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Full Title
Gordon Keith, Whaler; or, A Chase Through the Frozen North / by Lawrence White, Jr.
Author
White, Lawrence, Jr. Urner, Nathan D.
Date Added
9 January 2014
Format
Journal
Language
English
Publish Date
1908-01-25
Publisher
New York : Street and Smith
Series
Brave and Bold > no. 266
Source
Dime Novel and Popular Literature
Alternate Title
Chase Through the Frozen North Brave and Bold, no. 266, January 25, 1908.
Topic
Adventure stories, American > Specimens. Dime novels > Specimens. Whaling > Fiction.
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of
ous attack. Sheer numbers prevented the Mary How’s from
using their weapons to advantage. Had they been able to,
the end must have come quickly, and the four would have
pn killed; if not, maimed or crippled for life, in all proba-
ility. : Z
As it was, however, though here and there a belaying-pin
rose and fell, or a knife gleamed, the weapons were of little
use. With three terrific swinging blows Sir Richard sent
three men sprawling, Then one of them caught him by the
ankle, and checked his rush, though he got Sir Richard’s
free heel on the side of his head the next instant, and lost all
further interest in proceedings... ro
They were fighting for their lives, one against four, and
could not afford to be over nice. Lobangu caught the first
two men who rushed him by the throat, one in each hand,
and swung them together so that their heads met with a
resounding crash. One of them went down stunned; the
other clapped his hands to his jaw, with three teeth broken,
and staggered away. .
A third he met with a shout, and a terrific right-hander in
the chest, which lifted him clear of the deck and sent him
backward, headlong over the cleat-rail. ‘
But a fourth, coming up warily behind, caught him a fear-
ful, smashing blow with an iron pin, which staggered him,
bat not before he had flung the man half-across the main-
eck. . /
Keith had managed to struggle to his feet, and was fight-
ing his way forward, with two men clinging to him, and
Checkers, fully living up to the name Lobangu had given him
—“the Slippery One”—was wriggling, writhing eel-fashion,
getting in a blow here and a blow there. 7
They were all damaged, however, and badly winded, and
some of their assailants, who had gone down at the first
rush, were coming on again. It was obvious that they could
not continue the unequal struggle much longer.
Just then, however, there came the sound of a rattling
chain, and a great, dark body flashed. past the foremost of |
the crowd, and flew straight for the men who were tackling
Keith, . :
-It was Pedro, who for minutes past had been wrenching
and tugging at his chain with the fury of despair, and had
at last managed to snap it some three feet from the end.
With a fierce, deep growl of anger, he sprang on the:
nearest, who, with a yell of pain and terror, tore himself
free,at the cost of half his shirt, and leaped for the rigging.
His fellow lost no time in following his example, though a
dripping calf and torn trouser leg showed that he had by
no means come off scathless. { .
Pedro was more than the nien had bargained for, and the
sight of the big, white fangs was too much for them. What
had become near being a tragedy developed in a minute to
broad farce; for the panic:spread from man-to man, and
inside fifty seconds there wasn’t a forecastle-hand who could
walk or crawl left on the deck. Every one of them was in
the main or fore-rigging. Even Robinson had managed
somehow to drag himself into a place of refuge.
Barring the four and Pedro, there were only three men
left below, and they lay stunned and senseless amidst a
litter of assorted weapons, while Pedro, still rumbling sav-
age thunder, stalked up and down, dragging his broken
chain, and giving.an occasional upward glance and:a snarl,’
which showed bared ivory.
"CHAPTER VIII.
BARRICADED IN THE FORECASTLE.
Keith sat down on the forecastle-hatch and laughed weak-
ly; he was spent, and sore from head to foot. His shoulder
was hurting badly, and he was bleeding from several minor
wounds, : : ,
Checkers had, in some miraculous way known only to him-
self, escaped with a bruise or two. But both Lobangu and
: \
a
12 - BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY, | ;
Sir Richard were considerably knocked, about. Still, the
victory was undeniably. theirs—or, rather, Pedro’s—and the
Mary Hours had a long and ugly list of casualties. ~
Leaving Pedro in charge, they had a sluice down, and*
bound up the worst of their cuts,"and Checkers was sent aft
for embrocation. He returned with the bottle, and reported
Kaptain Savage and the mate as still groaning in their
unks, :
Keith rubbed his shoulder well, ‘and then looked aloft.
“Now, then, two of you there, step down lively!” he called,
“Sharp, now, or I'll come after you! I don’t care which of
_you come; but if. more than two set foot on this deck with-
out leave, Pl] turn the dog loose on them.”
Two of the younger hands came slowly down, sullen and
watchful. To the first Keith said: .
“Get aft there, and take the wheel!” ; ro
For, during the all-absorbing excitement of the fight, the
man at the wheel had lashed it, and left it to. look after
itself. The second’man he told to chuck some water over.
those who were insensible, and to swab up all round, oe
As soon as order was partly restored, the three non-com-
batants emerged from the seclusion of the forecastle. .
For three whole hours, barring the quieter men, whom
Keith warned him not to touch, Pedro held undisputed pos-
session of the Mary How, and Lobangu, hobbling off to the
galley—he had a jab in the leg from a knife-point—regaled
him with titbits from the after-guard’s stores, which he ap-
preciated much, and fondled him, and called him his “King
of Beasts,” which he appreciated more, for he and Lobangu
were old acquaintances and fast friends. /
Sir Richard was in high spirits, in spite of his rough
handling—there is no doubt that a good stand-up fight had
the same effect on him as a tonic has on most other people—
_it did him a power of good and braced him up.
‘Keith, however, was in one of his pessimistic moods.
“Tt’s no use, old man,” he said to Sir Richard confiden- .
tially, “we’re top dog for the moment; but there’s no trusting
the brutes. Give ’em a dark night, or a bit of a gale, and
one or more of us will get a jab in the back from a knife,
_or a marlin-spike dropped through the roof of our heads -
from aloft, and there’s no guarding against it. They’ve got
a grudge against us, and they mean to get even for the dam-
age we've done ’em. Besides, there’s Savage and the mate -
to be reckoned with. I’m hanged if I know which is. the
greater brute of the two.” .
Curiously enough, this impression was confirmed later on
by Lobangu. Like all natives, he had a wonderful gift of,
for.want of a better word, second sight, and of this they had
had experience and proof time and again. :
_ The moon had not yet risen, and the night was dark and
calm when he came gliding up to them out of the shadow of
the bulwarks, with his wonderfully noiseless tread. So silent
was he that even their trained ears failed to detect: his
approach until he appeared suddenly before them like some
huge, dark apparition. - /
They were sitting together on the forecastle-deck, just out
of ear-shot of the lookout forward, where Checkers, his
duties in the cabin over, had joined them a. few moments
before. : .
“Greeting, Inkoos !” he said, in his low, deep voice. “And
to thee greeting, Untwana, my father, and M’lolo, who is
of very truth‘the slippery one; for to-day, assuredly, he ’
passed in and out, through those low peoples, as a ghost-
snake through the reeds of a kraal. Untwana, I would have
speech with you, for my spirit has been troubled. Thou
knowest of.old, when the spirit moves me, I dream strange
dreams at*times. Perchance, who shall say—for who knows
what we are, or what we may be—perchance my spirit leaves
me for a while, and roams abroad among the days that are
yet to come.” } :
“Oh, get on, you old humbug, and say what you’ve got
to say!” growled Sir Richard. a
But Keith merely nodded. He could see that Lobangu had
a