The hour—about noon—at which it was arranged that I should go on board was approaching. My host offered to accompany me down to the harbour, but before we reached it we encountered a violent squall, which almost took us off our legs, and sent Larry’s hat flying up the street. He made chase after it, and we stopped to let him overtake us, while a number of other people, caught by the wind, passed us running off in the same direction. At length his hat, driven into a doorway, was recovered, and Larry came battling against the wind to rejoin us.
“You’ll not put to sea to-day,” said my friend; “nor for many a day to come, if I mistake not; but we’ll make our way to the harbour, and see how things are going on there.”
On reaching it we found the sea already lashed into a mass of seething foam. The larger vessels strained at their anchors, some tossing and tumbling about, others already overwhelmed by the waves. It was with difficulty we could stand our ground.
“Unless the hurricane passes by, for hurricane it is, not one of those vessels will escape destruction,” said Mr Ringer. As he spoke, one of them parted from her cables and drove towards the shore.
“We must beat a rapid retreat if we wish to save our lives,” he continued; “the tempest is down upon us!”
The wind, which had previously blown from the south-east, suddenly shifted to the southward.
Grasping my arm, he hurried me off from the spot on which we were standing. At the same time down came a deluge of rain—not in mere drops, but in regular sheets of water. It wetted us to the skin in a few moments. Larry, now seizing my other arm, dragged me forward. As we looked back for a moment, we observed the sea rising in a mountain billow, hissing and foaming, and approaching the shore. It was but the first, however, of others still larger which were to follow. It broke with a thundering roar,—the water rushed on, flowing by the spot we had already reached; but even though we were nearly up to our knees, I couldn’t resist taking another glance behind. The whole ocean was covered with wreck; and one of the larger vessels I had seen just before, had disappeared beneath the surface.
As we hurried on, crash succeeded crash. First one house fell, then another, and another, and from some bright flames burst forth, which even the descending rain failed to quench. It was useless to attempt saving the lives of our fellow-creatures, for the same destruction would have overtaken us. Our great object was to reach the higher country in the direction of the barracks. Had Larry and I been alone, we should in all probability have lost our lives; but Mr Ringer, knowing the town, led us quickly through it by the shortest route. As we dashed through the streets, scarcely looking to the right hand or to the left, piercing cries of agony and despair struck on our ears. The smaller and more lightly built houses were levelled in a moment, and many even of the larger were crumbling away.
“Don’t you wish to go to your own house? if so, we must not stop you; we will go with you,” I said to Mr Ringer.
“We should only be crushed by the falling ruins if we made the attempt,” he answered at the top of his voice, and even then I could scarcely hear what he said. “I’ll try and get to it from the rear when I have seen you out of the town.”