hospitable mansion. I remember thinking the night oppressively
hot, and was thankful that Mr Ringer was good enough to drive me from
the barracks into the town.

"I don't know what to make of the weather," said my host the next
morning, when we met at breakfast.

Not a breath of wind stirred the atmosphere, and it seemed as if all
nature was asleep; while the sky, instead of being of a cerulean blue,
was suffused, as the sun rose, with a fiery red tinge.

The hour--about noon--at which it was arranged that I should go on board
was approaching. My host offered to accompany me down to the harbour,
but before we reached it we encountered a violent squall, which almost
took us off our legs, and sent Larry's hat flying up the street. He
made chase after it, and we stopped to let him overtake us, while a
number of other people, caught by the wind, passed us running off in the
same direction. At length his hat, driven into a doorway, was
recovered, and Larry came battling against the wind to rejoin us.

"You'll not put to sea to-day," said my friend; "nor for many a day to
come, if I mistake not; but we'll make our way to the harbour, and see
how things are going on there."

On reaching it we found the sea already lashed into a mass of seething
foam. The larger vessels strained at their anchors, some tossing and
tumbling about, others already overwhelmed by the waves. It was with
difficulty we could stand our ground.

"Unless the hurricane passes by, for hurricane it is, not one of those
vessels will escape destruction," said Mr Ringer. As he spoke, one of
them parted from her cables and drove towards the shore.

"We must beat a rapid retreat if we wish to save our lives," he
continued; "the tempest is down upon us!"

The wind, which had previously blown from the south-east, suddenly
shifted to the southward.

Grasping my arm, he hurried me off from the spot on which we were
standing. At the same time down came a deluge of rain--not in mere
drops, but in regular sheets of water. It wetted us to the skin in a
few moments. Larry, now seizing my other arm, dragged me forward. As
we looked back for a moment, we observed the sea rising in a mountain
billow, hissing and foaming, and approaching the shore. It was but the
first, however, of others still larger which were to follow. It broke
with a thundering roar,--the water rushed on, flowing by the spot we had
already reached; but even though we were nearly up