The Wasp, 1918 · page 179 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 179: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page appears to be from a serialized adventure or pirate narrative in *The Wasp* magazine, not a political cartoon. The text depicts a scene aboard ships involving characters named Burnham, Trimmer, and Hicks, discussing plunder from a captured Spanish merchant vessel. The passage contains dialogue between Burnham and an unnamed young woman, followed by the arrival of Trimmer and crew with news of valuable cargo—bar silver, wine, and "ecclesiastical dignitary" (likely religious artifacts from the Spanish ship). Without additional context about the publication date or surrounding pages, it's unclear whether this narrative is satirical social commentary, a serialized adventure tale, or political allegory. The characters and their motivations—greed, piracy, division of spoils—suggest it *may* be satirizing contemporary society or politics through pirate-narrative metaphor, but the text alone doesn't make the specific target evident to a modern reader.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
170 THE WASP the courage—the heart undismayed. I like you ; and it may be I do not like Trimmer.” “You flatter me,” said Burnham, laughing — low and heartlessly. ‘“‘My dear, I must stop my ears, else I’ll get my gullet slit before my fortune is made. It is treason to listen to you. It is the captain who divides and distributes the spoils, giving this to one and that to another. But at least there will be no harm in taking one kiss—if you will give it.” She glanced up at him archly, neither consent nor denial in her eyes. At that moment a boat put off from the white schooner, and Trimmer and eight men came aboard the Polly. The captain was in high spirits, for a quantity of bar silver had been found aboard the brig, together with wines of rare vintages and some manner of a ecclesiastical dignitary. The unfortunate brig had been Spanish, and homeward bound from some rich port on the main. Although daunted -for a moment by the sight of the dead on the black schooner’s decks, and the thought | of his short-handed condition, the sight of the ~~ young woman at James Burnham’s side wrought Trimmer’s immediate recovery. “From the condition of the Black Polly’ s hold _ and lazaretto, it was evident that Hicks had made Comebeoks com