as the ship lay there, a vast
ball of  issued from the black clouds immediately overhead,
descending like the lightning straight downward, till all at once it
struck the main truck. With a roar louder than that of the recent
thunder it exploded; fast sheets of  flashed out into the air, and a
stream of light passed down the entire mast, shattering it as a tree is
shattered when the lightning strikes it. The whole ship was shaken to
its centre. The deck all around the mast was shattered to splinters, and
along its extent and around its base a burst of vivid flame started into
light.

Wild  followed. At once all the sailors were ordered up, and
began to extinguish the , and to cut away the shattered mast. The
blows of the axes resounded through the ship. The rigging was severed;
the mast, already shattered, needed but a few blows to loosen its last
fibres.

But suddenly, and furiously, and irresistibly it seemed as though the
whole tempest which they had so long expected was at last let loose upon
them. There was a low moan, and, while they were yet trying to get rid
of the mast, a tremendous squall struck the ship. It yielded and turned
far over to that awful blow. The men started back from their work