Adventure Magazine Cover, October 1911 — page 172: what you’re looking at

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

II18 an’ she goin’ long so easy one man could push her. Smart, wasn’t they? I could see the tracks in the sand an’ fol- lerin’ them to the beach, found where they had la’nched the boat, but it was too dark to see any distance an’ I couldn’t make out anything of it in the surf. I didn’t know hardly what todo. There was no doubt that they’d cut the wires or I’d called up Ditch Plain an’ got Cap’n Par- sons to come down, but there wasn’t any use thinkin’ of that, so I’d have to do the best I could alone. I was sittin’ on the edge of the beach hills, with the gun ’cross my knees, studyin’ the matter over, when I saw the lights of a steamer, close in an’ bound west. I first thought the men was goin’ to board -her, ’cause it looked as if some such game was up, they stealin’ the boat an’ then the steamer comin’ ’long jest as she did, but she never slowed up a bit, an’ in fifteen or twenty min- its was well past the Station. All of a sudden as I sits there I catches sight of a light bobbin’ up an’ down on the waves, an’ then others kept showin’, till I counted six of them, close together an’ ’bout in the wake of the steamer. I understood the whole game then. Somebody on that steamer had throwed something overboard that the men in the surf-boat were to pick up, an’ them lights—they were the kind that burn for a little while after gittin’ wet—were to give them the bearin’s. It was a pretty good scheme to keep from payin’ duty, but why them men hadn’t used a boat of their own, ’stead of stealin’?’ mine an’ runnin’ chances of havin’ their plans spoiled, I couldn’t see till it was explained later. Of course I couldn’t see the boat, but I kept watch of the lights an’ in a few minutes one goes out, then another an’ another, an’ in a little while they was all gone, showin’ that the men had been layin’ close by in the boat an’ ready for business. I was hopin’ they’d land here when they got through, but I hardly thought they would. I was achin’ for a chance to square up with them for tyin’ me up an’ stealin’ the boat an’ had made up my mind that if they ever got within fifty yards of me I’d either have a bunch of prisoners peaceable or there’d be consid’able shootin’ done, an’ I doin’ my share. I was willin’ to back the ten-bore ’gainst their pistols an’ take my chances an’, to tell the truth, I was jest mad enough to hope they’d show fight. Adventure The surf was pretty calm that night an’ finally I heard the clump of oars in the thole- pins. It kept gittin’ closer an’ closer an’ then I could hear the men talkin’. Now I was sure they was comin’ ashore an’ I waited till I could see the boat in the white of the breakers. Then I sneaked down an’ dropped behind some wreckage, not over fifty feet from the surf an’ ’bout where I thought they would land. I made sure the gun was in good workin’ order, then peeps out an’ watches them come ashore. The tall feller was in the stern, steerin’, an’ the other two pullin’ at the oars, all three handlin’ themselves like men who'd been in a surf-boat more’n once. Assheruns up on the beach they jumped out an,’ waitin’ till the next wave floats the boat, pulled her up as far as they could. *T was ’bout time for me to git busy, but I thought I’d wait an’ see what thcir next move would be, so I keeps down an’ watch them careful. “We'd better git that stuff out on the beach an’ we’ve got to hurry, ’cause there’s no tellin’ who might come ’long,” says the tall feller. So they unload the boat, each man makin’ two trips an’ bringin’ ashore *bout fifty cans, all lashed together, at a time. Cans jest the same as the one you’ve been lookin’ at, ’cept they was full. Then he says, ‘We'll shove this boat off now. There’s no use lettin’ people know jest where we landed.”’ As they was gittin’ ready to put the boat afloat I thought it was ’bout the nght min- ute for me to show up so I raises up from behind the wreckage an’ pointin’ my gun at them, says, ‘‘Hold ona minute! I’ve gota little somethin’ to say ’bout castin’ that boat adrift.” They was mighty ’sprised, of course, but the tall feller he wasn’t so much so but that he yanks out his pistol an’ takes a shot at me. Didn’t hit, but come too close to suit me, so, thinkin’ I’d better show him that he wasn’t the only one could shoot, I cuts loose, gittin’ him in the leg, jest where I ’tended to. “Ouch!” he hollers, an’ jumps round lively for a minute, the shot stingin’ him up consid’able, but when I orders him to throw his pistol away an’ come up on the beach or git another charge higher up, he drops it in the water an’ wades ashore, the other two follerin’ him like sheep do a bell-wether. . I kept the gun trained on them steady, an’ havin’ made up my mind ’forehand what to CO MICLOOKS CO