climbed into a cocoanut
tree and twenty feet above the ground made the basket fast. The mother
floundered about in the water beneath, whining and yelping.

And still the sun shone brightly and the dead calm continued. They sat
and watched the seas and the insane pitching of the Aorai. Captain Lynch
gazed at the huge mountains of water sweeping in until he could gaze
no more. He covered his face with his hands to shut out the sight; then
went into the house.

"Twenty-eight-sixty," he said quietly when he returned.

In his arm was a coil of small rope. He cut it into two-fathom lengths,
giving one to Raoul and, retaining one for himself, distributed the
remainder among the women with the advice to pick out a tree and climb.

A light air began to blow out of the northeast, and the fan of it on
his cheek seemed to cheer Raoul up. He could see the Aorai trimming her
sheets and heading off shore, and he regretted that he was not on her.
She would get away at any rate, but as for the atoll--A sea breached
across, almost sweeping him off his feet, and he selected a tree. Then
he remembered the barometer and ran back to the house. He encountered
Captain Lynch on the same errand and together they went in.

"Twenty-eight-twenty," said the old mariner. "It's going to be fair hell
around here--what was that?"

The air seemed filled with the rush of something. The house quivered and
vibrated, and they heard the thrumming of a mighty note of sound. The
windows rattled. Two panes crashed; a draught of wind tore in, striking
them and making them stagger. The door opposite banged shut, shattering
the latch. The white door knob crumbled in fragments to the floor.
The room's walls bulged like a gas balloon in the process of sudden
inflation. Then came a new sound like the rattle of musketry, as the
spray from a sea struck the wall of the house. Captain Lynch looked
at his watch. It was four o'clock. He put on a coat of pilot cloth,
unhooked the barometer, and stowed it away in a capacious pocket.
Again a sea struck the house, with a heavy thud, and the light building
tilted, twisted, quarter around on its foundation, and sank down, its
floor at an angle of ten degrees.

Raoul went out first. The wind caught him and whirled him away. He noted
that it had hauled around to the east. With a great effort he threw
himself on the sand, crouching and holding his own. Captain Lynch,
driven like a wisp of straw, sprawled over him. Two of the