Commodore Junk — page 230: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PLANS OF ESCAPE. 223 He had only to secure the co-operation of half a dozen of his men, take advantage of the listlessness of the buccaneers some such hot day as this, make their way down to the shore, seize a boat, and then coast along till a settlement was reached or a ship seen to take them aboard. It was very simple, and it seemed easier and easier as he got farther away from the ruins and his prison. On his right the forest was dense, but the buccaneers had cut down and burned numbers of trees so as to keep them back from en- croaching farther on the old buildings; and along here among the mossy stumps Humphrey Armstrong crept. But it was easy—nothing seemed more simple. » Already he saw himself round on the other side of the ruins, holding com- munication with his fellow-prisoners and making plans, when, to his great delight, he found that he had hit upon what was evidently a way to the other side of the ancient ruins ; for he suddenly came upon a narrow passage through the dense forest growth, literally a doorway cut in the tangle of creepers and vines that were matted among the trees. It must have been an arduous task, but it had been thoroughly done—the vines having been hewn through, or in places half divided and bent back, to go on interlacing at the sides, with the result that a maze-like path ran in and out among the trees. The moment he was in this path the glare of the sunny day was exchanged for a dim greenish-hued twilight, which dark- ened with every step he took. Overhead a pencil of sunshine could be seen from time to time, but rarely, for the mighty forest trees interlaced their branches a hundred and fifty feet above his head, and the air was heavy with the moist odour of vegetable decay. The forest path had evidently been rarely used of late, for the soft earth showed no imprints, the tender sickly growth of these deep shades had not been crushed ; and as Humphrey Eomicbooks ==)