The anchor came up with a rush, and the Saucy Wench was standing out to sea by the time the tribesman danced out on the beach. They swarmed to the water’s edge, three or four hundred of them, yelling vengefully. One waved a blood-splashed shotgun, another a broken Winchester.
Clanton grinned; the directions he had given his enemies had led them accurately—straight into the native village! He thumbed his nose at the baffled barbarians on the beach, and turned and addressed the crew.
“As the only man aboard who can navigate, and owner of the ship, I’m assuming the position of cap’n! Do I hear any objections?”
The bos’n demanded: “What you mean, owner of ship?”
“Me and Harrigan matched pennies,” asserted Clanton. “My share of the ambergris against the ship. I won.”
“What about the ambergris?” demanded a hardy soul.
Clanton nodded back toward the receding beach. “Anybody that wants to swim back there and fight those boys for it, is welcome to try!”
In the self-conscious silence that followed, he barked suddenly: “All right, get to work! Tail onto those lines! There’s a breeze makin’ and we’re headin’ for the Solomons for a load of niggers for Queensland!”
As the crew jumped briskly, Raquel nudged him.
“You didn’t find that ambergris,” she said, her eyes ablaze with admiration. “That wasn’t even the right island. That was all a lie!”
“I doubt if there ever was any ambergris,” quoth he. “The fellow that made that chart was probably crazy. To hell with it!” He patted her plump hip possessively and added: “I reckon you go with the ship; that bein’ the case I want to see you down in the cap’n’s cabin, right away!”
THE END
Poetry
Table of Contents
Adventure
Adventurer
The Alamo
Always Come Evening
Ambition
An American
An American Epic
Arcadian Days
Arkham
At The Bazaar
“Aw Come On And Fight!”
Babel
The Ballad of Abe Slickemmore
A Ballad of Insanity
The Ballad of Monk Kickawhore
The Bombing of Gon Fanfew
But The Hill Were Ancient Then
The Chinese Gong
The Choir Girl
Crete
Dead Man’s Hate
The Deed Beyond The Deed
Deeps
Dreamer
Dreaming
Dreaming on Downs
Dreams of Nineveh
Drummings on an Empty Skull
Easter Island
Empire’s Destiny
Eternity
Fables For Little Folk
“Feach Air Muir Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or”
Flaming Marble
Forbidden Magic
The Gates of Ninevah
Girl
A Great Man Speaks
The Grey Lover
The Harp of Alfred
High Blue Halls
How to Select a Successful Evangelist
Illusion
Ivory in the Night
Jack Dempsey
John Kelley
John L. Sullivan
Kid Lavigne is Dead
The Kissing of Sal Snooboo
A Lady’s Chamber
Laughter
Lesbia
Libertine
Life
Lines to G. B. Shaw
Lust
The Madness of Cormac
The Maiden of Kercheezer
A Mick in Israel
Miser’s Gold
Monarchs
Moon Mockery
The Moor Ghost
The Mottoes of the Boy Scouts
The Mountains of California
My Children
Mystic
Nancy Hawk – A Legend of Virginity
Nun
Ocean-Thoughts
The One Black Stain
One Who Comes at Eventide
An Open Window
Orientia
Poet
Private Magrath of the A.E.F.
Prude
A Rattlesnake Sings In The Grass
Rebellion
Recompense
Red Thunder
Renunciation
Repenctance
The Ride of Falume
The Riders of Babylon
The Road To Hell
The Robes of the Righteous
A Roman Lady
Romance
Roundelay of The Roughneck
Rules of Etiquette
Sailor
The Sand of Time
San Jacinto
The Sea
Secrets
Serpent
Shadow of Dreams
Shadows
Sighs in the Yellow Leaves
The Singer in the Mist
The Skull in the Clouds
Skulls and Dust
Song at Midnight
A Song of Cheer
A Song of College
A Song of Greenwich
The Song of the Bats
The Song of the Sage
A Song Out of Midian
Sonora to Del Rio
Summer Morn
Surrender
Tarantella
The Tempter
That Women May Sing of Us
Thor
Tides
To a Roman Woman
To a Woman
To Certain Cultured Women
Toper
To the Contended
A Tribute to the Sportsmanship of the Fans
Visions
The Voices Waken Memory
The Weakling
Yodels of Good Sneer to the Pipple, Damn Them
Adventure
Table of Contents
I am the spur
That rides men's souls,
The glittering lure
That leads around the world.
Adventurer
Table of Contents
Dusk on the sea; the fading twilight shifts'
The night wind bears the ocean's whisper dim—
Wind, on your bosom many a phantom drifts—
A silver star climbs up the blue world rim.
Wind, make the green leaves dance above me here
And idly swing my silken hammock—so;
Now, on that glimmering molten silver mere
Send the long ripples wavering to and fro.
And let your moon-white tresses touch my face
And let me know your slim-armed, cool embrace
While to my dreamy soul you whisper low.
Dream—aye, I've dreamed since last night left her tower
And now again she comes on star-soled feet.
Welcome, old friend; here in this rose-gemmed bower
I've drowsed away your Sultan's golden heat.
Here in my hammock, Time I've dreamed away
For I have but to stretch a hand out, lo,
I'm treading langurous shores of Yesterday,
Moon-silvered deserts or the star-weird snow;
I float o'er seas where ships are purple shells,
I hear the tinkle of the camel bells
That waft down Cairo's streets when dawn winds blow.
South Seas! I watch when dusky twilight comes
Making vague gods of ancient, sea-set trees.
The world path beckons—loud the mystic drums—
Here at my hand the magic golden keys
That fit the doors of Romance, Wonder, strange
Dim gossamer adventures; seas and stars.
Why, I have roamed the far Moon Mountain range
When sunset minted gold in shimmering bars.
All eager eyed I've sailed from ports of Spain
And watched the flashing topaz of the Main
When dawn was flinging witch fire on the spars.