The Florida agriculturist., 1889-07-31
CHAPTER XU.-Continued.


time the central advance had thrown out
two long black arms that crept along the
horizon to the right and left. inclosing
the vessel in deadly embrace Dark
ness fell over them as from an eclipse;
the unshadowed east, ere it vanished al
together from sight. looked like scene
viewed through a tunnel The moment
was one of awful SUSPENSE; no human
creature could long have endured it
without giving way to some outbreak of
intolerable emotion. The blood flowed
thick in the veins: the brain throbbed
confusedly; the breath came in difficult
sighs. With a sudden but ma ajestic up
ward graduation, the minor roar swelled
to deafening shrieks of noise: there was
vision of a white fury of waters astern;
blast as cold as winter swept from the
taffrail to the bowsprit; the dark
ness shut down and became alb
solute, so that the observer seemed
plunged into impalpable pitch. and then
with paralyzing shock the hurricane
smote the vessel, beating her down into
the sea as by the sheer weight of giant
hand. The next instant. with shudder
gered, and leaped again. Fragments of
boiling surge hurtled along her decks.
striking what they encountered with the
of grape shot. The mizzen mast broke
off within yard of the deck, and, lash
ing forward, struck the main mast and
brought it down in ruin, though the
noise OF the crash was inaudible in the
yell OF the frenzied gale. The steamer
was rushing onward at headlong speed,
yet she seemed to be standing still. so
fast did wind and sea fly past her. She
reeled, staggered. leaped. was buried and
rose again, again to be overwhelmed. 1t
seemed another world. another age, COM
pared with the sunlight and calm of a few
minutes previous. Blind, whirling, well
tering chaos had engulfed all things;
nothing could be seen. nothing heard.
nothing done nor directed; only awful
plungings and strainings could be felt,
and thunderOus blows and shocks Only
by these signs could 1t be known that
the vessel was still above the water, still
being swept onward Whittier, and to
what fate, none could foretell
The sea was at first beaten flat by the
wind, though great pieces of water were
stripped from the surface and dashed
through the air; by and by, however,
waves began to form. but irregularly
some rolling low some reaching aloft
and stalking gigantic. One of these,
hurrying through the blackness, mounted
the steamers stern and traversed her
deck to the bows. carrying with it the
funnel, the remaining mast and every
thing on board that offered resistance
That wave struck the forecastle with
report like the bursting of siege gun,
stove through the oaken planks, and
dashed a hundred tons Of water through
the opening All therein were drowned
and crushed to pieces. and the bodies of
several were whirled out again and car
ried like rags off into the waste of the
tornado. Heavily the ship rose from the
blow; it seemed as if she could never
rise again But up she came, and the
weight of water went booming aft,
breaking down partitions and deIuging
cabins and state rooms. More than fifty
men were killed or disabled by that sin
gle buffet. and the survivors believed
that the end of all Of them could be not
many minutes distant.
But it SO happened that no catastrophe
of equal terror followed. The ship drove
on sometimes threatening to broach to,
Jet maiat@i2ing her steerage way beyond