Under His Thumb — page 150: what you’re looking at

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

UNDER HIS THUMB. 141 CHAPTER XIX. AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER. Stella Brandon was so bewildered by the rapid succession of events, her own terror, and the sur- | rounding gloom, that for a moment after she saw her friend struck down she stood motionless and ir-- resolute. She realized that Leary had been attacked by some one, and that he had his hands full for the pr esont; at least. That the ruffian’s assailant was an officer from New York she naturally inferred, and the fact, in- ‘stead of dispelling her fears, intensified them. Tor she feared the officers scarcely less than she did the lawless ruffian. Springing to the spot where her companion had fallen, she found the latter in the act of rising to her feet. ‘The villain, to ee down a girl! Where is he?’’ exclaimed Katie Byrnes, apegery and breathless, but unhurt. “Some one has attacked him, and he has his hands full for the present,’’ Stella returned. And she eagerly continued: ‘‘But we must not stay here a moment. If his assailant is an officer, our peril is oreater than ever.’’ “That isso. But it isn’t easy to find our way in this darkness. I really believe that it is raining ink, for I never saw a night so black in all me life.”’ The resolute Irish girl grasped the hand of her ; Eo mn EComicbooks