as he had been able to come at, some of them could not
be found. The weather had steadily changed for the worse as they had
reached higher latitudes, and it was now cold, rainy, and very
threatening. The captain and his officers were filled with anxiety and
foreboding. Katharine kept sedulously in her cabin, devoured by grief
and despair; and the once cheery colonel, full of deep sympathy for his
unfortunate daughter, went about softly and sadly during the long days.

The day broke gloomily on one certain unfortunate morning; they had not
seen the sun for five days, nor did they see it then. No gladsome
light flooded the heavens and awoke the sea; the sky was deeply
overcast with cold, dull, leaden clouds that hung low and heavy over
the mighty ship; a horror of darkness enshrouded the ocean. Away off
on the horizon to the northeast the sky was black with great masses of
frightful-looking clouds; through the glass the watchful officers saw
that rain was falling in torrents from them, while the vivid lightning
played incessantly through them. Where the ship was, it had fallen
suddenly calm, and she lay gently rolling and rocking in the moderate
swell; but they could see the hurricane driving down upon them, coming
at lightning speed, standing like a solid wall, and flattening the
waves by sheer weight. All hands had been called on deck at once, at
the first glimpse of the coming hurricane. Desborough had the trumpet;
the alert and eager topmen were sent aloft to strip the ship of the
little canvas which the heavy weather and weakened spars had permitted
them to show. It was a race between them and the coming storm. The
men worked desperately, madly; some of them had not yet reached the
deck when the rain and the wind were upon them. By the captain's
direction, the colonel had brought Katharine from below, and she was
standing on the quarter-deck sheltered by the overhang of the poop
above, listlessly watching. Desborough had made no progress in his
love-affairs; he had too much tact and delicacy to press his suit under
the present untoward circumstances, and indeed had been too incessantly
occupied with the pressing exigencies of the shattered ship, and the
duties of his responsible position thereon, to have any time to spare
for more than the common courtesies. The awful storm was at last upon
them: a sudden change in its direction caused the first fierce blow to
fall fairly upon the starboard side of the sh