Page:At the Fall of Port Arthur.djvu/102

84 gazing over the port bow in an earnest, puzzled fashion.

"Do you see that little black cloud, Striker?"

"I do, sir!" And now Luke became all attention and so did Larry. "Kind o' funny lookin', ain't it?"

"It is odd," answered the captain. "Do you see how it seems to be dancing around in the sky?"

"Is it a cloud?" questioned Larry. "If so, I never saw its like before."

" I'll take a look at it through my glass," went on the captain, and sent a sailor for the article.

The cloud came swiftly closer and they heard a most unusual roaring and hissing. Then of a sudden the cloud seemed to dip down into the sea. When it came up, the waters of the ocean followed, and there loomed up before those on the ship a waterspout ten or fifteen feet thick.

"A waterspout!" cried half a dozen in concert.

"And a mighty powerful one, too," said the captain. "I trust it don't come this way."

"It is coming this way!" yelled Larry. "Look! look!"

The young second mate was right, the waterspout appeared to be headed directly for the schooner. But then it shot off to the westward, churning the water into a foam behind it.