Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine, Vol. 107 No. 3 — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

THE SHIP ‘Well, I was expecting you to drink a toast with me to a prosperous voyage. Now, take it easy; you may’ve cut an artery. I’m glad to hear that, in a way, Riley. I don’t want drunks in my crew. They don’t last in the tropics. Can you handle a revolver?” “T’m a fairly straight shot.” “ Ever use your fists?” ““ Only on necessary occasions.” “Good! I want men with backbone, not brawlers. Remind me to give you that spare revolver before you go.” His voice was rumbling in his throat again; it seemed to be habitual with him. “ Tough crews any ship gets nowadays. A man of your stamp is a godsend.” Donn Riley had worked the tourniquet splinter loose. He felt the hot blood rush _into the upper part of his arm in a fiery flood. He compressed his lips. | ‘“‘Ha!l No artery touched. You can be thankful. Now brace your legs. Get a good hold on your lower lips. This stuff burns like fury.”” He poured on the iodine. But the pain had come back so sharply with the inlet of the new blood that he could not distinguish the sharper bite of the antiseptic. His entire arm, to his finger- tips, tingled with the attack of a million vicious needles. “ Hurt bad?” “ A little.” He hesitated. ‘‘ Why are we getting away in such a deuce of a hurry, skipper?” The old man gave him a dark glance of doubt. ‘I found it necessary,” he replied stiffly. Riley framed his lips in a silent ‘‘ Oh!” of comprehension. “ How long since the ‘old hooker has been in this port?’” Captain Murdock was fumbling in a great drawer set in beneath his bunk. “A good many years, twenty maybe. I don’t know. She has been running wild on the lower coast most of the time, as you kindly told me this afternoon.” ‘“T see now,” said Riley. “What do you see?” : ‘“ That we’re going south with no cargo.” The eyes of the older man glinted for an instant. He stood up with a heavy nickeled revolver in one hand. .He spun the cylinder and presented it, butt foremost. THAT CRUMBLED. 435 ‘You can also see that I’m putting my faith in you. What I am wondering is, are you or are you not grateful? Understand me. I can’t have meddlesome men in my crew. It’s my business to ask questions, theirs to answer them. I’m giving you this pistol for my self-protection. If I have need to call on you, I expect you to stand back of me. With that and with both fists. Your quarters are just abaft the wireless- room, on the port side. You may or may not find everything shipshape. If it isn’t, you make it shipshape. That’s what I’m hiring you for.® Donn Riley acknowledged all this with a grave nod. His blue eyes were thoughtful. “Tm sure there’ll be no trouble back there,” he murmured. ‘“ But it will relieve me to know whether or not that murderous Span- iard is sailing with us.” “Why, of course he is sailing with us!” snapped the old man. Donn Riley went directly for Captain Murdock’s quarters. to the wireless-room. The condition of the apparatus was suffi- ciently unspeakable to remove all traces of the hostility and doubt that had been aroused by the old man’s last statement. And the sad state of affairs here accom- plished nothing more than the addition of another atom to his growing load of sus- picionis. He lit himself a cigarette, and stared ponderingly at the aluminum helix coil through a small haze of blue smoke. Captain Murdock had hired him for some purpose far removed from that of operating the Barracouda’s bent and rusted radio-key. Otherwise, why had he taken him at such a stupendous salary? He had not been flattered by the offer, even at first. He recalled the old man’s words: ‘A gentleman at random won’t do!” Also to be considered was the hurried flight of the freighter——forty-eight hours ahead of time. “And south-bound, with no cargo! And at night! He arrived at the inevitable conclusion: the Barracouda was bert on a voyage of good for no one. She always had been a ship of mischief; evil was branded into the very core of her. Donn Riley dropped his right hand NOO > CO S (C(O) mM