Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 13, 1920 — page 152: what you’re looking at

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

430 of it; he dropped to his knees in the slip and thrust his pudgy finger into the hole. It exactly fitted the aperture; the flow stopped; the man in the stern laughed aloud. But the lawyer’s apprehension was hard- ly lessened; his finger might easily be pulled out by the lunatic. In his terror he lifted his face and pleaded with the eloquence which in a supreme moment even a coward can command. He begged for life as only the weak will beg; he promised anything and everything, though what he said he never exactly remembered. Before he had half exhausted his wild appeal he became conscious that the man to whom he ad- dressed his well-nigh hopeless petition was laughing at him, his ragged teeth showing in an undisguised grin. He stopped ab- ruptly. “So ye have a change o’ heart, hey!” said the fisherman. ‘‘ Ye don’t seem to be so sot in cuttin’ a old man adrift! Won- derful what a little o’ water will do! Ye ain’t sich a bad feller after all! Pop’ll be tickled to death! Say, mister, I ain’t him.” There was no insanity in the deep voice. Mr. Stegle was so astonished that he straightened himself, thereby pulling his finger -from the hole, but as the water spouted in he immediately thrust it back. “You are not Captain Drummond!” “Not a bit. See here!” The big man leaned forward and wagged a forefinger in the face of the kneeling lawyer. ‘‘ My name ain’t Drummond any more ’n yours is Stegle. I didn’t lie when I told ye it was Tobias. "Tis so. David Tobias Turk, an’ yourn is Peter B. Lowny. Ye lied about your name ’cause ye was afraid to come to Wickapemis as Lowny; .ye thought folks wouldn’t stan’ for yer meanness. I lied about bein’ pop fer a different reason.” ““You—you knew me all the time?” ‘“* Naw, I didn’t know ye all the time. It was yer cussed tightness with yer seegars that did it. I went up to the store to git a smoker, an’ Sanford told me. He was on to ye but he didn’t give himself away. Then I made up my mind to get ye, an’ if ye ~hadn’t put yer finger into that hole I’d ha’ set ye on a reef an’ let the tide drown ye. T have ye fine now, an’ by the devil an’ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ? Dave Turk ye’ll never git ashore until ye show ye won’t drive pop to the poorhouse. Say, ye was just a—bleatin’ that you would do anything, as Stegle; ye can’t ha’ forgot how ye begged fer pop to Lowny. Oh, I hev ye! Belay, there!” The exclamation was sudden, for the other, in his emotion, had withdrawn his finger, but he hastily replaced it. “This here boat won’t stand a sight 0’ water in her,” continued Mr. Turk. ‘‘ When she turns turtle I’ll swim ashore. I won’t mind a mile or so.” To point the danger he pulled off his rubber boots. Stripped of his disguise and every means of defense Mr. Lowny began to give way. Though his personal danger was not as im- minent as it had been it was still great, and even in his stress he realized that he was cutting a poor figure—that there was some- thing both degrading and ridiculous in his attitude as he crouched in an inch of water. He looked up at the giant who had led him into the simple trap. ‘‘ What do you wish me to do?” he whimpered, as the boat lifted on a roller that-splintered against the bow and flung a shower over him. ‘Nothin’ ye can’t do—even as a boat- plug. Ye have some papers ye was goin’ to give to pop, hain’t ye?” Mr. Lowny, now with his finger growing numb, but which he did not dare to pull from the hole, decided to make a clean breast of it. “I was not going to leave Captain Drummond destitute,” he said, in a sudden inspiration. ‘I expected to get him to deed the property back to me; then I would give him fifty dollars, and a satis- faction-piece which he could record. I'll give you one hundred dollars if you will set me ashore.” ‘Will ye, now! That’s kind! Got that satisfaction-piece all signed an’ witnessed reg’lar?” ‘Yes. I had it made out in Boston.” ‘““Ye might hand it over to me, if ye want to—but mind, I ain’t makin’ no de- mand.” Mr. Lowny hesitated. This thing was monstrous. He had no desire to lose his grip on his debtor—not that the few hun- dred dollars Captain Drummond still owed him would make any difference, but his Eomichoo Ss) (EO)