Argosy All-Story Weekly — "Sea Marauders" — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

A56 ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. hoarse orders given, and then there was silence. He saw a man walk down the path to the beach and shout to the boat, which had displayed no light since the searchlight had been extinguished. A few moments later, he heard oars, the grounding of a keel on the sand, and then the return of the boat to the ship. There was a gray line in the east, daylight was going to catch him in the wtree for he dared not descend now, since the ground below was infested with pirates. Steve looked to his weapon. He would remain undiscovered as long as he could, and there was a possibility they might not expect to find him in a tree so close to the house; it would be natural for them to assume he had put as great a distance between himself and the house as possible. The light came slowly but surely. There was an exquisite sunrise in the east, but Steve was not interested in it. Gradually the blackness of the lagoon changed to dark blue, and began to sparkle with rainbow colors. Steve saw the ugly unpainted motor vessel lying off the beach at a distance of a couple of hundred yards; he could see her entire hull in the clear water. All the pirates were assembled on the porch, and three of them entered the house. He counted eight men, includ- ing those who had gone inside. No one was visible on the motor craft, but the rowboat had returned and lay upon the white sand. At least eight to one, and he was hid- den in a tree! Anyway he had spiked their machine gun. ‘Time passed: an hour; presently the three who had entered the house emerged carrying a small basket, and the entire band clustered. E, could hear voices, exclamations, but could not distinguish words. In all probability they were ad- miring the treasure found in the house. He wondered where were Lovering and his friends. Where was Mildred? It could not be possible that that sweet girl—he wouldn’t even think of it. Two men detached themselves from the group and walked toward the wire- less house.. They passed beneath the great tree, but did not look up. A mo- ment later he heard shouts of anger, and both came from the wireless house and ran to the residence. Peering through the leaves he watched an angry conference, and then the two men went down the slope to the beach, entered the rowboat, and rowed out to the motor ship. In about ° ten minutes the boat started back, and the two men got out, lifted out heavy objects, swung them on their backs, and came up the slope. “Good grief!’ exclaimed Steve to himself. “ They’ve got another ma- chine gun.” A big man detached himself from the group on the porch and came down to meet them. He met them under the big tree. “ Set it up right here,” he command- ed. Steve had a good look at the flat nose and brutal countenance of Cap- tain Bill Gibbons. The pirates fitted the two parts of the Maxim gun together, and, opening a case, drew out a belt of ammunition and inserted an end of it in the gun. “That ‘ll do fine,’ said Gibbons. “Point it at the house.” He walked back. Steve looked down. ‘The ma- chine gunners were stationed almost di- rectly below him. Two men on the porch now entered the house and in a few minutes there appeared in the doorway a group of men and women, in the front rank of whom he recognized the red-gold hair of Mildred Lovering, and the proud, slender figure of her father, Captain Gibbons marshaled them and counted noses. There was some outcry from the women, probably the servants, then Gibbons gave an order, and the prisoners were led down upon the lawn, and the pirates began to push om — Gomichooks.co Im « WE S|