Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 3 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

$22 as the fingers of his left hand placed themselves on Rainey’s proffered arm. Strong fingers, almost vibrant with a force manifest through serge and linen. Fingers that could grip like steel upon occasion. Rainey wonderingly sized up his consort. The stranger’s bulk was enormous. Rainey was well over the average himself, but he was only a stripling beside this hulk, this stranded hulk, of manhood. And, for all the spectacled eyes and shuffling feet, there was a stamp of coordinated strength about the giant that bespoke the blind Samson. Given eyes, Rainey could imagine him agile as a panther, strong as a bear. His weight was made up of the thews and sinews, spare and.solid flesh without an ounce of waste, upon a mighty skele- ton. His face was heavy-bearded in hair of flaming, curling red, from high cheek- bones down out of sight below the soft, loose collar of his shirt. The bridge of his glasses rested on the outcurve of a nose like the beak of an osprey, the ends of the wires looped about ears that lay close to the head, hairy all about the curves, lobeless, the tips suggesting the ear- tips of a satyr. Mouth and jaw were hidden, but the beard could not deny the bold projection of the latter. About thirty, Rainey judged him. Buffeted by time and weather, but in the prime of his strength. “‘ Snow-blinded, matey,” said the man. “ North o’ Point Barrow, a year an’ more ago. Brought me up all standin’, What are you? Steamer man? Purser, may- be?” ‘““ Newspaperman,”’ “ Water-front detail. “You don’t say so, matey? eh?” Again Rainey felt the tug of that some- tuing back of the dark lenses, some specu- lation going on in the man’s mind concern- ing him. And he felt the firm fingers contract. ever so slightly, sinking into the muscles of his forearm for a second with a hint of how they could bruise and paralyze at will. Once more a faint sense of re- vulsion fought with his natural inclination ‘to aid the handicapped mariner, and he shook it off. answered Rainey. For the Times.” A writer, THE ARGOSY. “The Karluk sails to-morrow,” he said. “Aye, so—so they told me, matey. You’ve bin aboard?” ‘“T had a short talk with Captain Simms when she docked. Not much of a yarn. She didn’t have a good trip, you know.” ‘Why, I didn’t know. But—hold hard a minnit, will ye? You see, Simms is an old shipmate of mine. He don’t dream I’m within a hundred miles o’ here. Aye, or a thousand.” He gave a _ deep-chested chuckle. ‘‘ Now, then, matey, look here.” Rainey was anchored by the compelling grip. They stood next to the slip in which the sealer lay. The Karluk’s decks were deserted, though there was smoke coming from the galley stovepipe. « ‘Simms is likely to be aboard,”’ went on the other. “‘ Ye see, I know his ways. An’ I’ve come a long trip to.see him. Nigh to missed him. Only got in from Seattle this mornin’. He ain’t expectin’ me, an’ it’s in my mind to surprise him. By way of a joke. I don’t want to be announced, ye see. Just drop in on him. How’s the deck? Clear?” ‘No one in sight,” said Rainey. ‘Fine! Mates an’ crew down the Bar- b’ry Coast, I reckon. Sealers have liber- ties last shore-day. Like whalers. I’ve buried a few irons myself, matey, but I'll never sight the vapor of a right whale agin. Stranded, I am. So you'll do me a favor, matey, an’ pilot me down into the cabin, if so be the skipper’s there. If he ain't, I'll wait for him. I’ve got the right an’ run o’ the Karluk’s cabin. I know ev’ry inch of her. You'll see when we go aboard. Let’s go.” Rainey led him down the gangway to the deck of the sealer, still cluttered a bit with unstowed gear. Once on board, the blind man seemed to walk with assurance, guiding himself with touches here and there that showed his familiarity with the ves- sel’s rig. And he no longer shuffled, but walked lightly, grinning at Rainey through his beard, with one blunt forefinger ‘set to his mouth as he approached the cabin sky- light, lifted on the port side. Through it came the murmur of voices. The blind man nodded in satisfaction and widened his grin with a “ Hush!” to his guide. = GCOmicdook (C CO