cursed and forced the dinghy alongside, eh?”
catching hold of the pilot ladder and making
“I
do.”
fast.
“You’re quite sure you wouldn’t rather
get back into th’ dinghy.”
SOMEONE leaned over the bulwarks. “Who
Something warned Bradley but he
the hell’s that?”
hitched forward his holster and set his jaw.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Bradley
“You heard what I wanted.”
said irritably. “Is Captain Tench on board?”
The other hesitated.
“Maybe. But he ain’t receiving
“You’re sticking your nose into
visitors. Come back tomorrow.”
something,” he warned. “What you doing out
Typhoon was already half way up the
here anyway this time of night?”
ladder.
Typhoon wasted no further words. He
“You ain’t boarding us tonight!” strode forward. A man tried to check him and warned the speaker above.
went reeling from a backhand blow. The
Typhoon reached the top of the ladder
second mate sprang forward to receive the flat
and a heavily built seaman in worn blue of Bradley’s hand full in the face. There was dungarees laid a rough hand against his chest.
an ugly under-current of oaths and Typhoon
Bradley swore and pushed and the seaman
spun around, his gun out and his eyes slits.
went staggering. Before he could recover They were drawing on him, but the second himself Typhoon was on deck. The seaman
mate’s snarling voice checked that.
got up, swearing, and Typhoon saw he was
“Let ’im go, fellers. The Old Man’ll be
wearing a gun belt, a strange thing for a glad t’ see ’im anyway after what happened
Action Stories
6
this afternoon.”
you can shoot a lot better than you can fight.”
The Gentleman smiled.
THEY drew back then and after a pause
“For what are we indebted to this little
Typhoon bolstered his gun, turned and visit, my friend?”
proceeded aft. He was angry, coldly angry. He
Tench kept his hand on his gun but did
was not used to being treated like that.
not draw. The rest watched. Bradley stared at
He strode up to the poop, approached
his old enemy, his face like iron.
the main cabin scuttle and dropped down the
“You’re the reason, Gentleman,” said
companion, his eyes like ice.
Bradley coldly. “I don’t want you around.
There were four men seated around the
This ship will sail at once, with you on board.
table and drinking, three of whom he The wind’s fair. The tide’ll be right by the recognized. One was Captain Tench, his head
time you reach the channel. So get out.”
swathed in bandages. One was the pock-
“We are getting out,” the Gentleman
marked mate. The third, Gentleman Harry,
assured him, smiling. “In fact we are getting
calm and smiling and malevolent as usual, in
out tonight as you suggest. But we did not
immaculate whites, his hair glossy black, a
expect to have the honor of your company,
blue silk cummerbund about his slim waist
although I did warn Tench you might take a
and his terrible scarred face lemon-colored in
notion to come along.”
the lamplight. The fourth man, a nervous,
“Yeah, you warned me but I never
pimply-faced youth, Bradley did not know.
thought he’d be damned fool enough to come
He faced the four, his face grim and
here alone. Anyway we’ll handle him.”
his thumbs in his cartridge belt. Tench glared
Typhoon glanced swiftly about. He
at him. The pock-marked mate swore sensed that if he had not actually walked into a sibilantly. The pimply-faced youth crouched
trap they were prepared for the eventuality of
lower in his chair and looked like a snake
his coming. The Gentleman knew him and his
about to strike. Only Gentleman Harry seemed
ways; probably the Gentleman even knew that
unmoved, unless the faint nervous twitching
Typhoon knew of his presence on board the
beneath his ears could be called apprehension.
Wanderer. If not that the Gentleman was
“You see,” he said smoothly, waving a
certainly aware that when Typhoon Bradley
well-manicured hand. “You see, Tench. I told
was around it was always best to take
you he would probably be along if he heard I
precautions.
was aboard.”
“What’s the game?” said Bradley
He smiled craftily.
suddenly. The Gentleman smiled.
The bearded captain struck the table
“A very sweet little game, my friend.
with his clenched fist and ripped out a But perhaps you had better throw your gun scalding oath.
away first. There are four of us here. The
“Damn you, Bradley! I never thought
second mate on deck had orders that if you
you’d have th’ nerve to board a ship of mine!”
should happen to arrive and be alone and
“I’ll board any damned ship in insisted upon coming aft, you should. But Funafuti I choose,” said Bradley coldly. “I’m
right now there are two men covering the
a magistrate and I’ve got that right.”
scuttle up above so you can’t get out. And
Tench got up, choking, and made a
there are two more covering you with
move for his gun. The rest got up, excepting
Winchesters from the skylight.”
the Gentleman. Bradley stared at Tench.
“I wouldn’t draw if I were you, unless
BRADLEY did not turn his head to look. It
Trial by Typhoon
7
was an old trick to distract attention though he
just three men in the Islands who can draw
believed the Gentleman was telling the truth.
faster and shoot straighter than I can. Those
“Fair enough,” he said quietly. “But
three men are Larsen of Singapore, Shark
you ought to know me better, Gentleman. If
Gotch and Typhoon Bradley. Would you care
you want me—come and take me.”
to dispute the fact?”
He jumped back against the bulkhead,
Tench stared at him for a moment and
out of line of the skylight fire, and his draw
then wilted. He had seen the Gentleman shoot.
was fast as the strike of a rattler. They had him
“Well, you did duck,” he said sullenly.
trapped perhaps, had him cornered, but he
The Gentleman nodded.
never surrendered. He would go down fighting
“That was common sense with Bradley
like all the Island pioneers went down, his
shooting.”
back to the wall and his gun spouting flame.
The pock-marked mate swore.
It would be a battle to the finish.
“Aw, what th’ hell are you arguing
The Gentleman dived for the deck and
about? We plugged th’ swine, didn�
�t we?”
missed death by the sixteenth of an inch.
Captain Tench had drawn and was firing. GENTLEMAN HARRY, his own gun drawn Bradley’s gun ranged the cabin and the now, gingerly approached Typhoon’s prostrate pimply-faced youth went down with a hole
body as a man might approach a wounded
between his eyes. It was nothing but sheer bad
grizzly bear. He would not even stoop to see if
luck that Typhoon did not get every man Bradley was dead but made the mate do it.
present. But he only had time for three shots
The Gentleman knew Bradley and once before
and then a bullet from the pock-marked mate’s
he had shammed dead to advantage.
gun, wide of the mark, ricocheted off one of
“Hell, he ain’t croaked,” said the mate
the brass hanging lamps and grazed Bradley
disgustedly after a brief examination. “Just
across the back of the head, stunning him as
creased, that’s all.”
neatly as a blackjack could have done.
“Better finish him anyway,” grunted
He pitched forward and lay still and
Tench, cocking the hammer of his gun. “Th’
there was a silence in the main cabin save for
swine butted into my business this afternoon
the hard-drawn breathing of Captain Tench
and damned near knocked my ear off.”
and the harsh whistling noise that his mate
“We won’t kill him,” said the
made between his teeth.
Gentleman decisively. “At least not yet. He’s
“Gawd, I never saw a man draw as fast
given me more grief than you’ll ever have,
as that afore,” said Tench, choking a little.
Tench, and I’ll get rid of him in my own way.
“He’s killed the supercargo.”
Tie his hands and feet and chuck him into a
Gentleman Harry got up from the deck
spare room.”
and brushed his clothes. He was a little
The other looked puzzled.
shaken.
“I don’t see why we don’t croak him
“I never thought the fool would fight,”
now,” swore Tench.
he said harshly. “It’s bad enough if he gives
“Because I say not!” rasped the
you an even break but when he jumps you first
Gentleman. “This is my deal and I’ll play it as
it’s time to duck.”
I see best. The thing you want to worry about
A respectful fear showed in his eyes.
is if anyone in th’ lagoon has heard the
“So I noticed,” sneered Tench. The
shooting and wants to come over and look-
Gentleman’s dark eyes glittered.
see.”
“Tench!” he said crisply. “There are
“Another thing,” suggested the
Action Stories
8
pockmarked mate sourly. “Th’ boats oughta
and went. Chang strode thoughtfully along
be back.”
until the last of the shacks had been left
Gentleman Harry consulted his watch.
behind and he met no one save an occasional
His head nodded in agreement.
Kanaka hurrying from the village. Typhoon
“That’s
right.
We’ve got to get out of
must have learned something, possibly
the lagoon before the tide turns. I told that fool discovered the reason for Gentleman Harry’s
Limpy not to wait and clean-up if time got too
presence at Funafuti. But why send for him to
short.”
come to this out-of-the-way place?
Tench went upon the poop grumbling
Chang approached the pandanus palms
to himself and ordered two men below to
suspiciously, his hand on his gun. He had
bring up the supercargo’s body. The thirty thousand dollars’ worth of pearls in the Gentleman saw personally that Bradley’s canvas belt about his waist, and men had been bonds were sound and aided to drag him into a
killed for less than thirty dollars on the
cabin and lock him in. After that he too went
pearling beaches. Funafuti had been singularly
on the poop.
free from that sort of thing since Bradley had
taken over, otherwise Chang would never
have ventured into the shadows without at
CHAPTER III
least half a dozen of his men at his back.
THE CLEANOUT
He reached the first palm, peered into
the blackness of the grove and called.
“You
there,
Typhoon?”
ASHORE things were happening, also, but so
He sensed the danger even as it caught
smoothly they passed unnoticed. Perhaps half
him. Something swished through the air.
an hour after Bradley had left him, Chang, still
Chang ducked, drew and fired, the sound of
sitting at the poker table, felt a touch on his
the shot muffled by the wind-noise in the
shoulder. He looked around to discover a palms and the shouting and laughter back hawk-faced man in worn dungarees standing
along the beach. A noose settled over the
beside him.
Chinaman’s shoulders, jerked tight. He lost
“What is it?” he asked calmly.
his feet, crashed down and several men fell on
“Captain Bradley wants to see you,”
him. Something crashed on his head and he
said the man, his voice curt and businesslike.
lost consciousness.
“He’s waiting down by the pandanus grove.”
“That’s one, Limpy,” someone
“What . . .” -Chang began but the man
grunted. There was a short laugh.
abruptly turned on his heel and vanished in the
“All right. Drag him back a ways and
milling crowd that was arguing, drinking and
tie him up.”
gambling in Boston Charlie’s that night.
Chang frowned a little, stared at his cards,
FIFTEEN minutes later Jack Cummings,
absently raised a bet and when the hand was
buyer for Lascelle’s of Paris, busy examining
done politely excused himself and went out.
four large pearls in a back room of Lascar
He wondered about the odd request.
Pete’s store, was interrupted by a hawk-faced
The beach was dark save for the man.
starlight, the glows from several bonfires and
“Chang says he’d like to see you if you
the shafts of light from the windows and doors
can get away,” said the hawk-faced man.
of the pearling city. It was a place of dense
“He’s waiting down by the pandanus grove.”
shadows that shifted and moved as men came
“Chang?” said Cummings, surprised.
Trial by Typhoon
9
He swept the pearls into a wash-leather bag
Tench growled something in his beard
and looked at the stalwart native diver who
and felt tenderly of his torn ear. The pock-
faced him across the table. He finished his
marked mate hitched at his cartridge belt and
business hastily.
swore sourly.
“I’ll take them, Kinoo. One thousand
“It’ll be
a near thing if they get after us
dollars cash. You’re in debt for supplies four
in whaleboats,” he stated. Gentleman Harry
hundred. I’ll pay the balance in the morning.”
lighted a cheroot and laughed.
“Ai,” said Kinoo with a flash of betel-
“I’ve got it figured pretty well. All we
stained teeth. He lifted a hand in a sort of half-needed was a fair wind and we’ve got that.
salute and went out. Cummings looked around
The tide won’t bother us yet and we ought to
for the hawk-faced man but he had get out before it turns. Once it turns no boat’ll disappeared. He got up, went out into Lascar
be able to buck it and no ship can clear the
Pete’s main room and beckoned to Peira, channel. By daylight we’ll be at sea, with buyer for a Papeete syndicate.
twelve hours start anyway.”
“Come along with me, Peira,” he said.
Funafuti Lagoon, which is one of the
“Chang wants to see me. Sounds like largest in the Islands, runs twenty miles from something’s up.” They left the place together
the pearling beach near the native village to
and walked down the beach to the pandanus
the only channel practical for deep-water
grove where sundry things happened to them
vessels, and that channel is only practical at
with amazing swiftness.
high water. An hour after high water is
“He brought Peira along,” chuckled a
reached the passage is dangerous; two hours
voice as the unconscious men were examined.