" The captain introduced this little incident, in the
midst of his narration, with a dull, pathetic gravity, "It was the last
thing we thought on, o' bein' fearful, or calk'latin' any danger. We
reckoned it was a brisk little shower comin' up, maybe, and the boys was
runnin' one another about gittin' into the cabin, and runnin' on about
the old craft.
"Then thar' come, all of a sudden, sech a strange feelin', as ef the
'arth and the water was a tremblin', and a dreadful moanin' sound runnin'
through 'em. Seemed as though it came swirlin' across the bay. Then it
bust on us in a fury.
"He was out, sorter lookin' around him, Bachelder was, and the wind took
Bachelder up, and keeled 'im over two or three times runnin'.
"Black it grew as the Jedgement day. Then come no sich rain as ever I
see, even the pourin'est, but the clouds fallin' all to once, and the
wind a scatterin' of 'em, and up on the cliffs, we could jest hear a
creakin' and a bendin' whar' the trees was turned as white as ghosts in
that 'ere blackness, and the old Bay, in sech a minute, was spinnin' into
foam.
"We was shelterin' around the old craft now, sure enough, and nobody
speakin' a word, but jest a holdin' our breaths a waitin', when, in among
them other noises, thar' come, out on the water, sech a low, dull sound
as sent the awful truth on us in a minute, and for a minute, that ar'
right hand of mine was numb.
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