Adventure Magazine, Mid-September 1917 — page 178: what you’re looking at

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

176 The two ships were evenly matched. The water creamed from the corvette’s forefoot. Through the spyglass Bane could see the men swarming on her decks, working on the sheets to get another foot of speed out of her. Mile after mile they raced toward the shore, the leeway of wind and current gradually setting the king’s ship down the cays while the brigantine, with Hampton at the wheel, clawed up into the breeze to make the tack for entrance into the channel as short as possible. Four miles off shore the corvette tacked and came _ toward them. ‘“‘She’ll pass two miles astern of us,” chuckled Bane. ‘‘She’s not gained a foot.” The king’s ship came on, close-hauled, surging through the blue water while the Venture held on for the shore. Then the corvette tacked once more but kept her fore and main sheeted in until she heeled peril- ously, losing the speed of the full drive of her canvas from the quartering wind. Bane swore through his beard. It was a smart maneuver, calculated to bring the corvette within gun range and broadside to the brigantine when the latter made its inevitable tack at the channel entrance. “They got the position down fine,” he muttered. ‘‘We’ll have to run the risk of a raking. Since that’s the case we'll play the same game.”’ He gave his orders and the Venture swung to a course parallel with the corvette and the cays, a little less than a mile inshore of the king’s ship. They had passed from blue water to the vivid green of the shoals. The corvette could not risk approaching the land much closer. Already the leadsman was in her bows. On the Venture the guns were loaded and run out from the open ports. The muzzles of the Juno were already peeping from her _ sides. Once more she smartly came about, slanting up to meet the pirate. Both broad- sides roared. Clouds of white powder smoke rolled up between them. Splinters flew from the hull of the brigantine. A round shot smote old Hampton fairly in the ribs, showering Bane with his blood, shattering the rim of the wheel and plunging through therail. The pirate who had sailed with Kidd rolled into the scuppers, almost torn in two. Bane sprang to the shattered wheel. The rudder still answered. The helm was broken but not destroyed. The smoke cleared. White flecks on the cor- vette’s side showed where the pirates had Adventure scored. She was firing from her stern- chaser and Bane replied. ’Round came the corvette again and the duel continued from their fore and aft guns. A lucky shot from the Venture smashed the Juno’s bowsprit, carrying away her jibs, the staysail still keeping her steady as she dropped behind. A scattering shower of partridge scoured the length of the brigantine, the bomb of the charge exploding amidships, leaving a half-score of writhing men upon her decks. They were off the channel. The main- sheet came home, the fore-yards were hauled and the Venture squared off for the entrance, Denton in the bows, picking out the Kissing Palms. More partridge spray- ed them as they sped, Bane at the wheel, holding the palms in line as they neared the reef. Hescowled as he looked at the corpse of Hampton and the dead and wounded on the smeared planks. One parting missile jarred the brigantine _as the corvette put about from the danger- line of shallows. The shot had struck fair on the waterline. A few more of that kind and the Venture would have been out of commission. They entered the passage, with the Kiss- ing Palms merged in one. Bane let them slowly open, watching for the islet palm to show. He was furious at the encounter which had plainly proved him no match for the metal or marksmanship of the Juno. He would go south to the Carribbean and leave these waters. They might go to Mad- agascar, the old cruising ground of Kidd. At all events he would get away, thanks to the secret of Tom the Turtler. The islet palm seemed slow to appear, the surf was dangerously near his larboard quarter. It showed at last, shifting slowly to the middle of the two trunks and he breathed a sigh of relief as the Venture answered his hands. There was a slurring, grinding jar. The bows of the brigantine lifted as she slid forward and upward. The deck planks lifted, her timbers creaked and the foremast broke off at the deck, yards and canvas falling with swinging blocks and stays torn loose from their boltings in confusion, smothering part of the startled crew who fought their way free or lay pinned and groaning under the ruin. Bane, clinging to the wheel, stared in amazement. ‘The islet palm was still fair COmicloo C©