Adventure Magazine Cover — page 94: what you’re looking at

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

84 “The ship at that time was within sight of land at the point where Kok-Kanayuk meets the sea. It was there, on a peak, that the Coast tribe slew the smaller chief and his four men. Head-man Jodrell said to those about him: ‘Fire a gun that the hill warriors may know we are near and will be watching for a boat to come ashore to them.’ ”’ “According to his order a gun was fired. Though I watched through the tube I could see none of the warriors. Yet we knew they were hunting and fishing near the river’s mouth. None of us guessed the purpose of head-man Jodrell until he com- manded us to lower a small boat—which had been battered by the head of a white whale—down upon the water; and to throw into it man Stevenson without food or weapon. “TI unlashed him from the stump where he was tied. No one came near to hear me whisper to him: “There is a salmon sheen in the sky which means a storm is coming quickly. Therefore pull a strong oar to gain the land before the storm breaks. Go warily on the shore if you would escape the coast tribes. Here is a weapon. I slip it into your pocket, with cartridges. God speed, and may I see you face to face again, Jim Stevenson!’ ”’ 1 { PAUSED. I thought that surely + the man never lived who could keep from betraying himself when I re- peated those words after twenty-four years. That somber evening, the hard faces of the wharf wolves on the whaler, the scud- ding clouds whipping out of a salmon sky, the curl and kiss of white-caps, the whine of sea-gulls over the rigging, and the pen- ciled outline of a bleak, gray coast were memories unforgettable. I heard yet the promise which Theresa Jodrell flung at Stevenson as he was handled into the boat. I saw yet his gesture to her of final parting, as if he knew he was going to certain death. Then there was fast work to do on deck, for night and a storm were close at hand—— I was brought out of the reverie by a word from the chief, bidding me go on. He was leaning forward now, listening with deepest interest. “The ship was in water too shallow for our safety,” I took up the narrative again. “There was a harbor in the river’s mouth, but head-man Jodrell with a loud oath Adventure swore we would get back into deep water and start for the white man’s city on the morrow. Though all the men wanted him to guide the ship into the harbor, his word was law and they did as he ordered them. “But the ship would not sail into the teeth of the storm. Its white wings were torn off. The big tree in the ship’s middle broke in two and had to be chopped away with axes. We could not gain safety in deep water. Instead we labored back and forth along the shallow coast, getting closer and closer to green reefs that would tear the ship to pieces as a wolf would tear a marmot. Even the head-man lost his anger and was afraid, for darkness had fallen and where the harbor was no man of us knew. “One by one the men ceased their useless work and flung the head-man’s curses back into his teeth. It was such a storm as none of us ever before had seen. There were cries in the darkness that this storm was the Manitou’s anger against us for sending man Stevenson to his death. And those who in the days gone had bullied him most and spoken loudest against him, now cried the loudest against this Jodrell for bringing a curse upon us all. For we were lost, without chance of surviving the storm in those wind-frenzied waters; and not one of us but knew it. “Tt was the daughter of the head-man who first saw a tiny gleam shoreward. 1 was sitting with her behind a canoe, out of the whip of the wind, trying to comfort her with the lie that man Stevenson could escape the coast tribes, cross the mountains and go down a river to a white trader’s post. But she would not listen. She kept looking out into the darkness, which was like a solid wall, in the direction where he had gone. And so it was she who saw the gleam. “Tt is he!’ she cried. ‘He has gained the headland and built a fire!’ ”’ “Even as I looked where she pointed, the gleam leapt higher. It was such a fire as an Indian never would build, so I knew it must be the fire of man Stevenson. Moreover, the coast was everywhere so low, save at the high headland, that nowhere else could a fire be seen out on the water. “T ran quickly to head-man Jodrell. “We can steer the ship into the river harbor with that light to guide us!’ I cried. After he looked at it once and again, he started shouting orders to the men. They dragged Go NOOK 1e@)