Oliver Optic

The Coming Wave Oliver Optic

Book Excerpt: ...clouds in the south-west, the barometer had earnestly admonished him of violent disturbances in the atmosphere. He had done everything he could for the safety of the brig, but he blamed himself--though without reason, for the change of weather had been sudden and unexpected--for coming into the bay when it was so near night. The brig was surrounded on nearly every side by rocky islands and numerous reefs, with the chances that thick weather would hide the friendly lights from his view. But it was a summer day, and, until late in the afternoon, when there was no wind to help him, no change could have been anticipated. Captain 'Siah was nervous, though he was as familiar with the bay as he was with the apartments in his own house. He knew every island and head land, every rock and shoal, and the situation of every light-house; but the barometer had warned him of nothing less than a hurricane. The Waldo was an old vessel, and barely sea-worthy, even for a summer voyage, to the region of hurricanes. He had..