The Wasp, 1913 · page 61 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 61: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **narrative fiction rather than a political cartoon**. It's an excerpt from a serialized adventure story featuring a character named James Burnham engaged in a nighttime maritime conflict. The passage describes Burnham and a young man named Todd in a small boat approaching a larger vessel (a "brig"). After a musket shot from the brig, Burnham fires back deliberately at the torchlight on the brig's rail, extinguishing it and causing a scream. He then continues rowing and sets sail toward islands visible at dawn. The text appears to be from an adventure or nautical tale—possibly historical fiction—rather than satirical commentary. Without additional context about *The Wasp* magazine's publication date or the story's larger narrative, **the specific historical event or figure being referenced remains unclear**. The dramatic action and dialogue are characteristic of 19th-century serialized adventure fiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
60 THE WASP guinary illumination of the torch the two in the boat saw faces and shoulders lining the brig’s side, but the light did not extend to the boat. A musket was fired blindly. Burnham pulled several more strong strokes, then rested on his oars. “Did you put any sort of firearms aboard?” he asked. For answer the lad Todd thrust a musket into his hands and whispered to him that it was loaded. Burnham obtained the powder-flask and primed the pan. He drew the oars inboard, brought the musket to his shoulder, and fired deliberately at the core of torchlight on the brig’s rail. The light fell, and a scream rang across the rock- ing water. Burnham laughed guardedly, laid the weapon aside, and fell to rowing again. Ten min- utes later-he stepped the mast and set the little sail. _ When dawn broke James Burnham beheld a green island lying within a distance of three miles to star- board, and more distant islands like cloudy pearls Comichooks.com