Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 3 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

= 308 every shell they happened to have for’ard. If the magazine’s empty, I’ll bet Carlsen knows where they’s plenty more shells, if we ever needed ’em bad. But now those rifles an’ shotguns ain’t no more use than so many clubs—not to the hunters. An’ he’s found out they ain’t got enny pistols. He’s got one, an’ shows ’em how straight he shoots, jest in case there should be enny trubble be- tween ’em. Plays both ends to the middle, does Carlsen. Slick! But he ain’t won the pot. They’s a joker in this game. Mebbe he holds it, mebbe not.” He nodded mysteriously, well pleased with himself. ‘“* Don’t suppose you brought a gun along with ye?” he asked Rainey. “ Might come in handy.” “I wasn’t expecting to stay,” Rainey re- plied dryly, “‘ or I might have.” Lund laughed heartily, slapping his leg. “That’s a good un,” he declared. “ It would have bin a good idea, though. It sure pays to go heeled when you travel with strangers.” CHAPTER IV. THE “ BOWHEAD.” CAPTAIN SIMMS appeared again in the cabin and on deck, but he was not the same man. His illness seemed to have robbed him permanently of what was left him of the spring of manhood. It was as if his juices had been sucked from his veins and arteries and tissues, leaving him flabby, irresolute, compared to his former self. Even as Lund shadowed Rainey, so Simms shadowed Carlsen. The fine weather. vanished, snuffed out in an hour and, day after day, the Karluk ftung herself at mocking seas that pounded her bows with blows that sounded like the noise of a giant’s drum. The sun was never seen. Through daylight hours the schooner wrestled with the elements in a ghastly, purplish twilight, lifting and sending under double reefs over great waves that raised spuming crests to overwhelm her, and were ridden down, hissing and roaring, burying one rail and covering the deck to the hatches with yeasty turmoil. THE ARGOSY. The Karluk charged the stubborn fury of the gale, rolling from side to side, lancing the seas, gaining a little headway, losing lee- way, fighting, fighting, while every foot of timber, every fathom of rope, groaned and creaked perpetually, but endured. To Rainey, this persistent struggle—as he himself controlled the schooner, legs far astride, his oilskins dripping, his feet awash to the ankles, spume drenching and whip- ping him, the wind a lash—brought exul- tation and a sense of mastery and confidence such as he had never before held suggestion of. To guide the ship, constantly to baffle the sea and wind, the turbulence, buffeting bows and run and counter, smashing at the rudder, leaping always like a pack of yap- ping hounds—this was a thing that left the days of his water-front detail far behind. And then he had thought himself in the whirl of things! Even as Simms seemed to be declining, so Rainey felt that he was coming into the fulness. of strength and health. % Lund was ever with him. Sometimes the girl would come up on deck in her own waterproofs and stand against the rail te watch the storm, silent so far as the pair were concerned. And presently Carlsen would come from below or forward and stand to talk with her until she was tired of the deck. They did not seem much like lovers, Rainey fancied. They lacked the little inti- macies that he, though he made himself somewhat of an automaton at the wheel, could not have failed to see. If the girl slipped, Carlsen’s hand would catch and steady her by the arm; never go about her waist. And there was no especial look of welcome in her face when the doctor came to her, Carlsen seldom took over the wheel. Rainey did more than his share from sheer love of feeling the control. But one day, at a word from the girl, Carlsen and she came up to Rainey as he handled the spokes. “ [ll take the wheel a while, Rainey,” said the doctor. Rainey gave it up and went amidships. Out of the tail of his eye he could see that the girl was pleading to handle the ship and that Carlsen was going to let her do so. TOOK COLMUC (C@)