king in Captain Lynch's direction when it happened. He
saw the trunk of the tree, half-way up, splinter and part without
noise. The head of the tree, with three sailors of the Aorai and the old
captain sailed off over the lagoon. It did not fall to the ground, but
drove through the air like a piece of chaff. For a hundred yards he
followed its flight, when it struck the water. He strained his eyes, and
was sure that he saw Captain Lynch wave farewell.

Raoul did not wait for anything more. He touched the native and made
signs to descend to the ground. The man was willing, but his women were
paralyzed from terror, and he elected to remain with them. Raoul passed
his rope around the tree and slid down. A rush of salt water went over
his head. He held his breath and clung desperately to the rope. The
water subsided, and in the shelter of the trunk he breathed once more.
He fastened the rope more securely, and then was put under by another
sea. One of the women slid down and joined him, the native remaining by
the other woman, the two children, and the cat.

The supercargo had noticed how the groups clinging at the bases of the
other trees continually diminished. Now he saw the process work out
alongside him. It required all his strength to hold on, and the woman
who had joined him was growing weaker. Each time he emerged from a sea
he was surprised to find himself still there, and next, surprised to
find the woman still there. At last he emerged to find himself alone.
He looked up. The top of the tree had gone as well. At half its original
height, a splintered end vibrated. He was safe. The roots still held,
while the tree had been shorn of its windage. He began to climb up. He
was so weak that he went slowly, and sea after sea caught him before he
was above them. Then he tied himself to the trunk and stiffened his soul
to face the night and he knew not what.

He felt very lonely in the darkness. At times it seemed to him that it
was the end of the world and that he was the last one left alive. Still
the wind increased. Hour after hour it increased. By what he calculated
was eleven o'clock, the wind had become unbelievable. It was a horrible,
monstrous thing, a screaming fury, a wall that smote and passed on but
that continued to smite and pass on--a wall without end. It seemed to
him that he had become light and ethereal; that it was he that was in
motion; that he was being driven with inconceivable velocity through
une