ut a scene of
terrible devastation met their eyes. Some trees had been torn up by the
roots, and branches twisted from others were strewed upon the ground
everywhere. The house was a wreck; the whole of the roof was gone, and
parts of the wall had been blown down. Inside there was utter confusion;
the furniture was scattered about in all directions, and even
looking-glasses had been torn from the walls and smashed. The planter,
however, wasted but little time in looking at the wreck.

"You had better go up and dress at once, Alice," he said, "though you will
have some trouble in finding your clothes. I have no doubt that all the
loose ones are scattered about everywhere, and that some of the things are
miles away. I will go down with Will at once to the slave-huts; I am
afraid the damage and loss of life there has been great."

During his passage from the house to the shed the wind had several times
threatened to tear Will's clothes from his arms, but he had clung to them
with might and main, and succeeded in carrying them safely into shelter.
He had therefore been able to dress while they waited for the storm to
abate. Mr. Palethorpe had felt so sure that a hurricane was impending that
he had simply lain down on his bed without taking off his clothes.
Accordingly they started at once for the slave-huts. As they had expected,
the destruction there was complete. Every hut had been blown down. The
negroes, who had fled to various places for shelter, were just returning,
and Mr. Palethorpe soon learned from them that many were missing. He at
once set all hands to remove the fallen timbers, and after two hours' work
sixteen dead bodies were recovered, for the most part children, and nearly
as many injured. Some, also, of those who had come in had broken limbs.

Alice came down as soon as she was dressed, and brought a bundle of
sheets, needles, and thread, and Mr. Palethorpe took off his coat and set
to work to bind and bandage the limbs and wounds. Alice suggested that a
man on horseback should be sent down to the town for a surgeon, but her
father pointed out that it would be absolutely useless to do so, as,
judging by what they could see, the destruction wrought in the town would
be terrible. Every surgeon would have his hands full, and certainly none
would be able to spare time to come into the country. He decided to have
all the worst cases carried down to the town and seen to there; slighter
cases he could deal with