THE POPULAR MAGAZINE
VOL. LXXII. APRIL 20, 1924. No. 1
The Crusader's Casket
By Roy Norton
Author of “The Great Wong Loo,” “Spanish Joe” Etc.
The story of an ancient curse, dating back to the days of romance when the doges ruled the “Queen of the Seas,” that turns at last to a benediction. Mr. Norton is an old friend of Popular readers. His tales of “David and Goliath” have brought him a well-earned eminence among lovers of robust fiction. In this novel, dealing with the adventures of two young Americans in Venice, he has left his familiar field of the American West, but the charm of his art has not suffered by the change of setting. He remains a master of the human drama.—The Editor.
(A Complete Novel.)
CHAPTER I.
STUBBY, squat and insignificant, the steam schooner Adventure lay at anchor well up at the head of the Giudecco, and, resting quietly there in the moonlight, her character could have been no more certain to the seafaring mind if she boisterously had disturbed the night by bawling aloud, “I am a tramp of the seas.” So still were the waters that not the slightest sway or quiver moved her riding lights and the shadow she cast was as clearly defined as if there were two of her, each dark, one upright and afloat, the other slanting away like a silhouette of black paper, foreshortened until her single funnel appeared even more stubby than it was in reality, her masts slightly tilted, her deck housing and single bridge flattened down to meet the shadowy deck.
After a time a tiny shadow at the end of the bridge stirred vaguely, and then for a moment the picture was disturbed by the sharp glare of a match as the master and owner of the Adventure, Captain James Ware, lighted his pipe before again coming
