Adventure Magazine Cover — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

Henery’s Literary Success ways, concluded Bill, warned by Captain Hawser’s disapproving glance that some- thing was wrong, ‘‘leastways, of course, not as fast as that! As fast as we could give it ye, don’t ye see?” “What Bill meant, Cap’n Hawser,” in- terposed Captain Moses helpfully, “was that no matter how much rum you—no, he didn’t mean that neither, of course! Here! Hold out your glass and I'll show you what he meant.” “No, thank ye!” answered Captain Haw- ser stubbornly. He held out his glass and cried “‘Hold! Enough!” at frequent inter- vals till the law of liquids prevented the glass from holding any more. “Now,” said he, after testing the liquor carefully, ‘“‘now that Bill has explained what he meant by saying something that might have meant something different, I’ll tell ye about this cargo and you can say if ye want it or not. But I guess you want it. Why, Cap’n Gaffers, that sails the Cockatoo steamer, he told me yesterday that freights was that scarce that he’d take a cargo of artesian wells if he could get it.” “The Cockatoo,” said Bill, ‘“‘don’t look as if she could carry anything much heavier.” “Well,” continued Captain Hawser, “the Cockatoo won’t get this cargo, anyway. Now, these passengers, they’re not common passengers. They’re worse. Yes, sir, they’re worse. They’re the finest lot of assorted chandlery in the way of cranks that ever came together in any place except- ing a lunatic asylum. Why, some of ‘em, Bill, are worse cranks than even you! Each one of ’em believes in a different kind of crankery, all his own, and the only thing they ever managed to agree on was this trip. “They're going down to the Antilles where the head-crank owns an island, and they’re going to start a colony there and invite all the cranks that it’ll hold to come down and live there when they’ve fixed things up. And they’ve hired me to fit ’em out and be a sort of a nurse to ’em till they get settled, and I’m hiring you to take the happy family and their stuff down there, Moses, old boy! The head-crank, he’s got piles of money. It’ll pay you well; but it’s hustle, hustle, hustle, shipmates! Ship a crew, haul down the bay and anchor, and I'll be sending the freight all aboard by day after to-morrow.” Captain Moses nodded, brought pen and 673 ink, and they drew up the papers. Then A. B. Hawser, Master, retired, looked long and earnestly at Bill Bowsun, slapped his back before Mr. Bowsun could dodge, and escaped to the deck. V THE days that followed were so full iG of labor that neither Captain or Mate of the Flying Squid had time to brood over the malicious articles that continued to flow from the brain of Henry Moses and the pen of Alma Grool; but whenever oppor- tunity offered they cheered each other with gorgeous word-pictures of their intentions if they ever got hold of the erring youth. At last the holds were filled with the pro- visions, clothing, implements, seeds, books, portable houses, typewriters and printing presses destined for the colony. “Now for them passengers,’ said Mr. Bowsun. “The sooner we get ’em aboard, the sooner we'll get rid on ’em again.” ‘“That’s not the right spirit, Bill,’’ Cap- tain Hawser rebuked him. “It’s a bad spirit, and un-Christian. You won’t get any improvement out of the v’yage if you look at it in that way, Bill. And I was hoping that the passengers would do you a lot of good. There’s the lady I was telling you about, Bill, that eats everything raw. See what the Flying Squid would save if you and Cap’n Moses and the crew would only be willing to learn. You wouldn’t have to carry a cook.” Mr. Bowsun grunted. “And then there’s the boss of the gang, Nutt, that’s got a hundred thousand mil- lion dollars or so,’ continued Captain Hawser cheerily. ‘You make friends wuth him, Bill, and he’ll never get tired telling you how fine it is to be poor. Take that man around, Moses, and introduce him to your crew, and they'll refuse to take any wages, see if they don’t.” “Ves?” growled Bill. ‘Then why don’t he give his money away?”’ “Ah!” responded Captain MHawser. “There you go again! You know what I told you, Bill. He says money is such a curse that he wouldn’t think of passing it on.” “Well,” said Bill morosely, “let him stay away from me! If he don’t, I’ll curse him, and not with money, neither.”’ In this unsympathetic mood, Mr. Bow- COMICLOOCKKS. ECO S|