Paddling under Palmettos — page 138: what you’re looking at

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

Paddling Under Palmettos. 131 “Some of the men were for throwing themselves into the sea on a hatch, but I convinced five of them that it was our only chance to climb up into the rig- ging of the remaining mast. “We had some show, for I believed the vessel in sinking would reach bottom and leave her broken spars out of water. ‘Two of them threw a hatch overboard and leaped after it. One caught hold and the other was drowned in our sight. Hatch and sailor were swept away to leeward out of sight. ‘We sprang into the rigging, and had just time to secure a hold up near the spar when the vessel went down with a moan like that of a drowning man. “It was a fearful position, and only for the flashes of lightning we would have been in utter darkness. I prepared for death, and believed the chances of liv- ing through the night were about one in a thou- sand. “As I had expected, the vessel reached the bot- tom, leaving part of her mast and spars above the surface. “Here we lashed ourselves. “Tf I should live to the age of Methuseleh I would Gomichboo cS (E(0)