Adventure Magazine Cover, April 1916 — page 168: what you’re looking at

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

166 true one, but he could not bring himself to think so. There was something back of it; no mere reproof would have affected Pen- delton so deeply. “I wish I had brought the boy back with me,” he once muttered to himself, as looking up from his work he meditatively polished his glasses. Finally he put the reports aside and, lighting a cigar, went on deck, dropped into a chair, and put his feet on the rail. It was his favorite position for thinking things over. Fight bells had struck, and the colonel had risen and was stretching out his arms with a yawn preparatory to turning in for the night, when out of the darkness in the _ direction of the wharf he caught the faint sound of footsteps and of a low voice speaking sharply. He thought he recog- nized it as Cutter’s. Puzzled, he listened, his arms still out- stretched; but for a time he caught no further sounds. He dropped his arms, shook his head and, slowly moving to the stern of the ship, again listened: A new sound caught his attention. It was unmis- takable; the launch was cautiously leaving her moorings. He darted to the door of the captain’s room, where at a small green felt-covered table, the captain and the second-officer were indulging in a game of set-back. ‘Have a boat lowered at once, Mr. Byrd, to take me ashore,” he said crisply. As the second-officer disappeared, he turned to the captain. ‘How long would it take you to be ready to put to sea, Captain?” he asked. ‘‘We could be under way in less than an hour, sir. But you ain’t thinking of going out tonight, are you?” ‘Perhaps. At any rate be ready, in case I should when I return.”’ Twenty minutes later with a final grunt in unison, six brown sailors drove the boat ashore on the beach beside the wharf. The launch was not in sight. Colonel Bradley sprang ashore and nim- bly ran up the deserted street to the Con- stabulary building. Before its doorway a chocolate-colored soldier was sitting; at the sound of footsteps, he looked up, and seeing the officer, leaped to his feet, rigidly pre- senting arms. 3 The colonel brushed past him into the office. On the table a small lamp was burn- Adventure ing, dingily illuminating the room. The colonel glanced hurriedly about him. His eye fell on the letter. With an impatient gesture, he tore it open, read it and striding to the door called the sentry. _ ‘“‘Where is the major?”’ he asked. “Ha salido, Seftor Coronel,”’ said the man. “T know, but where?”’ “Ne se, Sevior Coronel.”’ The man’s tone was resignedly passive. But by dint of prompting and after much effort, Colonel Bradley learned from him that some time before, Pendelton had come into the office, followed presently by Cutter with two men from the launch. The door was open, and through it the sentry, who had come into the hall, had seen the lieu- tenant open the safe and take from it a number of bags which he placed one by one in a large sack which the two men held open. Then he had tied up the sack, and the men had swung it on a pole and carried it away, the officers marching behind them. And, nombre de Dios, that was all except that the Seftor Commandante had cursed and beaten him for leaving his post. The man seemed both terrified and confused. Colonel Bradley wheeled and for a mo- ment stared at the safe which stood an empty counterfeit of integrity. Then he brought his fist down on the table with a bang which caused the lamp to dance. “T might have guessed it—the hound!” he exclaimed. The captain made good his promise. The launch had been gone little more than an hour, when the colonel climbed to the bridge of the Rover and, leaning upon the rail, peered through the darkness before him, as she noisily churned her way out to sea. ; ‘You will head south, sir, I suppose,” said the captain, as the swell of the open water began to lift her bows. “Certainly,” answered Colonel Bradley. ‘Their only chance is to make for Borneo. What can you squeeze out of her, Cap- tain?”’ “Ten knots, sir. We ought to pick ’em up tomorrow some time, if they’re still afloat.” THE sun, rising over the rim of the ass Sulu Sea, shot its fresh, stimulating rays across the deck of the launch; and Pendelton, who had been half-sitting, half-lying on a coil of rope in her stern, drew himself to an upright position. COMmMmichoooks.Ec©