Paddling under Palmettos — page 131: what you’re looking at

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

124 Paddling Under Palmettos. coming to the small dock, though this northern wind would soon raise it. With Dick and Ned leaning against the railing of the steps leading down below, was a grizzled old sea- dog—a man whose bronzed face and gray hair told that he had seen a life of adventure on the water. This was the captain. He was quaint in his way, and yet he could strike a truth home with sledge-hammer blows. Archie was introduced, and stood near listening. At the same time he was taking the measure of Ned’s old friend, with whom he had cruised the waters of Charlotte Harbor two years before in a large boat. Archie’s conclusion was that he would like the old captain. He was a walking encyclopedia—a fund of in- formation on any topic. Through his whole life he had been a lover of the gun and rod, and never neglected an opportunity to indulge his weakness when business would permit. In his way the old captain was rough, but Archie soon learned that he was a keen reader of human na- ture and could “size” a man up to a dot. Gomicbooks Go