The Yale expositor., 1901-09-27
CHAPTER XXI.
A Rough Voyage.

"Are you all right, Jack!' For SO large
was the boat. and so dark the night,
that Arthur did not doubt that his
friend was somewhere on board. But
as no answer came to. him out OF the
darkness, his heart stood still with;
horror.
Jack" he shouted, "are you on the
boat?" 1eta.t a~Hs1i t@.
Loud as he shouted, no answer came
to his, straining ears, but the mocking
howl of the storm. .ta b-tSo1D#sl
Tempest is lost!" he texclaimedi
"My heavens What shall we do
what can we do, senor?" tearfully
asked Dona Maria. 1T is enough to-
drive ones senses from one. 4 Isiit not
terrifc Nothing can save us in! this
awful Storm 51tj
And, in truth, there was Foundation
enough for her terror. E
In the blackness of the night and In
the rush and swirl of the water the
great, clumsy fiatboat turned and
twisted groaned and creaked, now
lunging forward as If going over ca
taract, now swinging viciously against
a bit of high bank or a tree standing
deep in the water, but always bounding
off again to continue its fearful way.
At times it would not progress, but
would whirl round and round in the
grasp of furious eddy; then, like
wild beast released from its cage, 1t
would plunge on. It was never two
minutes the same, never for a moment
under the control of nught save that
overwhelming mass Of water and the
Omnipotent hand that controls even
the torrents and the floods. i.,
At the tremendous rate at which
they were being carried along they
swept past mile after, mile Of flooded
Ilanos, and their troubled minds did
not know or could not guess we're they
were. y.usJ .aFa;d3iH g So.
But the stanch old boat did not fail
them. 1t seemed every minute as If It
must go to pieces. arn St,L..t
When the long, dreadful hours of the
night had passed, and the. scarcely less
dark morning had come, the valley of
the Orinoeo was undergoing the fourth
day of that terrible storm. So hard
was the downpour that it was impossi-
. BILE for them to, see or even to, hazard
a guess whereithey were.arI-i phs
But the torrent knew, its business,
and carried q themjeoon1 and on out
through the broadening mouth of the
Coroni unto the turbulent bosom of the
great orinoco itself. Here the boat
was beset by stronger and more venge-
full waves. and, was, tossed and tumbied
as if it had been-a- -plaything, and the
three passengers, nov. weary and dis
heartened, thought that every moment
-woil1d no the last i"liA'i }tti".
Hour after hour these unfortupates
/, endured this horror 4 hoping almost
against hope, and so great wits their
misery that though theYa still hoped,
2 they almost, prayed f9f r.. LdiSaHths is q b, rather
than a continuance afiikolGai sysf
Hqngsr ssF AS aea adaiyf iyss st ttFeir t dis
comforts, aud ltTulN4it seemed assH
i. death could 6Ibh,, bttr,a, SweettFefIef. -..,
a, All around y thems now hithere was
nothing hut boiling IA +; ln gln 3: water,
10 Far, farlout ON the Grin ocU the 4ul
mp1tuods oHfrent mad garfield them and
they were, two miles out from either
! bank. And as sthss iqufhsysd swiftly
!. down with the tutbuFent waters to
/. ward the waiting and devoafing AT
lantic, the wind that was coming from
the south kept. sending, them. nearer
and nearer the ,poft th ss.iDre, 50 that for
every mile theyicame nearer to- 1.-THE del
ia they drew at least Il sieFtwentieth} of
a mile toward the northern fOrest-eov-
cred shore. - I. 4, .,r.,r.
& Had it not been for this friendly
wind, they must assaredly have been
swept out to sea, = eH''ii. Its
But the hand of God was clearly in
the storm, and the fate that awaited
them was not the lingering death from
starvation in the soiitndes OF the
mighty ocean. hrEisi
When the night Of the fourth day of
the storm had come, they had Travelled
not only two hundred miles down the
Orinoco but they had crossed the great
river from south to north, and it was
Jacinta's quick eyes that saw looming
up in the gathering blackness of night
the shadow of a mountain.
"Looki" she cried. The Island of
the Clouds! We are saved!"
Saved" echoed Medworth. "By
an island? 1 hope so, but l doubt it.
We may touch the land, but in this
torrent the boat can never pause long
enough for us to leave it."
do you know where you are?''
screamed Jacinta. I'VE have left the
Coroni hundreds of miles behind. This
is the Island Of the Clouds. l know it
well. for no other land in the whole
valley is so high. And we cannot fail
TO stop. for at It's base is the great
Devils whirlpool. that catches every
thing that floats within its grasp and
hurls it upon the side of the mountain.
The Island of the Clouds is a thousand
feet high, and ,theig we shall De safe
from the rising flood. Listen. Even
irnow. above the roar of the storm, do
Won hear another Voice?"