Ensign Merrill — page 150: what you’re looking at

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

The tawtberiig vessels reeled under the blow at first, _ but, forced on by their spread of sail, they ran alongside _ of the Badger, and in obedience to their leader’s com- ‘mand a number of grappling-irons were cast over the cruiser’s side, holding her fast between them, When Mark saw tha. nothing could prevent the _ junks from closing in on him, he immediately sounded the alarm signal, and, putting the trumpet to his lips, shouted : ‘* All hands repel boarders!’ Tbe command was hardly necessary, as every man of the crew saw the impending danger and used every DS st GOS HO Lf Ade CBRE: A 80 (145 exertion to meet the attack. Miller poured volley atter | volley from the Gatlings into the crowded decks, and when the vessels came together he literally raked one junk fore and aft.. It was a miracle that any escaped being kilied by the fiery hail, and as it was scores fell victims to the deadly weapon’s destructive power. The seamen in the tops also did fine work, two or three forward, good sharp-shooters, bringing down a man at every shot. The crew of the Badger. suffered considerably from the desultory fire of the enemy. A number of them had been carried down to the temporary hospital where Dr. Angew, with his sleeves rolled up, was working as he had never worked before in his life, amputating and bandaging, probing for bul- lets, and administering narcotics, ably assisted by the black steward, Anthracite. Lying in odd corners of the spar-deck were inanimate forms, tossed aside as an incumbrance in the excite- ment of the fray, but there were not many of these, far less than the heaps of figures bestrewing the decks of the pirate fleet. Mark had been scratched by a fragment of shell early in the fight. The iron missile carried away his comicbooks.co m