battle were raging, and, indeed
it was a terrible battle, one between man and the elements, but man was
victor and the water spout was broken. The force of the tornado however
had yet to reach its climax and for fully five minutes swept over the
terrified city and bay with fearful power. Sampans and junks were hurled
like egg-shells upon the shore, where but for the low tide, thousands
instead of hundreds of lives would have been sacrificed. The men-of-war
and the river steamboats did good service, for the course of the
tornado, was so restricted that though but a hundred yards from its
limit of violence they were untouched. Dom Pedro's junk with others was
torn from its moorings and overturned, but not before Adams and
Priscilla had jumped from the deck. Even in the awful confusion and the
terror of the first plunge which carried them below the surface of the
angry waves, she kept her hand clasped upon the empty sleeve of her
recovered protector. Being both good swimmers they assisted each other
with that knowledge of the water and the trust which all coast born
people have in the mother sea. A boat from one of the war vessels picked
them up and in a short time they were both beneath the roof of good Dom
d'Amaral, and rumor with unusual tread, but suited to Macao, slowly
announced the fact of Priscilla's return.

Dom Pedro weak, and with a broken arm, was also carried to the house of
his father and none but the principal actors in the tragedy understood
the mystery.

Priscilla had returned in the midst of the tornado, and that was all.
The unfortunate young woman was completely prostrated by the terrible
experiences through which she had lately passed and lay as if lifeless.
The physicians dreaded an attack of fever would follow, and their worst
fears were realized. Several weeks went by in anxious watching by the
sick woman's bedside when at last the fever turned and she gradually
grew better. Nothing was said of the occurrences which had brought the
illness about, and Priscilla remembered nothing of them apparently, for
she asked for no one and seemed happy and content to be left with her
Chinese _ama_. When she had recovered strength enough to be carried
into the court-yard it was with joyful expectancy that Adams went to
greet her, yet his heart sank with sorrow when he saw the marks of the
great suffering in her face and a terrible desire for revenge seized
him, which became the dominant passion of his life.

T