Hoodoo of the Sea 大海流氓

Thrilling Adventures, May, 1937 Chapter I Fists VEN now I can’t tell you exactly how the fight started. We had finished unloading the Eastern Gull on the quays of Surabaja, and Captain Cook had announced that we would steam out of the Kali Mas in the morning. We were to take the rusty old freighter through the islands again, seeking another cargo of copra for delivery in Java. Leaning over the rail and smoking my pipe, I felt at peace with the world. The night was lovely, with a full moon pouring its white radiance over the houses of Surabaja. I was just thinking of turning in, when Captain Cook emerged from his quarters—as big and muscular a skipper, I imagine, as the Java Seas had ever known. He was fully six-feet-three, and his weight did justice to his height. Close to sixty he was; but, looking at him casually, you’d have sworn, despite his curly grey hair, that he couldn’t be much beyond forty-five. “Well, Mr. Warden,” he said cheerfully, “how about coming ashore for a last drink?” I had been his mate for seventeen years, and I had never refused an invitation to drink with Jerry Cook......