Beadle's Dime Novels No. 87: On the Deep — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

THE CONSULTATION. “. oH the skipper, springing from his bunk. “ You'd better wake Block.” The mate was roused, and the three men soon were on ‘deck. After the body of Ringbolt had been wrapped in a blanket and placed on the carpenter's bench in the waist, Capstan moved to the quarter-deck, and motioned. his two mates to his side, “ Well, Block, what do you think of this business ?” “It’s a mystical proceeding,” responded the mate. “In a word, its a malignant mystery that seems hard to fathom. But it must be invested without delay. You may depend upon it, there’s other Malays around besides the one that was seen.” “That’s hardly to be disputed,” replied Capstan; “ and Ringbolt was probably murdered by that villain to prevent his giving the alarm. The rascal must have had a light foot and a quick arm to do this without Loring’s seeing or hearing him.” “T have no doubt? said the second mate, “ that, if it were not for the darkness, we would see some kind of a vessel— the one to which the murderer belongs—lying not far from our own craft. You doubtless remember that, while we were in the harbor of Maui, the captain of the Spanish brig St. Mary, informed us that he had been chased by a suspicious looking schooner, a few days before his arrival at the island.” “'That’s logicality !’ cried Block, “ay, ay, every word of it. Depend upon it, Loring is right; and the Malay, I believe, was a sort of scout sent to Yééohisider us by his cut-throat captain, who saw our light a-shining in the distance, but was, of course, unable to make out our characteristics iit the dark.” “In that case, we may expect an attack at any moment,” said Capstan, twitching his forelock uneasily. “We must be prepared, Block.” ‘“'There’s a box of cutlasses in the run,” responded the mate; “ besides which we have a few old pikes, two or three muskets and a couple of revolvers. With them, considerin’ that we have twelve goed stout fellows in all, we may make some show of'persistence.” “That depends upon the number opposed to us,” replied the’ skipper. “We'll fight, however, as hard and as long as we connicloooks.comn