Adventure Magazine Cover, April 1916 — page 55: what you’re looking at

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

Days of Morgan well—so have done with this playing.” ““Give me no cause to prove my deter- mination to you, I pray you sir,” she re- plied as quietly as before, her face suddenly going pale beneath her tan. ‘‘Were my own life only at stake that I truly would not, but there are things in this business you do not comprehend, and for those things I would kill you were it necessary. Go below, sir, I beg of you.” . “By St. Bride! That I will never do,” he replied, and took a step toward her, looking into the barrel of her pistol, and, beyond that, into the depths of her blue eyes. , But Bras-de-Mort slipping up upon him at this—they were on the side of the great cabin away from the ships—thrust the muz- zle of a musket into his face, with so unmis- takable a look in his snapping black eyes that, giving one glance about the deck, and seeing no friendly countenance there, Still- ingfleet presently turned upon his heel and went below, and the hatches were all bat- tened down and a guard set. The gig being now at the ladder in the waist, Captain Nancy went into her, with Jim Rimble, and Bras-de-Mort, Trueheart Jackson and the boy Barney at the oars, and they pulled over to the frigate. What was their astonishment then, as they went over the side and were greeted by one who seemed to be in command, and his subordinates who were gathered at the rail, to see seated upon a coil of rope Yel- low Eyes, the tongueless man, his sinister orbs like molten gold glaring at them with the ferocity of a wild beast, his hairless head glistening in the brilliant tropical sun like some fleshless skull. “Faith! Mademoiselle,” cried Barney, “tis that devil again, the man with the yellow eyes.” But she had seen him, too, and stood there silent, with parted lips, nor heeded the greeting of a tall, handsome but slight- ly over-stout man of thirty or thereabouts, with a heavy but far from unpleasing Welsh face and a look of great power and deter- mination in his commanding eyes and strong mouth and chin. Trueheart Jackson nudged her slyly. ““*Tis Henry Morgan,” he whispered. ‘“‘Hast heard of him? The greatest among us in these seas I warrant you, ay, the great- est since Drake. I was with him at Porto Bello.” 93 NANCY turned to him now and took his hand at his greeting and something that she saw in his eyes made her suddenly conscious of her boy’s clothes, so that she stammered and blushed before him. He, as if to cover her embar- rassment, presented her then to Captain Edward Collier, of His Majesty’s navy, who, Nancy presently understood, was in command of the Oxford. But why he should be there, among these men so plainly of an- other and more lawless trade, she could by no means discover. Captain Morgan greeted Jackson and Jim Rimble familiarly as old friends, and while she spoke with Captain Collier, the latter drawing the Welshman aside whis- pered something to him, whereat he straightened up and stared sharply at the girl, admiration deepening in his eyes. “‘We are well met, Madame,” says he, taking off his hat and giving her a great bow. ‘We touched at Tortuga on our way thither, to pick up a few of the French there who occasionally join with us in our enterprises, and thus I learned of your great feat. So you are the English girl who threw the sand in old d’Ogeron’s eyes and got clean away, with his ship and his prisoners to boot! ’Sdeath! You had the island in a turmoil when we arrived there, and but for the fact of our great force the Governor would have taken out his spite on us. He was like a wild man, yet sounded your praises withal—nor do I blame him.” It was Nancy’s turn to blush anew at this, and when he offered her his arm, gal- lantly, she took it without a word and walk- ed beside him to the cabin. “And right glad am I of this meeting, too, eh Collier,” he added. ‘‘We will need this stout ship she brings—though I con- fess the brigantine Baptiste, which I thought I knew full well——” ‘“‘°Tis not the same,” said Nancy impul- sively, and then wished she had not spoken. ‘The Baptiste was lost in the storm and this is a ship which we, in our necessity, did take.” ‘‘What!”’ cried Captain Morgan, stand- ing off and surveying her dramatically. ‘‘A good beginning, upon my soul, Collier! You see,’ he added, to Nancy, “‘we are met here in anticipation of an assault upon Mara- caibo, on the Main, and for this purpose need another ship at least, and more men.” CoMmicboooks CO