Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 7, 1928 — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

94 to shoot us both. Had to do it, you know—look here, who are you?” _ Evidently the girl knew the way out of that corral. She had slipped from his grasp as they fled.from the cantina. He sped after her as far as a street. When I say street I mean a stretch of knee-deep mud paved, as all San Fran- cisco streets were paved, with tobacco boxes, barrels of spoiled provisions, bags of coffee, and limbs of trees. He shot frantic glances into every corner of the corrals, past sheds, over fences, and darkened tents. But the girl had vanished like an ethereal spirit. A little while later, finding his way to the water front, whither he was cer- tain the girl had fled, he saw a whale- boat, moving out into the moonlit water, sculled along by a slim ghost- like figure. It was like Charon cross- ing the Styx into the land of the dead. Dorsey did not attempt to follow her to the ship. On board she was, as far as he could surmise, perfectly safe. The wisest move for him to make was to keep under cover. If he were found he would have to give an account of the shooting of Steve Lukon. The gaming house proprietor might have been killed. And lynching without trial seemed to be quite fashionable in this barbarous city. Dorsey went back to his hotel, keep- ing at all times out of the moonlight. Tf he had known what was taking place at that hour on board the Cape Cod he would have taken a different course of action. The simile of Charon sculling a boat to the regions of the dead happened to be a very appropriate one. CHAPTER XXII. ABOARD THE WHALER. -NOTHER boat had come along- side the Cape Cod shortly before Priscilla put off from shore. Four men, skulking shadows, stood down across the bay from the east- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ward, approaching the old bark with muffled oars. They came only as whale- men approaching a whale can come— without a squeak of oar-locks, without a swish of a blade in the water. The Cape Cod loomed up, like a giant fin- back, casting her shadow upon the long boat and the four robbers. On board ship were two old men— Joshua and the skipper—neither of whom had the slightest inkling of the coming disaster. As yet Joshua was not watching for the return of Priscilla as he had watched on the first night. He did not expect her for two hours or so. He was below carving an ef- figy of the skipper’s bobtail cat. Joshua could scarcely have heard the approach of the four murderers any- way, even if their oars had not been muffled, for the air vibrated with the skipper’s snores. The doughboy was sent aboard first, enacting his customary role of cat’s- paw for the cautious Swope. He reported that the decks were clear, that loud snores in the captain’s cabin indicated that Bartlett was asleep. Whether Joshua or the girl were on board he could not say. There was a light in the steerage, another in the galley. Aside from this and _ the anchor lights above the ship was dark. Swope, the cooperer, and the negro moored their boat at the vessel’s prow, then climbed the backropes and bob- stays to the forecastle deck. They had not ventured to board her by the stern, because of the light in the steerage. Leaving the doughboy on deck to stand watch, the three men went be- low. ‘Tiptoeing in canvas shoes, with- out being heard, it was an easy matter to work their way aft. The skipper’s snores screened any sound the negro might have made. ‘The cooperer, al- ways apprehensive, made no sound. And Swope walked, according to his inveterate custom, like a cat stalking a mouse. He peered into the forecastle, into the lighted galley, into every part of the vessel as he led the way aft. (€(0) DOOKS AAG (F@)