Octavia's Pride; or, The Missing Witness — page 178: what you’re looking at

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

168 OCTAVIA’S PRIDE. through the disguise and got my hands on him, you should have gone unmolested.” ‘“He must be a wicked creature; and poor Will is in his power. Sir, you have already been very kind. You have interested yourself for us. Oh, tell me what I shall do to find poor Will!” | ‘* Rest assured that I will do all that I can. The case is my own now. I have been hunting for that man for months. How came he on your ship?” : | ‘* He was wrecked, and taken from a deserted island in the midst of the ocean.” ‘‘ Felix was right, then. I never believed a word of the story before,” murmured Maurice. ‘““Our ship took him at Cape Town. It was so mys- terious that he and Will should have met on the Royal Bess. Oh, that dear, timid child! to think that those foreboding fears were prophetic! What shall I do to find poor Will?” A ‘<T will do my best. I will take the first carriage I can find and drive swiftly; though, amid all these turns, who can judge of the route?” ‘¢ And J—what shall I do?” “Remain here until you learn of my success. I must not delay another moment. ‘T'ake this card with my ad- cress.” He left her without waiting for her address, hailed the first coach he saw, and went at a swift pace down the street on the track of the vehicle which had borne away the hand- some boy and the missing witness. They went two squares at a headlong pace, and then the coachman pulled up in obedience to a hasty signal from his passenger, who, however, did not wait to give him any ex- planation, but pushed open the door and plunged into the crowd gathered in the magnetic fashion of great cities with the first show of any unusual excitement. RS acy comicbooks.com —