OCR Text |
Show MARVEL OF AIR FLIGHTS. THE storm that had formed In the West Indie had ripped the big foresail Into ribbons, und a- the bark rode with her nuse to the hurrlcaue the velocity of the wind was so great as to burl a foremast fore-mast hand from hi footing. The s-as were piled up Into Pvethlng hill of water, whbli nccasloually broko over the forward deck with a booui and a roar. Off to ttrt windward one of the snug West Indian regular sU-anicr was laboring heavily in the storm, and the spray was whipped along her deck lu swift wblic shceu that drove along like a volley of hot. The darkened sky, the awesome tumult of water and th! shrieking oppressed the soul, and as (he eye raoged tb waste of water It leheld a desolation before which life itself must shrink. Aud the bird seemed strangely out of pbic amid Uist glgum!"-' dlsturbance of wind and water. Tbl living unit f blood und flesh, whose flight made the speed of tbe wlud seem futile, gave tbe storm a more interesting aspect. The atormy pwtrel is a tiny bird, but IU wing power I amailng and its endurance nothing short of marvellous. What a remarkable store of energy it carries In its frail Iswly! Its motor I a miracle of power. It breasts the utmost fury of tho storm and skims with Incredible velocity the trough of the waves, gliding like a winged comet over the snowy I crets. The petrel knows not fatigue. aparenUy, for k fraqnontly ha been observed uftiM tw9 fhftn-nd mile from tb" nret land . .1 |