Adventure Magazine Cover, April 1916 — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

Days of Morgan sadly, “but some have been picked up by boats from the other ships. Please God, he is among them.” ‘Please God,’’ echoed Cherie. The longboat continued its search for those that might be saved, and the French girl continued her quest with eyes so blur- red with tears she could scarcely see. At last they found the Frenchman in another boat and took him into their own, and then pulled back to the Snapdragon, picking up Jim Rimble and Trueheart Jackson on the way. And so they returned to their own ship in safety, all who had gone away, with one among them they had not expected to see again. As they helped the dumb man over the side Barney plucked at Nancy’s sleeve. ‘Some day,” said he, pointing signifi- cantly to Yellow Eyes, “he will go too far with me—that fellow.” CHAPTER XIII | CAPTAIN MORGAN LOSES A PRIZE BS on the quarterdeck of her own ship Captain Nancy paced restlessly. With a treasure of upwards of 300,000 crowns in the hold, the Spanish crew pris- oners between decks, and Don Luis and his daughter under heavy guard, she realized that she was confronted by a situation de- manding all that she had of tact and diplo- macy, the more especially since Captain Stillingfleet was now not only no longer a friend, but an active enemy. As for the treasure, she understood from what she had learned aboard the frigate that it might safely be kept as lawful prize. This she was determined to do, now that she had won the men to her leadership by that promise. As for the Spanish Captain, it was but loyalty to her father and the cause to keep this interloper from the stolen estates that awaited him in England, and this also she was resolved to accomplish. With the Spaniards set ashore on some island, she could count upon the greed and the love of adventure of her men to keep them in those seas as long as she might choose to stay. And this she vowed to do until it became too late for Godfrey Stilling- fleet to work any injury to General Sidney and her father, or the other Puritan con- spirators in France. But as she pondered upon these consider- o7 ations the conviction was borne home to her that, after all, they were really trivial- beside another matter which forced itself upon her attention as often as she sought to thrust it into the background. Captain Henry Morgan was not to be disposed of so easily, and as she went over again and again the scene in the great cabin of the Oxford, that had terminated so dra- matically and terribly, yet so providentially for her, she realized that in this big, mas- terful, self-confident Welsh buccaneer she had to deal with a man of a different stamp from any whom she had ever known before —a man who was accustomed to have his way in all things, who was not to be deter- red by any considerations whatsoever from the accomplishment of any undertaking upon which he might fix his iron will. And so, contemplating her predicament from every angle, she resolved upon a meas- ure that was like to be her undoing. In the pirate’s love-making, rude as it was, there had been a depth of passion she had not failed to recognize, nor did it repel her. For try as she would to rid herself of its appeal, the primal woman in her responded to it with a force she could resist but not deny. The thought of him made her conscious for the first time of her ragged shirt and coarse breeches, her sunburned arms and limbs. Looking over the rail in thoughtful mood, the burnished waters of the Caribbean sent back to her troubled eyes a reflection that brought a blush to her tanned cheeks. “T’ll do it!’ she whispered softly to her- self, and quitting the quarterdeck, all breathless with excitement, demanded of the Fleming who was on guard before the forecastle that he summon to her Cherie, the French girl, she burst into the cabin that had been occupied by the Spanish Captain’s daughter. ‘‘Well, Mistress Chillingworth,” said she to herself, “now that thou hast turned pi- rate, as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. Since I have stolen a whole ship, ’twill be no greater sin to add the theft of a few clothes to my other crimes.”’ With this she began to rummage in the Spanish girl’s chests, and presently, finding that for which she searched, had the whole cabin littered with linens and silks. But first she let down her tawny hair, and as- sisted by Cherie who tore herself away from Bras-de-Mort, combed out the snarls, dan- cing about with shrieks and groans, for the CoOMmicboooks CO