Paddling under Palmettos — page 141: what you’re looking at

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

134 Paddling Under Palmettos. “T heard a human shriek, a bubbling cry of an- cuish, a swirl of the waters, and my very soul shrank with horror as I realized that the man had been torn to pieces by the hungry sharks. “My turn might have come, too, only that I threw my arms up, and clasping the spar drew my body be- yond danger. Even as I did this a monster made a snap at my dangling legs, his jaws coming together with a pistol-like report. “By this time my companions had recovered enough to help me up. “We were only three when the sun went down that evening, and it was doubtful whether any of us would answer to the muster roll by morning, for there seemed to be a chance of a storm in the air. “By this time our finer senses had become dulled, so that even when in the dead of night I heard the awiul cry, the splash and the rush of the monsters below that announced the death of another comrade, only a faint shudder came over me. “Once more morning came. ‘Two of us were left, but we had not eaten a bite for thirty-six hours, and were completely worn out with exhaustion. ‘Below us those horrible monsters glided, pa- Gomichbooks (E(0)