The merciful elements interposed to drown the appalling
strife. Once or twice the dog howled, but the tempest came across the
Leman again in its might, as if the short pause had been made merely to
take breath. The winds took a new direction; and the bark, still held by
its anchors, swung wide off from its former position, tending in towards
the mountains of Savoy. During the first burst of this new blast, even
Maso was glad to crouch to the deck, for millions of infinitely fine
particles were lifted from the lake, and driven on with the atmosphere
with a violence to take away his breath. The danger of being swept before
the furious tide of the driving element was also an accident not
impossible. When the lull returned, no exertion of his faculties could
catch a single sound foreign to the proper character of the scene, such as
the plash of the water, and the creaking of the long, swinging yards.
The mariner now felt a deep concern for his dog. He called to him until he
grew hoarse, but fruitlessly. The change of position, with the constant
and varying drift of the vessel, had carried them beyond the reach of the
human voice.
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