“Cooped up in that horrible darkness, and clinging on to the edge of the bunk desperately with both hands, the strain soon became so intolerable that I began to wish the boom-house would go to pieces, and put me out of my misery. None the less, however, did my heart leap into my throat when at length there came a massive thud, a grinding crash, and the side of the boom-house opposite the bunk was stove in. At the same time the marvellously tough little structure was twisted half off its foundations, and bent over as if a giant hand had crushed it down.
“I at once concluded that we had gone ashore on the Point. I tried to get the door open that I might have some chance of saving myself; but the twisting of the frame had fastened it immovably. Madly I wrenched at it, but that very stability of structure which had hitherto been my safety proved now my gravest menace. I could not budge the door; and, meanwhile, I was being thrown into all sorts of positions, while the boom ground heavily against the obstacle with which it had come in contact. The boom-house was half full of water.
“A fierce indignation now seized me at the thought of being drowned thus like a rat in a hole. Reaching down into the water my hands came in contact with the little stove. I raised it aloft, and brought it down with all my strength against the door. The stove went to pieces, bruising and cutting my hands; but the door was shattered, and a wave rushed in upon me.
“Holding my breath, I was tearing at the remnant of the door, in doubt as to whether I should get free in time to escape suffocation, when the boom gave a mightier heave, and the upper part of the boom-house crashed against the obstacle with a violence that tore it clear of its base. The next instant I was in deep water, striking out blindly.
“When I came up, providentially I rose clear of the shattered boom-house. I could see nothing, and I was almost choked; but I kept my presence of mind, and battled strenuously with the boiling seas, which tossed me about like a chip. In a second or two I was dashed against a pile of timbers. Half-stunned, I yet made good my hold, and instantly drew myself higher up on the pile. As soon as I had recovered my breath sufficiently to realize anything, I perceived that I was on one of the piers.
“The upper portion of the great structure was open, and I speedily crawled down among the rocks with which these piers are always ballasted. As I crouched to escape the chill wind which hissed between the logs, how I gloried in the thought that here was something not to be tossed about by wind and wave! Drenched, shivering, exhausted as I was, I nevertheless felt my bed of rocks in the pier-top a most luxurious retreat. I presently fell asleep, and when I awoke the dawn was pink and amber in the eastern sky. I saw that the pier which had given me refuge was that to which the sheer-boom had been fastened. The storm had moderated somewhat; and forcing its way determinedly toward the pier came Mat’s skiff, propelled by Mat himself and Jim Coxen from the Corners.”
“I declare,” said Stranion, “I almost feel the tent and the floor itself rocking, so vivid is the picture Ranolf has given us!”
“Well,” remarked Magnus, “it can rock us all to sleep, and the sooner the better!”
In a very few minutes we were snugly rolled in our blankets. Then Stranion rose on his elbow and blew out the candle,—“doused the glim,” as he was wont to say. In the thick dark we swiftly sank to sleep.
On the day after the rain, there was a wonderful exhilaration in the air. We felt like shouting and running races. The face of earth wore a clean and honest look. Queerman roamed hither and thither declaiming Miss Guiney’s fine lines:—