n Rokens or Briant?" inquired Ailie with an anxious
face, while the tears rolled over her cheeks.

The captain shook his head, but made no reply, and the men looked
earnestly at each other, as if each sought to gather a ray of hope from
the countenance of his friend. While they sat thus, a terrible blast
shook the hut to its foundation. Again and again it came with
ever-increasing violence, and then it burst on them with a continuous
roar like prolonged thunder.

"Look out," cried the captain, instinctively clasping Ailie in his arms,
while the men sprang to their feet. The stout corner-posts bent over
before the immense pressure, and the second mate placed his shoulder
against one of those on the windward side of the hut, while Dick Barnes
and Nikel Sling did the same to the other.

"It's all up with us," cried Tarquin, as part of the roof blew off, and
a deluge of water and spray burst in upon them, extinguishing the fire
and leaving them in total darkness. At that moment Ailie felt herself
seized round the waist by a pair of tiny arms, and putting down her
hand, she felt that Jacko was clinging to her with a tight but trembling
grasp.

Even in that hour of danger, the child experienced a sensation of
pleasure at the mere thought that there was one living creature there
which looked up to and clung to her for protection; and although she
knew full well that if the stout arm of her father which encircled her
were removed, her own strength, in their present circumstances, could
not have availed to protect herself, yet she felt a gush of renewed
strength and courage at her heart when the poor little monkey put its
trembling arms around her.

"Lay your shoulders to the weather-wall, lads," cried the captain, as
another rush of wind bore down in the devoted hut.

The men obeyed, but their united strength availed nothing against the
mighty power that raged without. The wind, as the captain had feared,
went round another point, and they were now exposed to the unbroken
force of the hurricane. For a few minutes the stout corner-posts of the
hut held up, then they began to rend and crack.

"Bear down with the blast to the lee of the rocks, lads," cried the
captain; "it's your only chance; don't try to face it."

Almost before the words left his lips the posts snapped with a loud
crash; the hut was actually lifted off the ground by the wind, and swept
completely away, while most of the men were thrown violently t