The Argosy, August 1914 — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

86 noon, free from the eternal overhaul- ing of gear which occupied all hands after the day’s catch was shipped. Five nights passed without incident. Then came Jack Garrett’s turn, as the newest member of the gang, to go on patrol. “Keep your eyes peeled, Jack,” Herb Mann warned. “ Th’ longer they are gettin’ to their dirty work th’ dirtier it’ll be when it does come. You don’t know these islanders th’ way th’ rest of us do that have been brought up around here. ‘“Tt’s up to you to-night whether we keep on doin’ business on Bar’try or go home whipped. We've kept close- mouthed about our watch, and Buck Potter and his crowd ain’t on to it yet. You can look for deviltry from them almost any time.” Jack took up his sentinel duties with a full determination to report as clean a record as his predecessors. ‘The night was moonless, but clear, and heavy with the odor of the ocean in June. He satisfied himself first that every- thing was as it should be by a turn the length of the village, followed by an examination of Captain Zed’s fish- house, dock, and dories. Finding all in order, he sat for a while on an up- turned lobster-pot at the water’s edge, thinking over something which hap- pened to have come to his notice that day. It was a scrap from a week - old paper one of the men had brought in —a sporting-page paragraph. It read: Manager Sam Levine’s confidence in the ability of his unnamed entry to pull down the championship appears to be wholly genuine. What the pub- lic thinks will become known when he tells who his fighter is, two weeks be- fore the battle, as stipulated by the ar- ticles. Monk Reilly’s sportsmanship in agreeing to these novel conditions is widely commended. The words stirred into vibration an almost forgotten chord. The fever- ish excitement and competition from which he had been snatched had been -cess was extremely limited. THE ARGOSY. until to-day almost as remote as one of the stars twinkling overhead. So Sam Levine had thus promptly found a successor for his unworthy self? Jack was forced to admit that it was a perfectly logical, fair proceed- ing. [he time had been, and that only a few weeks earlier, when to meet the champion and fight for the belt marked the acme of his own ambition. Now it was a better man than he that had the chance. He wondered who it could be. The list of those who could face Reilly with even the smallest chanee of suc- At. its top stood Butch Horlock. Jack knew himself amply Horlock’s master, de-. spite the knockout. But the Butcher had proved himself the better man in the matter of training. ‘There was a sting to that reflection. Did he regret the changed circum- stances which had removed him from the fierce delights of the ring? A light footfall drew his attention. Turning quickly, he heard the rustle of skirts and saw Jessica Hooper drawing near. “Who goes there?” he challenged. “A friend,” the girl answered in the same spirit. “Is all quiet along the Potomac to-night? I had forgot- ten it was your turn to sit up. It was hot in the house and I couldn’t sleep.” “Take this easy chair,” Jack of- fered, yielding up the lobster - pot. “ Everything’s quiet so far. The dis- honest sleep the sleep of the just.” “And honest folks stay awake,” she rejoined. “ Are you sorry yet for having turned fisherman? It must seem tame to you after the exciting life of a—let’s see, barge-hand, wasn’t ee “T’m only sorry I didn’t turn fish- erman earlier,” he said. “I find com- pensations even in night patrolling.” “For instance?” “T spare your blushes,” he laughed. She was silent for a couple of min- utes, staring into the still darkness that held the harbor, a knee clasped COMIC NOOKS (C@