Paddling under Palmettos — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

Paddling Under Palmettos. 45 houses. Then the opening was seen—they were op- posite Mosquito Inlet. The breakers were rolling over the bar at the inlet, and the dainty canoes plunged like restive war horses as they caught the swell. It was really less than half a mile across, but the passage was rough for the small craft, and, in the midst of it, they came near having an accident. Archie suddenly heard Dick, just on his starboard quarter, call loudly: “Look out, Archie!” He was amazed to see the Bet heading directly for him, as though her skipper had gone suddenly mad and wished to run him down; or else his boat had become unmanageable. Archie maintained his presence of mind, and man- aged to catch the sharp bow of the Bet, deflecting the intruder from its course, so that she ran along- side, and no damage was done. “What's the matter, Dick?” he exclaimed. The young skipper of the Bet pointed to his rud- der, and Archie saw that the trouble had been caused by one of the stanch cords working loose, thus ren- dering it next to impossible to steer. GEomichboo “S (E(0)