A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

96 A SERVANT OF SATAN. oners, who had formed part of the gang employed one night 4 to clean the deck from the dirt occasioned by the embarka- __ tion of some eighty head of cattle and numerous sheep and poultry, took advantage of the darkness and of the rough weather which prevailed, to slip overboard. The guard- boat happened to be on the other side of the ship, and the fugitives would probably have reached land and effected their escape, had not they suddenly encountered a cutter, which was bringing off several of the ship’s officers who had been dining on shore. Unfortunately for the convicts, the moon, which had been hidden until then by tke clouds, shone forth for a few minutes and shed its light on the shorn heads of the swimmers. ‘The latter immediately . plunged, in order to avoid detection. But it was too late. They had already been caught sight of by the officers, The latter having hailed the watch on board the ship and called for assistance, then rounded their boat on the fugi- tives. Aware of the terrible punishment which awaited them if captured, the poor wretches made almost superhu- man efforts to escape, and turned a deaf ear to the threats of their pursuers that they would fire on them. One by one, however, they were run down and dragged on board. Frederick alone, who was a magnificent swimmer, continued to elude the cutter by swimming under water, coming to the surface only from time to time, to take breath. Volleys of buckshot swept the spot whenever his head appeared for a moment above water; but he seemed to bear a charmed life. Suddenly, however, one of the sailors espied him, as, ~miscaleulating his distance, he emerged on the surface within a few feet of the boat. Quick as lightning, the man raised his oar and brought it down with terrific force on Frederick’s head, rendering him unconscious. | When Frederick recovered his senses, he found himself in a dark cell in the lowest part of the hold, heavily chained, and with his head covered with bandages. comicbooks.com