the Sea in his arms ...

... Some one shrieked in the midst of the revels;--some girl who
found her pretty slippers wet. What could it be? Thin streams
of water were spreading over the level planking,--curling about
the feet of the dancers ... What could it be? All the land had
begun to quake, even as, but a moment before, the polished floor
was trembling to the pressure of circling steps;--all the
building shook now; every beam uttered its groan. What could it
be? ...

There was a clamor, a panic, a rush to the windy night. Infinite
darkness above and beyond; but the lantern-beams danced far out
over an unbroken circle of heaving and swirling black water.
Stealthily, swiftly, the measureless sea-flood was rising.

--" Messieurs--mesdames, ce n'est rien. Nothing serious, ladies,
I assure you ... Mais nous en avons vu bien souvent, les
inondations comme celle-ci; ca passe vite! The water will go down
in a few hours, ladies;--it never rises higher than this; il n'y
a pas le moindre danger, je vous dis! Allons! il n'y a--My God!
what is that?" ...

For a moment there was a ghastly hush of voices. And through
that hush there burst upon the ears of all a fearful and
unfamiliar sound, as of a colossal cannonade rolling up from the
south, with volleying lightnings. Vastly and swiftly, nearer and
nearer it came,--a ponderous and unbroken thunder-roll, terrible
as the long muttering of an earthquake.