Air -- Juvenile literature; Atmosphere -- Juvenile literature
In the mean time, the wind rather increased than diminished; and the
water dashed in so much over the bows that Rollo had to dip it up with
the cover of the tin pail, and pour it out over the side of the boat
into the pond again. They were going on in this way, both toiling very
laboriously, when suddenly they began to hear a sound like distant
thunder, somewhat louder than the ordinary roaring of the wind. They
both looked towards the shore in the direction from which the sound
came. On the declivity of a range of hills covered with forests they saw
an unusual commotion among the trees. The tops were bowed down with
great force; the branches were broken off, and Jonas thought that he
could see fragments of them flying in the air; and presently, farther
down, he observed several tall pines bending over, and then sinking down
till they disappeared.
"What is it?" said Rollo.
"A squall," said Jonas,--"and coming down directly upon us."
"What shall we do?" asked Rollo.
"Put the boat before the wind," replied Jonas, "and let her run: we must
go where the squall carries us."
Jonas immediately began to pull the stern of the boat around with his
paddle, so as to turn the head of it away from the quarter which the
wind was blowing from; and then the wind drove the boat along very
rapidly over the waves, which curled and foamed on each side, driving
onward with great fury. When they looked around behind them, they saw
that the pond, which was of a very dark color, though spotted with the
white tips of the waves all over its surface, was almost black for a
large space in the direction from which the squall was coming. It
advanced with great rapidity, and at last struck the boat with a noise
like thunder. The froth and foam flew over the surface of the water like
tufts of cotton, and the boat seemed to fly along the water with almost
as much speed as they; and the roaring of the winds and waves was so
loud that Rollo had great difficulty in making Jonas hear what he had to
say. After a few minutes, the violence of the wind somewhat abated; but
it still blew a steady and furious gale, so that Jonas had to keep his
boat directly before it. Thus they were driven on, wherever the wind
chose to carry them, for more than half an hour.
Then they began to draw near the land, far, however, very far from the
place where they had intended to go. Rollo observed that Jonas was
looking out very eagerly towards the shore, and he asked him what he was
looking for.
"Why, here we are," said Jonas, "on a lee shore, and I am looking out
for a place to land."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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