It seemed
to sap the very life from Ganassi, as it enveloped it in a chilling
embrace. Slowly the cloud loosed its hold and bounced along on the
lower hills. In its center it seemed to bear a restless, struggling
mass, and the passengers on the _Sabah_ watched it nervously. Strange
things happen very suddenly in the sunny Celebes. Fascinated, they
watched the odd cloud lumbering toward them, dipping and lifting its
burden. It sailed over the mountains, flitted past the jungle and
reached the ocean, where it hovered and waved as if undecided which
way to go. At times, like canvas, it would belly down in the middle,
almost burst, right itself, and come sailing on. Again and again the
heavy contents pulled the cloud to earth, but valiantly struggling
with its burden, it resisted. The cloud brought with it a death-like
mist, damp and choking, and the sunshine was abruptly put out. The
thing hesitated over the _Sabah_, dipping and sucking itself back,
as if made of elastic; it wandered about aimlessly and paused over
the fleeing Dyaks. Finally as if discouraged and strained beyond its
endurance, it gave up.

With shrieks and cries the Dyaks watched it. Tons and tons of water
burst from the cloud, striking the sea with a hiss that sent the
spray high in the air.

"Waterspout!" yelled the captain and ordered the _Sabah's_ engines
stopped. In horror they beheld the crazy column careen about, obeying
its master, the capricious wind, and following any stray current;
around and around the spiral, grinding mass of water veered and circled
aimlessly. It danced and capered about the ocean like some malignant
monster loosed from torment, and finally, as if by direct intent,
started for the river's mouth. The Dyaks saw it coming, and in their
puny efforts to escape, looked like ants before an elephant. The five
streams, flowing through the delta of the Cotabato River, seemed to
draw the vicious waterspout toward them, and on it went, directly
in the wake of the doomed Dyaks. Tensely the _Sabah's_ passengers
followed the course of the spout. The whirling Nemesis descended upon
the pirates; their cries of anguish came faintly through the roar and
hiss of water; crude Dyak prayers, shrieked by terrified worshipers,
smote upon their ears, and finally, like a whirlwind, the waterspout
pounced upon its victims. It caught at them with a thousand arms;
it tossed them up, bore them down, tore them from the light eggshell
praus, crushing them