W. CLARK RUSSELL 97 



Then I heard the rain. 



I scarcely know which was the more terrifying 

 to see and hear— the rain, or the thunder and 

 lightning. 



It was a cataract of water falling from a pro- 

 digious elevation. It was a dense, impervious 

 Mquid veil, shutting out all sight of sea and sky. 

 It tore the water into foam in striking it. 



Then, boom ! down it came upon us. 



I held on by the wheel, and the boatswain 

 jammed himself under the grating. It was not 

 rain only — it was hail as big as eggs ; and the 

 rain-drops were as big as eggs too. 



There was not a breath of air. This terrific fall 

 came down in perfectly perpendicular lines ; and 

 as the lightning rushed through it, it illuminated 

 with its ghastly effulgence a broad sheet of water. 



It was so dark that I could not see the card in 

 the binnacle. 



The water rushed off our decks just as it would 

 had we shipped a sea. And for the space of 

 twenty minutes I stood stunned, deaf, blind, in the 

 midst of a horrible and overpowering concert of 

 pealing thunder and rushing rain, the awful gloom 

 being rendered yet more dreadful by the dazzling 

 flashes which passed through it. 



W. Clark Russell. 



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