The Wasp, 1913 · page 281 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 281: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This appears to be **literary fiction rather than a political cartoon**—a narrative page from what may be a serialized story in *The Wasp* magazine. The text is Chapter XVI of an adventure narrative involving pirates and military officers. The passage describes James Burnham's rescue by his brother, Lieutenant Burnham (a king's officer), who freed him from bonds despite being on opposite sides of the law. James notes the irony that "family pride" drove a military officer to aid a pirate's escape. **No political satire or caricature is evident** on this page. Rather, it's a dramatic scene exploring themes of **family loyalty versus duty and honor**—common tensions in 19th-century adventure literature. The "ruffians" and pirate setting suggest popular melodramatic fiction of the period, though without additional context, the specific story's political or social commentary remains unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
XVI Al. men on the beach gaped at James Burn- ham as if he were a visitor from beyond the grave. : Young Henry Todd was the first to recover his wits. He sprang to James and embraced him. At that the others got to their feet and crowded around their hero. James received their rude and blasphem- ous expressions of congratulation and pleasure, and their questions concerning his escape, with an ironi- cal, slanted smile. His hard eyes were softened a little by. an expression as of weariness. “Tt was my brother who cut me free, lads,” he said; “Lieutenant Burnham, no less. He trod on the lantern and then cut my bonds; but I saw his face before he smashed the light. That’s what fam- ily pride will do, lads. It'll drive a king’s officer to setting free a bloody pirate.” “An’ maybe it wasn’t all for pride’s sake he done it,” ‘said one of the ruffians, a huge fellow with a fresh wound on his low forehead and a little gold 276 Comichooks.com