Argosy, Vol. 147, No. 1 — page 71: what you’re looking at

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

THE PEDESTAL OF COMMAND, = he braced himself for the supreme struggle. “To hell with you and “You'll die—with the rest © Whalen,” the voice whined incessantl through the singing of the strident wind. The sea lawyer bellowed, spouted little drops of blood and saliva from his mouth. He half fell, half rushed the intervening distance and struck at the reeling figure that cc » past him. Wildly—madly he struck, I know. a pee ae again—his arms slowed down. “ You’re a hell of an officer, the F For a brief instant he saw a form stretched Danny stood on the poop in the le cabin, his fingers grasping the rail He answered, through the swirling storm water that blew past him—his eyes xe on the slim, graceful spars t tesquely into a heap of shuddering flesh. gap iees felt a soul-shaking blow, the earth swam in drunken circles—somehow—some one—gently lowered him to the deck—he could feel it with his hands, he struggled mightily with his arms and legs, they were dead, they wilted slowly, gently under him and through the haze that was closing his eyes, stealing away his senses he saw— In the corner, apart from it all, stood the girl with the jade eyes. Infinitely nearer, swaying in circles, towered the sea lawyer. She crossed the cabin, nodded down at him and turned toward the sea lawyer. ‘“He’s a queer un,” she said. And permitted herself to be enfolded in the eager grip of the sea lawyer’s arms. swaths against the gray, angry sky. “] ain’t an officer,” he said, “ bu like to pretend I am—once more.” fa “You means you never had a tickets the sea lawyer shouted at him. ~ ow means you been stringing us all?” mee “Not that. I have a ticket all right— “Then what t’ell—” = “ Tt’s something you wouldn’t understand —-no one would ever understand.” “Then save us, Whalen! You kno what to do.” a Danny nodded quietly. “I'll save my self,” he said. “I'll save that part r that’s cryin’ out for help—and, ma the imitation’s good enough—maybi we're all down there—together—” — The dawning day had been ush by a roaring blast of wind that had wh spare rope ends into tatters, had sent green seas tearing past, roaring in abandon, their white tops torn into s The Riding Scud rose and fell wi seas. When she hesitated and struc water pounded her unmercifully. Sea sea piled aboard her, filling the sea be the men, making their oilskin clot mockery. Her sails snapped and ¢ with the fury of the storm. es The faces of the men ran rivulet water. The bosun faced for a moment th full force of the wind; it whipped his beard ~ until it looked like soaked rope yarn. iy eG Vil. THE moon, circled with a huge halo, was the first presage of the storm. The sky was blotched with rapidly drifting clouds. The ship ran*into soft, easy, glassy swells; she bowed down deep to them, rolling and pitch- ing restlessly, her ancient timbers groaning and creaking. The moon came out at intervals. It showed glassy hard upon the rolling surface of the sea. The wind behaved erratically, hauling back and forth, driving the exhausted sea- men from brace to brace, increasing in in- tensity and dying back to a mere breath. The barometer faltered and fell, rose slug- gishly, and dropped again—in the space of half an hour. And Danny, beaten in body and soul, stumbled out upon the deck, eA Danny eased her labor through the stor He feared the sails would go. The s on his port bow. She was racing ¢ green slide one moment and bucking a m« strous, white-combed giant the next ee A huge wave rose directly under the li Vill, set “It’s up to you, Whalen—we—I—” The sea lawyer spread one hand in a help- his boat and smashed it to splinters, le eae. only the blocks and falls hanging t ‘comicbooks.com - ee, She ee aS “4