FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76  
77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   >>   >|  
came down to the stoke-hold the other day?" Before Bill could reply there was a flash of lightning, followed by a sharp clap of thunder. The sail-cloths began to flap ominously. On their grimy faces the two stokers felt drops of rain. "We're in for it!" cried Bill. "Did ye see 'em storm-clouds?" There was another glare, more vivid than the first, followed almost immediately by a report that left no doubt of the violence of the storm which was fast approaching. The flash revealed a mass of low-lying clouds, swollen with moisture to the bursting point, around which danced lurid green flames. The wind was rising rapidly with a sinister moan. The sea, while still smooth, was seething and covered with foam like water boiling. "It's goin' to be a corker!" shouted Bill. "Let's get in before it breaks." Without waiting to see if Armitage was following him, he ran back to the ventilator up which both men had climbed, and disappeared. CHAPTER VIII. Below on the promenade-deck all was excitement and confusion. The peal of thunder had spread consternation among the women, and there was a general stampede for shelter. The first rush of wind played terrible havoc with the bunting. The floral decorations were scattered in all directions. Part of the canvas awning was torn down. Chairs, tables, and glasses crashed to the deck. Amid the uproar were heard the harsh commands of the ship's officers, and the running here and there of sailors, as they hastened to execute orders. The wind squall died away as quickly as it had come, and for a brief spell the turmoil was succeeded by an unnatural quiet. Some of the passengers, inexperienced in weather signs, thought the worst was over, but the wiseacres shook their heads. It was the lull before the onrushing storm. Grace and Mrs. Stuart had fled inside at the first alarm, and they both stood at the saloon entrance, peering nervously into the darkness beyond the rail, anxiously questioning Professor Hanson and Count von Hatzfeld, who tried to reassure them. The Honorable Percy Fitzhugh, his face white and visibly nervous, was so excited that he stuck his monocle in the wrong eye. "I don't think it will amount to much," asserted the professor, in his pompous, authoritative way. The words were barely spoken when he was rudely contradicted. Another blinding flash rent the heavens, revealing great masses of forbidding-looking clouds scudding across the sky and hangin
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76  
77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

clouds

 

thunder

 

inexperienced

 
passengers
 
thought
 

weather

 

Stuart

 

inside

 
onrushing
 

wiseacres


quickly
 

commands

 

officers

 

running

 

uproar

 

Chairs

 

tables

 

glasses

 
crashed
 

sailors


hastened

 

turmoil

 

succeeded

 

unnatural

 

orders

 

execute

 

squall

 

authoritative

 

pompous

 

spoken


barely

 

professor

 
asserted
 

amount

 

rudely

 

forbidding

 

scudding

 
hangin
 
masses
 

Another


contradicted

 
blinding
 

revealing

 

heavens

 
Professor
 
questioning
 

Hanson

 

awning

 

Hatzfeld

 

anxiously