hough it quivered and rattled under the
sweep of the hurricane, nevertheless stood up against it.

The building had several small windows, closed with strong shutters, but
as wind and rain were driving from the west he was able to open one on
the eastern side and watch the storm. It was just such a hurricane as
that which had wrecked the shattered schooner. It became very dark,
there were tremendous displays of thunder and lightning, which ceased,
after a while, as the wind grew stronger, and then through the dark he
saw trees and bushes go down. Fragments struck against the house, but
the stout walls held.

The wind kept up a continuous screaming, as full of menace as the crash
of a battle. Part of the time it swept straight ahead, cutting wide
swathes, and then, turning into balls of compressed air, it whirled with
frightful velocity, smashing everything level with the ground as if it
had been cut down by a giant sword.

Robert had seen more than one hurricane in the great northern woods and
he watched it without alarm. Although the house continued to rattle and
shake, and now and then a bough, wrenched from its trunk, struck it a
heavy blow, he knew that it would hold. There was a certain comfort in
sitting there, dry and secure, while the storm raged without in all its
violence. There was pleasure too in the knowledge that he was on the
land and not the sea. He remembered the frightful passage that he and
the slaver had made through the breakers, and he knew that his escape
then had depended upon the slimmest of chances. He shuddered as he
recalled the rocks thrusting out their savage teeth.

The storm, after a while, sank into a steady rain, and the wind blew but
little. The air was now quite cold for that region, and Robert, lying
down on the couch, covered himself with a blanket. He soon fell asleep
and slept so long, lulled by the beat of the rain, that he did not
awaken until the next day.

Then he took the dinghy and rowed around to the other side of the
island. As he had expected, the schooner was gone. The storm had broken
her up, and he found many of her timbers scattered along the beach,
where they had been brought in by the waves. He felt genuine sadness at
the ship's destruction and disappearance. It was like losing a living
friend.

Fortunately, the tarpaulin and heavy sails with which he had covered his
heap of stores high up the beach, weighting them down afterward with
huge stones, had held. S