ling the
old; and still there was no sign whatever of an immediate breeze. But
another look at the barometer showed that the mercury was still falling,
and now at a more rapid rate. Fully convinced, therefore, that
something rather more serious than a mere thunder-squall was brewing, we
now went to work with a will, and, having first furled the mizzen,
hauled up the courses and stowed them, leaving the ship with nothing
showing but her two topsails and the fore-topmast staysail, which--as
our topsails were patent-reefing--left us practically prepared for
almost anything that might happen.

The haze had by this time thickened overhead to such an extent that the
sun showed in it as a mere white, rayless disc, the light of which
seemed to be gradually dying out; and by the time that noon had arrived
the atmosphere had become so obscure that the horizon was no longer
distinguishable, and I, therefore, lost my observation for the latitude.
At one o'clock, when our neat stewardess summoned me below to luncheon,
the mercury was still sinking, which, with the slow progress of the
change that was taking place, assured me that when the outburst came, it
would be something a little out of the common. Luckily, we had plenty
of sea-room, and a thoroughly staunch little ship under our feet; I
therefore looked forward to the impending conflict with tolerable
equanimity.

At length, just as I had completed my hasty lunch, there occurred a
sudden but perceptible darkening of the atmosphere which seemed to
indicate that the expected change was now imminent, and, springing up
the companion-way to the deck, I found a most extraordinary scene
awaiting me. The thickness that had hitherto pervaded the atmosphere
had vanished, as if by magic, leaving the air astonishingly clear and
transparent right to the boundary of the horizon, and revealing a vast
expanse of dense, livid, purple-grey cloud, which had overspread the
north-western half of the heavens, and was at the precise moment passing
over and shutting out the sun from view. The edge of the cloud was as
straight and sharply defined as though it had been trimmed with a knife,
and it divided the firmament into two almost equal portions, the larger
of which was a beautiful expanse of clear, serene, unclouded blue; while
the other hung livid and threatening above us, with the promise of a
raving tornado lurking within its black bosom. Immediately overhead the
colour of this immense c