The Wrong Man — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

= 60 THE WRONU MAN. river, when, partly buoyed by the water, there appear*? to be less difficulty in sustaining its weight, as it was hauled tewerd the end of the tree. On reaching that point, there was a sad- den plunge, followed by a slight gurgling sound, and directly after a number of bubbles floated out into the moonlight, dane ing on the ridges of the circling undulations which spread = around the spot. ct But the water refused to conceal the object which had been committed to its depths. It sunk for a moment, when,as if some ill fastened weight had dropped from it, it rose again, and E drifting eut beyond the shadow of the bank, exposed, as the moonlight fell upon it, the livid features of a corpse. As this : spectacle drew the attention of the person on the tree, he hur ; ried to the extreme end of the trunk, in the hope. probably, of oe catching the body as it was borne past by the eddy. But the : current had already whirled it far beyond his reach, and as it 4 was thus carried along, rising and falling on the billows, its 5 pred eyes and clenched teeth visible in the moonlight, it would. ave required no great stretch of imagination to fancy ite FE features distorted by a grisly smile of vengeance, 4 The person on the tree seemed greatiy perplexed by this i event. He had partly stripped off his clothes, as if with the in- 3 tention of plunging into the stream and bearing the body = back to the shore, when his purpose was interrupted by ap. tt proaching sounds, He started, listened for a moment, then caught up his garmenis in haste, and walked as rapidly ove: a the old and siippery trunk as the darkness would permit, sprung upon the beach, and glided into the edge of the wood. > he outline of his figure had just mingled with the darkness of : the forest, when the nature and cause of the noise became ap- cS parent. sa The music of a violin, mingled with loud talk and laughter. hs was now borne distinctly on the air; and in a few minutes the * long, slender form of a keel-boat glided round the neighboring a point. Its crew were collected in a group on the forward part 3 of the deck, some of them engaged in a rude encounter of wits, 4 while others, reclining in a lazy, listless posture, idly listened to s the notes which one of their number drew from a tuneless fiddle, oe or gave ear to the coarse sallies and repartees of their comrades, _ A short, thickset porace: at the opposite end of the boat, whose , business it seemed to be to snide her course, stood leaning with ____ folded arms across the tiller, his hard and weather-beaten featurea twisted into an expression of chagrin, which very plainly 2 meee he did not oe oe he of the others. at * When you goin’ to stop that cussed rumpus?” at] h he “é ealled eae all patience at their i latins ) At this moment, the fiddler got his instrument in tune, and hi off on the “ Arkansas Trayeler,” two of the hands instantly = ae ale —_ Comicboo neo, “ - p> Tle 7 ~ a ah , i 4 = -_ 4 ~*~. SS —=—. .