Books › Blue Book v073 n06 [1941-10], 1941 › scan 16
Scan 16
Blue Book v073 n06 [1941-10], 1941
26 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The story of Althea, who played a fiddle in a Dutch East Indies café, and of Captain Harry Baintree, whose ship struck a Nazi mine.
3By JACLAND MARMUR
5"Why did you hit him? Can't you see he's—" She broke off, on the verge of hysteria.
7temple gongs across the flood, and moonlight on the roadstead out beyond where the trucks of his schooner arced gently to her moor. That's how it happened between Captain Harry Baintree and the girl called Althea, who got stranded in Menado and had courage enough to stay. . . .
9All the way to Balikpapan, along the Java coasts, and through the Flores Sea he remembered the shining look of her. When he got back, she was still there. He heard the singing of her violin again, and saw her smiling at him with the light upon her russet hair. And when she was through she came to him at once, asking: "What? No drunks to toss out this time?"
11He grinned. "I'll wait. Maybe I'll be lucky again."
13Well, luck's a funny thing. Harry found that out, one voyage just before he sailed. She was playing a Viennese waltz, her body swaying to the captivating rhythm. Listening intent-
15ly, he barely heard the barroom door swing open till the man stopped close by, weaving on unsteady feet.
17"Damn' tune reminds me of home," he was growling thickly. "Got no call playin' music like that where a bunch of beachcombers can hear. Got to stop it."
19He lurched against the table. Harry came slowly erect. "Come along," he said quietly.
21He had hold of the fellow's elbow, urging him around. But the drunk shook him off, his eyes suddenly wild. "Althea!" he cried. "What's she—"
23Captain Baintree was between him and Althea, his back to the girl. He heard a low buzz of indignation behind him. He didn't turn, just pressing the other before him—till the fellow lunged with his fist. Harry was just in time to block it; and because there was nothing else to do, he let go with his left, catching the beachcomber just under the heart. It wasn't a bad blow—just enough weight behind it to make a drunken man tractable. Then he caught the fellow under an elbow as he sagged, and started him through the barroom door. He turned his head on his shoulder for an instant. He meant to reassure Althea, the way he had before. These things never bothered her: she just kept on with her music. But this time he heard her cry out a name—wildly. It wasn't his own. "John!"
25She was pale. The violin and bow had dropped to her sides. That was all that Harry saw before the door swung shut. Out there the buzz of indignation swelled. By the time Baintree dropped his inert burden to a rattan chair, Althea came bursting in, Van der Proust and Braunberg behind her. She rushed past him, while Harry watched in amazement. She
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