Action Stories, September, 1932
Here they come! Thirteen brigands in a sleek black bark, scenting pearl plunder ripe for snatching in Typhoon Bradley’s bailiwick. The captain of the crew? Gentleman Harry, corsair out of Singapore.
YPHOON BRADLEY broke one of half-caste from the look of him, came hurtling the unwritten laws of the Islands when
out of the bar door. He fell heavily on the sand
T he interfered. It was at Funafuti, toward and the next moment there was standing over the close of the pearling season. A score of
him a burly, tall man with a ragged black
ships were anchored in the lagoon. Half a
beard and thick hairy arms. He seemed drunk
hundred canoes and whaleboats dotted the and he wielded a short stock-whip.
surface of the limpid water. On the beach was
“I’ll teach you, you nigger swine!” he
a small city of tents, shacks, huts and lean-tos, roared, and the whip rose and fell. The half-such as always sprang up when a lagoon was
caste writhed, tried to crawl away, was kicked
being worked. Native women and children
back and at last resigned himself to
were scattered along the sand. White men
whimpering and crying out, his head buried in
sprawled here and there on the hastily built
his arms.
verandas. Pearl buyers from all the world
A small crowd gathered. No one said
rested in the shade and sipped their drinks.
anything. A man had a right to punish his own
Typhoon Bradley was sitting with Chang, the
natives. The Islands were not being tamed by
Chinese pearl buyer, when it began.
prayers and good wishes. The South was raw
First of all a slender native, or rather a
and a man’s crew might at any time turn and
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2
rip him to shreds if they thought him soft
There was a silence that could almost be felt.
enough.
Men stared. Captain Tench choked with
Typhoon Bradley drew on his cheroot
wrath. The veins corded in his bull neck and
and frowned a little.
the blood ran red in his face.
“Who is he?” he asked quietly. Chang
“You! . . . damn you!” he choked.
shrugged.
Someone caught his arm.
“The bearded one? A Captain Tench.
“Careful there. That’s Typhoon
Came in two days ago with that rakish bark
Bradley!”
over there. No one seems to know much about
Captain Tench hurled the cautioning
him. The thin, pockmarked man standing by
hand aside.
him is his mate, I believe.”
“I don’t give a damn who he is! He
The whip rose and fell, the bearded
can’t tell me what to do!”
man swore viciously. The half-caste’s back
“Listen . . .”
was cut and raw, beginning to bleed. Soon his
“Get out of my blasted way!” roared
writhing and screaming ceased. He had Tench, and he charged, his great fists flailing fainted. Still no one said anything and no one
and his head lowered. Someone laughed.
moved. But the whip lifted and fell with Typhoon Bradley was reputed to be the sickening soft sounds and blood spattered the
strongest man in the South and no one but a
crowd.
stranger would have been as big a fool as
Tench.
TYPHOON BRADLEY got up, shook off
There was a hard smacking noise and
Chang’s detaining arm and tossed away his
the bearded captain went sidewise and to the
cheroot.
sand, sprawling a good six feet before he
“Don’t you think that’s enough?” he
lighted. Typhoon Bradley rubbed his knuckles
asked mildly. Captain Tench paused for a and waited.
moment and glared at him.
Tench got up, shaking his head,
“You mind your own damned undoubtedly surprised and sobered. He business!” he grated. “The damned swine
whipped ’round, cooler now, his eyes slits.
stole a belt out of my cargo!”
“Tough, eh?” he sneered and came in
Bradley looked and saw the with the weaving gait of a practiced fighter.
unconscious half-caste was still clutching a
Bradley was no boxing man but he knew the
cheap, patent leather belt such as was used for
rough and ready fighting of the outlands as
trade in the outer islands, a thing worth, few other men did. Even first-rate boxers are perhaps, two cents.
not always good fighters outside the ring, and
“Stealing’s
bad
when it gets started in
champions have been known to be knocked
a crew,” Bradley agreed, “but you don’t need
out in a rough-house by men they could cut to
to kill the man.”
pieces in a squared circle and under rules. But
“Shut up!” snarled the other and Tench was good. There could be no mistake brought the whip down again with a vicious
about that.
swish upon the unconscious man’s back.
He ducked Typhoon’s right hook and
Typhoon’s gray eyes hardened and his six feet
landed with a stinging left jab that would have
of lean muscle tightened a little.
sent most men to their knees. Typhoon took
“I said that’s enough!” he snapped. He
half a step back and smack! Tench staggered,
caught the arm that held the whip, wrenched
almost fell and covered up by instinct. He
the weapon away and flung the owner aside.
made the mistake then of going into a clinch
Trial by Typhoon
3
and Bradley got him under the heart with a
“No?”
right hook that nearly broke Tench’s ribs.
“That’s what I said.”
Tench was game. He came back,
“And what would you do, big guy?
landed a right jab, crossed with a hard left and
Board our packet?”
left himself open. Typhoon laughed and put
“I don’t know just what I’d do but it
his body behind his blow. Tench’s feet left the
wouldn’t be pleasant.”
sand and he was hurled twice his own length
“You’re not the damned magistrate
before crashing into the crowd and falling. He
here!”
was out before his body hit the sand and his
Someone snickered and Typhoon
left ear was all but torn off.
smiled grimly.
“That happens to be exactly what I am.
“WELL,” someone drawled, “he’s pretty Appointed for the duration of the season.”
good. He hit Typhoon three times. That’s one
above the record.”
THE other’s jaw dropped. He mumbled
Someone else laughed. Typhoon stared
something, backed off, then, calling sharply to
&nbs
p; at his inert foe for a moment and thoughtfully
several of his crew he saw standing about, he
rubbed his knuckles.
had the half-caste and Captain Tench carried
“You ain’t heard the last of this,” a
down to the water’s edge and taken on board
voice said beside him and he turned sharply to
the bark.
see the thin, pock-marked man who was The
crowd
broke
up, some few men
Tench’s mate. The man was snarling and congratulating Typhoon. He merely shrugged obviously savage and his right hand kept and returned to his seat beside Chang. It had clawing at his gun butt, as if he had a hard
been the first time that season he had ever had
time to control himself. But you can’t shoot
to interfere as a magistrate and then he had
another man on Funafuti beach without giving
handled the matter outside of officialdom.
him an even draw, and Typhoon’s gun-belt
When Typhoon Bradley held authority no one
hung over the back of his chair near Chang.
cared to cause trouble. And anyone who
“Are you proposing to fight too?” knows the wild, roaring days and nights on a inquired Typhoon mildly. The other licked his
pearling beach understands just how much
lips, breathed hard and then shook his head.
that means.
“Not now, Bradley. But I’m Tench’s
“He’s bad, that Captain Tench,” said
mate and I know him. He’ll get back at you
Chang quietly. Typhoon nodded.
some way. We’ve heard of you! Big guy in
“Damned bad. I wonder what his game
the Islands, eh? You won’t be for long.”
is?”
Bradley
shrugged.
“I have been wondering too,” said
“You’d better pick up the wreck,” he
Chang drily. “I heard a short while ago that he
said indifferently, jerking his head toward has Gentleman Harry on board.”
Tench who was still unconscious. The other
“What?” Bradley ripped out, turning to
glared at him, cooling off.
stare at the Chinaman. “Gentleman Harry?”
“I suppose you don’t object if I take
For a moment he was tense and
our man along too?” he asked sarcastically.
motionless. If there was one name that could
Bradley glanced down at the now groaning
jar the habitual calm of the man it was that of
half-caste and shook his head.
his old enemy Gentleman Harry of Singapore.
“If he’s your man he’s yours. But I
They had clashed a dozen times. They had
wouldn’t beat him up any more.”
wounded and all but killed each other. It had
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4
been a blow of Typhoon’s fist one night on
come ashore. That meant he wanted to keep
Balata Beach that had ruined the Gentleman’s
under cover. No one else in the lagoon seemed
then handsome features. He had, before that
to know the Gentleman was present, and how
night, been called Gentleman as a term of
Chang had found out Typhoon couldn’t guess.
admiration for his looks as well as his The Chinaman, however, usually knew a good immaculate clothing. But after that night the
many things others didn’t. When Typhoon had
term of Gentleman was used as a jest, and for
bluntly asked him how he was aware of the
that Gentleman Harry hated Typhoon Bradley
Gentleman’s presence on Tench’s ship, Chang
with an intenseness that at times sent him
had merely shrugged, smiled inscrutably and
almost insane. If Gentleman Harry was at said:
Funafuti that meant trouble.
“It is my business to know everything.
“I’ll look into this,” promised Typhoon
That is why I buy pearls for Cartier’s and
grimly. “I’m responsible for the beach this
Tiffany. That is why I; have been in the
season and no one’s going to pull anything if I
Islands twenty years and am still alive.”
can help it. ... Come on in and let’s feed.”
Bradley shook his head. He knew
They both got up and went into Boston
Chang too well to doubt that his information
Charlie’s for a drink and some food. Outside
was correct. Then what did the Gentleman
the night fell swiftly over the vast expanse of
plan on doing? The season was closing in two
the great lagoon and the lights began to days. Most of the pearls had been bought or twinkle out on the ships. Bonfires flickered on
were contracted for; so had the shell.
the beach. The Kanakas shouted and boasted
Tench hadn’t brought any supplies to
and strutted up and down telling of their day’s
sell. . . . Typhoon had ascertained that. Nor
diving. A tinny piano began to play in Boston
had he claimed to be in need of supplies or
Charlie’s, and native women slipped quietly in
water. He appeared to be some sea bully from
and out while the rattle of dice and the harsh
northern waters who offered neither
voices of the game dealers cut across the
explanations nor courtesy. Typhoon suspected
smoke-filled air.
something was going to break and it had
worried him so much he had not been able to
CHAPTER II
attend to his poker. He was magistrate for the
TRAPPED
season and he intended it should close with a
clean slate for him.
He picked out a dinghy when he
IT must have been two or three hours after
reached the water’s edge—as magistrate he
sunset when Typhoon finally left the poker
could commandeer any boat he felt like,
game he had been sitting in, and after a few
though for that matter no one would have
words to Chang went outside into the cool
argued with him—and getting in he pushed off
night air. He paused for a moment to stare up
and rowed himself out to Tench’s bark, the
and down the line of shacks and then hitching
Wanderer. There seemed to him to be a
up his cartridge belt he pushed his way curious air of tension hanging over the night, a through the throng and made for the water’s
sense of something going to happen. He swore
edge.
to himself and put his weight on the oars. He
He was frankly puzzled at learning that
must be getting old to let such feelings bother
Gentleman Harry was at Funafuti, and more
him.
than puzzled that though the man had been
He reached the Wanderer at last and
there two days he had made no attempt to
was surprised by several things. In the first
Trial by Typhoon
5
place he could see in the starlight that she was
common seaman.
riding to a short cable, almost up and down in
“You gotta get out!” snarled the man,
fact, which was a curious thing for a vessel at
jerking out his weapon. “Orders is ‘no one
&n
bsp; anchor in a lagoon twenty miles long and with
boards’. . . .”
plenty of room to swing in. Second, her sails,
He gave a yelp of pain as a hard fist
which he would have sworn that afternoon
smacked him under the jaw. Bradley took his
were harbor stowed, were now loosened. gun from, him as he fell and contemptuously Thirdly, there seemed to be an unusual tossed it overside. He was immediately number of men on board . . . and she carried a
surrounded by a half dozen armed men,
white crew Chang had said.
threatening and surly.
At night at Funafuti most of not all of
“I’m the magistrate for Funafuti,” he
the shipping save the anchor watches went
said coldly. “Do you all want me to arrest
ashore for a brawl. Typhoon hesitated. The
you?”
Wanderer had all the earmarks of a ship set Someone
laughed.
for a quick getaway. Should he go back and
“What a chance.”
gather a crowd to help him investigate or
Another voice spoke up and a man in a
shouldn’t he? But investigate what? Nothing
peaked cap, evidently the second mate, pushed
had happened so far. And apart from that he,
forward.
Typhoon, had a reputation to consider. He
“Never mind the guff, fellers. This is
wasn’t accustomed to going back for help.
Typhoon Bradley, ain’t it?”
The strongest man in the South and the best
“Correct!” said Typhoon stiffly. The
shot in the Islands . . . excepting only Shark
other gave a mocking bow.
Gotch . . . did not rely on other men. Bradley
“An’ you want to see Cap’n Tench,