Pike groan. It was a whimsical groan of
disgust, contrition, and acknowledgment of inferiority before the
master.
"Here comes the whole River Plate," was what he groaned.
Following his gaze to the south-west, we saw it coming. It was a
cloud-mass that blotted out the sunlight and the day. It seemed to
swell and belch and roll over and over on itself as it advanced with
a rapidity that told of enormous wind behind it and in it. Its speed
was headlong, terrific; and, beneath it, covering the sea, advancing
with it, was a gray bank of mist.
Captain West spoke to the mate, who bawled the order along, and the
watch, reinforced by the watch below, began dewing up the mainsail
and foresail and climbing into the rigging.
"Keep off! Put your wheel over! Hard over!" Captain West called
gently to the helmsman.
And the big wheel spun around, and the Elsinore's bow fell off so
that she might not be caught aback by the onslaught of wind.
Thunder rode in that rushing, rolling blackness of cloud; and it was
rent by lightning as it fell upon us.
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