Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

276 hunters, stood to one side, waiting, perhaps, to see which way the fight went, reserves for the apparent victor. The Finn, best and biggest of the sailors, rushed for Lund, his little eyes red with rage, crazy with the desire to make good his boast that he was as good as Lund. In his Slavic way he was somewhat of a danc- er, and his legs were as lissom as his arms. He leaped, striking with fists and feet. Lund met him with a fierce upper-cut, short-traveled, sent from the hip. . His enor- - mous hand, bunched to a knuckly lump of stone, knocked the Finn over, lifting him, before he fell with his nose driven in, its bone shattered, his lips broken like over- ripe fruit, and his discolored teeth knocked out, He landed on his back, rolling over and over, to lie still, half stunned, while two more sprang for Lund. Lund roared with surprise and pain as one caught his red beard and swung to. it, smiting and kicking. He wrapped his left arm about the man, crushing him close up to him, and, as the other came, diving low, butting at his solar plexis, the giant gripped him by the collar, using his own impetus, and brought the two skulls together with a thud that left them stunned. The two dropped from Lund’s relaxed arms like sacks, and he stepped over them, alert, poised on the balls of his feet, letting out a shout of triumph, while he looked about him for his next adversary. The bed-rock on which they fought was slippery where ice had formed in the crev- ices. Two seamen tackled Hansen. He stopped the curses of one with a straight punch to kis mouth, but the man clung to his arm, bearing it down. Hansen swung at the other, and the blow went over the shoul- der as he dodged, but Hansen got him in chancery, and the three, staggering, swear- ing, sliding, went down at last together, with Hansen underneath, twisting one’s neck to shut off his wind while he warded off the wild blows of the second. With a wild heave he got on all-fours, and then Lund, roaring like a bull as he came, tore off a seaman and flung him headlong. ‘Pound him, Hansen!” he shouted, his eves hard with purpose, shining like ice THE ARGOSY. that reflects the sun, his nostrils wide, glorying in the fight. The Finn had got himself together a bit, wiping the gouts of blood from his face and spitting out the snags of his broken teeth. He drew a knife from inside his shirt, a long, curving blade, and sidled, like a crab, toward Lund, murder in his piggy, blood- shot eyes, waiting for a chance to slip in and stab Lund in the back, calling to a comrade to help him. ‘“Come on,” he called. ‘‘ Olsen, wit’ yore knife! Gut the swine!” Another blade flashed out, and the pair advanced, crouching, knees:and bodies bent. Lund backed warily toward the opposite cliff, looking for a loose rock fragment. He had forbidden knives to the sailors since the mutiny, and had forced a delivery, but these two had been hidden. A knife to the Finn | was a natural accessory. Only his drunken ~ frenzy had made him try to beat Lund at his own game. One of the two hunters, lamed with a kick on the knee, howling with the pain,. clinched savagely and bore the seaman down, battering his head against a knob of rock. The other friendly hunter had bashed and buffeted his opponent to sub- mission. But Rainey was in hard case. A seaman, half Mexican, flew at him like a wildcat. met at the top of the breed’s head with- out stopping him. Then he clinched. The Mexican was slippery as an eel. He got his arms free, his hands shot up, and his thumbs sought the inner corners of Rainey’s eyes. The sudden, burning an- guish was maddening and he drove his clasped fists upward, wedging away the drilling fingers. Two hands clawed at his shoulders from behind. Some one sprang fairly on his back, bowing him with his weight. A knee thrust against his spine. The agony left him helpless, the verte- brae seemed about to crack. Strength and will were shut off, and the world went black. And*then one of the hunters cata- pulted into the struggle, and the four of them went down in a maddened frenzy of blows and stifled shouts. The sailors fought like beasts, striving COMMUC Sj 0)(0\0) Rainey struck out, and his fists ~ Eon