DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61277#0063
A NIGHT OF TERROR.
39
pillows, bound down with napkins, as their
whole defence against the storms of stones which
fell around them. They were presently, notwith-
standing the time of day, involved in nocturnal
darkness, and almost unable to distinguish each
other in the frightful gloom. This darkness was,
however, occasionally illumined by the vivid
flames, which darted in long flashes from the cra-
ter of the mountain. They bent their course
towards the shore, in order to discover whether
there would be any probability of escape by put-
ting out to sea, but its agitated surface forbad the
attempt.
“ They stood and look’d aghast upon the deep : —
There was no wind in heav’n—and yet the waves
Seem’d striving with a tempest; ponderously
They swell’d aloft, and shook their foamy heads :
Now sank in hollows ; now together dash’d,
And spit the whizzing spray on high : this way
One instant roll’d, then backward ; not like seas,
Still bowing to the impulse of the wind,
With onward rise and fall; but to and fro,
Tossing and reeling, as th’ Almighty hand
Had smitten underneath their rocky bed,
And made th’ abysses tremble and leap up.
Heavily rock’d the anchor’d barks—their masts
Dash’d on alternate sides the brine :—the prow
Now seem’d to bore into the gulf—now mounted,
And the broad stem descended—over all
E 2
39
pillows, bound down with napkins, as their
whole defence against the storms of stones which
fell around them. They were presently, notwith-
standing the time of day, involved in nocturnal
darkness, and almost unable to distinguish each
other in the frightful gloom. This darkness was,
however, occasionally illumined by the vivid
flames, which darted in long flashes from the cra-
ter of the mountain. They bent their course
towards the shore, in order to discover whether
there would be any probability of escape by put-
ting out to sea, but its agitated surface forbad the
attempt.
“ They stood and look’d aghast upon the deep : —
There was no wind in heav’n—and yet the waves
Seem’d striving with a tempest; ponderously
They swell’d aloft, and shook their foamy heads :
Now sank in hollows ; now together dash’d,
And spit the whizzing spray on high : this way
One instant roll’d, then backward ; not like seas,
Still bowing to the impulse of the wind,
With onward rise and fall; but to and fro,
Tossing and reeling, as th’ Almighty hand
Had smitten underneath their rocky bed,
And made th’ abysses tremble and leap up.
Heavily rock’d the anchor’d barks—their masts
Dash’d on alternate sides the brine :—the prow
Now seem’d to bore into the gulf—now mounted,
And the broad stem descended—over all
E 2