The Twin Detectives; or, The Robbers of the Tomb — page 198: what you’re looking at

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

THE TWIN DETECTIVES. | 189 ‘She had no idea where she was, or who this man was that sat so near her. When the captain held out the spoon she opened her mouth, the hot liquor seemed just what she needed, and she swallowed it. By and by the motion of the vessel began to soothe her; the warmth of the brandy stole over her whole body. She saw the light in the cabin growing dimmer and dimmer. She no longer opened her mouth when the spoon ac vanced. She had dropped into a tired sleep. ‘Well, upon my word!” ejaculated the captain, ‘‘ what will happen to me next?” He rubbed his chin musingly, and looked attentively at the woman he had rescued from the dark river. She was young, and she was beautiful. Her hand lay on the blanket; it was small, well- formed, and unstained by toil. On the third finger shone a wedding-ring. Why had she tried to take her life? The captain stole softly from the cabin, and like the landlady he said, fervently: ‘«<Thank God, I have no children!” Madge slept all night long. She did not see her tender nurse when he stole in on tiptoe to watch her. He was big and burly. Long years at sea had bronzed and roughened his cheek, his hair and beard were grizzled, and he was dressed in well-worn garments, yet big tears stood in his kind, blue eyes, as he gazed on the sleeping woman, and the heart that beat in his breast was tender as that of a girl of sixteen. As day dawned Madge awoke with a confused feeling of drifting on she knew not where, while a motion like that of a cradle lulled her senses, and the soft wash of the waves against the ship’s sides sounded like a lullaby. ~ ((0) Eomicbooks