The Argosy, September 1915 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

& ONE-CYLINDER SAM. To Rosalind Chalmers, by some queer twist of her brain, it lay in starting a balky engine. She hesitated no longer. What she did was without reason; but she was past that. Her fighting mood was uppermost. She laid to her oars and put herself alongside the motionless launch with such violence that the skiff rocked threateningly. Another instant and she was aboard. The crouching figure of Sam, the boat person, arose from the cockpit. Simultaneously a long arm whipped out with all his weight behind it. Miss Chalmers dodged. “You fool!”’ she exclaimed wrath- fully. ‘‘ Here—hold the painter of this skiff.” The boatman whistled shrilly, then chuckled. ‘Well, if it isn’t the master me- chanic!”’ he said. Not far distant in the darkness the second launch was plunging furiously onward, the man in the stern anathe- matizing his lookout. “Thief!” hissed Miss Chalmers. “ Strike a light here.” She was already bending over the silent engine. “They'll see me if I do,” said the boatman. ‘Best lie quiet for the present.” “A light!” she commanded. He obeyed, holding the match low in the boat as he lighted the candle- stub and shielded the flame with his hand. “You burglar!” she muttered con- temptuously. “Where’s your wrench?” He reached under a seat and hand- ed it to her. “Hold that light closer — thief! Give me a hammer, too.” Fresh shouting reached their ears. The light in the cockpit had been seen by their pursuers. “Starboard! Starboard, sir!’ be- seeched an anxious voice. “T see him. Shut up! You ought to have spotted him before. Stand ready now to make fast to him.” 2A 241 The boatman turned a glance in the direction of the voices and whistled again. “T guess I’d better swim for it,” he observed complacently. “You quitter!” cried Miss Chal- There mers. “‘ Get that light closer. —hold it so! Oh, how helpless you arel”’ | The boatman’s ears told him that pursuit was steadily drawing closer. Miss Chalmers was doing some- thing swiftly and mysteriously — just what, Sam had no idea. She gripped and twisted something with the wrench, then struck something else two smart blows with the hammer. A second later she seized the rim of the fly-wheel in both hands and gave it a vigorous turn. The engine buzzed noisily. “’There—you house-breaker!”’ she cried triumphantly. The boatman took the tiller and blew out the candle. “ Much obliged,’ he remarked. She dropped, panting, to a seat, and began to wonder what irresponsible act she would next commit. There were cries of dismay from the stern boat when the quarry was off again, but there was no abandonment of the pursuit. In fact it was enliv- ened by a pair of bullets, which struck the water not-far from the rejuvenated launch. , “ Better get down on the floor,” vised the boatman. Miss Chalmers held her place. Very calmly the boatman reached out, laid a hand upon her shoulder, and twisted her off the seat with a single motion, so that she landed with a bump on the floor. ce How” “-Dared I?” he inquired. “ Oh, I don’t see any sense in running a chance of getting plugged. That fool back there just might hit something.” She was in a white rage from the touch of his hand and for the moment speechless. But she did not climb back on the seat. ad- (eO) VOOKS (C@)