The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-03-31
) DICK RODNEY;
Or, The Adventures of ;
An Eton Boy.
BY JAMES GRANT :

BY JAMES n
CHAPTER XIV.
The Water-SpOut.

The Water-Spout.
AS the sun increased in heat, not
w~ithstanding the season Of the year, |
was soon sensible Of the comfort of
white clothing, when c%ontrasted with
dark wooden or broadcloth. as the lat
ter absorbs, and the former repels,
the rays of the sun.
Marc Hislop illustrated this to me
by igniting paper with a burning
glass; whenever the focus was brought
to bear upon dark places, such as
printed letters, they were instantly
consumed.
We ran along the coast Of Hispanio-
la, and saw the wavy ridges Of it's
mountains that tower into the clouds;
we. sighted Tortuga, a rocky island COW
nalm trees and sandalwood,
by reefs and shoals;
Cape st. Nicholas, stood
rdsbetween the great is
lea and Cuba, but with
ither If them at that
days we had dark and
her.
iclock p. m. on the Gath of
small speck, which appeared
tward on our weather beam,
Iy into a gloomy cloud, and
4 .Ssif on the wings of a de-
X angel, it traversed the thick
isand the agitated sea, which
\ "l%beneath its shadow; and so
ck came on, until it grew an
hnnder-cloud.
r@a hand fore and aft! Hurry,
ds!-make all snug before the
81 Breaks" were the cheering or
MWeston, Hislop and Lambourne
g brig was prepared to encounter
&vy squall.
he rain soon fell in torrents, i'm
Ing the men at their work of close
ing, furling and slowing away some
sfhe heavier canvas, and in tightly
laying the running rigging, for when
Jose ropes are flying about in a tenn
pest, and cracking in mems faces like
coach-whips, they become sufficiently
beWildering to impede the working of
the ship.
Uder the lower edge of the approach
Ing cloud, when about twelve miles
distant, we beheld an object which
filled us with wonder and awe.
1t was a tremendous spout, or COL
umn, of water, connected with the
cloud above and the sea below Cthe
sea, from which a circular wind had
sucked it upwardl!, that was now visi-
BILE.
This column was like a solid mass of
white breakers, approaching, with in
credible speed over waves that began
to rise in short and pyramidal peaks.
Hislop was too busy Chewing I'D
canvas, sending yards down from
aloft, Delaying and ordering, and SC
lost a famous opportunity for expati-
ating-as no doubt he would have done
on the theory Of these spouts, for
this phenomenon filled us with the
greatest alarm, lest it might swoop
down upon the Eugene, dismast and
destroy her like a child's toy ship.
Atomic ell Cubano, being the most
powerful and muscular man on board,
was ordered to the wheel.
Across the sea this column seemed
~ p"oo "AIA IN SAollOy DOllluS, lOdllll1S
and with the sound of a mighty cas-
cade pouring into a deep valley, but
yet maintaining a position quite GER
p~endicular. Around it's base the waves
seemed in dreadful commotion, rising
and falling, seething and glittering in
the lightning which shot at times from
the gloomy bosom of the cloud that
floated over them.
AS this terrible phenomenon ap-
preached from the westward, Captain
Weston conceived that we might es-
cape it's influence by altering the briggs
course, and so passing it. 1 have
heard Of water-spouts being d%issipated
by the effect of heavily shotted guns,
but we had no such appliances-at
least we had no shot on board.
The breeze, which was blowing fresh
and had not as yet become a gale Ito
us at leasD, veered northwesterly; so
we shook the reefs out Of our topsails
and trimmed sharp by the wind.
"Luff, luff-keep your luff-keep her
to-" were the lncessant orders of Yves
ton, and the Eugene flew through the
water like a race horse; held by the
powerful hands of Antonio, she never
waved an inch, and by especial Provi-
dence shc got to the windward of that
dreadful phenomenon, which passed
us, cloud and all, about six miles
astern, when, as it changed color from
grayish green to white, it presented a
scene so sublime and terrible that
1.-The boldest held his breath for a
time" and Antonio, who was blanched
white with terror, though he had fire.
ouently seen such spouts as these in
his native seas, assured me, with chat
tering teeth, that he had never be-
held one Of such magnitude, and it
was long before he could be certain of
our safety, and ceased to mutter:
20 mala ventura-mala ventura"
literally, bad luck.)
From white the water-spout became