58 TlMEHRI. 
and all, burst in, overthrowing the sofa which had been 
placed against it and falling with violence on the dining- 
table in the centre of the room. The folding cedar 
doors on that side of the room then began to shake 
violently and, bursting the locks and bars, flew open with 
the greatest violence. We immediately brought two 
immense boxes I had made to pack my books and linen 
in, and we succeeded in again closing the doors and 
placing one box upon the other against them, which 
resisted the efforts of the wind as long as it continued in 
the direction of the north-east. Still I entertained no 
idea of its being a hurricane, and, as the bursting in of 
the window admitted both rain and wind, w r e continued 
with great presence of mind to remove the books from 
the ledges round the room and bow window in front, 
and every article of furniture, with few exceptions, into 
the back room which was separated from that in front 
by other folding doors. In the midst of our occupation 
there was a brief lull in the storm for a few moments, 
during which on looking out I observed a kind of whirl- 
wind in the air and various light materials carried up to 
a great height with a rapid spiral motion, and then in an 
instant after the wind wheeled round to the opposite 
point of the compass — south-west. This brief lull, this 
sudden change — were too sure indications of a hurricane 
to admit ol a doubt, and I became sensible of the dread- 
ful reality ; but without communicating my opinion or 
my fears to the rest of my family. The former wind 
from the north-east was a slight gale — a mere sportive 
breeze — compared to that which now succeeded. It blew, 
it raged, it raved, it roared ; gust after gust, so awful 
and so terrific, like the explosion of cannon or the bursting 
