ck clouds slowly approached the zenith, and it was dark
before there appeared to be any commotion of the elements. As the gloom
of the evening increased, the lightning became more vivid, the zigzag
chains of electric fluid darting angrily from the inky masses of cloud
which obscured the sky. The heavy thunder sounded nearer and more
overhead, indicating the nearer approach of the two showers. Scarcely
did the flashing lightning--almost instantly followed by the cannon-like
crash of the thunder--blaze and peal on one side of the brig, before the
flaming bolt and the startling roar were taken up on the other side, as
though the two tempests on either hand were vying with each other for
the mastery of the air.

Captain Josiah Barnwood, familiarly called, even by the crew, who were
his friends and neighbors, Captain 'Siah, nervously walked his
quarter-deck, after he had taken every precaution which a careful sailor
could take; for, even if his practised eye had not taught him that there
was wind in the clouds in the south-west, the barometer had earnestly
admonished him of violent disturbances in the atmosphere. He had done
everything he could for the safety of the brig, but he blamed
himself--though without reason, for the change of weather had been
sudden and unexpected--for coming into the bay when it was so near
night. The brig was surrounded on nearly every side by rocky islands and
numerous reefs, with the chances that thick weather would hide the
friendly lights from his view. But it was a summer day, and, until late
in the afternoon, when there was no wind to help him, no change could
have been anticipated.

Captain 'Siah was nervous, though he was as familiar with the bay as he
was with the apartments in his own house. He knew every island and head
land, every rock and shoal, and the situation of every light-house; but
the barometer had warned him of nothing less than a hurricane. The Waldo
was an old vessel, and barely sea-worthy, even for a summer voyage, to
the region of hurricanes. He had, therefore, many misgivings, as he
paced the quarter-deck, watching the angry bolts of lightning, and
listening to the deafening roar of the thunder. Occasionally he halted
at the taffrail, and gazed into the thick darkness of the south-west,
from which his experience taught him the tempest would come. Then, at
the foot of the mainmast he halted again, to listen for any sound that
might come over the waters from the eastward;