The Wasp, 1918 · page 56 of 330
The Wasp — 1918 — page 56: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **narrative fiction, not political satire or cartooning**—it's a dramatic serial story excerpt titled "The Wasp," depicting a violent escape scene. The passage describes a character named Burnham attacking a sleeping sailor with a bottle, then fleeing with a boy named Todd in a small boat from a larger ship (the "brig"). The scene emphasizes action and danger: the escape, pursuit by torch light, gunfire, and moral desperation. **Important limitation**: Without knowing the story's full context, publication date, or whether "The Wasp" characters represent real historical or political figures, I cannot identify what this narrative *satirizes* or *references*—or if it does at all. This may simply be adventure fiction rather than political commentary, which was common in 19th-century magazines alongside satirical content. The page reveals nothing distinctly satirical or caricatured from the text alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE WASP 47 contact with a bearded face. So he judged the exact position of the sleepy sailor’s head. He swung the bottle and brought it down. — It splintered, and the mariner sank to the deck with a faint sigh. Naked feet pattered on the deck. “Over you go!” whispered Burnham into the boy’s ear. _ Todd slid over the broad rail and went down the rope like a monkey. Burnham followed him quicker than it can be told, cast off the painter, snatched up an oar, and pushed away from the brig’s side. A voice hailed them. Burnham stumbled over the crouching lad, cursed him, found a second oar, and commenced pulling desperately away into the dark. Todd lay whimpering in the bottom of the boat between the thwarts. A light flared upon the Sultans, throwing ___ blood-red stains upon the sides of the little waves. Burnham silenced the lad with an oath. In the sanguinary 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 comichooks.com