asts. Will--who was leaning against
the bulwarks, chatting to Hans--observed the captain, after looking
round at the horizon, go into his cabin. He reappeared in a minute,
and spoke to the officer; who immediately shouted an order for "all
hands to shorten sail."

"What is that for?" Will said, wonderingly; "there is not a breath
of wind."

"I egzpect captain haz looked at glass," Hans said, "find him fall.
I egzpect we going to have ztorm--very bad ztorms in dese zeas."

Will ran aloft with the sailors and, in ten minutes, every inch of
canvas--with the exception of a small stay sail--was stripped from
the ship. Still, there was not a breath of wind. The sea was as
smooth as glass, save for a slight ground swell. Although the mist
did not seem to thicken, a strange darkness hung over the sky; as
if, high up, a thick fog had gathered. Darker and darker it grew,
until there was little more than a pale twilight. The men stood in
twos and threes, watching the sea and sky, and talking together in
low tones.

"I don't like this, Hans," Will said. "There is something awful
about it."

"We have big ztorm," Hans replied, "zyclone they call him."

Scarcely had Hans spoken when the sky above seemed to open, with a
crash. A roar of thunder, louder than ten thousand pieces of
artillery, pealed around them while, at the same moment, a blinding
flash of lightning struck the mainmast, shivering it into
splinters, and prostrating to the deck five seamen who were
standing round its foot. As if a signal had been given by the peal
of thunder, a tremendous blast of wind smote the vessel and,
stripped though she was of sails, heaved her over almost to the
gunwale.

For a moment, the crew were paralyzed by the suddenness of the
catastrophe; stunned by the terrible thunder, and blinded by the
lightning. None seemed capable of moving. Will had instinctively
covered his eyes with his hands. It seemed to him, for a moment,
that his sight was gone. Then the voice of the captain was heard,
shouting:

"Helm, hard up. Out axes, and cut away the wreck, at once!"

Those who were least stupefied by the shock sprang, in a dazed and
stupid way, to obey the order. Will drew out his knife and, feeling
rather than seeing what he was doing, tried to assist in cutting
away the shrouds of the fallen mast--it had gone a few feet above
the deck. Presently he seemed, as he worked, to recover from his
stupor; and the power of sight came back to him.