Octavia's Pride; or, The Missing Witness — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

4 ‘OCTAVIA’S PRIDE. Captain Lo, as he was familiarly known, was, indeed, in that dreary mood which, at one stage or another, from widely varying causes, we all some time know, when it be- comes a serious question whether or not this life of ours is at all satisfactory, or worth having. _ It seemed a very insignificant trifle to him that the Sea Foam was a good sailer, a stanch A No. 1, that many a good seaman would have been overjoyed to command; although sometimes the very remembrance was enough to make him break out into a Joyous whistle. ‘here was little comfort in his consciousness of his own seaman’s reputation, which long years of good fortune, with few disasters, had established securely. With human ingratitude he forgot what a rich blessing was that.strong frame of his—its sound health, its exquisite harmony of thought and action. ‘‘T¢ is hard luck—confounded hard Iuck!’ muttered Captain Lo, springing up from his seat, and beginning to pace the little cabin, ‘‘after all my years at sea, to be wanting this miserable sum of money at just this time; to — know that ruin and disgrace will come if I do not have it; and to be without a single sail to set, to catch a puff of. wind to take me off the breakers!” : And here the skipper of the Sea Foam threw down the pencil with an angry flirt. ‘It’s no use to-try to figure up nosdibiligieas ‘he owners will advance half the voyage money, but it will take all that to keep the folks at home from starving. <A bed-ridden wife, and six children! They’ll do well to live on that much. If I had only known that banker was such a cheat and vil- — lain, I might have saved more when I was ir port, and been more careful; but I thought there was sure to be a full locker at home, and I never dreamed that the mvestment was not secure, nor that poor Molly was to give out so be- fore her time. And that lad of mine. JI was so proud of him, and would have trusted him with the crown jewels, to | “a. °F a RO” FU) ee ee et Fe ee if «& a | Le. ponte hae Se ir eee. - ‘ < + Watt ate Nel is Ps ilag ba ant * TAT bs math Sie yet yt my + Ap oe Las 4 eh) t AN Ad Lad » is s Ui . eu iP a: so i oe J : ie Late ¥ Vee 4th , 7 yi : 4 vy A rats avo, - | A iy 2 by i* | Se ” ‘ > i rt ‘ PUNY. VS v . { ‘ : ; ie Yk r { yet . ‘ . - a . ‘ ~ comicboo! co