Argosy, Vol. 120, No. 1 — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

a 7 66 THE ARGOSY. dence he had for a different diagnosis of her father’s malady. But, if the man who was walking unsteadily though hastily toward Dan now was not drunk, Dan had never seen a drunken man—and such sights are hardly for sailors to escape. Worse than this, there were no signs of that genial, overpolite mellowness which had first roused Dan’s suspicions about the skipper. This was the sort of intoxication in which a man is ugly, unreasonable, fight- ing-angry over the slightest real or fancied affront or grievance. No average-sized man with any experience is ever afraid of the ugliest of drunks unarmed, for alcohol is a will-weakener whose strongest emotions may be dominated by any other sober and fear- less will. | But the usually fine features of the skip- per were distorted with something so near alcoholic mania that-Dan had to summon all his own reserve of will to keep down the feeling and the weakness of genuine fear. The man’s rapid, though uncertain gait brought him so near the edge of the open hatch that Dan suffered a spasm of fear lest he topple into the hold. Hope made a momentary pretense of studying the space below, then lifted a pair of staring eyes to Dan— “Who told you to do this?” he snapped. Dan realized the importance of keeping himself steady. ‘“ Nobody,” he replied, taking pains to prevent even a blink of his eyes as he held them upon the blood- shot orbs of the captain. ‘Then, what in the devil did you do it for?” “ Because it was the best thing to do, sir.’ Dan spoke with all the positiveness he could muster. “Who said it was the best thing to do?” blustered the captain. It was plain that he was a little taken aback by Corwin’s cool- ness. ‘“‘T figured that out from Mr. Edwards’s information as to the rest of the load,” Dan informed him. “ Figured it out!” snorted Hope. “ Who in hell told you to figure about it? What right had you to figure?” “The right of necessity, sir,’ Dan re- torted. “I understand it as the duty of a mate to assume control of things in case of the captain’s disability.” ‘* Disability!) What do you mean by that, Mr. Corbin, or whatever your name is? What do you mean by disability?” The skipper’s voice was raised to the highest pitch of its capacity. He advanced a step upon Dan, as if preparing to strike. ““My name is Corwin, sir,” Dan cor- rected him with affected calm. ‘“ By dis- ability I meant exactly disability, sir.” “Who said I was disabled?” snarled Hope. ‘“‘ Perhaps it was my disability to obtain any orders, sir.” Dan spoke with the forced calm barely off the edge of irony. “ Of course, now that you are prepared to give them, I am ready to accept any orders you wish to issue.” - “You'd better be—you! And here are your orders! Get that stuff out of there and into the Number Four hatch between now and seven o’clock to-morrow morning. That’s one order. The next one is to re- member that I’m the skipper of this ship, and that I issue the orders. Any —— mate that thinks he’s running my ship is likely to berth in the forepeak with bracelets on his arms.” It made Dan white to keep from laying hands on the man. For a moment he was choked with rage. His fists clenched in- voluntarily; his teeth ground together. But a captain of a ship is a captain, and Dan knew it. He got himself under control be- fore he spoke—before he could speak— ‘ Excuse me, sir, Captain Hope—I think you misunderstood me. I said I was ready to take your orders, sir, not your abuse. =e You may recall that I have not yet signed | on this ship. Unless you understand per- fectly the distinction; in dealing with me, between orders and abuse, I shall go ashore on one of those lighters and stay there.” ‘You go to hell!” bellowed the skipper, turning on his heel and heading back to his quarters. Dan could take his choice as to whether that meant some place ashore or the spot a few feet from where he stood, which would be his natural position for overseeing the wretched job the captain had just assigned him. As a matter of fact, the bluster in the —ae ee > eee eee ee = ' ——— (CTo) an G TOO as! al