Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 7, 1928 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

86 Each night she watched more and more anxiously. She had a premoni- tion that if she stayed long enough Dorsey would turn up. The news of a woman from one of the ships singing hymns would certainly reach his ears sooner or later. “Just once more,” she said, “ then to-morrow you can make the rest of your purchases, and bring your new crew aboard. As soon as father 1s strong enough, we'll set sail.” Thus it was for the seventh night that Priscilla Bartlett, leaving the old harpooner on board to watch over her sleeping father, ran down the Jacob’s ladder, took the steering oar, and sculled ashore. “Tf I can see him just once, and bid him good-by—” that was the prayer on her lips as she crossed the water. CHAPTER XX. AN EXCITED HUSH. N San Francisco there existed that magic state of affairs which is de- scribed by miners in the single word “ bonanza.” It was a bonanza time for every one ;° for the miners who had come down from Poker Flats and Hangtown and Gospel Swamps; for the gamblers who preyed upon the newly-rich, for can- tina girls, for barkeeps, for ship chan- dlers, for sutlers, for owners of horses and wagons and mules and burros, for the ranchers who came from the south with their grain and fruit, for the own- ers of river-craft, for the keepers of rooming houses; to all these mortals on this barbaric shore bonanza had come, and fortune poured out the con- tents of her cornucopia into their laps. I wish, for example, to take the in- stance of one man: He was a tall fellow with a hand- some Mephistophelean face, black hair, and the eyes of a hawk. Walking always with something of an air, he came out of that old City ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Hotel on the corner of Kearny and Clay Streets which had been built two years before the Sutter’s Mill discov- ery. Jim Dorsey—for this was the hawk- eyed gentleman himself—stepped into the Pioneer Book Store, which was a part of the old City Hotel—and pur- chased a copy of a very peculiar book. I ought rather to say that it was a very peculiar purchase—for him. There were certain words that had been run- ning in his ears, words that had a dis- tinctly personal significance, as for in- stance the phrases of a memorized love letter. But since he had first heard those words the eventualities of life and des- tiny and fortune had come-so fast and furtously, that the exact memorization was impaired. And it worried him. It was paramount that he straighten this matter out before it became an ac- tual obsession. He wanted to get the words and context exactly as they had come from the gentle lips of the angel of the Cape Cod. He started in at the first page with an innocent assurance that he would light on these strange, haunting sen- tences. It was a second-hand book, dog-eared, stained, and torn from its voyage across the prairies. Further- more, it had been copiously underlined. Thus the marked lines caught his eye. He started at the words: “ In the be- ginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”’ Although this was not exactly what he was looking for,.it had the flavor he wanted. Evidently it was a book written for mariners. “ The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” This sounded very much like old Skipper Bartlett’s lingo, and a slight thrill went through the gaunt form of the gambler, as the thrill that will come when you recall vividly some very pleasant experience in life. GEomichooks (F@)