The Argosy — page 168: what you’re looking at

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

154 In a West India Hurricane. [THE ARcosy. “In vain I looked round for a better place of shelter. There was none to be seen ; and the tension of my nerves, and the exertion I had been obliged to make to retain my hold, had been so great that I was well nigh exhausted. I was drenched to the skin, and my clothes were tor to shreds. ‘ During the lulls in the storm, I heard moans proceeding from a gully which skirted the field in which I was, but I was obliged to leave the sufferers to their fate, for to have quitted my hold, and sought to descend to their assistance, would have been madness, as I should inevitably have been carried away by the force of the wind, and dashed into it. ‘* As time passed, the tree, which had hitherto been my anchor of hope, began to show signs of giving way. At length, under the influence of one of those terrific bursts, it first bent and groaned, the earth beneath me quivered, root after root cracked, ae again I was swept forward, the sport of the ruthless wind. ‘I have no recollection of anything which took place after this, till I awoke, as it were, and found myself in the nave of the Cathedral, among fifty or sixty others, black, brown, and fair, with my nght arm in a sling, and my head bound up. “It was high noon: I could see ‘that by the position of the sun, which was gleaming in fitfully through an aperture in the roof: and the hurmm- cane was over. Ill as Iwas, my anxiety as to the fate of my frends was so great that after a time I rose up and left the church. ‘When I got into the street, ruin, desolation, and destruction sur- rounded me on all sides. Unroofed and half-ruined houses, heaps of tiles and shingles, immense beams of wood, broken furniture, stones and bricks, the remnants of roofs and wooden houses, and the mangled remains of animals and human creatures, were all hurled together in the direst confusion. It was a piteous sight: here the head of one poor victim protruded from among the débnis, there an arm or a leg, in some instances severed from the body. On all sides women were rushing about, calling frantically for their husbands or children; men, with wild and ghastly faces, seeking their wives and families; others, who the day before had been in good circumstances, beggared by the hurn- cane, were gazing about them stupidly, as though they did not under- stand what had happened. ‘‘T made my way out of this as fast as I could, inquiring of all of whom I had any knowledge, if anything had been seen or heard of the family at Mount St. Elizabeth, but I could get no tidings of them. ‘“‘ My friend’s house was scarcely a mile from the town; but it took me more than an hour to reach it, or rather the spot where it had stood. The beautiful villa was gone—scattered to the four winds of heaven. Literally there was not one stone left standing, nor was there a vestige remaining of the luxuriant groves arid woods by which it had been sur- rounded. The very herbage was rooted up, and the soil washed away. comicaooks GO)