tary home and the
style of life to which I have become accustomed."

Our conversation was at length interrupted by a loud rattling peal of
thunder, which crashed over our heads as if the whole heavens above them
were rent in two. A blast swept over the forest, and we could hear the
trees cracking as they bent before the wind. The house shook to its
very foundation, and Emily and Grace trembled with alarm.

"No, no, my dears; don't fear," exclaimed Frau Ursula. "This is nothing
to what I have heard in Ternate. There, one night, all the houses
tumbled down, and the mountain sent up stones and cinders, which came
rattling down on our heads."

"There is another, though!" exclaimed Grace, clinging to the old lady's
arm.

Scarcely had the second crash of thunder passed away, than down came the
rain, pattering on the roof and floor of the verandah. It seemed as if
a waterspout had broken over us.

"I am thankful that you, my friends, are on shore," observed my uncle;
"but the brig--I feel anxious about her." He got up, and put on a thick
reed-made coat. "And here are some more," he observed, giving Oliver
and me one. "But no, Oliver, you stay with the ladies; and you too,
Walter."

I entreated that I might accompany him. He gave Roger Trew a similar
covering, which completely sheltered us from the rain; and leaving Tanda
and Oliver in charge of the house, we hurried away towards the shore.
Although the gale had been blowing but a few minutes, already heavy seas
came rolling in and breaking in masses of foam upon the rocks. We could
see the brig, through the thickening gloom, at her anchors.

"I trust she may hold her ground," said my uncle, as we watched her,
already rising and falling with quick jerks, as the seas rapidly passed
under her. "What say you?" he said, turning to Roger Trew. "Do you
think, if she made sail, she could beat out of this bay, for I fear
greatly that with the sea that rolls in here, when there is wind like
this, she will be unable to remain at anchor?"

"I am very sure Mr Thudicumb will do his best to beat out of the bay,"
answered Roger Trew. "I know that no seaman would like to be caught on
a lee-shore like this in such a gale; and if it lasts long, even though
the anchors do hold, it is likely enough to tear the stem out of her.
The brig is not a bad craft for fine weather sailing, but she is lightly
put together, and I wish that she was under weigh clear of the land, and
then