The Island Bride — page 72: what you’re looking at

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

AD Fat Pe \ Ae 76 CAST AWAY. “Tt no hurt youif you do. You nape (shirk) plenty at oder times to make up for it.” “Stop talk, or me knock you from de yard!” cried al. “ Me like to see you do dat!” “My friends,” said the parson, “for heaven’s sake don’t quarrel out here upon the boom; nay, Sate fi not at all You should strive to contrul your temper.” The Kanakas, however, were not in a mood to heed this goo* advice; they glared, each upon the other, like tigers pre- pariug for a spring. “Tf you say anudder word, you t’ick skull Loki,” cried Molo, “me break you head, quick time!” The last word had barely escaped him, when his dusky companion struck him full in the face with his clenched fist, almost knocking him from the boom, Quickly recovering his balance, however, Molo returned the blow, and a desperate fight ensued, Grasping the boom with one arm, each of the islanders bat- tled with the other, dealing his blows with such rapidity, that the bewildered brain of the parson felt as if it were spinning round and round like a top. “Friends! friends ! this is really disgraceful,” he exclaimed. “Stop—I pray you——-stop—I can not bear to see such work !” But the combatants heeded him not. Fast and furiously they fought, yelling and screaming like tigers, and occasionally following up their blows with desperate kicks, that made the footrope swing like a pendulum. Clinging to the spar with both arms, the unwilling spectator of this affray found it difficult to maintain his position, es- pecially as he was obliged to dodge his head, now and then to avoid the long and pointed elbows of the two pugilists Moreover, his alarm was increased by the fist of the savage Molo, which, occasionally moving in erratic curves, would graze his nose before reaching its destination; while the swaying footrope, jerking his legs upward and downward, inspired him with the fear of being whirled head over heels into the sea be- neath. Once he glanced toward the deck, believing that some: of the men world come and put a stop to the fight ; but the grin- ning faces of the crowd of tars gathered about the: bow, extim ceomicbooks.conn,