Ensign Merrill — page 79: what you’re looking at

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

aE Sie ees fake ais a Sit ey Soe * na RK SMES oka et ; NS ee a” Sa . . | Pai 3 ¥ >. Ne X at TES . woe ea - faithful ae en. vActhranits: again ‘resumed charg +e if ee 4 te aw . nee M _ the ae just in time to learn a most ¢ startling fact, Eat Fn em vat ? pe 4~< ‘— ry ae CHAPTER XIII e - ~ : A MYSTERIOUS JUNK. a _ Tue storm had not revealed any sign of abatement, : The wind was still blowing from the same quarter, but : it now came in fierce gusts, causing the well-chocked — masts to strain at their fastenings, and tauten the stays f and preventer-braces until they cracked again and penin. The sea had changed slightly and swept in long, unbroken rollers with a lift to them that sent the - Badger up and down the mountain of water like a ; : _ cork. 2 But one thing noticeable was the fact that the gale ., not increasing, simply holding its own with a sta-— ain tionary barometer. An occasional flash of lightning to PEs windward, sharp and vivid, proclaimed an unsetiled state, but whether for better or worse remained to be | ‘ Proven. : iS = -Mark’s first duty was to see what damage the wave Bs init caused. Accompanied by Ned and the boatswain, as he made a hasty inspection of the deck. On the port x or exposed side a section of the bulwark rail had been earried away, broken sheer off from the iron plating — ee beneath as if hewn witha broadax. It was a minor ‘3 ee acs erties, _— _~ a ES loss, and easily replaced. But on glancing above they _ is _ saw that the first cutter, a boat slightly smaller than the launch, had been torn clean from the Se a ee, in fragments against the chart-room door g ret Sore ing it in like paper,