Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 129: what you’re looking at

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

ISLE OF have shown up soon after I left. They must have made short cuts through the bush-trails. It was a mercy I didn’t run into a bunch of them. You had a close shave. But you’ve got the pearls?”’ McKay held up the skull and shook it. ‘‘ Somewhere about a fifth of a million dollars here,” he said, “ if reports are true.” ‘Tf it was mine,” said Sime with a wry grin, ‘“I’d swap it right now for some— let me see—cold potato salad, cold roast beef, and a big stein of beer, with the last repeated. How about you?” ‘“‘Glad to see you've still got your ap- petite with you,” said McKay. ‘“ Anyway, we can smoke. How was Parks?” ‘““Tuckered out,” said Sime, puffing at his pipe. ‘‘ He was shivering with some ‘sort of ague, and he told me he’d got dysen- tery. His girl is going to put him in a bunk right off and dose him with quinin and cholera mixture, if you’ve gat any aboard.” ‘“‘ Both,” said McKay laconically. ‘“‘ What’s the next move?”’ “ Hold ’em off till dark. Then we’ve got to sneak down and get those rifles. We'll give ’em a surprise-party if they try to rush —in the morning. After that—” “ What’s worrying you?” “The dynamite. I put it in my little safe in the cabin. Always do whenever I go ashore, for fear the boys will monkey with it, stunning fish. Parks, if he isn’t too sick to think of it, won’t be able to get at it. If he could, he’d throw a scare into those natives that would send them scattering, and give us a chance to get in touch with the ship. Even then we’d be stuck till the wind comes, and there isn’t a sign of it. But we could eat. So long as they stick around that gap in the reef they’ve got us cut off. We might swim the lagoon and sneak over the reef at low tide. They'll patrol it to a certain extent with torches, but they are not much on night-fighting. We might make it.” ‘“ Not me, Mac,” said Sime. “ I’ll hold the fort. I’m scared stiff of sharks. I wouldn’t try that swim if I saw them mak- ing an oven for me. You tackle it.” McKay looked at Sime’s strained face, his sunken eyes, and pinched features. The DRUMS. 119 Californian was nearly all in, and the sun was steadily sapping his remaining strength. ‘‘ We'll stay where we are together,”’ said McKay. ‘Something may break to-mor- row. I’m afraid Parks was too weak to settle Ponda’s hash altogether. This thing is too concerted to be without a leader. He may have put Ponda in sick bay for a while, but that devil’s brain is still working!” Sime said nothing, and they smoked on, hugging the shadows that gradually length- ened westward. Despite the sinking sun, it did not grow perceptibly cooler. ‘This is regular earthquake weather,” said McKay presently. “Any chance of the island having the bellyache?” asked Sime. “ We might get clear in the excitement, some way.” McKay shook his head. ‘ Not much chance of that,’ he said. ‘“ The islands get shaken up once in a while, but as long as Mount Marion and the crater on Tanna keep open as safety-valves, nothing very serious is likely to happen. All the islands of the group get stirred up once in a while, to judge by the beach-marks. That sand up in the village was once at sea-level, but that was hundreds of years ago.” ““They’re leaving us alone,” remarked Sime after a while, peering over a rim of rock.” ‘“Had their lesson. They may try to rush us before dark. How are you fixed for cartridges?” Sime counted. “Nineteen, with what are in the guns,” he said. “Tve got eleven,” said McKay. “ We'll not waste them.” “ Let’s have a look at the pearls.” ‘‘ What’s the use, Fred. I’d rather hand them over to Parks in the original package.” He spoke with a touch of resentment, and Sime looked at him curiously. McKay had not forgotten Parks’s emphasis nor the girl’s look. ““ What’s the use?” echoed Sime. ‘‘ Those dirty skunks are eating.” A fire showed on the sand. One ef the canoes had caught some fish and they were being baked in seaweed. Some natives brought down bananas and coconuts, and the islanders gathered to their feast. comicloool. CO