Paddling under Palmettos — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

42 Paddling Under Palmettos. the paddle and cut across the river, keeping in this veritable canal. This he did as soon as he had backed the Sea Waif from her anchorage upon the oyster bar. It was easy enough—all Archie had to do was to’ keep a sharp lookout ahead, and when he saw the water becoming shallow, paddle away. He had been floundering about among the reefs for half an hour, as he learned when he consulted his timepiece, but was glad to have gotten out of the ugly mess with only some pieces of ’coon-oyster shells planted alongside his keel. Where were the others? He found that they had ‘come to” below and were waiting for him; so, after making sure that he was in the channel again, he hoisted sail and bore away for the rendezvous. This was Archie’s first experience with the little yet mighty ’coon oyster of the Florida reefs; but, I regret to say, it was not the last. Gomichbooks.Go