Beadle's Dime Novels No. 94: The Mad Skipper — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

bya sort of nightcap -worn upon ‘his ‘head ‘to protect him from the cold, the doctor believed he had fallen overboard ; and so, clutching the friendly life-preserver, lhe shouted and yelled like.a madman, in the hope of making himself heard. But no answer was returned, and he suddenly remembered that the after part of the ship, when he came on deck ‘to make his investigation, was deserted by all hands of the watch, with the exception of the man at the wheel, who had gone forward to shake a reef out of the fore-topsail. This thought made the blood run cold in his veins. He reflected that, even should he succeed in clinging to the buoy for a few hours, his legs must freeze in the mean time. In fact, he believed his doom was sealed. “Help! help! Oh, dear me, 7s there no hope ?” he gasped, kicking his legs violently, to prevent them from getting cramped. “ Ahoo! Ahoo, there !” But the roaring of the winds and waves was the only re- sponse. “JT will not despair,” gasped the doctor; “ no,no—our pro- fession should never despair! If Providence, however, in whom I place my trust, can not help me out of this terrible situation, a will give up my chances like a man; I will go from this world like a true martyr, although,” and - ibn he kicked his legs frantically, “it is hard to die in the prime of life !” His foot struck the side of the tub, but believing this to be the submerged portion of the buoy, the doctor was still far from guessing his real situation. “ This is terrible—terrible !’ he gasped. “I see not a ves- tige of hope! Adrift upon the wide ocean, with the ship re- ceding further and further from me every moment, Iam doomed ‘to a fearful death |” “Halloo, there! Why, my eyes! ‘What’s this?” shouted the deep voice of Ben Williams, within a foot of his nose. “ What are you doing here, doctor?” Much astonished and overjoyed, the doctor no longer hesi- ‘tated to lift one hand from the buoy to push aside the night- ‘cap that obscured his -eyes, expecting to behold -one of ‘the #hip’s boats alongside of him. At this moment, however, Ben os — the tub, ang set‘him upon his feet om the deek conmiclooOolks.conn