Paddling under Palmettos — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

Paddling Under Palmettos. 95 Archie made a laughing reply to the effect that he always liked to study the topography of the river bottom, and released his stranded craft easily enough by backing. In five minutes there was a grating sound. This time it was the Bet piled high on a shoal which her skipper did not see. He could not back water, because his broken cen- terboard prevented, so he had to push with might and main. After that they set over for the western shore, as the channel seemed to run there. Dick’s chart had come to an end with the last night’s camp in the cove, so that from this time on they must make guesswork of it. Until ten o’clock they made fine time, but about then the wind worked around to the same old quar- ter, southeast by south, and the sea became very heavy as they were passing Indian River Inlet. They made slow time at St. Lucie, but persisted, and came near being swamped more than once. At this point the sound was several miles across, and a sweeping wind made an ugly sea on the west shore, Eomichooks (E(0)