And so he ran about and raved, while Alice and Miss Joe remained motionless, waiting for death where they sat.
The water that dashed against the wall was no longer the rain, but the sea—the sea cannonading the house!
An hour like an eternity passed, during which the waves, with deafening sounds, stormed the walls, and the inmates waited for death. Then the horrible tempest seemed to abate; the ocean seemed to be retiring.
Oh, were the waves indeed receding, or was it only one of those fatal pauses, during which the storm fiend gathered new strength for destruction?
Alice, fearful, hopeful, raised her head, doubtful of the reprieve from immediate death.
Miss Joe clasped her closer in her arms, but listened.
Diogenes stopped in his wild walk and began to praise all the saints.
Yes, the ocean was certainly receding. They were saved! But now, amidst their joy, came a knell of doom!
The signal gun of a ship in distress!
No one knew how often that knell had pealed before. It could not have been heard, amid the deafening noise of the waves, any more than the report of a single cannon could have been distinguished in the thunder of a million others. The sound struck to the hearts of all present.