Adventure Magazine, Mid-September 1917 — page 170: what you’re looking at

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

168 The tall man finished his rummer and tossed the reckoning on the table. ‘“‘‘On the account’, say ye? ’Tis a good phrase. Take me to Bane.” | THE pirate captain lifted the ripegt leather cylinder from the dice and : swept a dozen gleaming coins tow- ard the heap in front of him before he looked up. ‘“‘Nine—and the main!” he called tri- umphantly. ‘The third nick running.” “The devil’s own luck is with you to- night,” grumbled Scarry-Dick. “T’ve thrown out every time I held the box.” He turned and stared at the intruders. *““A recruit, Cap’n,” hiccuped the man who had sailed with Kidd. ‘One who knows the Bank from end to end and can tell of secret havens. He can show ye a <-passage through the Jumentos and he’s keen to join us.” Bane’s eyes challenged the stranger, ap- praising him. ‘The man’s face was burned to coffee color and deeply lined. A short, thick growth of beard stretched from his Adam’s apple to his high cheek-bones and his untrimmed hair trailed on his shoulders. His eyes were bleak, almost sinister, with cold lights in them. . ‘“‘What’s this talk of a passage through the Jumentos?”’ asked Bane. Southeast of Florida, through Florida Strait, sometimes called the New Bahama Channel, down Santaren Channel and the Old Bahama Channel, ran the broad high- way between Cuba and Santo Domingo of the Greater Antilles and the Bahama Is- lands. It was the main road of sea com- merce from the Atlantic States to the West Indies. From it, through the Windward Passage, the way led to the Caribbean, to Puerto Rico, the Leeward and Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, to Venezuela, to Central America and the Isthmus. West of the scattered islands of the long chain of the Bahamas lie the reefs of the Great Bahama Bank, curbing the Santaren and Old Bahama Channels. The currents swirl perilously about the tide-washed reefs. Midway, Jumentos Cays threw a crescent to the northwest. Bane was the lone sea-highwayman of this stretch, cruising amid the smaller islands and darting out upon the merchantmen. Vice-Admiral Rogers had sworn to chase him from the seas and it was rumored that a fast cor- Adventure vette, or sloop-of-war, was to be specially commissioned for this purpose. A hidden passage through the Jumentos would provide the buccaneer with a power- ful reinforcement. The cord of the bow was sixty miles or more. A channel would enable him to play the arrow, flying out on his prey and slipping back to safety, if needs be, under the very nose of any king’s ship. Such a game was to the su- preme taste of Bane. To harry commerce and laugh at the Government, why, that was the ideal sport. He watched the newcomer closely as he took up a tankard set aside on a smaller table, poured the dregs on the smooth ma- hogany and drew a map with wetted fore- finger, outlining the Jumentos Crescent, the scattering Bahamas and the mainland of Cuba as he talked. ‘‘Seventy-five-eighty west, twenty-three- ten north,” he concluded, giving the ap- proximate position of the channel. ‘And the bearings by the three palms, as I shall show ye.” Bane nodded approvingly. “If ye show us aright,” he said, “‘there shall be special reward for ye. Eh, Denton, what think ye? Itsuits. In the very mid- rib of the Bank, arare hideout! And anisle to boot, for fort and magazine. Sixteen feet will see us clear with our shallow draft. The king’s ships draw no less than twenty, even if they dared to follow without knowing the bearings. Your name, man?”’ ‘They call me Turtler Tom.” Bane nodded. The lack of surnames was not uncommon with those who did not pre- tend to worry about the laws. ‘So then, Tom the Turtler, you go on the account? Good! We sail at noon to- morrow, when our heads are clear. Report to Denton here. And there’s a piece-of- eight to drink to the new venture.” Tom took the coin and pocketed it. His sponsor clapped him on the back once more as they went down to the common room. ‘So ye are one of us. Now for a health. I warrant ye that was one of Denton’s pieces the skipper tossed ye. Did ye note the glum look he cast after it?” Above-stairs Bane looked at the evapo- rating map. ‘““A good stroke, Denton,” he said: “We'll play the fox with them all with this runway. Anda good man gained. A bold eye, Dickon, and a strong arm.” COmicloo C©