Golden Age Stories - Action/Adventure Tales

Unsheath your rapier and get ready to charge into the heart of adventure. Under the Black Ensign Tom Bristol's career as first mate of the Maryland bark Randolph abruptly ends during shore leave when he is press-ganged into serving aboard the British HMS Terror. Toil under the cruel whip of England is merciless: Crew members are treated as little more than chattel-barely fed, made to work past the brink of exhaustion and kept in line with a cat-o'-nine-tails. Fate finally smiles on young Bristol when the vessel is overtaken by pirates and he gladly turns coat and joins them. Yet Tom's new pirate mates desert him quickly after he's found guilty of killing a mutinous pirate and unwittingly harboring a woman on board. Marooned on a deserted island, Tom has nothing but a small supply of water, a gun and just enough bullets to kill himself. But Tom dreams up a devious plan that will return him to the high seas and make his past adventures pale compared to what he has in store for his many enemies.... The Chee-Chalker FBI agent Bill Norton has been sent to Ketchikan, Alaska to track down his former boss, who's vanished while investigating a heroin smuggling ring. Norton instantly suspects the smugglers are operating from inside the local fishing fleet. But six months and a string of declared "accidental" drownings have failed to turn up any clues. Norton's cold case heats up when the local radio station owner emerges, floating face-down at the docks, and a heart-stopping heiress to the halibut trade makes a maelstrom of trouble. The fact that Norton is well dressed and neatly shaven causes some of the local toughs to mistake the agent for a "chee-chalker"-or newcomer-much to their regret.