THE HURRICANE. 271 



low to avoid being blown over. As they pressed 

 on, a frightful gust came, and then for an instant 

 a strange lull was felt. At an exclamation from 

 Busby they all turned, and saw, to their horror, 

 the huge walls of the brick building rocking and 

 trembling; then, with a wild roar and an ap- 

 palling crash, the mass of stone, mortar, brick, 

 and broken beams went dow^n before the hurri- 

 cane, crushing like pasteboard the cottage next 

 to theirs. From the ruins for a second rose a 

 great white cloud of dust that whirled about 

 like a living thing and was borne away on the 

 gale. 



The boys, who were often in the crushed 

 house, were too thankful at their escape to say a 

 word; indeed, amid the roar they could only 

 look their gratitude at the boatswain, who, al- 

 ways cheerful, responded by sundry winks and 

 nods, as much as to say : " I told you so ! " 



This hurricane did great damage on all the 

 keys, and in the West Indies generally. It con- 

 tinued all the afternoon, and not until the next 

 morning did the end come, and not until then 

 did the young naturalists venture out. Their 



