Ensign Merrill — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

= wT - ae, ae Ad a th, - Td wee ‘, p= (OC ne SOT YS Foard Oa . . ° 7 ‘ A MYSTERIOUS JUNK. ate __ **He looked blankly at me for awhile, and then ap- peared scared. hardly think he had anything to do with the affair.”’ | ‘‘Perhaps not,’’? replied Merrill. ‘‘But it is very queer where Daly and Blood could have gone to. The former was well protected by the bulkheads, and as for the prisoner, he could have only received a wetting. No; they must be aboard somewhere. Anyway, it is not probable the guard jumped overboard, even if Blood did. Wewill have to keep a close watch until day- light, and then organize a Systematic search. He may be down in the hold hidden by some confederates be- hind ie or barrels. We will break it out {0-mor- row.’ As he finished speaking eight bells sounded forward, and the boatswain’s whistle piping the watch on discs came to their ears. It was midnight. Neither had touched their bunks yet, and Gage advised Mark to turn infor a few hours’ rest, a suggestion the ensign felt inclined to follow. The accident, while not leav- ing any serious results, had caused his head to ache violently, and a short sleep might aid 1t. Before going below he took another look at the weather. The sky was still apparently overcast, but away off to windward a faint strip of water, gleaming almost white, in contrast with that around it, could be seen. Jt indicated a break overhead, too far distant to _ be observed from the ship | There seemed to be longer intervals between the © gusts of wind, also, and their force was not so strong. It could still be called a gale, but one with some ap- pearance of ceasing before many hours, when calmer weather might be expected. ! Taking the binocle, Mark swept the boreons in search ‘of possible neighbors. The Badger pitched heavily, — cComicbooks.com