The Wasp, 1913 · page 198 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 198: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be from a serialized fiction story in *The Wasp* magazine, not a political cartoon. It depicts a confrontation between two men—James Burnham and someone called "Master Bolt"—aboard a ship, with a woman present observing them carefully. Burnham challenges Bolt's authority, insults him directly, and threatens violence ("room enough in the scuppers for one more corpse"). The dialogue uses period nautical vernacular and dialect. Burnham then turns to the woman, noting the "deck is foul with blood," suggesting recent violence has already occurred. Without additional context about this serialized narrative, it's unclear what specific political or social satire *The Wasp* intended here. This appears to be adventure fiction rather than commentary on contemporary events or figures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 193 “Ye heard me, Jim Burnham,” he said, “unless ye be deaf. I be telling the wench that ye bain’t the cap’n.” For a second or two he returned Burnham’s glinting regard with an insolent glare; and then his eyes wavered, he shuffled his feet uneasily, and laughed unconvincingly. He lowered his gaze and stared at the heavy, besmeared cutlas in his hand. “Perfectly true, I am not the captain,” said James coolly; “but I am James Burnham, none the less, with the temper I was born with and a pe- culiar objection to bellowing calves of your kidney, Master Bolt. The truth is, you stick in my gullet Tike a lump of rotten beef. Come on deck, my hearty, and I'll be delighted to show you exactly what I think of you. There is room enough in the scuppers for one more corpse!” He turned to the woman, who had listened _to the dispute in silence and watched the faces of the men with a light of alert calculation in her dark eyes. “T would invite you up to see the entertainment, but the deck is foul with blood,” said Burnham. Comichooks.com