Beadle's Dime Novels No. 310: Foghorn Phil — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

THE ISLAND RETREAT. 85 Peninsula, leaving the point standing out in whe river, an sland, And this island, as the scout had said, was liable to be SWept away in a single night, for the water had already dug ar in under ils edges, over which a perfect network of bare Toots and vines trailed in the water below, preventing the Crew from seeing how far under the island the water had Washed, | | In area, the island was scarcely the tenth of an acre, being Og and narrow, the length being with the course of the Stream. It was covered with a dense growth of pushes and Shrubbery, whose thick, matted roots defied, to some extent, the force of. the water. The river to the right of the island Was about sixty rods wide, while at the left it was not over two rods. But the current in the channel was so swift that 20 Canoe could cross it. : i By the skillful management of Foghorn Phil, the flat-boat Was run alongside of the ‘sland and held there until it was ved up. Then the whole crew landed and began an inspec- lion $f the spot. It was found to be an adinirable camping- Place, and yet, while it was almost unapproachable by a foe, Wing to the swiftness of the water on one side, and the Width ‘on the otber, it could be reached otherwise than by Water, ‘This was by means of a long, slender cottonwood Yee, which had toppled over from the mainland shore, and dged in the crotch of a low, scrubby tree on the island. hus the channel between the mainland and the island was ridged by the tree, though the latter lay at an inclination of About forty-five degrees, which would require some Care to Crogg upon it; then, when the tree in which it was lodged Was reached, it was all of fifteen feet to the ground below. till, an Indian could easily crawl along this log from the Shore and crop himself to the island, but as only one at a lime could descend, the scouts had no fears from this source ; Ut, for all this, they did not intend to leave it unguarded. The sun had now set, and the shadows of evening were *ngthening over the river and deepening in the forest, and SO dispositions were alt once made for the night. Foghorn hil and Dick Trout were sent ashore to reconnoiter the sur-" founding, Jake Du Busk was taken over to the mainland ss commicloookks.conn