The Blockade Runner — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

. 16 THE BLOCKADE RUNNER. CHAPTER AN AWFUL PROJECT. ‘Brave as he was, Papas Ralph Powell held his breath from fear. Every second he expected to see her ports fly open, and her guns open fire; and his strained imagination pictured the ripping and tearing sound of the wooden hull of his steamer under the hail of iron missiles. The terrible suspense really only lasted for a brief interval, and then the Foxhound was running under the blockader’s bows like a phantom. She soon left the gunboat in her wake, a blot on the water, from which it vanished as thé distance between the two vessels increased. “A narrow shave, by George!” exclaimed the skip- per softly, drawing a long breath. CAV Sys Sis responded the pilot, foes resuming his position by the weather rail. With the salty sleet blowing like hailstones in his eyes, and flogging his weather-beaten cheeks, Foul. weather Tom clung to his post and peered into the blackness ahead, fully conscious that he was doing his duty. | | It was now about two bells, or one o’clock in the morning, though of course the bells were not struck. The captain went on the bridge, followed by his CONNIE OOOLKS (©