, as if by mutual impulse, into
the direction of the clouds, into the west, and dropped sails and
anchors with incredible rapidity. Far out to sea vessels were now seen
to ride with bare poles; it was evident that they had anticipated a
formidable blow. We stood on a bend in the shore, and the broad bay lay
between us and the rising storm. The rocky coast stood forth in a long,
broken outline opposite to us, far down towards Great Brabant. The open
Atlantic spread before us to the south-west. And now lightnings flashed
in angry sheets. The sea took to itself suddenly a peculiar greenish
tinge. There were heard distant bellowings. We strained our eyes for the
boys. Where were they? Where _were_ they? Two miles out ships began to
rock fearfully.

"They've cotched it!" shouted Scud. "Here it comes. Look out, leddies!"

Driven by earth's mightiest, most implacable, most invisible force, a
line of foam dashed across the bay. Spray from the water twenty feet
below struck us in the face simultaneously with the wind. The white
squall had burst upon us. I dragged my poor cousin with me to the
piazza, into the house, which shuddered through all its frame and would
have fallen had it not, after the fashion of this bleak shore, been
chained to the rocks.

Now Scud staid outside. It did not seem clear at first why. Pretty soon
we saw him trying to pull the tender upon the float, that was clean
washed by every wave.

Then came the first lull. The mother ran out into it wildly. The water
was green and white. Two coasters and a large yacht were running in for
shelter without a stitch of canvas. They were making straight for the
inner harbor.

"Look! Come here! Look! What's that boat? See! Way out there beyond the
island! My God! It's _my children_!"

A half-mile or more away, in the very heart of the squall, a little boat
with full sail set was staggering unto death. Language cannot hint at
the horror in the mother's face. She had made her summer's home for
fifteen years within a shell's throw of the sea, and she knew perfectly
well what this situation meant. No one could have undeceived her, and no
one tried. She stood for a moment staring straight ahead, stretched out
her arms, swayed, and fell. She was one of the fainting kind, and there
was nothing to be done about it. We carried her in and laid her down. It
was my impulse to trust her to her terrified servants. I was too
terrified myself to know whether I was right or wrong