d as if it were
endued with life, tore up the surface of the groaning deep into masses
and shreds of foam, which it whirled aloft in mad fury, and then
dissipated into a thin blinding mist that filled the whole atmosphere,
so that one could scarcely see a couple of yards beyond the spot on
which he stood. The hurricane seemed to have reached its highest point
soon after sunset that night, and a ray of light from the moon struggled
ever and anon through the black hurtling clouds, as if to reveal to the
cowering seamen the extreme peril of their situation. The great ocean
was lashed into a wide sheet of foam, and the presence of the little
isle in the midst of that swirling waste of water was indicated merely
by a slight circle of foam that seemed whiter than the rest of the sea.

The men sat silently in their frail hut, listening to the howling blast
without. A feeling of awe crept over the whole party, and the most
careless and the lightest of heart among the crew of the _Red Eric_
ceased to utter his passing jest, and became deeply solemnised as the
roar of the breakers filled his ear, and reminded him that a thin ledge
of rock alone preserved him from instant destruction.

"The wind has shifted a point," said the captain, who had just risen and
opened a chink of the rude door of the hut in order to look out. "I see
that the keel of the boat is all fast and the planking beside it. The
coral rock shelters it just now; but if the wind goes on shifting I fear
it will stand a poor chance."

"We'd better go out and give it a hextra fastening," suggested Mr
Millons.

"Not yet. There's no use of exposing any of the men to the risk of
being blown away. The wind may keep steady, in which case I've no fear
for it."

"I dun know," said Rokens, who sat beside Ailie, close to the embers of
their fire, with a glowing cinder from which he re-lighted his pipe for
at least the twentieth time that night. "You never can tell wot's
a-goin' to turn up. I'll go out, cap'en, if ye like, and see that all's
fast."

"Perhaps you're right, Tim; you may make a bolt across to it, and heave
another rock or two on the planking if it seems to require it."

The seaman rose, and putting aside his pipe, threw off his coat, partly
in order that he might present as small a surface to the wind as
possible, and partly that he might have a dry garment to put on when he
returned. As he opened the little door of the hut a rude gust of wind
b