The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 210: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

206 “TI will in time, father. It is not here yet.” “You look astonished at my com- mand,” said Donaldson. “ When we first came here it was difficult to protect ourselves. These violent storms are really whirlwinds of vast extent. ‘In a straight line they move very slowly, but in their rushing circles, with great velocity. Once Mary, when about six years old, was taken up by a wind and lodged in a tree. It was a miracle she was not killed. “After that I dug a hole under the floor of my house large enough to ac- commodate her. The house has a double floor, filled in between with stones. This is to keep it in place. | Otherwise it would be out in the ocean.’ ‘““T wonder, how the Siren will take it,” I said. “Tf your captain is wise he will at once put out to sea. These storms sometimes scize small ships and whirl them round and land them on the rocks.” “TI wonder-if we can signal to Balfe,” I remarked. We all started at the same moment, Mr. Donaldson coming with us. We found the Siren evidently pre- paring to leave. A signal was flying, and as we came to the shore we saw the signal flag move. “ Balfe is going to get out,” I said. ‘* How long after the first signs does one of these storms reach you?” I said. “ Well,” replied Donaldson, “ that is something very difficult to say. I heard When I was in Sydney that they could be foretold at least twenty-four hours. But since I have been here I find that is not always the case. This one, for instance, is liable to break forth now. You see, the slowly moving and whirling mass is pushing the air ahead of it. It all depends on the speed of the hurri- cane itself.” We stood there watching the yacht get under way. She slowly began to move farther out, and yet we watched her. Suddenly there came a loud whistling noise, and trees bent low. “Look out! Seize a tree!” cried Mr. Donaldson. It was but the work of an instant to Google ——- THE ARGOSY. grasp the trunk of a tree. I made the mistake of getting on the windward side, and was smashed up against it with a violence that made my bones rattle. Ross was just in time. The howling typhoon got him foul, and he was car- ried out straight, hanging on only by the most dogged determination. No one could help any one else, and Foster, who had been slower to act, was thrown down and hurled against the launch. Mr. Donaldson clung to a tree right near the latter. The storm increased in fury. There was a terrific downpour of rain. I say downpour, but it didn’t pour down. It flew straight away. It whipped us and lashed us and seemed to be about to close our connections with the world. Suddenly there was a snapping and roaring, and the tree to which Mr. Donaldson clung was uprooted, hurled aside, and fell, with him under it, squarely upon the launch. I could see the side of the launch cave in. Then the wind, as if it had not done sufficient damage, lifted the tree, and sent it in another direction, overturn- ing the launch, so the wind got into it. Away it went jnto the air, and then was sent with a crash against a rock a hundred feet out in the water. In splin- ters it fell, the heavy motor going down like a shot. Mr. Donaldson, I feared, was killed. He lay perfectly still, wedged in be- tween two trees, his head thrown back in such a way that I knew he was un- conscious. CHAPTER VI. THE YACHT GONE. - Tue hurricane lasted only an hour, which was an extremely fortunate thing for us, as we could have held out no longer. As it subsided, followed by a softer and warmer breeze, Ross dropped ex- hausted to the ground, Foster stag- rered toward ine, and I felt as if I had been clubbed persistently and unmerci- fully during those terrible sixty min- utes. But we gathered ourselves together OO KSa COL