auntlet of the
Moskoe-strom itself without accident; although at times my heart has
been in my mouth when we happened to be a minute or so behind or before
the slack. The wind sometimes was not as strong as we thought it at
starting, and then we made rather less way than we could wish, while the
current rendered the smack unmanageable. My eldest brother had a son
eighteen years old, and I had two stout boys of my own. These would have
been of great assistance at such times in using the sweeps, as well as
afterward in fishing, but somehow, although we ran the risk ourselves,
we had not the heart to let the young ones get into the danger--for,
after all is said and done, it _was_ a horrible danger, and that is the
truth.

"It is now within a few days of three years since what I am going to
tell you occurred. It was on the tenth day of July, 18--, a day which
the people of this part of the world will never forget--for it was one
in which blew the most terrible hurricane that ever came out of the
heavens; and yet all the morning, and indeed until late in the
afternoon, there was a gentle and steady breeze from the southwest,
while the sun shone brightly, so that the oldest seaman among us could
not have foreseen what was to follow.

"The three of us--my two brothers and myself--had crossed over to the
islands about 2 o'clock P. M., and had soon nearly loaded the smack with
fine fish, which, we all remarked, were more plentiful that day than we
had ever known them. It was just seven _by my watch_ when we weighed and
started for home, so as to make the worst of the Strom at slack water,
which we knew would be at eight.

"We set out with a fresh wind on our starboard quarter, and for some
time spanked along at a great rate, never dreaming of danger, for indeed
we saw not the slightest reason to apprehend it. All at once we were
taken aback by a breeze from over Helseggen. This was most
unusual--something that had never happened to us before--and I began to
feel a little uneasy without exactly knowing why. We put the boat on the
wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and I was put
upon the point of proposing to return to the anchorage, when, looking
astern, we saw the whole horizon covered with a singular copper-colored
cloud that rose with the most amazing velocity.

"In the meantime the breeze that had headed us off fell away, and we
were dead becalmed, drifting about in every direction. This state of
thi