The figure of Binny Wallace was no longer visible, for the
boat itself had dwindled to a mere white dot on the black water.
Now we lost it, and our hearts stopped throbbing; and now the speck
appeared again, for an instant, on the crest of a high wave.
Finally it went out like a spark, and we saw it no more. Then we
gazed at one another, and dared not speak.
Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely
noticed the huddled inky clouds that sagged heavily all around us.
From these threatening masses, seamed at intervals with pale
lightning, there now burst a heavy peal of thunder that shook the
ground under our feet. A sudden squall struck the sea, ploughing
deep white furrows into it, and at the same instant a single
piercing shriek rose above the tempest--the frightened cry of a
gull swooping over the island. How it startled us!
It was impossible any longer to keep our footing on the beach. The
wind and the breakers would have swept us into the ocean if we had
not clung to one another with the desperation of drowning men.
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