ngth of the gale; but, once there, though
the building is surrounded on all sides by the high ground of the ravine
through which the river flows, the tempest seizes upon them and beats
and buffets them and dashes them hither and thither with such
irresistible power and fury that they are in absolute peril of their
lives whilst they remain there, and to avoid being actually hurled off
into space they are constrained to go down upon their hands and knees.
To add to their difficulties the darkness is so intense that they can
see absolutely nothing; they have to grope their way like blind men,
relying solely upon their remembrance of localities for guidance. And,
search as they will, they cannot find the exterior ladder by which to
descend to the ground outside. It has doubtless been blown away. This
misfortune, however, is soon remedied by the substitution of a rope from
the store-room for the missing ladder, and with its assistance the three
men quickly reach the ground.

Arrived there, they find that their difficulties have only just begun,
for they are no sooner clear of the house than, what with the profound
darkness and the awful buffeting of the wind, they soon get confused and
lose their way. At length, however, after more than an hour's aimless
wandering, they find themselves at the ship-yard, which is in quite
another direction, and once there, they are enabled, by keeping close
along the water's-edge, to reach the creek.

As each had by this time expected, the punt is not there; and now any
lingering hopes as to the skipper's safety which either of them may have
cherished disappears, and in his own mind each mutely gives the poor
fellow up as lost. The punt being missing, there is no means of
crossing to the main, for the stream, swollen by the recent rain, is
rushing past at a speed swift enough to sweep away the strongest swimmer
that ever breasted wave, to say nothing of the fact that the gale--which
is opposed to the current--has churned and lashed the waters into a
sheet of blinding foam. They can do nothing, therefore, except make an
ineffectual attempt to light a fire, in the hope that its blaze,
reflected in the sky, may serve as a beacon to their unfortunate friend
in the improbable event of his still being alive and within sight of the
island; but this attempt also is frustrated by the wind, which not only
renders it impossible for them to kindle a flame but also sweeps away
all their materials a