Adventure Magazine Cover, April 1916 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

80 “Was the boss,” corrected the flushed suffragette. And there will be votes. If the men have never voted, the way is~- clearer. For once the better sex shall come into their rights, without having to wrest them from the men. These long wronged sisters’—she indicated the huddle of com- placent women—“‘‘shall see the dawn of a new day. Here in the South Seas the banner of militancy shall be flung abroad for all the world to see! “Here, where the spirit of rebellion is ram- pant, these vigorous Amazons shall establish the true kingdom of feminity. Here——” “Ho, ’ave hit your hown w’y,” said Jimmy as he backpaddled from the shal- lows. “Just you bloomin’ well wait huntil a king and the skipper come ’ome. That’s all.” ‘What do you fink hof hit?” he asked Fuatina when Mrs. Boyle’s harangue had become an echo. ‘‘You no want work hany more?” “‘Fahine fool,’ said Fuatina con- clusively. ‘‘Suppose we go along now, I cook you fine supper.”’ oe 1 day to a divided reception. The =“ men, who had pre-empted the canoes, met the barkentine at the reef- passage and clambered aboard before the anchor was down. The women were ranged in a phalanx beneath the banner of their slogan. | “‘What’s all this fool business?” demanded Boyle of his supercargo, who was first to gain the deck. “You can read hit, carn’t yer?” said Jimmy. “Votes fer Wimmin. The missis ?as broke hout hagain, that’s hall.” “And what kind of muck have you got inside your head, not to stop it?” asked his exasperated skipper. “Hi didn’t get no lessons hon ’ow to ’andle hit hin Sydney,” retorted Jimmy. His skipper subsided and turned to meet Tamatau, already apprised of the state of affairs, and raging. His face was muddy purple, his eyes congested, the veins of his neck ready to burst. The golden teeth, ac- quired at much sacrifice of pain and pearls, showed in a threatening grin. “T fix it plenty quick,” he an- nounced. ‘‘You come along, kapitani!”’ The ladder was rigged and the furious monarch descended with Captain Boyle into THE Margaret Ann came in ‘next Adventure a hastily lowered whaleboat, urged swiftly toward the shore under the stroking of Billy-Boy. The rank and file of the South Sea suffra- gettes faltered as the boat approached the storehouse, wavered again and shrank into the shelter of the trees as Tamatau bellowed a torrent of fluent Totuluan invective. Only their leader stood her ground, pale and trembly, but determined. Tamatu strode ashore, grinding his golden crowns together as he passed her with a glare of apoplectic wrath. The leader of the vanished legion turned to her husband but found in his stern countenance neither comfort nor oppor- tunity for argument. She sniffed indig- nantly in the grinning faces of the whale- boat’s crew, now backed by the canoes of the Totuluan men, and followed her recreant re- cruits in their retreat. In the late afternoon Fuatina brought a note to Jimmy, addressed to Captain Boyle, which the supercargo delivered to his skip- per, still closeted with Tamatau inside the storehouse. The skipper read it hurriedly and crammed it into his pocket. “Get that truck out of here, Jimmy,” he ordered, pointing out the bed that had been arranged for his wife. “Have Billy- Boy take it to the Queen-House. Mrs. Boyle is not going aboard tonight. That makes everything all right, King,” he added. “‘Sure,”’ said Tamatau. His complexion had resumed it’s natural chocolate and the expensive golden smile was now expansively amiable. A group of empty bottles explained the nature of the emollient. “I’m going to try the king’s idea, Jimmy,” said Boyle. “It’s a good one. Can’t kill, and it may cure.” “Jimmy, you take um drink?” invited Tamatau. | ‘“‘Fere’s the scheme,” went on the skipper, while Jimmy swigged at his glass. “The announcement is that men are unnecessary. We are goin’ to put it up to them to prove it. Ebb runs till midnight or a little later. Every man-jack on Totulu will be aboard, quietly, and we'll take a little trip and let the ladies try it out.” “Fine,” said Jimmy. ‘W’ere do we go?” “Vou don’t go at all. You stay here.” é “W’ye” “Because I’m not goin’ to leave Mrs. CoOMmicboooks CO