Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

954 blistering blazes off’n my boat, you good for nothing, ivory skulled Siwash! You got a hell of a nerve—” “Captain,” said the stranger warningly, ‘“‘ there’s a lady here with me!” Fog Horn stopped with a grunt, as if he had been hit amidships. “ ’Tain’t no use,” he added more mildly. ‘‘ You and the lady get off my boat. Olson, see they get off, you hear me?” From near by in the fog came Olson’s placid ‘“ Yah,” and the intruders moved away. ‘Ease your spring line. Cast off. Ease your bow and stern lines. Cast off your bow line. Cast off your stern line.” Fog Horn started the fog quivering with orders. The Queen’s jingle bell summoned the engine room to stand by. The gong clanked. A mighty quiver shook the aged hull and the huge, overgrown stern paddle began to churn water. Fog Horn’s prac- ticed hand found the whistle pull and held it down while a prolonged bellow racketed across the water and warned all that float- ed of the coming of a boat with more lives than the fabled cat, and a commander who mever acknowledged defeat. ‘ Passenger boat!” Fog Horn growled to himself as he spun the big wheel, his head thrust out of the open window and the fog glistening in diamond drops in his white hair. ‘‘ Passenger boat! That’s a business for Bown and his like. I’d like to see the passenger can get on my boat.” And at this moment the door opened to admit Olson, who brought with him two uninvited passengers to answer Fog Horn’s wish. Il. Otson’s apologetic cough notified Fog Horn of the unexpected realization of his expressed desire to see the passenger who dared ride on the Puget Queen. The old man turned from the wheel, and his jaw dropped. For a moment all he could do was stare. His visitors were the same pair recently ordered off the boat, a well built young fellow in yellow rain coat and soft hat who stood his ground with a desperate sort of eagerness, his face a little belligerent, and ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. a young woman, wrapped against the chill and heavily veiled. “Ay find dem hiding on das freight deck,” explained Olson. briefly: “ Yust after Ay t’row deme off Ay gass dey come back on beard.”’ “We had to do it!” the young man de- clared. “ Case of life or death, that’s how it was. I’m sorry—sorry to put you out, I mean, but simply this young lady and I have got to get up to Bellingham, and on your boat. We’ll pay whatever you ask.” Fog Horn Hood heard this in grim si- lence. He did not grant the young man a reply, but his heavy hand spun the wheel hard over, and to Olson he said curtly, “ Stand by to slip a bow line to the dock.” ‘Look here!” cried the unwelcome pas- senger, “ you’re not going to take us back?” He added vehemently, ‘No! You can’t take us back!” The Queen’s skipper emitted a noise halfway between a sardonic chuckle and a bark. ‘Is that so?” he asked with elaborate sarcasm. “‘ Is that possible? I can’t throw you off my own boat, hey? I ain’t no long- er master of it, I suppose! I take orders from every la-de-da young squirt that wants to climb aboard, do I? Why, you young cockroach—”’ “Listen, captain! This young lady—for the sake of a lady won’t you please—” ‘Yes, Captain Hood, won’t you please!” The girl joined the plea, the first words she had spoken. Her voice was low and extraordinarily musical. Fog Horn turned his irate glare on her. “Young lady,” he said warningly, “I don’t know you. I ain’t askin’ anything about you. But judgin’ by your looks you’d ought to be home in bed, not runnin’ around steamboats with young fellows this time of night. And furthermore, miss, as captain of this boat I refuse to take any hand in your escapades. When I say a thing that thing happens, and I say you both are going to get off my boat—” And ‘then, once more, the unexpected happened. The pilot house door opened on a third stranger. Three stowaways in a night! It was too much for Fog Horn. Instinct comicloool C©