Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 3 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

304 THE ARGOSY. rose, even to his daughter. Only the doctor man into his room and bunk. He was like appeared able to get along with him on easy terms, and Rainey noticed that, to Carlsen, the skipper seemed conciliatory even to def- erence. Peggy Simms watched her father with worried eyes. The curious, tarnished look of his tanned skin augmented until the flesh seemed continually dry and of an earthy color; his lips peeled, and more than once he shook as if with a chill. On the eleventh day out, Rainey went below in the middle of the afternon for his sea-boots. The gale had suddenly strength- ened and, under reefs, the Karluk heeled far over until the hissing seas flooded the scuppers and creamed even with the lee rail. In the main cabin he found Simms seated in a chair with his daughter leaning over him, speaking to her in a hatsh, complaining voice. “No, you can’t do a thing for me,” he was saying. “ It’s this sciatica. I’ve got to get Carlsen.” As Rainey passed through to his own little stateroom neither of them noticed him, but he saw that the captain was shivering, his hands picking almost convulsively at the table-cloth. ‘““Where’s Carlsen, curse him!” Rainey heard through his cabin partition. “ Tell him I can’t stand this any longer. He’s got to help me. Got to. Got to.” As Rainey emerged, walking heavily in his boots, the girl looked up. Her father was slumped in his chair, his face buried on his folded arms. The girl. glanced at him doubtfully, apparently uncertain whether to go herself to find Carlsen or stay with her father. “Anything I can do, Miss Simms? Your father seems Gjuite ill.” The hesitation of the girl even to speak to him was very plain to Rainey. Suddenly she threw up her chin. “Kindly find Dr. Carlsen,” she ordered, rather than requested. ‘“ Ask him to come as soon as he can. J—” She turned un- certainly to her father. “Can I help you to get him into the cabin?” asked Rainey. She thanked him with lips, not eyes, and he assisted her to shift the almost helpless 4 a stuffed sack between them, save that his body twitched. While Rainey took most of the weight, he marveled at the strength of the slender girl and the way in which she applied it. Simms seemed to have fainted, to be on the verge of unconscious- ness or even utter collapse. Rainey felt his wrist, and the pulse was almost impercep- tible. . | “Tl get the doctor immediately,” he said. She nodded at him, chafing her father’s hands, hereown face pale, and a look of anxious fear in her eyes. “ Mighty funny sort of sciatica,” Rainey told himself as he hurried forward. He knew where Carlsen was—in the hunters’ cozy quarters, playing poker. From the chips in front of him he had been winning heavily. “The skipper’s ill,” said Rainey. pulse. Almost unconscious.” Carlsen raised his eyebrows. ‘ Didn’t know you were a physician,” he said. “ Just one of his spells. I'll finish this hand. Too good to lay down. The skipper can wait for once.” The huntersegrinned as Carlsen took his time to draw his cards, make his bets, and eventually win the pot on three queens. “I wonder what your real game is?” Rainey asked himself as he affected to watch the play. According to his own an- nouncement Carlsen was deliberately neg- lecting the father of the girl he was to marry and at the same time slighting the captain to his own men. Carlsen drew in his chips and leisurely made a note of the amount. ““Muite a while yet to settling-day,” he said to the players. “ Luck’may swing all “ No round the compass before then, boys. ~ All right, Rainey, you needn’t wait.” Rainey ignored the omitted “‘ Mister.” He held the respect of the sailors, since he had shown his ability, but he knew that the hunters regarded him with an amused toler- ance that lacked disrespect by a small mar- gin. -To them he was only the amateur sailor. contributed to this attitude, and it did not lessen his score against Carlsen. The captain did not make his appearance (EO) 0)(0)) AMC S Rainey fancied that the doctor had — (C@