Adventure Magazine Cover, June 18, 1921 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

A an a “NORMAN cote 3 My AC Comp lefe Anion = “The Luck ee H ‘pdluck Kuan et eDinbesncan and Princess,’’ etc. HE Tropical Trading Company’s man on Moorabal Island was dead again. old Devine—who was the T-T _Co.—looked about for a successor. The old-timers he approached would have noth- ing to do with the job. They said it was unlucky. ‘Three men in three years, Devine! And, besides, there is Stort. No, thank you.”’ Finally one Alexander Bruce, a clerk in Pitt Street, learned, in his way of business, of Devine’s quest. He did not learn of the three men in three years, or of Stort; if he had, being a “newehum,” he would have been unimpressed. Alec Bruceapplied for the berth, and Devine engaged him on the spot. In due time the Torres Straits steamer Alicia, having steamed half a day out of her course, came to rest upon the brilliant, placid Coral Sea, and landed Bruce and his traps upon the white beach of a tiny bay by means of a whale-boat. Here he was wel- comed by a small, inquisitive mob of vari- ous colors, all ages and both sexes, which comprised Moorabal’s native population, and by a tall, emaciated white man in soiled pajamas, who possessed a slack underlip and a red. face that was etched in a singular and startling fashion by a maze of purple veins. “T’m Stort, the Q-T man,” said this last. “Been expecting you fora month. Did you bring any brandy?” “Y’m Bruce, the new T-T agent,” replied the newcomer. “No, I didn’t.” “Too bad,’ commented Stort. ‘“‘My Down in Sydney, 79 arrack is running low, and the trade-gin makes me all jumpy. Of course you brought a case or two of Scotch?” “No,” said Bruce. Disagreeable surprize dawned in the Q-T man’s face. “Didn’t you bring anything with you?” he demanded. Bruce did not answer with words. He ‘did not like the question, its tone, or its im- plication. He did not like the looks of his questioner, his odor, or anything about him. He had a sick feeling inside of him, a feeling akin to horror, when he thought of living for a year in intimacy with this un- wholesome companion. So in reply he merely indicated his luggage, a rather im- posing pile upon the sand, with a gesture. Stort looked it over, and grunted dis- gustedly— ‘“‘Newchum!”’ Bruce was tired of being ‘“newchummed.” On the ship the old-timers had oppressed him with insufferable patronage and stuffed him with horrific and transparent lies about the country. He wanted no more of it. “Please tell me which house is mine, and how I'm to get my things up from the beach,” he said abruptly. There was a hint of harshness in his voice which had its effect upon Stort. His bony frame stiffened shghtly and he gave Bruce a sullen, unfriendly look. Bruce noticed that Stort’s eyes were very deep-set, that they held a somber, unqutet light, and that they were terribly bloodshot. Another feature of the man which he disliked. Co DOO 5}