Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/128

THE CRATER; the Rancocus thrown upon the rocks, and broken up; but of far greater account was it to their future prospects that the Neshamony should not be injured. Nor were the signs of the danger that menaced the boat to be disregarded. The water of the ocean appeared to be piling in among these reefs, the rocks of which resisted its passage to lee ward, and already was washing up on the surface of the Reef, in places, threatening them with a general inunda tion. It was necessary to look after the security of various articles that were scattered about on the outer plain, and our mariners went ashore to do so. Although intending so soon to abandon the Reef alto gether, a sense of caution induced Mark to take every thing he could within the crater. All the lower portions of the outer plain were already covered with water, and those sagacious creatures, the hogs, showed by their snuff ing and disturbed manner of running about, that they had internal as well as external warnings of danger. Mark pulled aside the curtain, and let all the animals into the crater. Poor Kitty was delighted to get on the Summit, whither she soon found her way, by ascending the steps commonly used by her masters. Fortunately for the plants, the grass was in too great abundance, and too grateful to her, not to be her choice in preference to any other food, As for the pigs, they got at work in a pile of sea-weed, and overlooked the garden, which was at some distance, until fairly glutted, and ready to lie down. In the meanwhile the tempest increased in violence, the sea continued to pile among the rocks, and the water ac tually covered the whole of the outer plain of the Reef. Now it was that Mark comprehended how the base of the crater had been worn by water, the waves washing past it with tremendous violence. There was actually a strong current running over the whole of the reef, without the crater; the water rushing to leeward, as if glad to get past the obstacle of the island on any terms, in order to hasten away before the tempest. Mark was fully half an hour engaged in looking to his marquee and its contents, all of which were exposed, more or less, to the power of the gale. After securing his books, furniture, &.c., and seeing that the stays of the marquee itself were likely to hold out,