Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 4, 1922 — page 114: what you’re looking at

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

424 with his skipper and then turned to En Sue and me. “Tt is too early for a pao-fung or Riu- jung,” he said. “Typhoons seldom blow before July, but I don’t like the taste of the air, neither does Sang. There is something brewing, but unless the barometer drops again we'll stay here, now we’ve found the Zuleika. I have a feeling that it might not be so easy later. I don’t like the quiet- ness of our reception. I’m going aboard the yacht. Will you both come?” The launch of the Little Dragon was waiting for us and a companion-ladder al- ready rigged with the quiet speed charac- teristic of the ship. Ten men followed us, and besides rifles, they carried the two Lewis guns. As we went, conned by Taku, still in the foretop with a megaphone, I noted the crews of the quick-firers at sta- tions. Twilight was holding, the sun, hid- den by the bulk of the island, had not yet set and, above us and to the east, the sky was aflame with the afterglow. Fleecy clouds, pink as a flamingo’s breast feathers, lay against a blue that was almost violet. Back of the great peak the west flared like a volcano. The seas ran purple, creaming and hissing, gilded in mid-channel on their western flanks. The gulls were still wheel- ing and complaining and once a flock of parrots rose with an explosion of discords, formed and started to fly to the mainland. As they went over us their iridescent feath- ers glowed with startling metallic brilliance. The whole scene was eerie, almost un- earthly, painted in colors that were nothing less than secondary. ‘The wrecked yacht, once the home of absolute luxury, gave a tragic, melancholy note. prising that her slanted decks did not sud- denly teem with savages, springing from am- bush, firing their guns, shooting dense flights of arrows while others stole out from the headlands in crescent-shaped prahus and ‘cut us off from the ship. The stage was all set, but we were the only actors. Noth- ing happened. Rifles and Lewis guns and quick-firers were idle precautions, it seemed, as we got aboard the yacht, fairly easily, with the help of trailing tackle and gear. The volcano back of the mountain had burned itself out. Already a star or two the golden stars. It seemed sur-. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. blinked down between the fading clouds. In the west a planet burned so close to the crest of the peak it seemed a watch- fire. We had but a few minutes to spare to assure ourselves that the wreck was un- tenanted. Those sufficed to show that the ship had been torn to pieces. Rather, it looked as if a gang of malicious, unreason- ing orang-utans had been at work. Every- where was confusion, breakage and filth. ‘We'll take a closer look to-morrow,” said Li Yuen. “I want to get hold of the log, if possible. Let’s get back to the ship.” Within five minutes all the light had gone, save that of the stars. But a search- light from the Little Dragon helped us back in safety. The ship’s bell chimed eight times; it was eight o’clock, the end of the second dog-watch, as we went down to the meal, whose savors tempted us. The last thing I noted as I entered the companion was the poor Zuleika, picked out by the ray of the searchlight. Then this was abruptly shut off and the broken hull vanished as if swallowed up by the moun- tain, bulking black behind it, framed by I remember how very dazzling the latter appeared, not as flat- tened studs pinned to a canopy, but sus- pended globes that shone in a vast perspec- tive. I have never seen a more perfect night than this one. But the barometer was un- easy, the mercury would fall a variation and then regain it with a pulsing motion, and I caught Li Yuen watching it gravely, toward midnight, when I passed him, to go on deck for a moment before turning in. The middle watch seemed to have been doubled. Groups of men were standing in what seemed appointed stations. At first I thought these weather precautions, but I saw the gun-crews, fore and aft, and the ray of the searchlight, trained low, constant- ly sweeping the strait. CHAPTER XIII. ENTER O’ROURKE. N SUE was below with his father, and I was the only English-speaking per- son on the deck, which turned out to be a very fortunate circumstance for Joseph | COmMiCbMooks.Gomn