e caught and carried captives below,
but the men generally showed compassion to the strangers, and allowed
them to enjoy such shelter as they could find undisturbed.

"Well, I do hope that the hurricane is at its height," observed Jack, as
six bells in the middle watch were struck. "I doubt if the canvas will
stand much more."

"If it isn't it will be after blowing the ship herself clean out of the
water," answered Adair. "We ought to be thankful that our sticks are
sound, and the rigging well set up."

"Yes; Cherry deserves full credit, and we should give old Scrofton his
due, for, though his theories are nonsensical, he is an excellent
boatswain," observed Jack. "I am convinced that every accident on board
a ship occurs from the carelessness, and often from the culpable
neglect, of some one concerned in fitting her out, or from bad
seamanship."

While they were speaking there came a sudden lull of the wind, and the
lightning ceased, leaving the ship enveloped in a blackness which could
be felt. The two lieutenants, though close together, could not even
distinguish the outlines of each other's figures.

"This is awful," exclaimed Adair.

Jack felt that it was so, but said nothing. Suddenly the whole heavens
appeared ablaze with fiery meteors, which fell in showers on every side.

"Look look! mercy--what can that be?" cried Adair.

A mass of fire, of a globular form and deep red hue, appeared high up in
the sky, when downward it fell, perpendicularly, not a cable's length
from the ship, it seemed, assuming an elongated shape of dazzling
whiteness ere it plunged, hissing, into the ocean.

"We may be thankful that ball did not strike us," observed Jack. "It
would have sent us to the bottom more certainly than Fulton's torpedo,
or any similar invention, could have done."

"I hope that there are no others like it ready to fall on us," said
Terence.

Scarcely a minute had elapsed when the wind fell almost to a calm, its
strength being scarcely sufficient to steady the ship. At the same
moment the heavens seemed to open and shower down fire, so numberless
and rapid were the flashes of the most vivid lightning which played
between the clouds and ocean, filling the whole atmosphere with their
brilliancy. The captain had put his hand to his mouth to order more
sail to be set, when again the hurricane burst forth with renewed fury,
howling and shrieking, as Terence declared, like ten legions of demons
in the