Adventure Magazine, December 10, 1924 — page 173: what you’re looking at

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

The Pirates of Andrus Island Salvation Jessup and his wife may mean that there’s a gang of missionaries going to squat down on Andrus Island, build a church and establish a colony. That for us is good night and a bunch of lilies on our graves.” “Doggone it! You’ve just about hit the thing!’’ exclaimed Doxey. ‘We can’t take chances on that happening!” “It’s strike now, or lose out,’”’ said Wade. ‘“‘We’ve got to gamble the thing out as it falls. We may not need to kill anybody— couple of the crew if they act up, maybe— but I’ve thought out what we could do if we manage to take the schooner.”’ “Go ahead,” urged Doxey. ‘‘We’ve no time to lose. That schooner may jump out this afternoon.” “If we can get aboard her and take her, just hold up the parson and tell him what we want, we can drop him and his wife at some island where ships don’t show up for a year at a stretch. Then get away to Singa- pore, or lay a course for Australia or any place we pick, preferably some port where Parson Jessup isn’t known very well.” “You mean you'll try and palm yourself off on port authorities as Parson Jessup?” Doxey was astounded at the idea. “No, not necessarily. It’ll be handy to do it just to the extent that is necessary to get out of the schooner in the port we pick. What I’m thinking of is that the Gospel . Argonaut is known as a missionary schooner. That prevents us being boarded by coast guards if we run into a cutter at sea. Easy enough at a distance for you to wear the wife’s sunbonnet and a skirt, and I can par- son up in his clothes. Seen through glasses, it all looks missionary. We may not even run the schooner into a port—get close enough in to land near one, scuttle her and land on the beach. Then just drift into town. It’ll be months before either Jessup and his wife are picked up off the island we leave ’em on, or months before the fact that the Gospel Argonaut is missing, comes out. She’s bound to have a supply of cash on board. We'll be fixed to lose ourselves any- where we pick. Of course, that’s just a rough plan. We can change it as things fall.” Doxey considered the matter a few minutes. ‘“‘We may have to wipe out the lot, and force the native crew to work the schooner for us until we’ve got a position that suits us.” 151 Wade held up a hand for attention. “Dox,” he said slowly, ‘‘there’s no limit to what we may have to do. All or every- thing goes by the board—white men, the woman, natives. This chance has dropped from the skies and we’ve got to grab it.” “Y’m on. What’s the first move?” “Try and get Salvation Jessup here to ° the shack. Bring him alone, or not at all. Make a play with him that we’ve kept by ourselves here in the jungle, rather than mix with the natives. Bring out our simple vir- tues and play the common sailor. We’re rough chaps with the usual sailor faults, but we haven’t forgotten to be decent just be- cause we’ve been shipwrecked. Before you see Jessup, fix it with Parut and his gang of thieves that if the natives spill the beans on us, we'll kill a few when the schooner’s gone. But better than that, scare the old Benggala that a missionary station is to come to An- drus Island. Then tip Parut that all we want to do is get away in the schooner, and that if he’ll help us, we’ll work on Jessup to give up the idea of sending missionaries to stick on the island.” “T get you!” said Doxey with enthusiasm. “‘We’ve got to play the natives against Jes- sup, but under cover. Fix ’em so they'll make him welcome and hold him in port overnight, but fill ’em full of a scare about missionaries’ll come if we don’t sail away with Jessup.” “You've got it, Dox! thing out as we go along.” “Then we’d better get into our civilized duds.” “Sure! We don’t want Jessup to suspect we’ve been here seventeen months. Our clothes are badly worn, but that’s all right— they’re clean and fresh. We’ll have to plant a shipwreck about three months old on him.” They went into the brush behind the house, and pulling out some vines that grew down over the rocks, brought out two bun- dles wrapped in dried nipa thatch. Wade got into faded, sea-washed dun- garees that were bleached so that only a faint trace of the original blue remained. Next he put on a cotton shirt, and old can- vas shoes. A yellowed straw hat without a brim completed his costume. Doxey put on a pair of wide-bottomed seaman’s white trousers and rolled them up about his ankles. A gingham shirt and a cloth watch-cap turned him into a foremast We'll work the COL, cloOokxS © =