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 down before the hurri- 

 cane, crushing like pasteboard the cottage next 

 to theirs. From the ruins for a second rose a 

 creat 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 



