South Sea Tales | Page 7

men sat on in silence. The sweat stood out on their skin in
myriads of tiny drops that ran together, forming blotches of moisture,
which, in turn, coalesced into rivulets that dripped to the ground. They
panted for breath, the old man's efforts being especially painful. A sea
swept up the beach, licking around the trunks of the cocoanuts and
subsiding almost at their feet.
"Way past high water mark," Captain Lynch remarked; "and I've been
here eleven years." He looked at his watch. "It is three o'clock."
A man and woman, at their heels a motley following of brats and curs,
trailed disconsolately by. They came to a halt beyond the house, and,
after much irresolution, sat down in the sand. A few minutes later
another family trailed in from the opposite direction, the men and
women carrying a heterogeneous assortment of possessions. And soon
several hundred persons of all ages and sexes were congregated about
the captain's dwelling. He called to one new arrival, a woman with a
nursing babe in her arms, and in answer received the information that
her house had just been swept into the lagoon.
This was the highest spot of land in miles, and already, in many places
on either hand, the great seas were making a clean breach of the slender
ring of the atoll and surging into the lagoon. Twenty miles around
stretched the ring of the atoll, and in no place was it more than fifty
fathoms wide. It was the height of the diving season, and from all the
islands around, even as far as Tahiti, the natives had gathered.

"There are twelve hundred men, women, and children here," said
Captain Lynch. "I wonder how many will be here tomorrow morning."
"But why don't it blow?--that's what I want to know," Raoul demanded.
"Don't worry, young man, don't worry; you'll get your troubles fast
enough."
Even as Captain Lynch spoke, a great watery mass smote the atoll.
The sea water churned about them three inches deep under the chairs. A
low wail of fear went up from the many women. The children, with
clasped hands, stared at the immense rollers and cried piteously.
Chickens and cats, wading perturbedly in the water, as by common
consent, with flight and scramble took refuge on the roof of the
captain's house. A Paumotan, with a litter of new-born puppies in a
basket, climbed into a cocoanut tree and twenty feet above the ground
made the basket fast. The mother floundered about in the water beneath,
whining and yelping.
And still the sun shone brightly and the dead calm continued. They sat
and watched the seas and the insane pitching of the Aorai. Captain
Lynch gazed at the huge mountains of water sweeping in until he could
gaze no more. He covered his face with his hands to shut out the sight;
then went into the house.
"Twenty-eight-sixty," he said quietly when he returned.
In his arm was a coil of small rope. He cut it into two-fathom lengths,
giving one to Raoul and, retaining one for himself, distributed the
remainder among the women with the advice to pick out a tree and
climb.
A light air began to blow out of the northeast, and the fan of it on his
cheek seemed to cheer Raoul up. He could see the Aorai trimming her
sheets and heading off shore, and he regretted that he was not on her.
She would get away at any rate, but as for the atoll--A sea breached
across, almost sweeping him off his feet, and he selected a tree. Then

he remembered the barometer and ran back to the house. He
encountered Captain Lynch on the same errand and together they went
in.
"Twenty-eight-twenty," said the old mariner. "It's going to be fair hell
around here--what was that?"
The air seemed filled with the rush of something. The house quivered
and vibrated, and they heard the thrumming of a mighty note of sound.
The windows rattled. Two panes crashed; a draught of wind tore in,
striking them and making them stagger. The door opposite banged shut,
shattering the latch. The white door knob crumbled in fragments to the
floor. The room's walls bulged like a gas balloon in the process of
sudden inflation. Then came a new sound like the rattle of musketry, as
the spray from a sea struck the wall of the house. Captain Lyncyh
looked at his watch. It was four o'clock. He put on a coat of pilot cloth,
unhooked the barometer, and stowed it away in a capacious pocket.
Again a sea struck the house, with a heavy thud, and the light building
tilted, twisted, quarter around on its foundation, and sank down, its
floor at an angle of ten degrees.
Raoul went out first.