might have got beyond the influence of the hurricane before it burst with its full fury; and if not, might have weathered it out, as many a stout ship with plenty of sea room had weathered similar hurricanes before. He acknowledged, however, that she might have been caught by it, and if so, while the wind blew from the northward, might have been driven on shore. The latter point would in time be ascertained, and as soon as possible a messenger was despatched along the coast, who, though he reported several shipwrecks, had ascertained that the _Ouzel Galley_ was not among them. "She was well found and not overladen, and as well able to keep afloat, even in such a sea as we saw running, as any ship which ever sailed the ocean," observed Mr Ferris. "We shall hear, I trust, in due course of her arrival." Dreadful as the hurricane had appeared, the damage done was not as great as might have been expected. It was the opinion of many that only the tail of the hurricane had passed over the island. It was bad enough as it was. In some places the country appeared as if scorched by fire, in others the crops were totally destroyed; numerous buildings were levelled with the ground, and the trees and shrubs uprooted; a number of people had been killed, and many more seriously injured, by being struck by shingles from the roofs or branches from the trees, and by other hard substances which went hurtling like cannon-shot through the air. So rapid, however, is vegetation in the tropics that nature herself would repair much of the damage produced, and the industry of man the remainder--although the proprietors had to suffer severely in their pockets, while there was no power to restore to life the unhappy beings who had been killed. CHAPTER TWELVE. CAPTAIN TRACY AND NORAH AT HOME--A LETTER FROM GERALD--HIS ADVENTURES--A CRUISE OFF HISPANIOLA--ENGAGEMENT WITH A FRENCH SQUADRON--THE ENEMY PUT TO FLIGHT--DEATH OF A YOUNG MIDSHIPMAN--RETURN TO PORT ROYAL--A SECOND CRUISE, AND CAPTURE OF SEVERAL RICH MERCHANTMEN--GERALD IN COMMAND OF THE FLORA--HIS STEWARD PETER--MORE TIDINGS OF THE PIRATES--THE CHAMPION SENT WITH DESPATCHES TO THE LEEWARD ISLANDS--JOINS THE BUCKINGHAM IN ATTACKING A FORT AT MARTINICO--GENEROUS CONDUCT OF CAPTAIN TYRRELL-- PETER'S NARRATIVE--HIS CAPTURE BY PIRATES, AND ESCAPE.