A Silver Brand — page 197: what you’re looking at

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

yy é r yu i's 1 ae ‘ . ~ ah ‘ey + awe fi t . . ‘ ' 4 we be ~ oe i) , ees ‘No, no, that won’t do either. We can’t afford to leave any clew to our doings. Take him back and let the boat go. We must keep everything out of sight. I’ve got more than I bargained for, but I reckon the pay will come out-of this pretty Miss Lina. I’m sorry, my dear, you A SILVER BRAND, 189. didn’t meet the young gentleman you expected,” he added, ; jeeringly, “‘but I'll try to be as polite and attentive.” Lina’s proud heart was writhing in humiliation and’ grief, even more than in terror. To what had she brought Serena, her kind, generous, loving friend. She turned her . anguished eyes upon her, and met a steady glance of mute supplication lifted to the skies. “Ah, yes, for Serena’s sake Heaven will care for us,” thought Lina, and was comforted. Bound in limb and . gagged from speech, the two girls could make no resist- ance when they were lifted from the seat and dropped upon the floor of the boat. They could only watch with anxious, imploring eyes the movements of their abduc- tors. The reason for the change was soon explained. The two men stood up with the oars, and shoved the boat along slowly and carefully right into what seemed the very jaws of imminent danger, and as the white showers of surf pelted them it was quite apparent that neither of the girls could have sustained herself upon the seat. Robinson was cool and skillful, and guided the boat between the jagged teeth of bristling rocks until at length they were in a sort of shallow vortex which at high tide must have been ter- rific, sincé even now, at dead low water, it bolted and eddied menacingly. Lina shut her eyes, dizzied by the sight, but Serena’s calm, steady orbs watched closely every turn and change. Robinson did not observe this; indeed, the perilous way _ required his close and unswerving attention. He gave an ~ exclamation of thanksgiving when they slipped into a cool, glassy basin almost as tranquil as a summer lake. “Here we are! Now then, Mike, hold steady and shove straight ahead,” he cried, stooping his head, and the next instant they glided into what seemed a black archway, and the moonlight was gone from them and they were floating in utter darkness, in some confined cavern against whose rocky sides they heard the water splashing drearily. “Tight the torch, Mike,” commanded Robinson. ‘‘We don’t have prying sunlight or moonlight in the Witch’s~ Cave. Be easy, pretty ones; your journey’s half done by — this time.” The glaring torch showed them a rocky, arching roof —€— cS cComicboo