Ensign Merrill — page 114: what you’re looking at

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

arf in ' ‘a sad AS iA) , ay a) ae 4 i ew Ne Ba: ef oS - 4 » ‘hye cay * . aie Fc A ee Pe ae eee wn ot Bs “ a oy oy ‘ . Fr aa” Pe Me ge TON ee Oe MET gy a t Sek FR 7 -\' a? 7 } Paes “aie ; — “ ‘ . r . a P . ' ha : «A EPR: s4 Py a : , A 7 Nog a ’ ‘ yee s 4 : A JUNK APPROACHES. ~——«*109 Uniting of the bridge he laughed quietly at the source. _ Close to the forward bulkhead of the fire-room hatch an old, grizzled-whiskered seaman was busily engaged in ' sharpening a cutlass on the ship’s grindstone, the while _ singing an ancient naval ditty. The lights on T’sin Chu and the smaller island had both disappeared, and of the land itself nothing was visible but a fast vanishing outline, blending into the _ somber background of sea and sky. Mark had stationed lookouts in both tops and on the _ forecastle head, with explicit instructions to not call _ out if they observed anything, but to send a messenger with the information. He had also notified the chief _ engineer to station an assistant at the engines in readi- ness to put the Badger under full speed immediately on receiving orders to that effect. ‘‘Now,’’ he said to Miller, after seeing this last item of preparation attended to, ‘‘I think we are quite ready to give these friends of ours a cordial reception. I sincerely hope they won’t disappoint us after all the trouble we have taken.”’ ‘‘No fear, sir,’’? grinned the third officer. ‘‘IT’ll beta month’s pay them pirates will drop in kind of informal > like before sunrise. This is just the snap they’re lookin’ ——”’’ } He was interrupted by one of the seamen who approached them hurriedly, and, addressing the ensign, said in a low voice: ‘*Bill James, in the foretop, sent. me down to tell ye that he can see somethin’ which looks like a junk, about three pints for’rd of the port beam.”’ Merrill instantly leveled his glass in that direction, - gazed a moment, and then turned to Miller with the command : Call all hands to Schernl quarters, ready for action.’ comicbooks.co