Paddling under Palmettos — page 243: what you’re looking at

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

236 Paddling Under Palmettos. They could not stand it much farther, as both wind and~sea were becoming so extremely violent that the mosquito fleet threatened to succumb. Archie was clinging to his boat literally with tooth and nail. Every moment he had new difficulties to meet and overcome. He believed that as long as the others held out he would be able to do so, but, deep down in his soul, he was really disturbed by the violent aspect of their surroundings. Were they doomed to go under? He shut his teeth hard and kept his eyes upon his companions as well as the flying scud would allow. They pitched and tossed at times as though com- pletely at the mercy of the wind and wave. Archie had only his mainsail up, and with a double reef in that; and yet even then there were times when he thought it would be his destruction. So they plowed along, making headway, and yet in momentary danger of capsizing. Such a thing, under the existing circumstances, would not have been a frolic—the chances were in favor of its meaning something more serious—even death. Gomicbooks co