Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/157

Rh heat had been stifling. Huge clouds passed heavily over the island, and distant thundering announced the approach of a storm. In the evening Briant and his companions had retired earlier than usual into the hall, after taking the precaution, as had been their custom the last few nights, of hauling the boat into the storeroom. The doors were shut, and the only thing to be done now was to wait for bed-time, and kneel in prayer and think of home.

About half-past nine the storm was in full fury. The cave was lighted up by the vivid flashes, and the hill seemed to shake with the rolling thunder peals. It was one of those storms without wind or rain, which are the most terrible of all, for the motionless clouds discharge their electricity over the one spot, and often a whole night will go by and the storm be unexhausted. Costar, Dole, Iverson, and Jenkins hid in their beds and jumped at every dreadful outburst that showed how near the lightning was to them. But they had nothing to fear in that cave. The flashes might strike twenty times, a hundred times, the crest of the hill. It could not penetrate the thick walls of French Den. From time to time Briant, Donagan, or Baxter went and held the door ajar and returned immediately half- blinded by the flashes. The heavens seemed on fire, and the lake one huge sheet of flame.

From ten o'clock to eleven o'clock there was not a moment's peace between the lightning and the thunder. It was not till near midnight that the storm began to slacken. Longer and longer intervals separated the thunderclaps, whose violence diminished as they grew more and more distant. Then the wind rose and drove away the clouds that hung so near the earth, and the rain fell in torrents.

Then the youngsters began to be less afraid. Two or three heads hidden beneath the bed-clothes came into view, although it was time for all to be asleep. Briant and the others, having taken the usual precautions, Were going to bed, when Fan gave unmistakable signs