tained from Mrs Reichardt an idea of the value of these
stones, and of the importance of their restoration to my relative, and I
had often thought of the satisfaction I should enjoy in presenting
myself before him, as the restorer of such valuable property, which, no
doubt, had long since been given up as lost.

But latterly, I thought less of these things; the chance of leaving the
island seemed so remote, and the prospect of ever seeing my grandfather
so very distant, that I had ceased to take any interest in the contents
of the belt. The diamonds seemed to become as valueless as they were
useless; a handful of wheat would have been much more desirable. It was
now some time since I had seen the belt, or inquired about it.

Thus we lived without any incident occurring worth relating--when one
day the appearance of the atmosphere indicated a storm, and a very
violent hurricane, attended with peals of thunder and lurid flashes of
lightning, lasted during the whole of the day and evening. The wind
tore up the trees by the roots, blew down our outhouses, made terrible
havoc in our garden, and threatened to tumble our hut over our heads.

We could not think of going to our beds whilst such a tempest was raging
around us, so we sat up, listening to the creaking of the boards, and
anticipating every moment that the whole fabric would be blown to
pieces. Fortunately, the bark with which I had covered the roof, in a
great measure protected us from the rain, which came down in torrents;
but every part was not equally impervious, and our discomfort was
increased by seeing the water drip through, and form pools on the floor.

The thunder still continued at intervals, and was sometimes so loud as
to have a most startling effect upon us. My companion knelt down and
said her prayers with great fervour, and I joined in them with scarcely
less devotion. Indeed it was an awful night, and our position, though
under shelter, was not without danger. The incessant flashes of
lightning seemed to play round our edifice, as if determined to set it
in a blaze; and the dreadful peals of thunder that followed, rolled over
our heads, as if about to burst upon the creaking boards that shut us
from its fury.

I fancied once or twice that I heard during the storm, bursts of sound
quite different in character from the peals of thunder. They were not
so loud, and did not reverberate so much; they seemed to come nearer,
and then the differen