Paddling under Palmettos — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

Paddling Under Palmettos. 55 Finally, all gathered in a little bight, and Dick went ashore after some krieker snipe, or pectoral sandpiper as they are also known, which he had seen feeding nearby. The bang of both barrels announced that he had got in his fell work. Presently he came in sight, and Archie, without looking up from the fire he was building among the rocks, called out: “How many P” “One.” Something shiny and beautifully marked fell be- fore Archie, and he gave a yell. ‘Is it dead?” he asked, hastily. “Well, these diamond rattlesnakes of Florida are eifted with a good many strange powers, but I doubt if even they can do any harm without a head.” It was a monstrous fellow, some five feet in length, and as thick through the body as a man’s thigh. “He disputed my passage, and it took two shots to convince him that I had the right of way. Like most men in an argument, he lost his head, and hence I won,” laughed Dick. “And the snipe?” Gomichboo CS (€()