he vessel lifted up, cables and anchors dragging,
and warps giving way, and on we drove helplessly towards the shore. My
crew held on to the bulwarks with affrighted looks, for we could expect
nothing else than that our little vessel would be dashed to pieces, and
if so, that we ourselves should be swept out of the harbour by the
receding wave. Another dread seized me, that the roller might sweep up
to the mission house and overwhelm those so dear to me. This feeling
made me forget all fear for my own life, or for those with me. As I
gazed landward, I saw the devastation the hurricane was already
committing. Several cottages were in view. Now the wind lifted the
roof of one and bore it in shattered fragments to a distance. Now the
walls of another trembled and fell; tall trees were bending and
breaking, or being torn up by the roots and laid prostrate; house after
house was thus destroyed; whole groves of trees, as it seemed to me,
fell to the ground; darkness appeared to be coming down like a thick
mantle to add to the horrors of the scene.

On drove our little vessel; the rocks against which I expected to be
dashed appeared; these were covered, and over them we were carried by
the raging tide, above even the sands, and lifted high up on to a soft
bank amid brushwood stern first, where she hung while the waters rushed
back leaving her uninjured on the shore. We were mercifully preserved
from the sudden death we expected, and were grateful; but yet, though
not cast down, knowing all would be for the best, I felt most anxious to
assure myself of the safety of my dear wife and her companions.

We had come on shore, as far as I could judge, half a mile or more from
the mission house, a distance which it would be not only difficult but
extremely dangerous to traverse while the storm was raging and tall
trees were being hurled about like straws. One of my crew--a true
Christian man--volunteered to accompany me. The _Olive Branch_ had
already been made snug aloft, so when I had seen her securely shored up,
trusting and believing that no second roller would come to move her, I
set off, leaving the rest of the people on board to attend to her. My
companion and I provided ourselves each with a stout pole. I led the
way, he to help me should I fall, and I promising to turn back should he
cry out.

The noise of the tempest prevented our having anything like conversation
with each other, indeed it was only when we sho