Ensign Merrill — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

. 4 ke 4 rv. , ~ >t p. re Ld , - e > sae . ~~ Pf 4 ® ‘ * “Ty . S ~ . [ogee < # a : - > en P ie . - yi 4 : >" “8 tee eat .bsl. te be - ty a “se " 7 ; - é > «. _ éDaR 2 ; Aft ; - tS : , N- ie ¥ ba a / : 3 ° 4 f . ye ri f - ¥ ’ . ho waa “w } ; = = P ~ - 3 / era Aas y _ ‘ ; p \ 7 : - as ied at hig intention of informing the Badger’s principal officers concerning his plans as yet developed, and now retired to rest, fully satisfied with the day’s work. He had left strict orders to be called if the weather changed, or if anything was sighted, but noth- ing occurred to disturb the serenity of the night. | The ensign awoke early the next morning. It was _hardly daybreak when he emerged from the cahin, but a subdued grayish light creeping up from the east, drawing the familiar outlines of the ship from their shadowy retreat, proclaimed the coming of the sun. Mark was a lover of the beautiful 1 in nature, as all gen- erous-souled men are. The greater part of his young life had been spent on old ocean’s bosom, in close communion with the grandeur of scenery depicted on that stage of stages. He never tired of the sublime paintings from nature’s brush, with the boundless sky as the canvas, and the colors mixed by the artful hand of Old Sol. That is why he lingered on reaching the deck, and, selecting a place near the main rigging, surren- dered himself to an enjoyable contemplation of the glor- ious sight spread out before him. On the eastern horizon a tremulous glow had just re- placed the first cold light of dawn, a glow which spread and gathered color and sent forth glittering shafts here and ribbons of gaudy hues there, and leaped upon a somber mass of clouds hanging overhead, changing tiem with flashing touches into gorgeous palaces of © gold and tinsel, and filled the whole spacious sky with a refulgent outburst of splendor, until at last the sun, peeping over the edge of the sea, brought no augmenta- tion with his presence. It was only one of many the ensign had seen, but it never grew wearisome or monot- _onous—nature’s kaleidoscope held too many changes comicbooks.co