ear, as the roar of the approaching tornado thundered in
their ears with almost deafening intensity.

"No," shouted back the baronet; "I am going to try the experiment of
seeing how she will bear the stroke of the gale. Hold on tight all of
you!"

And as he spoke he sent the engines ahead at full speed, and drove the
ship forward right in the teeth of the hurricane.

The next instant, with an appalling burst of sound, the gale was upon
them. Contrary to their expectations, there was scarcely any
perceptible shock, but the ship's speed was rapidly checked much as is
the speed of an express train when the brakes are suddenly and
powerfully applied, and in some six seconds, though the engines were
still going ahead at their utmost speed, the progress of the _Flying
Fish_ over the ground was as effectually checked as though she had been
lying at anchor.

Meanwhile the air was one vast volume of awful sound, and thick with the
clouds of dust, and tufts of grass, and leaves, and hurtling branches
which were being whirled furiously along upon the wings of the tornado,
so that the inmates of the pilot-house could neither hear each other
speak nor see any object beyond a quarter of a mile away on either side.
This lasted for perhaps three minutes, when the wind suddenly lulled,
and the ship at once began to forge rapidly ahead. The lull lasted
perhaps half a minute, and then ensued a repetition of all that had gone
before, excepting that perhaps the wind was not _quite_ so strong as at
the first outburst. But it was of longer duration, the second
instalment of the gale lasting fully half an hour, after which the wind
gradually dropped to a gentle breeze, the sky cleared, the sun
reappeared in all his wonted splendour, and the air resumed its usual
transparency.

But what a sight was now presented to the view of the travellers; what a
scene of devastation was that which lay outspread around them! The long
grass was pressed so flat to the ground that it would scarcely have
afforded cover to the smallest animal; stately trees were lying
prostrate, either uprooted altogether, or their massive trunks snapped
short off, whilst others still retained their upright position indeed,
but stood denuded of every branch. Other trees again, whilst less
mutilated as to their branches, retained only a few straggling leaves
here and there, and the same thing applied to those dense patches of
creeper-like tangled growth known as "bush