pace of the sky: shelving like
the fearful talus of the abyss. It was the uprising of a dark mountain
between earth and heaven.

It was night falling suddenly upon midday.

There was a heat in the air as from an oven door, coming from that
mysterious mass on mass. The sky, which from blue had become white, was
now turning from white to a slatey grey. The sea beneath was leaden-hued
and dull. There was no breath, no wave, no noise. Far as eye could
reach, the desert ocean. No sail was visible on any side. The birds had
disappeared. Some monstrous treason seemed abroad.

The wall of cloud grew visibly larger.

This moving mountain of vapours, which was approaching the Douvres, was
one of those clouds which might be called the clouds of battle. Sinister
appearances; some strange, furtive glance seemed cast upon the beholder
through that obscure mass up-piled.

The approach was terrible.

Gilliatt observed it closely, and muttered to himself, "I am thirsty
enough, but you will give me plenty to drink."

He stood there motionless a few moments, his eye fixed upon the cloud
bank, as if mentally taking a sounding of the tempest.

His _galerienne_ was in the pocket of his jacket; he took it out and
placed it on his head. Then he fetched from the cave, which had so long
served him for a sleeping-place, a few things which he had kept there in
reserve; he put on his overalls, and attired himself in his waterproof
overcoat, like a knight who puts on his armour at the moment of battle.
He had no shoes; but his naked feet had become hardened to the rocks.

This preparation for the storm being completed, he looked down upon his
breakwater, grasped the knotted cord hurriedly, descended from the
plateau of the Douvre, stepped on to the rocks below, and hastened to
his store cavern. A few moments later he was at work. The vast silent
cloud might have heard the strokes of his hammer. With the nails, ropes,
and beams which still remained, he constructed for the eastern gullet a
second frame, which he succeeded in fixing at ten or twelve feet from
the other.

The silence was still profound. The blades of grass between the cracks
of the rocks were not stirred.

The sun disappeared suddenly. Gilliatt looked up.

The rising cloud had just reached it. It was like the blotting out of
day, succeeded by a mingled pale reflection.

The immense wall of cloud had changed its appearance. It no longer
retained its unity. It had curved o