"And we may wish we had it, before we're through," chimed in the
voice of Walter. They had made of Cora's room, which was the largest
of the suite, a sort of gathering place.

"Why so, Wally?" demanded Jack.

"It looks as though we'd be flooded," was his answer.

"Oh, these storms are common down here" put in Bess. "I spoke to
Inez about it, and she said the natives here were used to them."

"Such storms as this?" asked Cora, as a fiercer dash of rain, and a
sudden blast of wind, seemed about to tear away the windows and let
the fury of the elements into the room.

"Well, I suppose that's what she meant," said Bess. "But it is
awful, isn't it? And mamma and papa, and your mother, Cora, out on
that steamer."

"Oh, they'll be all right," declared Jack. "It's a big steamer, and
the captain and crew must be used to the weather down here. They'll
know what to do. Probably they ran for harbor when they saw the
storm coining. They say skippers in the West Indies can tell when a
storm's due hours ahead."

But that brought little comfort to the girls, and even Walter looked
worried as the day wore on and the fury of the storm did not abate.
Inez, as one who had lived in the region, was appealed to rather
often to say whether this was not the worst she had ever seen.