The Wasp, 1918 · page 175 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 175: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be a **literary excerpt rather than a cartoon**—a scene from a serialized adventure story featuring conflict between two men aboard a ship. The passage depicts **James Burnham**, apparently a ship's officer or crew member, confronting someone called "Master Bolt" over a matter of authority and respect. Burnham, described as having a volatile temperament, insults Bolt ("stick in my gullet like a lump of rotten beef") and challenges him to a fight on deck, darkly joking there's "room enough in the scuppers for one more corpse." A **unnamed woman** observes the dispute with calculating interest, remaining unmoved by Burnham's warning about blood on deck—she replies calmly that she's "seen much." The scene emphasizes themes of **masculine honor, class tension, and maritime danger** typical of 19th-century adventure fiction. Without knowing the specific story's publication date or authorship, the exact satirical 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.
166 THE WASP — “unless ye be deaf. a be telling the wench | that ye bain’t the cap’n.’ For a second-or two he etna 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 cutlass in his hand. : “* Perfectly true, I am not the captain, a James coolly; “but I am James Burnham, none the less, with the temper I was born with and a peculiar objection to bellowing calves of your kidney, Master Bolt. The truth is, you stick in my gullet like 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 Sel ape for one more corpse |” He turned to the woman, whe hed listened to the dispute in silence and watched the faces - of the men with a light of alert calculation in her dark eyes. 2 ‘[ would invite you up to see the entertain- ment, but the deck is foul ma blood,” said ~ - Burnham. “1 care not for a little blood,” she replied calmly. ‘‘ I have seen much.” by) COMEOLS.Com)