Pluck and Luck #139: Jack Wright and His Deep Sea Monitor — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

Py in his bosom, reeled back, one hand upraised, and fell to the deck, ei -- All his friends rushed to his side, some of them firing after Mixitli. age Tim was left unguarded for a moment. we Quick to act, the old sailor: snatched Mixitli’s dagger up from the deck, glided over to his friends and cut their bonds. “Inter ther boat wi’ yer!” he gasped. Lae Before Blackbeard’s men could divine what had been done, they dashed across the deck into the pilot-house, shut the door and locked it. y Ee J “Saved!” exclaimed Jack, jubilantly. “One good turn desarves another,”chuckled the old sailor. Fritz rushed up through the turret and closed the shutters -. of the pilot-house windows, While Jack followed after him. ‘Syn The boy peered out through one of the loop-holes and saw _ Blackbeard’s men scatter and make a rush at the door. The “monitor was anchored. : Consequently Jack could not run: away, with her. | Bia But he saw the schooner swiftly bearing down upon them, saw the yelling pirates arm themselves to burst down the door, and as there was but one way to get rid of them, the boy turned |) la lever. ., The monitor sank down, and the panic-stricken pirates were left struggling in the water upon the surface. A tmomeyt later the Sea Serpent disappeared beneath the waves. CHAPTER XX. LHE TRUNK TURTLE. ba Down went the monitor, and when she reached the bottom 2 scotia glanced at the indicator and saw ae were in ten uN fathoms of water. é eo i _ around the boat, he observed that the boat was in an ex- _ tremely muddy spot, through which many black, slimy rocks eh, were cropping out. ‘St | a Bp _ Jack opened the window shutters, and, glancing out, he Ne 3 saw that the anchor was imbedded in a mass of rocks some dis- oy ~ tance away, and said he would go out and loosen it. ae a) ae oe east ey 4 $ _ Fortunately; there were a number of diving suits on board, a “ond the boy procured a kelmet in place of the one the pirates had taken away from him and put it on. While Tim and Hopkins were taking an inventory of the ‘ * contents of the Sea Serpent to see if the pirates had broken or Le totem anything, the boy left the boat. | y; a glow a long distance around the Sea Serpent, and he found _ that although the parady, bottom was gozF he could travel] over it, \ : ie _. Making his way over to the anchor 2 carried it over to the deck of th Bs . , Jack pulled it up and / monitor, and then began to coil in the wire cable. through the hawser hdle. [ i While So engaged. he suddenly felt something seize him from ee a behind on the thigh of his leg, and, glancing back, he saw that hy ‘it was an enormous trunk turtle. be i These creatures are the largest in the world, erate a ~Jength of ten feet, and weighing over a ton, their shells along a: the Mediterranean being used for small boats and animals’ Be drinking troughs. ont was one of the largest that ever grew a which seized the poy with its enormous beak in a grip "tke a vise,, its ridged shell clonins, Baris in the electric ce quitent. (8 : Never apprehending any trouble from the tremendous crea: _ ture, Jack made an effort to\ drag himself away from its Fae peed ee eich Pe Saupe, see ae cs ale bs . He started the electric lights, and as the st biilods glow spread ‘y The lights radiating from the lamps and searchlight. sent. ous wound. The bali passed through the. flesh pai | You say he swam to the shore and got aboard of h hh OE Be Fy v4 SEAT: th ope ger ay $ pp eae Fh , : ane, wer iL al fx * reek itt ays 5 te. ; ( Vig LY ri cu sash ae tow P A hae we T Teg e iD "9 SPAS y ¥ wer + qr* ad ss : Mm si XK -' »* * ie ed aoe FS aks ae he Ne : bets” i hak, we tO Le Pee wt ‘ a } Al © tan ® F AA LY & Aa’ me 2 " ED i F es iw SS 4. @ B bac LL : ae 4 : BN | z asa ars ee pele a ? st ee Pea | 3 Pais al ~ 1a orgs His atrenel.’ was “inadequate. to Fred his leg, é nd b could repeat his effort the creature darted - up. ‘from t dragging him with it toward the surface. GES tiie In vain Jack fought to get away; he was as helpless: al child in the jaws of the Cyclopean beast, and he gave ut ance to a cry of alarm that brought Tim to the WHO Ds 3 ing out at the unequal struggle. ; Li oE For a moment it looked like a great joke ie the old sai and a broad grin overspread his weatherbeaten face; ut Jook soon changed into an expression of alarm when. he s Jack pitch over back to back with the monster, and Ghee it carry him rapidly away into the dense gloom beyond — oe swam the trunk et into’ the dense gloom, phil fe was entirely unbroken .except where the light sireaked fr : the small electric lamp upon the.boy’s metal helmet. __ 5 : For the first time a thrill of fear passed over ‘the boy, t if he were carried into the gloomy realms far beyond the glow, oi the searchlight, he might not find his way back ‘ Reaching for a knife haudle in hig belt, he pulled it out. ‘By this time the turtle was floating a dozen feet- from bottom, going at a prodigious rate of speed, and never « relinquishing its determined hold. NEY: e a The boy reached under the shell’s edge for a point auch turtle’s leg protruded, and, finding it, he touched a spr which caused a blade ten inches long to fly out of the ge Into the soft, fleshy part it darted, and with move of his wrist, the hoy gashed off the turtle’s yee Tee A Instantly it came to a pause and sank. Open went its beak, releasing the boy, and oft its act dropped to the bottom among a lot of tall eel grass. The monster came down beside him, and he made a jat its neck, but it saw the knife coming, withdrew, ‘its into the shell again, and drew in its legs. A ANS. There it lay safely snugged up in its armor, and could induce it to show fight or protrude its beak agi Jack cast a disdainful glance at it, and walked awa, angry at being thus injured by such an ordinarily harm ject. He could not sec where he was ‘going. throug ag grass, but made a direct line for where he supposed t th tor to be, and traveled along for some time, __ Ba ie Instead’ of reaching the boat, however, the hoy eal e rugged wall, which proved to be a coral reef, and one C it in hopes that he could see where he was located. A dark object shot down from the surface past Lie ] 1€ moment he got on top of the reef, and struck the or nif Had the ‘boy not glided aside it might hive ieee ; Glancing down at. it in surprise, Jack saw that i ship’s anchor, with a cable, attached to it, and one ott catching in a crevice in the coral, held. fast there. be He watched it closely, and saw the line becotie tat What craft had sent it down? he cogitated. Mg At Then he concluded to climb up the rope and 808, It was an easy matter to do this, as the water ‘bu body, and he ascended like an acrobat, and. ce 2 out of the sea. og Beside him Jay the pitate's ee asnen the ran My Jack clung to the anchor line, and, listening, heat One of them he sada as that ot Blackbeard; h he knew not. “No,” the pirate was sayings “ Mixitli aid ot sive nod . = z “Ay, sir, while ‘you and the rest, left in the ) monitor Danian were, apace! Beets! “The dusky aa Us bee ma 8 tay aan Pee ee oy ick OC @