Everybody in the room smiled except Mrs. Tobin.  She was deeply offended, and her wrath was about to descend when a distant roll of thunder startled her.  The captain chuckled as he saw its effect upon his wife.  He knew how a thunder storm always frightened her.  In fact, it was about the only thing of which she was afraid.

“Guess the Day of Wrath’s comin’, Martha, sooner than ye expected,” he chuckled.  “Thar it is agin, an’ nearer this time.”

Mrs. Hampton rose and closed the window.  Just at that instant a vivid flash of lightning almost blinded her, followed immediately by a terrific crash which shook the house.  Mrs. Tobin screamed and leaped from her chair.

“Oh, oh!” she moaned.  “Isn’t it awful!  We’ll all be killed!”

“Ah, keep still, Martha,” the captain chided.  “We’re all right.  It’s mighty lucky we have sich a comfortable place as this.  Now, if we were out on the river——­”

He suddenly ceased, while an expression of consternation swept across his face.  A peculiar gurgle escaped his lips as he seized his hat and sprang to his feet.

“The ‘Eb an’ Flo’!” he gasped.  “I fergot all about her, an’ the sail’s up!  That boy’ll be asleep, an’ won’t hear the storm.  Oh, Lord!”

The next minute he was out of the house, and hurrying as fast as he could toward the shore.  He had gone but a short way when the rain struck him, and soon he was drenched to the skin.  He could only direct his course by the flashes of lightning, and after each illumination the darkness was more intense than ever.  As he neared the shore, he stopped and peered anxiously forward, and by the next vivid streak which followed a terrific crash, he caught one fleeting glimpse of the “Eb and Flo.”  She was still there, and her sail was down.  He breathed a sigh of relief, and again started forward toward the small boat pulled upon the shore.  He had taken but a few steps, however, when his foot caught and twisted upon a root, causing him to fall heavily forward full upon his face.  With a cry of distress, he scrambled to his feet, and tried to stand, but so severe was the pain that he was forced to sink down again upon the ground.  That he had wrenched his ankle, he was certain, and he groaned whenever he moved.  But he must reach the “Eb and Flo,” for the storm was increasing in violence, and he was sure that the boat could not hold up against such a tempest.  He tried to crawl in his endeavour to reach the shore.  The perspiration stood out in beads upon his forehead as he worked himself along, but so intense was the pain in his foot that ere long he was forced to give up in despair.  And as he lay there he kept his eyes fixed in the direction of the river, catching brief glimpses of the “Eb and Flo” as she tugged hard at her anchor.

A more vivid gleam than formerly presently illuminated the river, and as the captain looked, he emitted a hoarse cry.  The boat was drifting!  She was farther from the shore he could plainly tell.  Then blackness closed down once again, leaving the helpless man racked with the agony of suspense.  The next flash revealed the boat farther away, with sail up, and to all appearance being driven full upon the opposite shore.