbound, you pitiful puppy?” He seized his prisoner by the breast of his doublet and shook him. “Answer me! What should you do? Tchah! You empty windbag. You <4 And then came a torrent of words un- known to mademoiselle, yet of whose foul- ness her intuitions made her conscious. With blenched cheeks she stood by the cabin table and cried out to Levasseur to stop. To obey her he opened the door and flung her brother through it and down the companion. “Put that under hatches until I call for it again,” he roared, and shut the door. Thus mademoiselle beheld her well- beloved hero’s nature in curl-papers, as it were, and she found the spectacle terrifying. It recalled the brutal slaughter of the Dutch captain, and suddenly she realized “He strikes that what her brother had just said was no more than true. “Why, sweetheart, what is this?” cried Levasseur, regarding her. He moved toward her. She recoiled as he advanced. There was a smile on his face, a glitter in his eyes, that awoke a panic in her, fetched her heart into her throat. He caught her as she reached the utter- most limits of the cabin, seized her in his long arms and pulled her to him. “No, no!’ she panted. “Yes, yes,” he» mocked her; and his mockery was the most terrible thing of all. He crushed her to him brutally, deliber- ately hurtful because she resisted, and kissed her while she writhed in his em- brace. Then, his passion mounting, he grew angry and further revealed himself, stripped off the last rag of hero’s mask that still may have hung upon his face. “Little fool, did you not hear your brother say that you are in my power? Remember it, and remember that of your own free will you came. I am not the man with whom a woman may play fast and loose. So you’d best accept what you have invited.” He kissed her again, almost contemp- tuously, and flung her off. “No more scowls,” he said. ‘You'll have smiles for me, or you'll be sorry else.”’ Some one knocked. Levasseur strode off to open. Cahusac appeared with a long face. “T’ve something to show you, captain,” said he grimly. “Will you step out here?” Cahusac pointed away to starboard. Levasseur looked, and muttered an oath. Two ships that at the distance seemed of considerable burden were heading toward them some five miles away. Ahead of them a low cloud showed on the horizon which Cahusac pronounced the northernmost of the Virgin Islands. “Tf they follow us what’s to happen?” demanded Cahusac. | “We'll fight,” growled Levasseur. “‘Counsels of despair,” said Cahusac, and he spat upon the deck. “This comes of going to sea with a love- sick madman. Now keep your temper, captain, for the crew will be at the end of theirs if we have trouble as a result of this Dutchman business.” . comicbooks.c©